A walk well spent brings a week of content...

My dad is a walker. Not a fair-weather stroller, a rambler nor a hiker - a walker. Most weekends, he puts on his walking shoes and disappears for a few hours - generally spending his time traversing the South Downs. Luckily, we live just over an hours drive away from some of the most gorgeous, dare I say it, quintessentially English, countryside. Think rolling green hills leading down to the glittering English Channel. On an early Autumn day, theres few places better to be than being swept backwards with the wind, cheeks rosy and an amazing view to reward you for a steep walk. 

The last time we did this - a walk through Savernake forest or a drizzly September day - seemed far too long ago, so on one of the last days of the summer, my father and I set off to Alfriston for a walk. My dad does this most weekends between May and September, when the whether is fair and bright, not too hot and not too chilly; often being joined by my brothers. And until recently, I genuinely was not fit enough. In the past few years, I've lost a huge amount of weight, and grown immensely fitter in the process - however the kind of fitness you need to be able to walk up a 16% (in places!) incline is a very different one to the one that I've become in the gym.

As I said, my dad doesn't really consider it a 'walk' if its below 5 miles, and there isn't at least one hill to climb. So you have to come prepared, basically. It's really nice to have this time together - this walk was only a few weekends after my Grandmother passed away - and it was quite nice to just spend a few hours doing something that he enjoys. I'm going to make a definite point to do more of it when the weather picks up again, next year.

I also think that Alfriston is the most beautiful little village - the house pictured here is so beautiful - it reminds me of the little villages around Farnham, where I went to Uni that are really sweet, and probably cost two of my house put together. A girl can dream.. It also had the most gorgeous village green where we sat and munched sandwiches and drank cans of Fanta, watching whilst a family ate cream tea and scones with Champagne on deckchairs. How very British... 

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the snow day that never was

Last week (or the week before, time is running into one, apparently) I was off work, and had intended to go for an early morning run - however I opened my curtains and it was snowing. I hung about for a bit, but then the snow wasn't stopping, so decided to drag my mum out for a walk with my camera, instead. By the time we got to the lake, the snow had stopped and all but melted.
We walked around Virginia Water, up to the hill and the heather garden, then back around to the ruins of Leptis Magna, one of my favourite local ruins, haha. It was cold and brisk, and we made friends with a few puppies and some swans that tried to bite me, before having a cheeky hot dog and burger in the new cafe overlooking the water. It was really nice, but I miss how nice this place is in the spring and summer, I need some life in the trees and a bit more greenery about...

the sun through the trees - part two

There are some things that feel a little better though, like when the sun breaks from behind the grey clouds, you manage to catch the setting sun in the woods, there is a pinecone in your pocket and some twigs in your hair and everything feels alright again. Sometimes it's really good to get out and get dirty, to cake your boots in mood and run through the frozen over puddles on the ground, feeling the ice crack beneath your unsuitable trainers. You forget what date it is, when the sun gets in your eyes and you feel hot for the first time all day; and on the walk home, the bulbs your mother and father planted are poking out of the ground in the garden, there is a red kite crying, somewhere above your head; you can take a deep breath and say that you'll get through it, because you always do.

part one

the sun through the trees - part one

I find winter a hard time - despite my adoration for the all the things I dream of in a winter, like crisp frosty mornings and brisk weekend walks in the sunshine, it always turns out differently. The crisp frosty mornings are less beautiful when walking to work in the dark at 8AM or scraping the ice from your car until your fingers are blue. The sunny Saturday strolls are few and far between in January and you spend a lot more time indoors, looking out at the rain falling, with the wind trying to get in through the cracks in the house than I do out walking in the sunshine. At times like these it's hard to push through without the lure of Christmas to cheer you on, your only hope is that the solstice has passed and that the days are getting longer again, the sun is lingering that little bit more and that soon it will be spring.

part two tomorrow...

a day at the sea - milford-on-sea + lymington (part two)

On Monday I shared with you guys some photos of my recent outing to Milford-on-Sea, in the New Forest, where I went to spend the day with my mum for her birthday. She just want to be by the seaside, and who can blame her really, when the weather turned out to be absolutely amazing by the end of the day. The grey skies cleared and the clouds that were skidding across the sky passed over, and we got the most amazing sun and the temperature really picked up. 

The spit of land in front of you in the photos actually leads out to Hurst Castle, and in the distance is the Isle of Wight. The castle is apparently an old fortress of Henry VIII, and you can read more about that here, but it's somewhere I'd really love to visit. Maybe in the new year it's something I can do, because it'd be really cool to walk along the shingle spit to the castle. Apparently it is prone to erosion, and some of the rocks have come all the way from Norway to stabilise the land there between the solent and the saltmarshes. 

Then as we were leaving, the sun seemed to know it, as the closer we go to the car, the sun drifted back behind the clouds and it was transformed back to the regular grey clouds we were used to. It feels like somewhere really old, and I'm not just saying that in my overly romantic ways, but it feels like a place that will just go on existing long after we're gone, with the same noise of the water lapping in the seaweed, the noise of birds coming in to land on the water and wind in the grasses going on forever.

Okay, so I am being overly sentimental and romantic, but it's a really interesting place that I had no idea existed, and I really want to explore more of..

Let me know in the comments if you've been somewhere similar, particularly if you're in the UK, because I love finding places that I've never been to before, like undiscovered little gems (in my eyes at least.)

a day at the sea - milford-on-sea + lymington (part one)

It was my mums birthday recently - I asked her what she would like to do, and she answered that she wanted to just go to the seaside for the day. A strange request perhaps, but my mum loves all things seasidey and beach related, so it wasn't really that much of a surprise. So we went down to Lymington, in the New Forest, where we perused the market and the little shops and the beautiful Georgian buildings on the high street (I felt like I was back at uni, in Farnham). Afterwards, we went for a walk down at Milford on Sea. The sky was really grey and dark at first, and it felt like such a perfect autumn day, all brisk and cool and windy.

Even though we went there for my mothers birthday, I have to say I was completely in my element, the light was coming through the clouds perfectly. Milford-on-sea is a weird place to go for a walk, the land goes up to a ridge where you can walk along a man-made pebble and rock peninsula to Hurst Castle, but before that you can walk alongside these tidal pools.

It's a really atmospheric place, too, with all the noise from the boat masts ringing, the wind in the grasses along by the water. I've take a load of photographs, it's the first time my new camera has had it's first proper outing, so forgive the mountain of photos! I took so many, in fact, that I'm going to separate them in to two posts, so keep your eye out for those.
Maybe it's just me but I feel like it's such a British thing to go for a walk at the water in the winter, it's really peaceful, generally, and I just enjoy the time I spent there, with family. 

a day in the country: royal berkshire county show

A few weeks ago now I won tickets to the Royal Berkshire County show from the wonderful Ruth over at intoruth.com - I remember seeing her previous blog about it and thinking it was really fun looking day-out, so when I won the tickets I was really psyched. However, things didn't go to plan as such on the day, I had to work until 1PM and it rained! 

However, I did get to stuff my face with bread, sausages, cheese, jams, curds and chutney, ice-cream, flavoured liquors and all other kinds of amazing food. I also got to pet some llamas, watch a guy train one to jump over a fence like horses do, pet many, many, many sheep and goats, admire chickens.. I also got to watch some sheepdog trials, see some show-jumping, and get to see some gigantic bulls being judged. Despite the set-backs, it was an amazing day, obviously the llamas and alpacas were my favourites, they're absolute beauts of animals, so soft and friendly and full of personality, I really cannot wait until I've got my own little bit of land in the future and I can keep one.. 

Anyway, this post is to say a giant thank-you to Ruth, who is fast becoming one of my favourite blogger-friends, for the tickets, and to encourage you all to seek out your county show next year! I was worried it would be full of farmers buying tractors, haha, and although there was a bit of that, there is so much other stuff to see, I'm definitely going to try and keep the day free next year so hopefully I can experience the show a bit better!