Blossom at Rowallane

On a sunny Tuesday, after a trip to the dentist, me and George along with my mum and her friend Lorna headed to Rowallane to have a walk round.  Mum, George and I had been there back in March to look around the Spring Ground there but when we were there then spring hadn't really sprung and there wasn't much out in bloom.  A month definitely makes a big difference!  The place was full of blossom this time!

Gorgeous apple trees.

I thought this was some sort of big snowdrop but it's actually called summer snowflake.

After watching Gardener's world feature on magnolias the other week I really fancy getting one for our garden, although I'd say it's take a good few years before it was this big!

The branches and blooms made a lovely pattern against the blue skies.

Masses of forget me nots.

Rowallane is well known for its masses of Rhododendrons.  I particularly liked this one, it looks quite like the one in our garden, although our one is no where near blooming yet. 

I think these are woodland anemones.

The courtyard was looking very nice in the sunshine...

So one of us stopped to have a bit of a picnic!

It was a lovely day out although be warned, at this time of the year the cafe isn't open on a Tuesday and for some reason they have closed the shop :-(

Birthday Party!

At the weekend it was someone specials first ever birthday party!  Naturally that meant the bunting and balloons had to come out!

It wouldn't be a proper birthday party without balloons on the gatepost!

I love these marbled balloons from the pound shop!  They don't look very promising in the bag but once you blow them up they look lovely.

More bunting, you really can never have too much in my opinion!

Cheerful top hats.

Pretty butterfly buns.

Some personalised bunting.

This bunting was recycled from my surprise baby shower. 

Even the hall didn't escape buntingification!

A very happy birthday boy!

Unfortunately my massive hair is obscuring the birthday boy in this action cake shot!

This is the inside of the cake, it was rather more massive than I had intended.  The bottom layer is banana, the middle layer is banana and peanut butter and the top layer is banana and nutella.  It was lovely even if I say so myself!

Everyone was so generous, now I just have to find somewhere to put all this!

First camping trip as a family...

At the start of September we planned to take a camping trip around the North Coast for a few days but we thought it might be a good idea to do a trial run first.  We decided to try one night at the campsite at Castle Ward as it isn't too far from home so at least if it was a complete disaster we could just pop home without too much bother! In the end it worked out just fine. The weather was lovely although it did get a little nippy at night so definitely need to bring a heater in the future.

All packed up and ready to go.  We did need considerably more stuff having a baby with us but it did all fit, just about!

We bought George ear defenders as the Land Rover is pretty noisy when it's driving.  He absolutely loves them and pretty much falls asleep as soon as they go on!

All parked and set up.

We went down on a Tuesday so the site was pretty empty.  Castleward is really popular and I think you have to book ages in advance to get in at the weekend.

The campsite is surrounded by forrest which will be great for exploring when George is a bit bigger although he seemed pretty taken by the light fluttering through the tree canopy as it is!

A glimpse of Strangford Lough.

A pretty foxglove - all the ones in our garden are long gone by September.

A tunnel under one of the lanes on the estate.

I have been to Castleward so many times and I don't really remember seeing this tree tunnel before, it was pretty cool.

Inside the tree tunnel.

Temple water.  There is a lovely walk all around the water.

The boats in Audley's Bay.

I thought this bit of wood looked a bit like the Lough Ness monster.

We were only there for one night but we packed a lot in, we walked into Strangford and got some ice creams on the first day then headed back for a picnic dinner.  After we packed up we headed in to the Castleward estate and had a cup of tea and a scone then a lovely long walk finished off with a nice lunch, a perfect couple of days and just what we needed to get ready for a bigger camping trip.

Island Hill...

One sunny day last week Sarah, George and I decided to take a quick trip to Island Hill.  I hadn't been in ages and thought it would be nice to go for a bit of a walk as George definitely sleeps better at night when we've been out for a walk.

It was very sunny but there was a chilly breeze blowing - we had to tuck George's blanket well in so it didn't blow away!

Blue skies..

Me trying to be vaguely glamorous while wearing my head scarf to try and keep the wind out of my ears - I always get sore ears when its windy!

We hadn't bothered checking the tide tables before we left and the tide was very far in when we arrived, which looked lovely...

...but meant that we couldn't actually walk on the path!

Waves crashing over the path.

Selfie with my new camera.

You can just see the water breaking over the path out to the island in this photo.  Lesson learned  - must check the tide tables next time we go!