Burnby Hall's Tulip Festival

Throwback to seven days from now, and I was feeling as smug as a bug that I wasn't waking up with Monday morning blues. {Although, it came back to bite me in the bottom with a vengeance today, but with only a week till Barcelona, nothing can dampen my mood!} Last week we were celebrating Jay's twenty-second birthday T-Swiz style, starting off with opening his cards and gifts in bed, because you never grow out of birthday traditions.

Fast-forward an hour or so and we were ready to head out. Luckily we'd pre-planned our venue for the day as otherwise our combined indecisiveness would have left us inside for at least another half an hour. With a picnic in the boot and sun shining down we set off to Burnby Hall in quest of their famous tulip festival.

Accompanied by our newly acquired RHS membership, we managed to gain free entry and started off by wandering round and admiring all the pretty tulips. In the middle sat a huge lake where the fish were pretty much jumping out of the water. No, they were regular koi carp not salmon, but if I was a bear I would have been loving life, a bit like this. We then chose a spot to picnic, a decision that requires a large amount of though such as where the sun is and where screaming children aren't, and set up camp for a few hours.

A fair few pringles, and an ice-cream later we decided to call it a day and head home ready for a birthday meal at Zizzi's. This gem is definitely another one to add to the 'what to do at the weekend list' and I'm already stoked for their next seasonal festival.

Little Things #23

What better way to round off the weekend with Pocahontas on the TV and chocolate by your side (Since I jet off to Barcelona next week I should probably be replacing chocolate with lettuce leaves but yolo!) This week may not have had me topping up my non-existent tan, but it did have me going for a wander outside of the city, pit-stopping for an afternoon tea and discovering there is an ice-cream boat that sails down the river.

• We also took a bit of a detour and stumbled across the allotments, which we're currently on the waiting list for, and it's got me planning all sorts of things on Pinterest. 
• Jay celebrated his twenty-second birthday this week and one of his brothers brought him a new board game so you can only guess how we've been spending our evenings. 
• We've started a sunflower competition at work and mine is finally growing. {The tortoise and the hare taught me that slow and steady wins the race}
• Another client win meant celebrations with prosecco. I love my job.
• At the start of the month I caught up with some of my uni girlfriends with a visit to the big smoke.
• Our calamondin (mini-citrus tree) has finally started flowering which means we will soon be graced with tiny little oranges. 
• Once Upon A Time has had me in pieces over the last few episodes and I don't think I'm ready for the upcoming 2 hour finale. 
• To celebrate Eurovision we had a feast at work, followed by an impromptu visit from the ice-cream man, what a Friday. 
• I bought a new sun hat in preparation for our travels and I'm a little bit obsessed.
• Shay Mitchell shared some of her twenties life-lessons, which makes it a-okay to say no to a crazy night out and instead spend it in your pjs watching chic flicks, not that I'd do that anyways.
• We purchased a picnic blanket and it's already been out for its first spin. 

Till next week amigos. 

RHS Harlow Carr

You are now reading the blog of a fully fledged RHS member. Yes, I'm twenty-one years old going on sixty. We hadn't even stepped through the doors before handing over our money, those sales guys see us coming! But, it's no secret how much I love a good garden centre, so pair that with acres of flowers, plants and trees galore and I'm sold. 

This is most definitely my new happy place. Pair that with the fact that it was a scorcher of a day and I was pretty much in heaven. I'm probably forgetting to mention that the real reason we headed here was because my Dad was up from home visiting my grand-parents, so thank you papa for introducing us to this wonderful gem. Walking round, the gardens were scattered with tulips, keeping in with the season and all that jazz, and with my recent obsession with the flower you can imagine I got a bit picture snappy.

At the half-way point we had a pit stop at an outdoors Betty's shack. I wasn't going to be one of these crazy fools who have a hot drink because it's somehow refreshing. No-way, hos-say. I opted for two scoops of chocolate ice-cream in a tub, and what a good choice that was. Once the oldies had rested their legs, we set off again, ambling round and admiring the hours of handy work some dedicated gardeners put in. I probably should include something about the time I also spent glamorously dodging wasps, there is downsides to the great outdoors and those insects are one of them.

I must admit I was pretty sad to leave, I could have spent hours there. But it just means I'm hella excited to return and explore the woodland walks and meadows, because, ya know, we get in for free now and all that,