Category: travel

Herefordshire heritage

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I had a lovely time a few weeks back when I was staying at the Hereford Caravan and Camping Club site.

There are lots of Trust properties in that area so I was pleased that I managed to visit two as well as Leominster for the embroidery exhibition.

The first of two that I went to in one day was Croft Castle. Like Dunster, in Somerset, this started life as a castle and was then modified into a family home.

The family had close links with the court of Elizabeth 1st, so there were some wonderful portraits in the entrance hall.

One of the exhibits was a, ‘Croft Cloth’, that was made in 2018 to celebrate the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, which gave more people the vote.

The cloth has oak leaves with the names of staff, volunteers and visitors, this being the symbol of the Trust. I love collaborative projects like these, reminiscent of the signature quilts from Victorian era fundraisers.

There was also some interesting embroidery in the form of a collage featuring the castle done in 1960 by Frances Kay.

There were some stunning ceiling and wall decorations that I will add to my possible future designs for needlework, these would look amazing in white work.

The other visit was to Berrington Hall, a Georgian property with a surprise textile treasure.

A dress owned by one of the Georgian occupants of the house, Ann Bangham, was acquired at auction and there is a display of the dress and its construction.

The dress consists of many parts so the textile historians had to reconstruct it. It dates from the late 1700s.

As well as this very good interpretation there is a room devoted to a display by the needlework volunteers who each created their own version of the missing stomacher.

It is brilliant to see so much information about these wonderful people. Often there is no information and little credit given to the volunteers who also produce such high quality garments for visitors to dress in at the house.

The detail on the embroidered jacket here is wonderful, well done to all who contributed to this collection.

I shall be back as soon as I can as I have lots more to share with you. The app for mobile is very slow and as I have only limited WiFi as well posts take a long time to do. Meanwhile I hope that you have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

A whole lotta love …. for Katy Kangoo

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I have just been to my very first vanlife festival, Slumber on the Humber. This is a new festival for this year, with a focus on mental health and raising money for Mind.

It has been an absolutely amazing experience, in every respect. The festival was only a small one, but brilliantly organised with music from local artists on two stages all weekend, a market and an excellent wellness tent, where I took part in a drumming session which was brilliant.

It was great to meet up with some of the women from my campervan Facebook groups, who I have previously met at Upton and App Fest. I also met so many other wonderful people.

I had applied to be in the show field as I wanted to let people know what you can do with a small van and an even smaller budget. I was a bit nervous when I turned up on Thursday, especially as there were some really amazing vans there.

There were only two microcampers there, myself and a Fiat Doblo, named the Blue Midget.

I was parked in between a jeep in camouflage and a very large overland truck so there couldn’t have been more of a contrast between the vans. I said to the owner of the jeep that it looked like he was Action Man and I was Barbie.

Some of the people were full time in their vans and many others weekend users. Like many van owners there were lots that had been people’s lockdown projects, in itself a great boost to their mental health during that time, to have a positive focus that they are now really enjoying.

I also met Martha and the Van Dwellers, who travel with their two dogs and a cat. They have a stunning zebra decorated van.

I was really excited to be near Florry The Lorry. I have been following Katherine and Chris for a while on Facebook and was so keen to see the lorry in real life. It is an incredible home, and even has a bath! Go and look at their pictures on Facebook.

They were so welcoming and invited me to join them around their campfire which was really nice, as I got to know them and my neighbour Paul, in the truck. He has a You Tube channel called Off Grid Nomad, which I’m looking forward to watching.

There were also a family, four girls and their parents who converted an old bus into a home and moved in last October. Their aim is to save on rent and eventually be able to buy some land for a tiny house build. I love that van life can enable people to do that. They have a Facebook and YouTube called, ‘Six in a bus’, if you want to follow them.

Everyone was so nice about Katy and I know that I have inspired a few other women to kit out their own vans as well. People were very complimentary about the needlework, and the use of space. It was so lovely to meet so many people who understand how I feel about having a van and being able to travel.

There were lots of large lorries there as well. One of my favourites was the one with a tailgate that turns into a garden with astro turf and table and chairs. The red van is being developed by a young couple into a home complete with a garage for a motorbike.

I know that vanlife won’t be the answer to everyone’s housing issues, or mental health concerns, but there is no doubt that it has given a lot of people somewhere to live, a way to retire early, something to work on, a way to travel and that can’t be a bad thing can it?

At my first music festival with Jacky about 6 years ago I was listening to a song by an artist called Doozer McDooze. It was called, ‘ I don’t wanna go home, I wanna stay like this forever ‘. It was about that feeling when you have been at a festival and are so happy, you really don’t want to have to pack up go home and go back to work on Monday.

The lovely thing is that I don’t, I just get to move on to another great location. I am now a few miles down the coast in Lincolnshire, at Mablethorpe. I am looking forward to some beach walks and possibly seeing some seals, in the local sanctuary as it is the wrong time of year for them to be here in the wild.

I am also very excited that my friend Sharon, from Marsden, is coming to join me for the weekend. She wants to buy a campervan so is testing out some to decide what she wants. She has rented one and will be arriving on Friday.

I will be back later in the week with updates on the Trust properties I visited in Herefordshire. Until then have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Leominster, a history in stitches

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I spent most of last week at a beautiful campsite near Hereford.

I had chosen this site as there were a lot of things that I didn’t get to see last year in this area, and one of those was an embroidered history of the town of Leominster that I had seen mentioned in a tourist brochure last year.

The embroidery is housed in a community centre which in itself is well worth a visit. Grange Court dates from the 1600s and was once located in the centre of the town where it was the market hall.

It was sold in 1855, dismantled and moved to its current site near the Priory. It was a family home and is now used for many different community purposes, including a cafe and wedding venue.

The embroidery panels were done by a local group of stitchers and were made over 4 years by 15 stitchers in time for the Queen’s Jubilee in 2012.

They feature a wide variety of techniques such as crewel work trapunto and applique. Some are themed, such as the history of the Priory, or WW2, others summarise the events of one century.

There was some amazing work in the panels, I think my favourite were the early history ones that featured wool work and applique.

I also loved the trapunto ones, featuring stonework from the Priory and the woodwork details of the market.

A really wonderful labour of love from the embroiderers and a very special way of portraying the local history.

We had a lovely weekend at the Evesham event, it was raining on the Saturday but nice and sunny in Sunday and we had the miracle of a dry pack down.

It was also brilliant to see all of the talented people who make all their own clothes for events. Dave, in the black below, also does leatherwork. You can find him at Buffy Leatherwork on Facebook and Instagram. He had made things for film and TV including the recent movie about Richard 3rd, The Lost King.

These boxes above were made by my other friend, also called Dave. He also made and painted the bed in their tent. They are absolutely stunning, museum quality.

I will leave you with one of my favourite pictures, of me and Kerry in her tent. She is wearing one of her beautiful gowns, which is a wonderful red and gold in real life. I do love the sepia version of the picture though.

I am off to another festival this weekend, where Katy is in the show field, so I am very excited about that. I will then be in Lincolnshire for nearly two weeks so hopefully will have lots of long beach walks and even see some seals.

Until next time have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Dunster and the delights of Devon….featuring roads I will only ever drive on once!

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I do tend to base many of my holidays around National Trust properties, and although this was primarily booked for the coast and moorland, I have been making good use of my membership again.

A couple of days ago I went to Dunster Castle which has a lovely little village below it, and a very interesting history, having originally been a fortified castle from the time of William the Conqueror and survived the Civil War to now be a very impressive former family home.

There was not a huge amount of textile loveliness but I did find this wonderful quilt, made of silks and satins, probably Victorian looking at the fabric.

As well as the interior, featuring Elizabeth and plaster ceilings, Jacobean carved staircases and all the lovely things you would expect to find in a house in almost continuous occupation for 1000 years, there was an amazing garden and Riverside walk, ending at a working watermill.

I love hydrangeas, the colours and shapes are so amazing, and there were so many of them.in the castle gardens.

I have become slightly obsessed with English cottage gardens as well. All this time amongst the bougainvillea and cactus has made me really appreciate the very delicate flowers that were growing in this memorial garden in Dunster Village.

The garden was in the grounds of the old priory, next to the Tithe Barn and a fascinating dovecote dating from the 13th century that had space for 500 pigeons, all bred for eating.

Yesterday I drove across the border into Devon again, to visit the Valley of the Rocks. The coastal path runs along here and the views are amazing.

The rock formations look like ruins of castles themselves.

There are wild goats that live here, one family of which was perched on a ledge so high above the sea.

To get there I had to put on my big girl pants and drive up Porlock Hill, 25% slopes and so many sharp bends!!! I also happened to be following the coastal bus.

Katy and I did really well but I did opt for the route back across Exmoor with slightly flatter roads, stunning views and only the odd sheep and cow in the road. Since I started learning to drive in Marsden that is something I am very used to.

I only have one more day here before I go to my first festival. A few days of meeting other van people and hopefully chilling listening to blues in a sunny field.

I will be back soon with a new location, spending a couple of days in between festivals at a childhood day out location pretending I am 12 again. Until then good bye from my sunny campsite.

Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

England’s green and pleasant land

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Well I am off on my travels again, at the first campsite of many this summer, fingers crossed. I have had an excellent if a little damp time at the Tewkesbury Medival Festival, and was lucky enough to have a dry couple of hours yesterday to pitch up here in North Somerset.

I am just outside Minehead, on the edge of the Exmoor National Park, with excellent views over the bay.

The campsite is on a very large hill with lots of walks along the coast and views of the moorland so I am looking forward to lots more outdoor adventures.

The forecast is not brilliant but I have got a great vantage point for cloud watching and it doesn’t get to be so green here without a bit of rain!

The heather is still in bloom, along with gorse and I love the way that the raindrops get caught in the spider’s webs.

It is great to be back in such a different landscape, I love Spain but this is such an amazing area, with such different foliage.

There are woods with trees that seem to have eyes, whose roots cover the walls, and walls so old you can hardly see them for the moss on them.

I was very excited on my walk this morning as I came across some beautiful Exmoor wild ponies. We saw some on Dartmoor a couple of years ago and they are amazing.

My Mum bought me an excellent book for my birthday, written by someone who spent years walking the Cairngorms. It is a really detailed piece of nature writing and is a great read while I am camping.

I have also treated myself to this book above so will enjoy sitting in the reading nook, with the new lap quilt and chilling.

There are lots of rabbits on this campsite, as well as squirrels so am looking forward to some excellent relaxation

As well as blog posts I have also set up a separate Instagram for my travels, as that will be easier more regularly, especially when I don’t have much signal. If you would like to follow that it is @KatyKangoo

I am here for two weeks and have lots of museum and heritage visits planned, as well as more of the spectacular coastline, so I will see you again soon.

Take care, have fun, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Days out with Rosa and Dave!

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We have two excellent coach companies here that do day trips and longer tours and we use them a lot, especially when we have visitors. Not only are they great value for money, the drivers are very good at navigating the often winding mountain roads around here! Rosa Tours and Dave’s Coaches both offer more or less the same trips, but often on different days. They always have knowledgeable guides who also tell you more about the history of the places you are visiting.

Murcia is a beautiful city about an hour inland from here. Like many Spanish cities it is a combination of Art Deco and classical buildings, and Islamic inspired water gardens.

It also has a cathedral with a very ornate Baroque frontage, and a wonderful chapel with the most intricate carved stonework. It is just amazing to think of the hours of work it took to make this. I love the way the light comes through the windows.

I always like to take pictures looking up, to see the contrast between the stonework and sky.

The Bishops’ Palace was open as well and I loved the stonework and arches here. Also some good inspiration for more blackwork designs.

Possibly the most awe inspiring building is the Casino, which in Spain means gentleman’s club. The building is stunning throughout, but it is the entrance hall, which is modelled on the Alhamabra in Granada, that is the most amazing.

The flamingo ironwork in the reading room was really unusual. This year we have more flamingos than ever as they are now staying here year round and nesting so there are hundreds of them on the salt lakes.

Sharon and I also discovered a very lovely haberdashery shop that I will definitely return to. The décor was brilliant, we loved the Darth Vader sewing mural ! The shop is called La Mercerie Café Buton if you are in the area.

A few days later we went up into the mountains. Sadly it rained a lot on the part of the visit to the waterfalls so no nice pictures from there, we sat in the café overlooking the falls rather than climbing up. Thankfully the weather cleared for the second part of the trip to the mountain village of Guadalest, famous for its castle, tiny chapel and views of the amazing turquoise water in the reservoir below.

The clouds made the photos extra dramatic and I love the contrast between the water and the sky.

There are also always coach trips to see the fiestas, which is especially helpful as then you don’t have to worry about parking. We were at the Fiesta of St John in Alicante last weekend, which celebrates the birth of the saint, and the midsummer solstice. The Fogueres festival consists of beautiful sculptures which are created from polystyrene all over the city. At midnight on the last day there are fireworks, and then all of the sculptures are set alight in huge bonfires, which you can one of in the last picture. People then party long into the night.

I do love a good fiesta, or festival, anything where people are enjoying themselves, and it is great to people watch. The Spanish really know how to party, and there were bands, dancing and firecrackers going off everywhere.

I am so looking forward to a summer of festivals in the UK as well, I have 3 music ones to go to, none of which I have been to before. I am excited about making new friends from my campervan Facebook group, might just be taking a few campervan pics for you 😉 and continuing to live the dream.

I have just celebrated the second anniversary of my retirement, it has gone so quickly, and been so amazing. I still can’t quite believe that I don’t ever have to go back to the busy summers I used to have with endless marking and recruitment. I can just spend all of my time planning more adventures. I am so lucky 🙂

This will be my last post from Spain so I will see you next on the road, somewhere in the South West of England. Hope you have a good couple of weeks until I next post, as always, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Lesser known Venice, and floor to ceiling awe

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As I mentioned in my previous posts we were able to see lots of things that people maybe miss in Venice, including some of the lesser known museums.

Our museum pass included the gorgeous Palazzo Mocenigo, which houses The Study Centre for the History of Textiles, as you can imagine a prime location for me! The palace itself was beautiful with some wonderful paintings of scenes from Venetian life with such a focus on costume.

However, the most amazing thing was the small room with 18th century embroidered waistcoats. We just came round a corner to see all of this splendour!

These are just incredible, especially when you consider the hours that each must have taken to embroider.

They also had a small display of kimonos, proving again that culture spreads so rapidly through fashion. These were in a section about casual wear around the house.

We also visited Casa Goldoni, which is the house of one of the most famous 19th century playwrights, Carlo Goldoni. This was a small museum but very interesting, including this sack back dress, particularly the lace on the dress which referenced back to our previous museum visit at Burano. Goldoni wrote about fashion in some of his plays which makes him a great source for textile historians and he was referenced in the Burano Lace Museum’s interpretation.

It was also great to see inside what is a fairly typical Venetian house with its internal ground floor courtyard and stairs leading to the living area.

As well as Burano we visited the island of Murano, which is famous for glass making. The museum there was excellent, with fascinating displays of how they make the millefiori glass, using tiny tubes of individual colours. Again there was very good use of video in the museum’s interpretation.

There was also an art exhibition, by Simon Berger, called Shattering Beauty. I am not usually a fan of modern art but this was absolutely stunning, not only in the technique used of carefully breaking glass to create faces, but also in the inspiration for the technique, which came when he saw a shattered windscreen from a car accident. I loved the way he had thought about the images and the use of the cubes and reflection, so you got to see yourself at the same time.

Other wanders included a trip to the Arsenale, which takes up a large proportion of the island. This was the old shipyard, which is still in operation today as a naval base.

Many of the paintings that we saw earlier in the week featured this area, and the incredible amount of ship building that was done here, which made Venice such an important naval power. This is a painting done by one of my favourite artists, Canaletto, that I found on Wikipedia, which shows you how it would have looked in 1793.

Although you can’t go inside, you can wander all around the walls and appreciate the scale of the place. This map from All About Learn, dated 1797, is wonderful for its detail of all of the vessels being built there.

On our last day we took the number 1 vaporetto out to its final stop, the island of Lido. We had seen this from across the bay all week, and I really wanted to go and visit.

It has a completely different feel to the other islands of Venice, there are long sandy beaches and lots of gorgeous hotels and houses on wide streets. We loved it and would encourage you to go if you can to see a different side of the city.

Our final visit was to the very famous, and much visited, St Peter’s Basilica. It is a truly remarkable building, the scale of the gold mosaics and architecture just incomparable.

The floors also fascinated me, their sheer complexity and attention to detail was stunning, so much inspiration as well for textile creation!

Venice, you were wonderful, thank you. I probably will not go back, just because there are about a million other cities I need to visit, but you are beautiful and unique, and I hope that going forward tourism does not have too a severe impact on your future.

I shall be back in a few days hopefully, with an update on what I have been doing here. It has been a very busy, but lovely week, temperatures are around 30 degrees so there have been plenty of visits to the pool in and amongst my textile endeavours. Until then have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Textile miracles

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I am often witness to some amazing things that I see people making, or have made, in my travels to museums, or in my own groups. It always amazing me how people can turn sticks and wool, or just one little stick with a hook, into the most gorgeous pieces of art.

Lacemaking is, to me, the highest form of these miracles, probably due to its complexity and the sheer amount of labour that goes into each piece. Added to that the fact that I can’t do it and that always makes them seem more complicated!

I had been waiting to post about our recent visit to the Venice Lace Museum, in Burano, until our own brilliant Lace Day, here in Spain was over, so that I could post pictures of both things.

You may remember that I first went to Lace Day last year. Vivienne in our sewing group is an amazing lace maker, and we had a workshop led by her in the group as well in November. It was a brilliant day once again, not only seeing the work of the other groups, but also the beautiful crocheted sunshades everywhere in the park.

It was also wonderful to spend time with my friends from my knitting and sewing groups. I know that I may have said it before, but I am so pleased to have met these wonderful women, who have become very good friends over the last two years. There is just something about people who craft that make them my kind of people 😉

The Lace Museum on the island of Burano was the second lace museum that I have visited, the first being the one at Nottingham Castle. This museum was housed in the school of lace that was opened in 1872, located in an old Palazzo. I particularly like the old sign for the school displayed on the wall here.

It is is very well interpreted museum, with a small display area that changes periodically. It looks not only at the techniques of lace making, but also the social and historical context of lace in fashion.

They also have a brilliant map in the entrance showing different lace from around the world and the coolest lockers of any museum I have visited!

Quite a lot of the interpretation is through video, which was excellent, and this is complemented by the wonderful pieces in the display cases.

As you know I am a little bit obsessed with seeing the wonderful people behind the craft, so it was brilliant to see these local ladies portrayed in the video, and learn about their work with groups of children.

I loved the fact that there were, not only pieces of lace, but some actual garments, such as this dress and wedding dress with veil.

I also loved these little baby bootees!

There were also patterns, dating from different eras, and paintings of people wearing garments with lace.

The earliest samples in the exhibition were from the late 16th century. Not only are they wonderful, but the fact that they have survived so long is amazing.

There were also lots of samples from the 1700 and 1800 hundreds showing different types of lace, such as bobbin lace, and lace stitched on tulle.

The island of Burano is one that is much visited, as it is famous for its beautiful painted houses.

You can also buy lots of small samples of machine made lace on the island, and purchase larger pieces of hand made work.

The Lace Museum was really quiet, so it is sad that more people don’t go as it is a fascinating part of Venice’s history. It is very centrally located in one of the main squares and is very much worth a visit, as is the island itself.

The advice given that I referred to in my last post, about more sustainable tourism in Venice recommends visiting the outer islands and less popular places and we were lucky enough to see lots of those, which I will tell you more about in a future post.

I am currently working on finishing up a pair of knitted reindeer for one of my friends at knitting group. Lots of little ends to sew in! I have also just got onto the hand quilting stage of the Liberty lap quilt. My wadding has arrived and I have done some of the basting. I have had fun choosing which colours of perle to use for each square.

I am running a workshop this week at sewing group doing some hand embroidery with perle thread and some of the designs I have collected over the years. I will take some pictures of that and share them at the end of the week. My friend Sarah, from Marsden, gifted me some small hoops a while ago, so everyone will be able to make a little framed picture to hang somewhere.

The weather has thankfully settled here and we are having lovely sunny days so I am going to the pool a lot. I can’t believe that in a few weeks time I will be celebrating 2 years of retirement 🙂 It has flown by and I am loving every minute of it. Who wouldn’t? Time to study, to craft, to write my novel, making new friends, and being pain free enough to enjoy exercise and life generally is so brilliant.

I feel so very blessed and am conscious that there are so many people who never have that opportunity. Like most of us, as we get older there are more friends who die far too young, and I am feeling incredibly grateful that I have had this time, and determined to make every single day count.

I hope that you are too, and that you are all having a happy life. Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Venice, palazzos, pizzas and more

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Our recent trip to Venice was very interesting, and not just for all the usual reasons such as the stunning scenery and the delicious food. Yes, there was all that in abundance, however there was also a chance to think about the city in its modern context, not just as a fascinating historical city.

One of the things that I remember seeing in lockdown was photos of dolphins swimming in clear waters in the canals of Venice as the tourists were not there, and consequently there was not the constant traffic of vaporettos, water taxis, ferries and gondolas.

The Grand Canal is amazing, and I loved looking at all of palazzos as we passed and wondering about all the people who had built them and lived in them over the centuries.

Venice is one of the most visited cities in the world, with over 25 million individual visits in 2019 and the pandemic and the restarting of travel has prompted Venetians and others to try and think differently about the city.

There are around 250,000 residents in the greater Venice area and only 55,000 who live on the main island. The population is shrinking by around a thousand a year, partly because properties get sold for tourist purposes rather than being affordable for locals.

I was glad that we had already planned lots of the things that are recommended to make travel there more sustainable. We were staying for a week, when many visits to the city are for just a day, especially from people on cruises.

That makes the central areas, such as St Mark’s Square above, very crowded, and also does not benefit the whole of the city as much. One of the arguments for tourism is always the economic benefit that it brings so I was pleased that we had the chance to visit the more outlying parts of the lagoon in our time there.

I knew that Venice was in danger of degrading, but had not really considered what I as a visitor could do about it. However reading information left at the apartment, and later some websites and books about Venice, made me think about my trip in a different way. I travel not just to look at wonderful things, but also to learn about the places that I visit, and this holiday really made me think.

We also stayed on the outskirts of the main island, a decision made out of practicality for us, as I remember the difficulty of finding our hotel last time, but one which is recommended by those who are trying to save Venice from becoming overloaded.

We had the most gorgeous apartment, Apartment Ganeo, in an area called Sant Elena, situated in a beautiful and quiet wooded area, but still on the main No 1 vaporetto route.

That meant that we could use the local facilities there such as the little shops, and three excellent restaurants and bars minutes from our apartment, that served the most delicious pizzas. I can heartily recommend Vincent Bar for the food, hospitality and the view, as we also got to enjoy some amazing sunsets over the Grand Canal.

We also got a chance to see some of what real life was like for the residents of Venice. Being in a more normal part of Venice, where we were finding out about how the rubbish is collected, (door to door each morning and you sort your recyclables before collection), really makes you think about your individual impact as a tourist.

I came across this book in one of the museums and downloaded the Kindle version when I got back. Reading something like this makes you think far more about the impact of mass tourism, especially in such a small city. I love to travel, obviously, and live in an area of a country famous for mass tourism, so it is good for me to think about what I do, both here and when I go away, so that my travel can be as beneficial as possible for everyone.

I have also ordered Jan Morris’ book about the history of Venice to read, which will be waiting for me when I return to the UK.

One of the things that we did was buy a museum pass, and that meant that we visited museums that we not have otherwise, as there were eleven included. This meant we visited some of the smaller, and less well know ones, as well as the wonderful Doges’ Palace pictured below.

That gave us a really good sense of the history of Venice in many different aspects, as well as the chance to admire some truly splendid ceilings, such as these in the Correr Museum!

On the top floor of the modern art gallery in Ca’ Pesaro is the Museum of Oriental Art , there was an amazing collection of Asian weapons, art and lacquerware. It was fascinating to see this, especially having just visited Japan.

I will share some more of the museums in a future post as there were some really exciting textile finds, as well as wonderful medieval art and maps in the Correr Museum.

I appreciate that by visiting Venice I may be considered part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. However I was glad to know that my impact might have been more beneficial than other types of stay. It is good to be aware of these aspects and was something that I will definitely apply to my future travels.

My friends who were visiting me in Spain have now all left. I have had a brilliant ten days and despite dire forecasts the weather was fine most of the time. It is a really hot day today, so I am getting all of my washing dried and planning an afternoon sewing quilt blocks, possibly followed by another trip to the pool if the forecast rain does not appear this afternoon.

I hope that you have had a lovely week, and are enjoying sunny weather and the Bank Holiday if you are in the UK. Whatever you are doing enjoy it, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Micro camper heaven

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There are many things that I knew the Japanese were famous for. I had already heard from Jake about the wonderful convenience stores, I knew that the toilets were very futuristic, and that the metro system was clean, efficient and well organised.

I did know a little bit about campervans in Japan, as two of my favourite bloggers Travel Beans, and Kinging It, have been there recently and hired campers.

However, I was not expecting to actually see any while we were there. I did see so many of the cute little cars that lots of people have in the city. I took some pictures of these in the car park when we went to our woodland walk in Kamakura. How cute are they?

I kept saying to my children that they would make great campers, and we did actually come across this gorgeous pink camper with a cute vintage front grille in the village at the start of the walk.

Then we were on our way to a lovely park during one of our explorations of the outer areas of Tokyo and came across an outdoor exhibition full of campers!

I was in heaven. I admit to being slightly, (very?), obsessed with campervans, even after years of researching before I got mine, and having the excitement of getting things sorted in her. I am still watching You Tube videos, looking at Facebook posts, and generally geeking out over all types of vans.

These were incredible. The design and workmanship in these little vans was just stunning. This is my all time favourite, just look at all of that beautiful layout, it looks so high quality and comfortable.

I was very impressed by this one, with a roof tent which meant that they could use the rear space for a bath!

Not that I would consider a roof tent for me. Aside from the very high cost, I need to be able to get out at night for trips to the facilities and would probably fall down the ladder, so a tent at ground level is a far better option.

I also saw a lovely couple of very high spec larger vans when we went to visit a shopping centre. These are similar size to the new VW vans but are much better kitted out inside. This one even had a microwave.

These cost around £25,000. So when I win the lottery I am going to go back to Japan, buy one of these, travel around for a few months, then have it shipped back to the UK. Conveniently they drive on the left as well.

We were at the shopping centre to see another of the marvels of Japanese culture, not a campervan, but a giant robot. These are called Gundam, there are four large versions of these in Japan and China. They come from an animated series which has been around since 1979.

This one is 40 feet high and every hour lights up and moves a little, which is very impressive. It looks brilliant at night as well.

This one is called the Unicorn Gundum, due to the horn, and within the shopping centre is one of the main Gundam model stores, with hundreds of versions of these.

You buy most in kit form, and they have areas where you can go and build your kit with help from the staff. Jake has had many of these in his time, and when he got to Japan one of the first things he did was go and visit this giant one.

Oh and the toilets, they are amazing as well. Combining toilet and bidet, with most having a privacy noise selection as well, so that you can have sounds of running water and birdsong while you use it, they have more controls than most washing machines. That is another thing that I am buying when I win the lottery 😉

I hope that you have had a good couple of weeks. I have had a very lovely time with my friend Sharon, from Marsden, visiting. We have been on some great coach trips and over on the boat to Tabarca. This is a tiny island off the coast that I have posted about before.

Unfortunately the weather here is very unseasonably wet at the moment, and I have another friend arriving today, so we may not be able to do all that we planned. We are actually forecast rain for a whole week, which is unheard of in May 😦 However this friend, Sue, spends her time living between Yorkshire and Scotland, so is used to a bit of the wet stuff!

I will be back next week when I can share with you some of the photos from my recent birthday trip with Mum. We went to Venice, which was brilliant. We have both been before, just for a day, and loved the chance to explore more. There were many gorgeous textiles there, including a whole museum devoted to lace!

See you all soon then and have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.