France: Chateau de Villandry

During our stay in France we visited the gardens at Chateau de Villandry. It was a beautifully warm day and the different 'rooms' in the garden were spellbounding. The children loved running around - in and out of the formal garden with all of the hedges and then into the maze.

There was also a playground where we could have our picnic lunch. I just loved the stencil effect on these chairs:

Adjacent to the playground was the 'Hot' Garden:

And a few more snaps as we worked our way out of the Garden: 

The Vegetable Garden:

And I loved these artichokes en mass:

France: Chateau du Bouchet

For our last week of the Summer holidays, we spent it here, in the stunning Chateau du Bouchet.  We travelled in convey with my brother and his family and met up with relies from Oz as part of my Dad's birthday celebration. Fourteen of us in all but it felt incredibly spacious (we had about a third of the Chateau) and the children just loved the swings and slide by the backdoor - set among acres of land, an orchard full of plums, raspberries, apples, pears set by the outdoor swimming pool. There was also a barn full of bikes, tractors for little ones (huge hit), Wendy house and other delights. 

The Entrance

I loved the ornate detail - whether it be the formidable gate we drove through, to door handles, shutters (inside and out). Flinging the shutters open in the morning to this view created a sense of calm!

Looking into the 'playroom'

One of the views from the sitting room 

This radio in our bedroom intrigued me - listing all the main European radio stations. And I was very drawn to this chair carving. 

I rather over did it on the photos - so this will need to be a post in parts. But before I go, here are some snaps of the Isobel and Elis enjoying themselves. They adored having their cousins, Max and Sadie around. 

Pirates ahoy!

I'm in heaven.....

Children's dinner - outside every night!

Trip to Harlech

Earlier this month we took a trip to Wales to see Richard's family in Harlech, North Wales where we had a glorious time and the kids had a ball. Isobel was often pretty busy helping out in her Aunt's shop and did a pretty impressive job of setting up first thing in the morning. We were taken for lunch by Richard's parents at the Castle Restaurant in Portmeirion which was a great treat and the children actually behaved! The views from there were stunning.

We then went into Portmeirion itself with all it's colourful buildings, little hide-a-ways - Isobel thought it was quite magical.

A dropped flower following a wedding ceremony was put to use:

And we stared enviously at the hotel's pool....

It was a gorgeous day. On other days we had a BBQ on the beach, visited a farm (see Elis entranced with the bunny below) and together with  hanging out with both Nain and Taid, volunteering in the shop and having fun with their other Aunty - both children slept in every day! Fresh air = heaven in my mind!

Our Escape to the Isle of Wight

Same week, same place as last year - but wow the weather was magnificent this time around. Apart from a trip to the fish shop we didn't veer out of the area we were staying in. Seaview is a lovely Georgian town. Very quiet, but with everything you need for a relaxing break. The sailing boats (with all their funny names) and views across the Solent are captivating, the choice of beaches, rock pools and of course ice cream - was all we needed this year. Miss I and Mr E just loved the fact they could open the front door of our cottage and alarmingly knew the way to the ice cream shop or beach. When Elis first caught sight of the Seaview beach view he said 'Wow' and quickly learnt the word water.

Catching crabs caused squeals of delight and curiousity:

  

We enjoyed taking post dinner walks along the sand and finding things along the way:

I also treated myself to a new lens prior to the holiday. Here are a couple post hommous feast:

Too bad it is back to reality....

Look back at.....July

Going back to work has left little time for ocasionally blogging so here is an attempt to catch up on our Summer goings on before the Autumn leaves start to fall! Before returning to work we had a wonderful holiday on the Isle of Wight staying in the village of Seaview. And what a stunning view it was. Wooden boats (handmade there and only 'out' for 6 weeks of the year) bobbed up and down, Isobel had a ball crabbing (hoping the crabs would bite the bacon), exploring rock pools and Elis just loved getting into the sand! It was just the perfect place for a 9 month and 3 year old. Being able to go in the car with all and sundry (and the kitchen sink) was great and the ferry crossing proved to be very exciting for both kiddies.

Seaview - just a couple of minutes from our cottage.

Crabbing - a serious mission...

I love sand!

The evening sunset

We visited the infamous zoo - and the sheer close proximity of the large cats was amazing. We particularly liked Casper the lion:

Godshill was worth a visit and the miniature village of Godshill was a big hit - Isobel exlaiming it was 'beautiful' and 'gorgeous'

Anyone in there?

Our trip to Cowes coincided with the Olympic torch and we so happened to be in the right place at the right time. It was pretty exciting seeing Ellen MacArthur and we could get quite close!

 

The village had a street party with live bands and Isobel danced for three hours (I am not exaggerating...)

 

Isobel loved the house so much she announced she was going to live there when she was grown up with her six children (!). I did point out there were only two bedrooms......