Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival

I never need an excuse to escape to the countryside, but if was to have one then a super, popular scarecrow festival would fit the bill perfectly. On the edges of the Yorkshire Dales lies the rural village of Kettlewell which puts on an almighty display of straw filled figures every summer. When I lived at home we used to head to a nearby town to wander round their Scarecrow festival on an evening so really it was the ideal continuation of tradition. 

In true Beth-Jason fashion we didn't take into consideration that the heavens had opened the day before, so sandals and boat shoes weren't the most sensible of footwear choices. Luckily for me, I had some wellies in the boot but no socks. Even luckier for me, there was a walking shop so I now have some £12-worth woolly grey socks that make my feet feel like they have their own radiator. Unluckily for Jason he had to stick to his boat shoes, but we did pretty well in avoiding the mud. 

With a trail sheet in our hands, we set off on a self-guided tour with 50% of our time spent admiring the scarecrows. The other 50% of our time was spent peering into people's homes, looking up cottages that were for sale and deciding what our scarecrow entry would be. It's safe to say when it comes to villages, Kettlewell is the place of dreams or as some would say #futuregoals.

{I also learnt to skim stones here, so if that isn't a good enough reason, what is?}

Little Things #26

My, oh my, time flies when you're having fun. Or in other words, you're super busy at work because you're going on holiday and you have far too much to do and not enough time. It's been weeeeks since I last gave you a little update on what's going on in my life and keeping me ticking over, so in a bid to avoid packing for my holiday, I thought I'd do just that.

• I passed my 6 month work probation and I'm one step closer to my country manor house. 
• McFly turner 13 so I celebrated with a party-for-one {aka listening to them all day}
• I turned twenty-two and celebrated with a Jammie Dodger cake and a trip to the cinema to aee Finding Dory.
• Many evenings were spent cheering on Team GB
• I'm nearing the end of my work notebook which means I can indulge in one of my favourite things to shop for. 
• I experienced my first 'bring-a-dish' event for a Sunday 'garden-warming' BBQ {I loved it}
• We finally went to Scarborough and the donkey's were wearing hats! 
• My suitcase is 70% books after going a little OTT on Amazon.
• Bake Off returned to our screens and I was loving life.
• It's less than a month until Once Upon A Time returns to our screens!
• My Mumma and sister hopped up on a train for a swift visit and it was wonderful. 
• It also meant I gained two more Disney DVDs and finally got round to watching Zootopia. 
• They also bought my some super cute biscuit tubs to transport Jammie Dodgers to work in- if you haven't already guessed, they're my fav. 
• My new magazine subscription arrived (thanks to my good friend) and the recipes are super dreamy *insert heart-eyed-emoki*
• Miranda wrote the best letter to Team GB #suchfun
• We attended a Scarecrow festival and I learnt to skim stones (& find our future house)
• I ordered some prescription sunglasses and the world was clear once again. 
• I'm going on holiday in exactly 15 hours 

Scarbados

Something University taught me was that spontaneous plans are always the best ones, and when you combine that with exploring new places then they are even better. So, when we woke up to sunshine and scorching temperatures (I've learnt 20 degrees is considered that up North) a few weekends ago we made the impromptu decision to spend the day at Scarborough, the closest thing we could get to Barbados. 

Obviously my touch-and-go stomach decided that it would be a good day to flare up, but after a delayed start we were tooting along. As usual we had a bit of a mare when it came to finding somewhere to park after missing pretty much all of the turns to parking, but after what seemed like forever, we were eventually parked and on our way to the beach (beach, let's go get a wave).  

The last time I went to Scarborough was when I was about thirteen so I can't remember much other than a few penguins at the Sea Life centre, so it was all pretty much new territory to me. I, of course, got way too excited when I saw donkeys on the beach (they had little hats on), and rainbow-coloured beach huts. Once I'd gotten over my excited-ness we found a sunny spot and settled down with some fish 'n' chips- they always taste soooo much better when you're surrounded by the salty sea air. 

In true English style the sun didn't stay shiny for long, so we took a wander over the clifftop and in true Beth style my tummy didn't stay happy for long- this was our cue to leave. Unfortunately this meant we didn't get to relive our Barcelona rowing experience or waste countless 2p's in the arcades, but that just gives us a good reason to go back!