Pomps Patch #9

The past month has been pretty mad up at Pomps Patch. All this sunshine has meant a lot of watering every day but also a fair amount of goodies are up for the picking. There literally haven't been enough hours in the day to get enough done, and with it being so hot there's a limit to how much you can do in the middle of the day, but we're working hard.

We've pretty much got the first half of our plot fully up and running now and are making plans for the jungle that is 'the other side'. I'm also planning what winter veg to put in over the next couple of weeks/months. It's all systems go up at our little patch.

Rich surprised me with a newly painted shed. We'd both love to have a bigger one, but as that isn't an option at the moment we discussed how to make it work for us. I wanted a nice sea blue to make it like a beach hut, and that's what I got! We've also put up a load of hooks to keep everything off of the floor. All we need to do now is the decking and we're good to go!

We were really lucky with our strawberry plants this summer. I think we had about 20+ punnets worth and couldn't eat them quick enough, and quite a few broad beans until the black fly decended and we had to abandon crop. It was kind of heart breaking but I'm just glad we got some and know to plant earlier for next year.

I've said before that one of my favourite things about our plot is the view over Exeter, particularly at dusk.It doesn't get much better than sitting back in the camping chairs with a picnic and taking in that view, and admiring our hard work of course. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Sarah

xx

Around my city #7

A couple of weeks ago Rich and I headed over to Topsham for a mooch around the charity shops. I probably blog about this place too much, but sod it, I love it! Because it's quite a wealthy/retirement town you can often get some amazing finds in the charity shops, including a lot of Dorma fabric, winning!! While we were walking through the town we passed the church where a crowd had gathered for a wedding. We felt a bit weird about the idea of photographing strangers on their wedding day, but it seemed ok to take a few snaps of the horse and carriage.

A couple of the 'Topsham Ten' pubs are right on the river, so obviously we stopped for a drink and to admire the scenery while we planned what to do next. I then had a call from my sister to say she was popping into a local farm shop so we headed over to join them for a bit, any excuse to see Jack. I can't quite believe that he will be 3 in 6 weeks, time goes way too fast but he is still completely obsessed with tractors, as you can see. We played a game where he was the tractor driver and I kept pretending that he had run me over and fell to the floor over, and over, and over. He loved it!

Hope you had a great weekend. I am shattered from a day of digging up at the allotment on Saturday, and then spontaneously deciding to rearrange our living room after picking up a beautiful dresser, pictures to follow.

Sarah

xx

Hereford Cathedral

When we ventured up to Hereford for Amy & Stu's wedding, we decided to stick around on the Sunday and see a bit of the city and grab some food with my lovely friends before we all headed home. As we were a bit short on time we strolled around the town and then headed to the Cathedral to admire the architecture and sunbathe on the grounds.

Although I am not religious, I absolutely love churches and cathedrals for their beautiful architecture. I have so much admiration for anyone who has the vision to design such a huge, stunning building, plus the historical aspect is also pretty fascinating.

 

 

 

The church above was next to our hotel and so so pretty, I wish we'd popped inside but it seemed a bit rude as it was a Sunday.

If you have any recommendations for some great architecture, or know of any abandoned buildings/ruins I would LOVE to hear about them.

Sarah
xx

Swans

Whether you love or hate swans you cannot deny how beautiful they are. One of my favourite things about living by the river is walking past these birds every day, especially in spring/summer when there a cygnets and goslings all over the place. As you can imagine this means I end up taking far too many photos but usually end up doing nothing with them, until now.

My main reason for sharing these photos with you is down to a truly horrible thing that I witnessed last week. While I was walking home I did my usual stop to watch the cygnets playing around. As I was walking up the slip way to the bridge 2 swans started running towards me, being chased by a man who was laughing hysterically. One of the swans lost its footing and fell down the bank into the river, on top of a father swan with cygnets. The father swan obviously thought the other swan was trying to attack his babies so he attacked and then drowned the swan, all because it was chased by this stupid man. A few of us were shouting at him to stop chasing them but it was over before we could do anything to stop it. I cried and called the police (who were useless). How anyone could hurt an animal is something I will never understand, and incidents like this are exactly why I prefer animals to humans. 

So to celebrate the beauty of these magnificent creatures, here is some major swan photo spam. Enjoy...

Sarah

xx

Monthly thrift | June

One thing I vowed to do in the new year was shop more sustainably. After joining the gym I wanted to stop spending money on clothes (as I've been hoping they wouldn't fit before long), and make more sensible purchases instead. As I work in the city center I spend most of my lunch breaks wandering around the shops just so that I can stretch my legs and get some fresh air, but with that comes spending money. So, I've been spending more time rummaging through charity/thrift shops, and less in high street shops. It definitely curbs my spending as 9 times out of 10 I don't find anything I want, likewise with going to the car boot sale.

Since the weather warmed up, Rich and I have dragged our sleepy behinds out of bed at 7am every Sunday to go to the car boot sale. There are times (like last weekend), where I find nothing. But there are also times when I leave with a bag full of goodies. My record collection has probably doubled in size so far this summer thanks to the 50p-£1 bargains. I know that if they are a bit dirty that it isn't the end of the world, in the long run it will save me a fortune. It also helps that Rich's Dad is a record dealer, so he cleans them for me, and gets us into the record fair for free - win win!

While thinking about things I'd like to blog about I thought I would write a regular post on what thrifty purchases I had made each month. So what have I been buying....?

A whole lot of records. All of these came in at under £30, including some mint condition vinyl...

 

Something else I collect is old Readers Digest books. I love the illustrations and how informative they are, they're great coffee table books...

 

I snapped up these vintage treats in local thrift and vintage stores, I can't wait to wear the dress very soon...

Sarah

xx

Adventures in Exeter #6

One of my favourite little gems in Exeter is the Book Cycle shop, a small charity set up by Anthony, a lovely guy who collects donated (or found) books and sells them for donations or sends them abroad, with the intention of making books readily available for everyone without breaking the bank. The money raised from selling the books is then used to ship the books to Africa and to plant trees in the UK, cool huh?

So anyway Rich and I like to mooch over there once a month for a root around and to see what books we can find to add to our collections. Located next to the house that moved it is in a beautiful, tiny old building full of charm and um mustiness. I love it's quirkiness and the variety of books on offer, plus the shop dog is usually around and he is awesome.

We then dodged the showers and headed home via the quay and river to get some fresh air and take a couple of photos. The swans were cracking me up, such inquisitive little things!

Just to warn you, I have taken a million and one photos of the swans and their cygnets over the last couple of weeks so prepare for a major swan themed post. 

Sarah

xx