The half-way point of the holidays..

It has taken me longer than I expected to get over the loss of little Queenie. The children seemed to bounce back just a few days after we lost her but I brooded and often sat on the bench overlooking her grave. My sister sent me St John's Wort. It's working. (Ta sis)

The other three cade lambs are now huge. Where once they would bleat a delightful hello, now they cry out for us with deep baaas as we pass their latest electrified enclosure. Nowadays these tones sound more like the voices of choirboys well past their sell-by date.

The holidays are progressing well. We three have been camping in Wales and this time we had fantastic weather and a fantastic site. The 7yo was amazed. After last year (where we all spent more time honing our card skills while the rain  drowned out the sound of our portable speakers..) the boy had decreed that he would never camp again and instead would go to work with Daddy. Daddy was horrified, there's only so much slave labour the boy would tolerate before asking to use the fork lift a thousand times a minute! Eventually I insisted and boy came with me, reluctantly.

I found the campsite online and it seemed decent enough. It was near Pennal in the Dyfi Valley and close to Aberdyfi beach. Gwerniago farm Camping is just what we wanted; a small site with enough space for the sproglets to run about without driving other campers potty, decent showers and not to far from the beach. This campsite ticked all the boxes and after the sprogs helped set up the tent they were off marauding with similarly minded sprogs - a weird experience at first for me, being abandoned by one's children, but one I could deffo get used to!

I was much better at packing this year. Last year I took the kitchen sink and spent my time rearranging stuff to make room for us! This year I was more organised. I took essentials and easy prep food. The children insisted on that gourmet of foods (reserved only for camping I hasten to add) Smash. Do you remember the ads in the 1970s? Hilarious. See them again here.

We took our trusty bucket BBQ but most pitches had an open camp fire already, lovely to sit around in the evening with marshmallows on sticks. Still, our BBQ is easy to cook over in pot or frying pan and the 9yo managed to prep, cook and eat 8 pancakes one morning while the 7yo warmed his tinned sausage and beans. Cordon Bleu here we come.

We had some delicious meals, made all the better for the 9yo and the 7yo cooking them. I found a book at the library which was rather fun and it gave me some ideas - The Camping Cookbook. It also gave me a laugh at times, being that Annie Bell the author, must have been cooking all the time while her friends and family had a great camping holiday with restaurant quality food! In any case my children seemed amazed that I was happy for them to cook over the fire and, supervised, there were no accidents. Suddenly it seems the children are really growing up.

Aberdyfi is amazing, made all the better by the gorgeous weather. We crabbed, beached, ice creamed and generally chilled. Such a shame Daddy was at work, he's our expert crabber!

Probably one of the best sights was the 9yo engrossed in a book. To date, reading hasn't really been something she's been interested in, she's more sporty and creative. Suddenly she seems to have added reading to her repertoire and loves to tell you of characters she loves and plots she's enjoying. I'm so pleased.

Seasonal Change.....

Autumn has arrived for sure. We've already dipped into the 'below zero' temperatures overnight thanks to the cloudless, beautiful sunny days. The moons have been awesome; Harvest moons with twinkling stars. There's no street lighting around The Larches so on some nights the dark sky is alive with diamonds. I must get a book on the stars, check out where E.T. lives.

We've had some pretty interesting fungi in the garden. No revolting comments on the body part one, OK?

I took the cosmos plants out of my big pots outside the front door. It was getting pretty difficult to pass them as they barred your way with gorgeous colour. Although they weren't spent, they were looking tired but I didn't have the heart to put them on the bonfire so I planted them in the garden. They've had a second wind, bursting with buds. Clearly the pots were way too dry for them.

I've a new planting scheme in the pots now; 10ft pampas grasses, blue geranium and primula, all half-inched relocated from the garden.

It's been great having mini bonfires in the garden with the sproglets. Toasting marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate is just what Autumn dictates.

An Introduction to Camping

I love camping, the romantic version; the one excluding washing up or a wee in the middle of the night. So, ignoring all bad bits, I pushed my rose-tinted specs up a bit higher on my nose and announced to la famille that we were going proper camping, (and not just in our own field!) The 7yo and the 5yo have never been camping before but husband has, he immediately excused himself, pretending he had to work! Good one! To be fair it does pay the bills. Undaunted, I set about borrowing equipment from my sister and began the hunt for a camp site near to the mid Welsh coast.

I felt so smug when I spied a gem of a site AND, billy-bonus, they had space for us.

It was three hours drive to camp, almost as long as it took to pack the car! But it was so worth it: In a little village that couldn't even boast a pub, a white washed cottage lay in ten acres. Each pitch was mowed into a figure eight; a big circle for your tent, a small circle containing a fire pit for warmth or cooking.

We had an absolute ball: The whole camp came together the first night to sing songs around a camp fire, to cook popcorn and melt mallows. We made FIRE at our own pitch, always a big hit with kids, and I caramelised sausages (OK, I burned them a bit!) but we invented Double Chocolate Chip Melted Mallows.... yuuuuummmmmmy, and soon the charcoal taste went away.

The weather was fab, always a help, and the beaches stunning. Check out our snaps. Thank you Naturebase Holidays for a safe, wonderful, child-friendly time.








Tired after a long beach day..... so looking forward to caramelised sausages!