Summer time Exploring
This year called for summer travel around the United Kingdom. I was fortunate to have always had wonderful holidays abroad but I felt excited at discovering more of the UK and to also have some time away from home. We had a few trips planned first up being…
Woolacombe
Off to Woolacombe for a surfing week with friends, I have surfed before but felt so much pressure to stand up and when I didn’t (continuously) it started to knock my confidence in the water and took the fun away. So this time I decided to body board instead! It’s so much fun, no pressure to do anything but jump on the wave as it comes in and ride it into shore.
Woolacombe is a beautiful little town in Devon with just the right amount to do for a weeks stay. We were in an Air b’n’b and it was a stones through away from the beach. We also hired a beach hut, which was the best decision as it stored everything we needed in there including our wetsuits and boards so no trapping them back up to the flat every day!
One of the days we went off to Illfracombe for some stand up paddle boarding, early morning the sea was calm and it was so beautiful. Stand up paddle boarding is harder than it looks and I spent a lot of time on my knees (stopping me from falling in! Ha!) Walking around illfracombe afterwards to have an ice cream and a sit down next to Verity - Damien Hirsts famous bronze statue that looks out to sea.
On one of the last days we walked from Woolacombe around to Mortehoe, we sat here for about an hour and watched seals having a rest on some of the cliff rocks. It felt pretty special as we looked out to sea.
Next up…
Pembrokeshire
As my birthday fell over a weekend this year my boyfriend surprised me with a trip away to Wales, I have been wanted to travel and see more of Wales for a while so was happy we were going to have a few days to explore.
On the way out we stopped off at Mumbles which was a beautiful seaside town with a pretty pier and lifeboat building at the end. Then we made our way out to Pembrokshire, staying in a converted horse coach stables which overlooked a lake, leading to the river. On site was a restaurant which picked majority of their produce from the fruit and vegetable gardens. We looked around these gardens and they were what dreams are made of, an incredible variety of fruit and veg along with a large flower garden too. It was a true British country garden which overlooked the river too!
Tenby
The day after we arrived we drove 30 minutes to Tenby
I instantly fell in love with Tenby and immediately started planning how I would buy a second home here and eventually retire here…. a little dramatic I know but that’s how I felt about Tenby! Its full of colourful painted houses that look out to see, cliffs, a beautiful market town with an abundant range of shops and restaurants and 3 beaches! Who wouldn’t want to visit? We ate good food, excellent ice cream and sat by the beach in the sunshine.. It was a good day!
Pensford
Once home from Wales my parents visited and so we took a day trip (15 minutes drive from Bristol) to Pensford, spending time admiring the Viaduct whilst eating one of the biggest sandwiches I’ve ever seen and then slipping over in the mud whilst wearing white trousers a real summer highlights for me ;)
Pensford is picture perfect, it’s a town that I imagine the rest of the world thinks the whole of Britain looks like. Quaint, beautiful and wholesome.
Holidaying around the UK had shown what’s on our doorstep awaiting to be explored and whilst its a very different holiday to laying on a Mediterranean beach somewhere I still enjoyed it just as much.