An evening with HomeSense UK

Hello there,

The lovely people at HomeSense UK recently invited Southampton Bloggers along for an evening at their Hedge End store.

Now this store opened last year, and to be honest, it's bad news for my bank balance! It is literally minutes away from where I live and sells the most amazing range of eclectic homeware at up to 60% less than the RRP. I don't think it's possible to go in and not find something you love and didn't know you needed (yes, the lace covered rhino head was indeed very tempting - you'll see more of that later).

After being greeted with a glass of something sparkly, a tempting choice of nibbles and a giftcard*, we were let loose with our Southampton Loves luggage tags.

These are a few of the things that caught my eye, I've narrowed it down otherwise this would be one very very long blog post!

One thing that HomeSense is amazing for is stationery. Their choice of notebooks and journals is so very tempting. If I didn't have a library of notebooks already - these three could easily have come home with me.

One of these two footstools came home with me, the velvet brocade one captured my heart and currently has pride of place in our front room. Even the other half seemed impressed, so it's definitely a winner!

I also managed to get in an outfit pic (top - George at Asda, Jeans - M&S, shoes - Primark)

I had a really great time, I met some local bloggers for the first time (and hopefully not the last), I spent the evening browsing round one of my favourite shops and I came home with a beautiful piece of furniture. A big thank you to Alice from Southampton Bloggers for organising and HomeSense for hosting the evening.

Oh - and the lace covered rhino head?

I love him! Where on earth I'd ever put him, I don't know, but just look at those ears...

Thanks for reading

Cathy

xx

*denotes gifted item, all opinions, reviews etc are my own

A day at RHS Rosemoor - holiday post

Hello there,

Has there ever been something which you didn't really 'get' or understand? For me it's gardening. I love to sit in gardens and I could look at them all day, but the practical side of gardening confuses the hell out me. Bit like this really:

So when it was suggested we spend a day at RHS Rosemoor during our week in Devon, I braced myself for a day of confusing terms, lots of nodding at unpronounceable plants and a hell of a lot of walking.

And you know what? It wasn't bad at all. We bought our tickets online before we travelled down to save a few quid and it worked out at £9 an adult. Not the cheapest thing to do but if you plan to spend the whole day there like we did, it's not too bad. I also took a LOT of water, sunglasses and sunscreen as it was a hot day with a lot of walking around in not a lot of shade. My trusty Primark trainers were so comfy.

There's a quite a lot of photos - but just be grateful I didn't include all the individual plant ones that were taken during the day - otherwise you'd be scrolling through 100's of them!

There was a lovely mix of formal and wild meadows, I did enjoy ambling through here.

And of course, no holiday to Devon is complete without a cream tea and a local beer.

So the overall verdict from a non-gardener? I had a great day. It helps that I like people watching and I was quite content to be just left to sit and admire the view while everyone else raved over the vegetable gardens. It also helps to come prepared with water and proper footwear. Would I come again?

Yes!!! It really was an unexpectedly good day (can you tell from the photo?)

Thanks for reading.

Cathy
xx

A day with the Donkeys - holiday post

Hello there,

Well, this time last week I was in Devon, getting sunburnt, eating ice-cream and generally having a fantastic time. This week I'm dodging showers and trying to resist the temptation to put the heating on. Welcome to a British Summer!

On one of our days, we headed off to the Donkey Sanctuary near Sidmouth. Now I have a real soft spot for donkeys, but really, what's not to love about a donkey?? The sanctuary in Devon is home to around 500 donkeys and is open 365 days a year. It's free to enter but there are plenty of opportunities to donate or you can even sponsor a donkey (I nearly did - I was very tempted).

Now I didn't get my hopes up too much for any donkey interaction (does that sound weird?) The last thing I wanted was to go somewhere where animals were being stressed by being stroked or prodded by a load of visitors.

I needn't have worried though. The donkeys were independent little things and there was so much space for them to roam and get away from inquisitive humans. And those donkeys that did want a head scratch or two could always find a willing human to oblige.

I could have spent all day there happily just watching them all. I was impressed at the size of the fields and paddocks they were in which gave them plenty of space to roam and roll around.

There was an inner courtyard where some of the friendlier donkeys were allowed to get up and close with visitors. Dogs that were on leads and well behaved were allowed in and it was lovely to see the look on some of the dogs faces as they came nose to nose with a donkey for probably the first time in their lives.

But even in the courtyard, there were places for the donkeys to get some space and helpful staff who very patiently answered all my (probably obvious) questions! 

And wonders will never cease - I actually remembered to stop and take an outfit photo. Maybe I can do this blogging thing after all....

So that's my thoughts on the Donkey Sanctuary - I would definitely recommend it if you're in the area. You can spend as little or as long there as you like. They're currently doing some building work for what looks like a new cafe and entrance, but it didn't bother us and is a perfect excuse to go back again when it's finished.

Thanks for reading

Cathy

xx

Mirror, mirror on the wall (and a few unicorns too)

Hello there,

I had a bit of a mirror shopping frenzy the other day. I had Nectar points burning a hole in my purse so off I trotted to Sainsburys to find something sparkly and new.

We needed a mirror in the hallway and after thinking about it for 24 years, it was time to go and get one.

You can never be too glamorous

(yep - that's a farting unicorn phone case...)

I also saw this little round mirror, I just couldn't leave it behind and it now sits above my jewellery boxes (rather than draped over a rainbow unicorn)

And if there wasn't enough of a unicorn theme already, I added this wooden plaque I'd picked up in Primark last month.

What do you think? Enough glitter and unicorns?

Thanks for reading 

Cathy

xx