Well I’m going to fail a bit in my attempt to bring you caravan chic because in all honesty it wasn’t very chic. As we drove North on Friday we watched the temperature dropping by 1°C for just about every 10 miles that we travelled and when we finally got to the site it was spookily shrouded in a thick mist. It was late, it was cold, we were all tired and as anticipated there was no wi-fi. I have to be honest and say that I couldn’t for the life of me remember why I’d thought it was a good idea to leave our nice warm home and squeeze into a caravan for 4 days.
However, one of the many things I love about my boys is that they’re very resilient in times of gloom and they rallied. They lit all the burners on the gas stove, worked out how to light the gas fire and all the fan heaters, blew all the fuses – spent half an hour finding the fuse box to fix it and discovered that there was a clear 3G signal! As you’ll know if you have boys, they’re a bit like puppies, if they have food, warmth and entertainment they’re generally happy and the one good thing I had done was bring lots of biscuits and chocolate. So within half an hour we were sitting in a toasty van, surrounded by treats with that great sound of rain pattering on the roof and life felt better.
Because it’s tricky finding a way of keeping a 17 year old, 12 year old and 10 year old happy, I had made careful plans for the days that we were there. Saturday was to be a nostalgic trip to Bamburgh beach where they spent many happy hours as tinies rolling down the sand dunes. However, you’ve guessed it, on Saturday morning the rain was drumming rather than pattering on the roof. Mr MC went off on a mission to find a good selection of newspapers to see us through the morning whilst I attempted to cook bacon for 5 on the world’s smallest grillpan which had a smoke alarm placed strategically over the top of it (and right outside the eldest’s bedroom). You can imagine the chaos when Mr MC returned with the alarm going off every 10 seconds, the dog going mad and the eldest growling from his bed. Anyway I fed them, they washed up (the 10 year old thought this was a great new game), they watched rubbish on the TV for the morning whilst I relaxed with the papers and harmony was restored.
In the afternoon we decided to visit another old favourite, Alnwick Castle. If you haven’t been there it’s great. The Percy family still live there (you may remember their daughter getting married last year – it was a big story in the news because William was best man and Kate couldn’t attend because George was due). Anyway I love the fact that you can go into their drawing room which is full of family photos, fur beanbags and the most amazing drinks cabinet I’ve ever seen. Apparently the doors have to be shut at 4.30pm every night so that the ropes and info boards can be removed in time for the family coming back downstairs at 5pm when it turns into their home again – how cool is that! Anyway reminding myself that this is supposed to be about clothes – here’s a pic from the castle grounds:
- Chambray shirt: Top Shop
- Cashmilon jumper: M&S (A/W 13 – 14)
- Jersey quilted bomber jacket: Warehouse (out of stock)
- Relaxed skinny jeans: Next
- Silver ballet pumps: Boden (old)
- Bag: Autograph M&S (A/W 13-14)
- Necklace: Accessorize
After the fun and games with the smoke alarm and the cooker, we deiced to eat out that night and happened upon an amazing Farrow & Ball painted gastro pub where we had one of the best meals any of us could remember eating for ages so all in all things turned out well.
On Sunday we drove up to Berwick-upon-Tweed for a blustery walk around the old town walls and whilst we were there, the sun came out so we then hotfooted it down to Bamburgh for a kamikaze time on the sand dunes. Now I am very passionate about the coastline on my side of the country (the West) but I don’t think anything can beat Bamburgh, I’d forgotten just how beautiful it is.
- Heritage sweatshirt: Barbour
- Relaxed skinny jeans: Next
- Bomber jacket: Warehouse
Unfortunately we could only stay for a couple of hours because we had a long-standing booking at the Treehouse restaurant back at Alnwick castle. This is one of those places that you read about and store away in your mind so I’d been really keen to go there for a long time. It’s great because it is up in the trees
and you approach it by a series of rope bridges which is even great for big kids.
The food was good but the service was very rushed so it was a bit disappointing after our lucky find the night before.
On Bank Holiday Monday, we checked out early and spent the day at various sites along Hadrian’s Wall much to the disgust of my middle son who claimed he would rather be sticking forks in his eyes. The rest of us enjoyed it though. Here’s a pic before we left the campsite – there was no long mirror in the van and I rolled those jeans up too far – it’s really frumpy.
- Long sleeved t-shirt: Gap
- White jeans: Zara (old)
- Silver ballet pumps: Boden
- Birthday necklace: Treaty
So, that was our bank holiday. I don’t think we’d do a caravan again as now the boys are so big and gangly we just need more space but we had fun, it was great to see them unplug from their devices and play with balls and nerfs for hours outside.
As it’s been a while since I’ve posted, here are a few other things I’ve been wearing:
For a meeting last week:
- Blouse: Zara
- Cigarette pants: Banana Republic (old)
- Sixties slingbacks: Boden
- Necklace: Jane Akester Designs
Yesterday for a trip to the cinema (persuaded the boys to see Maleficent – it was really good)
- Heritage shirt: Barbour
- Breton: Tu at Sainsburys
- Relaxed skinny jeans: Next
- Ballet pumps: Boden (old)
- Bangles: Accessorize
- For a day in the office
- Spotty blouse: Boden (A/W 13-14)
- Lena Blazer: Whistles
- Relaxed skinny jeans: Next
- Flat pointed slingbacks: Boden
My eldest looked at the blog the other day and told me I should point out that ! have 4 pairs of the relaxed skinny jeans – I don’t just wear the same ones all the time. He reckoned you’d think I smell!
I hope those of you who are on half term are having fun despite the weather – and those who aren’t are enjoying the lack of traffic. Let me know what you’ve been up to – it’s great to hear how people fill the week.
