The Ship Inn at Rye

Spent a lovely but rather bracing weekend (It was very very chilly) in Rye to celebrate my boyfriend's 30th. We stayed at The Ship Inn, a wonderfully decorated inn serving fantastic food. I haven't uploaded my pics of the place yet, but will do soon and pop them on here. Rye is an old smuggling port and the The Ship Inn was built back in 1592.It was built in 1592, originally as a warehouse to store contraband seized from smugglers. It is now a characterful countryside pub, with old beams and wooden floors and various areas to sit in and relax - the sunny end in the mornings to eat breakfast and read the papers, big tables for group Sunday lunches that last all afternoon or cups of tea by the fireplace after a long walk on the beach.

The decor and mix of old and new and retro styles works sooo well and I loved the fact there was constantly a roaring fire to keep you toasty after long walks in the cold. Rye is home to some very old pubs, the mermaid being the oldest, I think, with norman cellars dating from 1156 and the rest of the pub built in 1420!! Rye also boasts over 30 antique shops which is great for a nosey in too.

OK so you are probably sick of hearing about the snow but...

..... aren't these pics amazing!  This is Ashgill Force waterfall in a frozen wonderland near where I grew up and near where my mum and dad still live in Alston. Someone from my primary school posted these on his Facebook and I just wanted to show you how pretty it is in Cumbria right now!

does it suit me?

...My weekends away would not be complete without a beautiful case like this one from the lovely Free People blog

Halloween Spooktacular ....

Have lots of fun this Halloween. I made these last year, they are pretty rubbish but I like the shape of the ghosts - got to work on much better version for next year.

Shepherd Hut Holidays

I don't know about you, but I am desperate for a holiday having not been away at all this summer and, when I came across these shepherd huts by the Original Hut Company which are located in the tiny village of Bodiam in East Sussex, I knew I had found a great excuse to get away.  These shepherd huts are decorated in a fresh contemporary style and are available from £70 per night.  I'm off to dust off my old suitcase!

I ♥ Paris

What a fantastic time I had in Paris with my boyfriend.  We stayed in a fabulously cute apartment in Montmartre and ate lots of lovely food  (I got the box of Laduree macaroons - and they were as amazing as they look!), saw some great shops (Luka Luna, Petit Pan, Colette, Petit Atelier De Paris and Madame Mo and more) and as it was my birthday my boyfriend bought me lots of lovely pressies too - I was spoilt rotten!  So many more places to see there though so need to start planning the next trip back.   I'll try and upload some of the pics we took in the next day or so ...

Je vais a Laduree

Yay!! Paris here I come.  Can't wait to get my greedy mits on a box of these wonderful creations from Laduree! Will be back next week hopefully with plenty of lovely things to post about!

Cracking Easter Decorations

Today I am curled up on the sofa, feeling sorry for myself, enduring a Jeremy Kyle show no less. I have been struck down with a really nasty cold which I think I must have picked it up from the kids at the school I'm working at, so its only a quick post today.  I've been looking at the Martha Stewart site recently, looking at their lovely photos of crafty projects - above are some of their lovely ideas for Easter decorations. 

Bettyjoy is back

Wow! Sri Lanka is such a beautiful place - its so verdant it is the essence of tropical - jungle and foliage in every shade of green you can imagine, turquoise seas, golden sands, colorful birds and lots and lots of wonderful smiles. The people were really friendly although we did end up parting with rather a lot of rupees! We went to some fantastic places, to the mountains and tea plantations, on safari where we saw elephants and crocodiles and even a mongoose - I didnt know what they looked like before, and of course we headed for the beach too, to bake ourselves lobster-red the way the English know how! 

On our last night we splashed out  (or I should say my kind boyfriend did!) on one night in a fancy place called Apa Villas- Oh my god! I never thought I would ever stay somewhere so fantastic.  Someone described it as a little slice of heaven, and it was just that.  The most relaxed I think I have ever been.  I wanted to call my mum and tell her to ship over my belongings and tell her I'm not coming home! 

But unfortunately that wasn't an option, so I am back now and getting back into the swing of things and will be shortly getting up to date with my postings!

Alston Art Apartments

This is a plug for my parent's new venture.  They have recently restored some old barn buildings in Alston in Cumbria, the village where I grew up, and turned them into lovely holiday cottages, called the Alston Art Apartments, in a cozy but contemporary style.  Even writing this post and looking for pictures of Alston is making me homesick, the landscape in and around Alston is just spectacular, there are so many images of Alston I could easily have filled a whole blog page with beautiful images. Alston is in the North Pennines, close to the Lake District and is in what is called an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has also become a UNESCO Geopark.  It is the perfect place to come to unwind and forget the pressures of life.  Leave your mobile and laptop at home and come here to get away from it all and just enjoy being somewhere very special.

Peanutbuttericecreampie!

Back from our holidays and missing sunshine and Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie washed down with pints and huge Margaritas!  Sad to be home after having such a wonderful break and although we went on holiday with the assumption that San Francisco would be our favorite place on the trip, Texas outshone San Francisco for us.  We loved Austin so much that since I got back I cant stop looking for houses and jobs there ... Lots of cool bars, shops, friendly people, great food, a laid back atmosphere and lots and lots of sunshine - what more could a girl want! 

Off on our jollies!

Bettyjoy and co. are off on our jollies to the grand ol' US of A to California and then Texas for a couple of weeks so there won't be any posting whilst we are away.  We will be busy having fun at the Broken Spoke (pic above from Spiffytumbleweed on flickr) amongst other things.  Hopefully we will have lots of fun pics to show you on our return (I have a feeling a lot of them might be of food like this and this).  I this I may come back virtually unrecognisable due to a significant weight gain as I am planning to make the most of the amazing food as possible).

Big Sur - here we come

This is another place we are have booked to stay when we go to Big Sur, its called Deetjens - I can't wait it looks so pretty and old fashioned and the food is supposed to be really good too. There is no TV and no mobile phone reception - the perfect holiday!! As you can probably tell, Im a bit obsessed with the wooden chalet/cottage theme at the moment!

Austin - here we come!

We are off on our holidays to America next month and are travelling to San Francisco and Big Sur, then Austin and some other cities in Texas. We finally got round to booking our accommodation and this is one of the places we are staying in one of these really cute cottages at the Park Lane Guest House in Austin. I'd love to live in a cute little swedish style cottage like this.

(If anyone has any tips on places/shops to go to while we are in San Francisco and Austin please let do me know:)