THE CHERISHED HAS MOVED!.

Hi there, 

My blog and all it's content has now moved to

 

www.thecherished.co.uk 

I would love it if you would join me there! 

Amy

xx

Monday Sunshine

It's Monday morning and for once I'm not unhappy about getting out of bed! I'm looking forward to this week. I've got lots in the diary and hopefully we're at the beginning of a new, more positive phase in our lives. I'm heading over to Cardiff this morning as much as I'm getting used to and enjoying more of the country life, there is a part of me craving to be in the city albeit for a few hours. I'm hoping the weather forecast is correct because when the sun shines onto the magnificent buildings of Cardiff, the city is taken to a whole new level of beauty.

It's also Bath in Fashion week and I'm hoping to get to a few of the events. There are some exciting looking workshops, an array of talks and of course catwalks put on by some major brands. I'm particularly excited to be taking Megan to an evening with Julien Macdonald on Thursday night. He is one of my favourite designers, being Welsh of course helps and will be talking in The Assembly Rooms with renowned fashion writer Colin McDowell, MBE. The fact that he has dressed many of the worlds major stars and is a favourite of Taylor Swift helps, but Megan will be studying Fashion and Textiles for GCSE and loves him almost as much as I do. I think I may be racking up major mum points this week! There are full listings of all the events on and some tickets remaining HERE.

Friday I'm looking forward to meeting up with Tamsin from Half a Dozen for Dinner for a cuppa and to chat all things blogging. Tamsin is new to this online community but her blog is beautiful and she bakes the most amazing cakes and desserts! Head on over to her blog or Facebook page HERE. In between, there's plenty of new content to be produced and some exciting things to share with you soon, so here's to a productive and (hopefully) sunny week!

Amy

xx

Linking up with IBOT

#CityCountryLife // Life Lately - Ston Easton Park

The kids were back to school on Monday and it's only today that I feel like I may be getting back to normal! The hustle and bustle of the last few months and the school holidays finally caught up with me and unexpectedly I came to a stand still last week due to an almighty fibro flare up. I've been lucky in that it's the first time in a good while that I've been bed ridden, but I'd somehow forgotten how painful and frustrating a flare actually is. During those few days I was once again crushed by the pain and the feeling of helplessness and guilt of not being able to do anything. The good news is that it didn't last as long as normal and I am up and about again already (although by the afternoon I am once again ready for bed). It also made me think once again about our situation and how best to plan for times when my illness takes over; over the next week or so I'm going to have a mass cooking session to make sure that there is an array of healthy meals in the freezer which can be easily defrosted and put in the oven.

It also means that I am even more pleased that the weather has been so beautiful over the last day or so. I've made the most of working outside and the dogs have loved being in the garden all day and sunbathing on the patio. I'm hoping that the forecast is not correct for this afternoon and the rain doesn't return because as I'd really like to get a takeaway coffee and sit on the Cathedral green this afternoon!

Dodging the rain seemed to be the story of the Easter holidays, it was constantly a question of "shall we risk going out?" but I'm glad that we risked it and were able to spend some time out in our beautiful surroundings and the fresh air. Easter Sunday was one such gamble that paid off! After becoming downhearted at the thought of spending the day indoors we saw a break in the rain and hail and made a dash to Ston Easton Park. Although it is just down the road from us, we had never explored the grounds and the Easter Day Dog Treat Hunt provided us with the perfect opportunity to walk around some of the 36 acres.

The hotel is known as one of the most luxurious in Somerset and the grounds didn't disappoint either. The dogs and kids enjoyed hunting out the dog treats but although there were plenty of other dogs running around and into the water, we decided to keep ours on the lead as they are very excitable and can't be trusted not to run off! The weather was absolutely beautiful and you would never had believed the Arctic conditions we had woken to that morning. The sun showed no sign of disappearing which meant we were able to wear the dogs out and the fresh air was most definitely appreciated after a few days of cabin fever.

The Dog Treat Hunt was free with an optional donation to the Bath Cats and Dogs Home, which we definitely wanted to support with both of our dogs being rescues. It was nice to do something other than the traditional Easter Egg hunt and we just managed to escape the rain which returned as we drove home! The rest of the day was spent watching the Boat Races with a lovely roast and looking at other events on the Ston Easton Park website! I would love to stay at the hotel for a night and Afternoon Tea is definitely on the cards!

Amy

xx

Linking up with #CityCountryLife 

Lambing at Lackham Farm

The last few weeks have seen me coming around to country life a bit more. On sunnier, warmer days like today, I've really looked forward to afternoon walks with the dogs. The birds are singing, flowers are popping open and lambs are bleating in the surrounding farms. It's so nice to be wearing sunglasses (not that they went anywhere over winter though) and to be able to walk around without a coat. Spring in the countryside is beautiful!

Saturday this past weekend was no such day; coats, hats and gloves were most definitely needed as the clouds were grey and the temperatures were freezing once more.  Nothing however, was going to stop us from getting in the car and venturing out a little further afield to Lackham College in Wiltshire. I'm not too sure who was more excited but after reaching the college on the Lackham estate, we jumped on the tractor and trailer to reach the farm.

Living where we do surrounded by farms we had seen plenty of lambs running around the fields, but to get this close to them was brilliant. Some were only just born as they couldn't walk (lambs attempt to stand between 30-60 minutes after birth), but the little guy above stole our hearts as he wandered over to see us and seemed very curious. 

We were quickly in need of a hot drink to warm up and as I couldn't eat the donuts and cookies on offer of course the choice would be hot chocolate and marshmallows, which was surprisingly delicious considering it was in a polystyrene cup! 

The goal of the day was to hold or feed a lamb and thank goodness the photographer was willing to let each girl have one as we had foolishly told them beforehand (without checking first) that they could. There was a long queue and the lambs were getting a bit tired by the time our three reached the front, so the girls were happy when they cuddled in tightly. Fear not, the lambs were not taken from their mother to be held, these were lambs that were being hand reared on the farm and they were rotated frequently. I have to admit I was a bit envious as I wanted one aswell, but decided against throwing a childish tantrum!

I took the photo above on my phone but were really pleased with the two photos we purchased from the photographer. They were priced at £6 for one, or £10 for two 6x4. We purchased two and they are so lovely that we are getting copies for family and frames for ours.

All around the farm and pens there were snippets of information about the animals and farming. I was shocked to find out that farmers are only paid 75 pence per fleece, which doesn't cover the cost of shearing. 

There was also a trail / quiz that you could do whilst walking around but we didn't do that. There was plenty to see in the tents and stalls, all featuring local produce. You could purchase ducks, chickens and hatching eggs which the girls were eager to do; however our dogs would also have been very pleased!

It was funny watching both the lambs and their mothers trying to sniff each other out. A few weren't particularly fussy and wanted to suckle on any mama in the pen!

I did feel sorry for this mama pig; they can suckle 14 piglets at a time!

There were plenty of other animals to see and you could watch the cows being milked; feed the deer; climb onto tractors and other machinery and Tractor Ted was there for the younger children.

All in all it was a lovely day out and at £20 entry for a car (otherwise £6 per adult; £4 per child) it was reasonably priced, although some of the fair rides cost extra. Lambing weekends are not finished for the year at Lackham but it is definitely worth a visit next spring. 

The only thing we would have enjoyed more (apart from warmer weather) would have been the opportunity to bottle feed some of the lambs at a certain time of the day; but how viable this is for them I don't know. 

We finished off the weekend at the Mendip Farmers Point to Point yesterday, which again was freezing. I've never wanted to go to any horse racing, but at this grass-root level the horses seemed to be loving every minute of it. I've not seen so much tweed in one place ever but yeah, the country life is growing on me! 

Here's hoping this warm weather continues :)

Amy

xx 

Linking up with #CityCountryLife & #IBOT