August is normally one of my favourite months, as it reminds me that we're nearing the colder stages of the year and I absolutely adore Autumn and Winter. It's not that I don't enjoy summer, I just prefer the seasons and the festivities of August through to December.
However, at the moment the heat wave seems to be staying put, for now anyway!
This past week I've been doing a lot it seems (which I didn't realise until I uploaded all of these photos... There was 30 in total) and it began with a walk in one of my favourite places, Harringworth.
If you read my 'Who is The Rutland Blogger?' post you may know that I spent the majority of my childhood growing up in Harringworth which help sculpt the county-loving-bumpkin I am today!
This particular walk in Harringworth you can access from the village itself or from the green lane on the road from Shotley to Wakerley. It follows the River Welland and features stunning views of the viaduct and the walk starts at a bridge my brother and I used to call 'poo-stick bridge' growing up.
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| A view from Harringworth. |
Another of my favourite walks is in Great Easton, which I also visited that day.
The Jurassic Way footpath joins Gatehouse Lane on Caldecott Road to the village of Rockingham and is a lovely walk through willow trees and fields with even a stream or two!
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| Jurassic Way near Gatehouse Lane in Great Easton. |
After that walk, I visited my favourite place in Rutland for some takeaway lunch, Baines.
Baines has been in Uppingham for over 150 years and might look small from the outside but the team provide so many delicious options for your breakfast, lunch or a cheaky sweet snack. It's such fantastic value for money for homemade, tasty food. I particularly love thier salads and their incredible elderflower and poppy seed cake!
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| A gem of a bakery. |
Last weekend, we spontaneously decided to paint our office wall mustard yellow but finding a mustard paint was much more difficult than we first imagined... But we did find one in the end, it's called 'Saffron'.
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| A saffron wall anyone? |
On Tuesday evening, I popped down to Caldecott's Pub, The Old Plough Inn to meet my friend before she jetted off to Spain for her holidays. It's such a typically English village pub with dated but charming interiors and the owner Jean is just lovely!
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| The Old Plough Inn at Caldecott. |
My Wednesday morning began with an early walk for my dogs. I don't risk walking my two in the hot parts of the day so we had a walk around Uppingham whilst it was still cool at 7:30 am.
Walking around Uppingham at that time of day is actually quite wonderful. Everyone you meet is so friendly and it's lovely to see the local independents setting up for the day.
I really do love this county.
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| An early morning walk with Arla & Otis. |
Most mornings I head down to Scandimania in Uppingham for my favourite cup of iced coffee.
It's been a busy past couple of months and I was in need of a new diary with lots of exciting upcoming projects but the only suitable one I could find was an academic diary, but this actually proved perfect, as it began in August. So I started planning...
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| Plan. Plan. Plan! |
My friends and family know me as 'the crazy Pug lady' because I really do treat my dogs like my children. I'd wanted a Pug for 11 years, after falling in love with the breed when I a child and finally got Arla in November 2015.
Now with two, Arla and Otis some people would probably say that I'm obsessed with my dogs... and they'd be absolutely right! They have a toy box and more than one harness and lead (matching of course! Or at least colour coordinating...), so getting them an indoor teepee bed was just a must!
No I'm not joking...
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| Yes, a teepee for a dog! |
Friday, a day I'd be looking forward to for weeks after I first heard about Katie Cardew's Rutland Map project! I collect maps of Rutland soI couldn't wait to see exactly what had been included on the map itself when it was unveiled on Friday evening.
I asked Florrie Parsons from Curious Designs - an interiors shop in Hopes Yard in Uppingham - if she'd like to attend with me as we're both big fans of the county and love Katie's unique illustrations.
I'd been following Katie for a while, so it was lovely to finally meet her and her lovely family, who all help run the business in Kings Cliffe.
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| Katie Cardew with her Rutland Map! |
The Rutland Map was everything I'd hoped and more! Featuring some of my favourite things about the county and other things I wasn't even aware of.
Some of my favourite things Katie included has to be the Rutland panther, Christmas trees on cars, The Welland Viaduct, Baines in Uppingham, lots of farming and even the ice cream van you'll usually see parked at Normanton Church.
The owner of the ice cream van actually arrived while I was there to see if it had been featured after he emailed Katie asking her to include it. It was lovely to see the delight on his face when he pointed at it and went 'there it is!'.
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| The Katie Cardew shop! |
Katie's designs are just fantastic! A really unique way of illustrating and her collections featuring local places, places around the world, animals, buildings, home and business commisions and even a 'I'd rather be at Burghley' range.
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| 'I'd rather be at Burghley!' |
I couldn't leave without purchasing a few things could I? I mean, there was a samples box after all!
I bought myself two 'Game Birds' tea towels, an 'I'd rather be at Burghley' notebook and a couple of the brand new 'Rutland' greetings cards. The last thing I picked up was a rather awesome apron which will be in a lucky someones stocking this Christmas!
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| Oops... I had to! |
A weird fact about me is that I have actually only liked coffee for just over a year, after I was introduced to the world of coffee by the team at Two Chimps. But even in that short space of time, the Espresso Martini has become my favourite cocktail!
I've been wanted to learn how to make them for ages and I finally remembered to buy some coffee liquier at the weekend, so while Tom was out with the lads I began trying to recreate the delicous drink that Ralph from The George & Dragon in Seaton had explained to me.
I did ok.. I drank it.. But I need to keep perfecting it until it's exactly like Ralph's from The G&D or Rory's from Don Paddy's.
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| My first ever Espresso Martini! |
The week ended with a very special day indeed, a Christening! But not just any Christening it was the Christening of my new God-Daughter, Penelope.
I'm already God-Parent to Penelope's brother, Edward but to be god-parent to both of them is the most amazing honour. One of the other god-parents was my brother, Daniel and on Sunday he was actually Christened alongside Penny on the day and it was a lovely service at St John the Baptist Church in Harringworth.
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| Penelope's Christening Day! |
We then headed to The Exeter Arms in Barrowden for a party/celebration of the day and it was lovely to spend such a wonderful day in the sun with friends and family, celebrating Penelope!
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| My amazing godson, Edward. |
So, after a busy week I needed a good sleep and I actually went to be at 8:00pm that evening.
Now, It's Tuesday and I'm writing this post from my kitchen. I've had to move the iMac from the office because it's just too hot up there. So, the dogs and I are trying to stay cool in the kitchen with the help of my new friend, the fan!
Well, that's my week!
What have you been up to?
