New Forest

I can't believe that only now I'm writing this post, so much has happened since my lovely holiday in New Forest it now seems forever ago, But looking back at the pictures I'm reminded how special and much needed it was.

April and May are incredibly busy months for me. I know this every year and yet somehow I'm never prepared and it all just hits me like a ton of bricks, and I just walk around in a daze from lack of sleep, feeling like all I'm doing is playing catch up.

I have been teaching non-stop over those two months and any spare moment was spent on designing and answering emails, but it is all that I love doing so when the holiday came around I wasn't ready to go! Can you believe it! Even though I desperately to needed to get away, I had so much work to still finish I couldn't imagine leaving it, even only for a week! Totally mad! But get away we did :)

And boy, am I glad we did. The holiday was everything I could wish for and more. New Forest is our favourite place to be, we both feel so at home there, it has everything that appeals to us, lots of forest, wildlife, country charm and peace and quiet, it is a place we definitely see ourselves retiring to.

We stayed in a quaint little village in Woodlands, each cottage there was so idyllic, as if an artist come and painted all the thatched roofs and climbing wisterias. Our cottage wasn't any different, it oozed country charm with its old fireplaces and wooded beams. It a kind of place that as soon as you enter you relax instantly and forget about everything.

Our days were spent walking, picnicking and just generally having a fantastic time and i did work, but my work is knitting so that's ok, especially when you find the most amazing spot to work in :)

                                                                   Spooky forest

                                                               Not so spooky forest

Dave is a very keen amateur wildlife photographer and he took some amazing photos. I really love his work. 

But the best place of all was the Petlake Alpaca Farm which was situated just 5 min drive from our cottage. We were lucky enough to see some babies alpacas that were born just 3 week earlier, they were very shy and hiding behind their mums. There were also some ''toddlers'' born over Easter.

The farm has the most charming little shop with lots of alpaca related stuff including YARN!!!!! It is super soft DK weigh yarn that comes undyed, three very gorgeous natural colours, of course I had to buy all three, and even our local birds got some alpaca fleece for their nests :)

The farm is really charming and they offer Alpaca walking tours and even a chance to adopt an Alpaca. The website is: www.petlakealpacas.co.uk please check them out and if you are ever in the area go for a visit, it's so worth it.

I even met a lady called Georgia who works in Costa in Lyndhurst that knits toys for charity and even was a nominee for a fundraiser champion. These are some of her toys proudly on display. 

 

The holiday was absolutely wonderful and I have relaxed so much, unfortunately few days after coming back I had some bad news that I'm still recovering from. It a kinda news that changes everything and of course I don't know if the changes are for the better, time will tell, I suppose, but maybe it's time for a change and something had to happen for me to actually take the plunge and do what actually make me happy. Anyway, when I feel less upset I'll tell you about it.

Anna xx

 

New Forest

I finally got around to writing this post, I tell ya I'm still in holiday mode, oddly exhausted after it, but very slowly I’m getting back to normality.

It has been a magical week in New Forest; I'm absolutely and utterly in love with the place. I haven't visited New Forest for about 6 years and I really forgot how amazing it is. There's just so much to explore and see from the harbour to the most stunning forests. Dave and I are both great lovers of nature and very keen walkers so for us all the forests were a dream comes true, we just couldn't get enough, but by far our favourite one was Bolderwood. Where else in the country can you go for a walk and see deer, ponies, donkeys, sheep and cows during one walk.

 We also found the most magical little spot in Bolderwood with stream running through. We spent a good few hours there; it was the perfect place to catch up on my knitting.

   

Dave has a very keen interest in nature photography, I think he's brilliant at it, he took some superb photos. It’s nice to look back at photos and see New Forest through his eyes. 

We stayed in Lymington which is a very charming harbour town that boasts the best fish and chips I have ever tasted and I even managed to find a very sweet haberdashery shop whose owner, Amy, couldn't do enough for you. 

We took a day trip to Bournemouth, it's nice to see that the town has changed since I last been there, but for the better, with its golden sandy beach and green park it's just so very inviting.

I couldn't resist popping over to Beadles haberdashery department, as I heard they done it up and boy, I wasn't disappointed, with its gorgeous duckegg fixtures it's a very inspiring department, but by far the best thing was seeing my book on display there!

The house we stayed in had a beautiful façade and most interesting lay out, inside felt as we have entered a time warp, not the downstairs part, but upstairs felt like it has been stuck in the 70’s with green carpet and wicker bedroom set, not to mention the very creepy old style cot in our bedroom I did not sleep well the first night. However the garden was beautiful and Red and I did take advantage of it.

 

The best thing of all was having Red there as a constant walking companion and ready for cuddles at any time.

 Selfies time! I did try to take a photo with Red, but I think he just saw a squirrel

One more thing; if you are ever around those parts, please visit The Crown Stirrup, its a very old stunning pub with the most delicious carvery, they allow dogs inside and even have biscuits for them and if that wasn't enough the guys who run it are so incredibly friendly, you feel you have been going to this pub for years.

Anna x