Folkeast 2013 - a very Vicki weekend

Good morning

Oh what a weekend - a great combination of some of my most favourite things - folk music, live music, camping, Morris dancing, friends, family and beer - all mixed with some very sunny days and one rather wet one!

Here's just a few pictures from the weekend - my camera never left Bertie - instead the few pics I took were snapped on my Iphone;

 Always the sign of an excellent Morris weekend - henna tattoos - the perfect way to start a Sunday morning - sitting with friends and drawing with henna pens on each other! I hate taking my festival wristbands off - this one will remain for a few more days.

I am an early-bird these days and this was the view when I peaked out of the caravan window on Friday morning - the most gorgeous sunrise.

Friday was spent getting camp sorted and waiting for all the side to arrive. There was lots of sitting in the sun, drinking cider and beer and also a crochet session. Once everyone was there, we headed into the arena for our first dance spot. Quite a big crowd to watch us and another side dance - including for the first time rather a lot of people I knew. No nerves and lots of dancing and twirling happened.

Back to the campsite to change and then off to listen to music. One of my favourite musicians was opening the festival with his musical friend, John Spiers. Am sure I've mentioned before my love of Jon Boden - I was a very happy Vicki standing at the front dancing with friends.

 I stayed till late watching the others bands and dancing and drinking more. Once the music was over I headed back to the campsite and to bed - I knew we'd a long day ahead of us on Saturday.

Saturday was a long and hard day - an early start with a Morris workshop - I got to teach a dance to a niece, a friend and her daughter - we had such a blast and by the end of the session there was a massed dance and very few stick injuries!!  Off to the pub for a lunchtime dance fringe event and then back to the festival site for another dance slot. The weather was not kind for most of the day - the heavens opened and we all got soaked. We huddled together in the dance tent and most of the Morris side took part in the afternoon ceilidh. For some of us this was our first proper ceilidh experience and we loved it. I danced with so many people and had such a blast. We then had another Morris dance slot.

Another evening of watching bands was next - I'd gone back to the campsite to get find dry & warm clothes and some dry boots too. I was shattered but determined not to miss anything. I fell into bed after midnight and knew nothing until almost 7.30 the next morning - trust me that's a lie-in for me!

Sunday was sunny and warm and also my friends birthday. We started the day with jugs of Pimms and birthday pressies! The Morris side went off for a lunchtime fringe dance session and I stayed on the festival site - firstly to decorate Fi's caravan with birthday banners and balloons but also to go and see a band with 2 of my sisters who were there this weekend.

More beer and dancing in the afternoon before back to the campsite for supper and birthday cake.

Back again to the arena for the closing acts of the weekend. More dancing with friends and yes more beer! Gradually during the evening lots of the side headed back to the campsite with aching limbs and sore heads! I was determined to see the last act of the weekend and managed it. We were almost the last people on the festival site before we headed back to the campsite. It was extremely late when I crawled into the caravan - tired but very happy.

My home for the weekend - Bertie my caravan - rather lovely to spend 4 nights in him - he's cosy and water tight and with the amount of stuff I needed to take it was much better to be in him than my little tent.

The festival site early on Sunday afternoon - lots of space and not overcrowded - lovely - here's hoping that 2014 is similar.

One last picture from the weekend - me with my niece - selfie stylie!!

Back to reality today - festival washing to sort, kit to unpack AND the boys have been away with P for a lads camping weekend and there's a heap of their washing to tackle too!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Channelling your inner Granny Chic Soul - Granny Chic is cool

Good afternoon

Everything stopped yesterday afternoon - the postie came bearing a parcel with my name on it. At last the copy of Granny Chic I pre-ordered months ago :)

Why dust when you can read? and such a great read too.

Two fab bloggers on different sides of the Atlantic sharing a common love of Granny Chic.

The book has lots of projects to create and plenty of gorgeous photos too. I won't spoil it for those that are waiting till December 25th for their copy but I will show you a couple of my most favourite photos;

 Just loving Marvellous Maude the vintage caravan and her exterior patchwork - not sure my menfolk would approve if I wanted to do that to Bertie :(

2 friends together crocheting - oh how this reminds me of our Wednesday night Stitch & Bitch sessions.

One article made me chuckle;

 

 I looked at the list and then down at myself;

 Pinny - yes, always and clogs, yes around the house in the winter and out & about in summer.

Rose tinted glasses - ok so not actually rose-tinted but geek-chic specs are the next best thing.

 

Thank you Tif & Rachelle for writing this book - at last I have an identity - well I've always had it - just nice now to give it a name :)

 

BTW - this is NOT a sponsored post - just something I've bought and wanted to share with my bloggy readers. I shall be taking this book to S&B tomorrow night too - I think lots of those friends will love this book too :)

 

See you soon

 

xxx Vicki xxx

Boats, Bands, Samba & Sunshine

Good afternoon.

Hope you had a good weekend? We were so lucky here in Suffolk - extremely good weather on Saturday and not to bad on Sunday - both days were dry and warm enough not to have to wear a coat :)

Saturday afternoon saw me heading to Woodbridge with MrVV. He'd been asked to play with another brass band as they were short of a tuba player. I went along too as I rather like Woodbridge.

The event was to celebrate 1000 years of Maritime history in Woodbridge and was based along the river-front. Lots of stalls and lots of people - best of all - blue skies and sunshine :)

 

The view across the river to the Tide Mill

Such a pretty spot - lots to watch - rowers, small boats and lots of ducks.

 As part of the celebrations there was a re-enactment of 'something' - sorry I wasn't really paying attention. These 18th century soldiers had a camp set up and plenty of people were wandering around chatting to them and learning stuff - me? I found a spot in the sunshine and sat listening to the band, having an ice-cream and reading a book!

Sunday was another band - this time with the normal band - both MrVV & Little Son were involved. A family favourite - a trip to Henham Steam Rally - we've been here so many times with the boys and both love it. So much so that BigSon even came out of his lair for the day!! Whilst the two brass players played - we walked miles around the site several times - finding things we both wanted to see.

 BigSon managed to squeeze himself into this little electric Renault Twizzy - amazingly he could fit himself into the back seat too. Not sure its the most practical of cars - no idea where your shopping is supposed to go!!

 A proper Romany Vardoe - beautifully painted.

 Lots of lovely classic and beautifully restored cars to see - I of course was attracted to something less 'classic' this little Fiat had been given a makeover - complete with ladybird spots, false eyelashes and a clockwork handle on the back which turns when the engine is running!!

 Inside was equally as wacky - fake grass on the parcel shelf and a collection of small toys having a picnic!!

 We heard the samba band before we could see them - very colourful - just a shame they had no dancers with them.

This gorgeous vintage caravan caught my eye. Restored to its former glory by a lovely couple who were happy for me to have a good look around and take photos.

After all the playing was done - it was time for a quick trip to the vintage funfair. BigSon terrified another band member on the big wheel - she was squealing at him to stop rocking the seat so much - rotten boy ;) LittleSon and MrVV went on together;

 Seems that teenage facebook pose is catching on with the older generation ;)

Like father, like son - manic grins all round!

A lovely day out - ended off with a takeaway for dinner and then a glass of wine and Downton Abbey :)

See you soon

Bertie, butterflies, chickens & pigs

Good afternoon

Phew what a hot day it is here in Suffolk - doors & windows all open and ceiling fans working overtime.

Well it seems ages since I last blogged - that because we've been on our summer hols in Bertie - just 3 of us (MrVV, LittleSon & I) - Bigson has been in Derbyshire as a scout leader on an activity holiday. He's due home late afternoon with 9 days worth of washing - good job I've just finished all of ours from our time away - my poor washing machine!

Anyhow, Bertie was loaded up and firstly we headed into the Cambridgeshire Fens - we found a gorgeous campsite just outside Wisbech for a couple of nights. What a place - the pitches were all in their own private glades - it felt just like being a gypsy in the woods. Loads of wildlife including butterflies who I found impossible to photograph!!

 See what I mean - hard to believe there were other people on site - seemed like it was just us!

 The campsite owners raise their own pigs - this was one of 4 that were half way there - by Autumn they'll be bacon! and the next litter of piglets will have arrived!

 So many gorgeous flowers which attracted loads of insects - all camera shy!!

 Wow - I thought Suffolk was flat - you could just see for miles across the countryside.

 On the Sunday we visited Ely - this is just part of the cathedral - a stunning building - both inside and out.

 Just one of the stunning stained glass windows.

 Just because my bandsmen were on their hols didn't mean we'd escape a brass band - we found this one in the park as we headed down to the river.

Father & Son - in almost matching t-shirts!!

On the Monday morning it was time to wind up Bertie's legs and head further north into Yorkshire. We'd found an appealing small site just outside Pocklington - no bars, no pool - just peace & quiet - perfect.

Looking much more like home - stuff everywhere!!

 We were greeted by the owners and introduced to their gang of very free range chickens. Each chicken had a different coloured leg band so you knew who was who. They were very friendly and tried several times to get into Bertie!

 Little Son happily feed them some leftover crusts but away from the caravan else they'd never have left us alone.

Can you see the Wooden Pod in the background? This is available for hire and very cute it is too.

 We had some lovely days out - visiting York several times as there is so much to see - still so much we couldn't fit in so we will head back again at some point in the future. One of my favourite days out was a trip on the steam railway between Pickering and Grosmont. We had just enough time before our train to grab a picnic lunch from a bakery in town. 

 The stations were all so pretty - I took rather a lot of photos!

Love this picture with the moors in the background.

We were so lucky with the weather - a couple of heavy showers but nothing that lasted too long or spoilt our plans. The evenings were warm and we were able to sit outside with a drink or two watching the most stunning sunsets;

Back to reality today - I've even got to cook tonight!!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

A weekend with Eeyore & Friends

Good morning

A quick nip into blogland whilst waiting for yet another load of weekend washing to finish!

Yep, we've been away again in Bertie - this time really not that far from home. Just 12 miles up the road to the village of Wenhaston and a lovely little campsite I found online. 

When we arrived the first thing we heard was these lovelies in their field next to the camping one;

I have a soft spot for donkeys - so it was lovely to have them nearby. Rather funny that the 2 pugs in one of the tents on site though they could take them on and kept barking when the donkeys wandered past their camp - the donkeys failed to even acknowledge them - so laid back.

We were so lucky with the weather one downpour overnight and another we managed to miss as we were just a few miles away on a day out in Southwold. I know we often visit there but this time we went in tourist mode - time for a lovely lunch from the deli and sitting eating it on the prom in front of a couple of unoccupied beach huts;

There were loads of people in the sea - I think the boys wished they'd brought their swimming things with them - how was I to know the forecast was going to be so wrong!

I could happily watch the kite surfers for hours.

Of course a trip to the seaside would be complete without ice creams;

We also spent time playing in the arcades and having silly photos taken. There were also gallopers - little son & I went on and we left big son with the camera - this was the only picture he managed to get of sort of both of us!!

A lovely weekend and a campsite we shall be going back to again I'm sure.

This week sees manic washing, tidying, cleaning and packing as the plan - big son is away for 9 days from Saturday - camping as a Young Leader at a big scout camp in Derbyshire and we're planning another trip away in Bertie to Yorkshire- just 3 of us this time.

Oh and of course there are more Olympics to be watched as well - well done TeamGB for all the medals so far - 3rd place in the medal table - amazing.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx