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?}

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!

Sunshine, Strawberries & Scones

Sunday the 24th July 2016 has officially been renamed to Strawberry Sunday. It should probably include raspberry in there somewhere, but it doesn't have quite the same ring, just like my super alliterative title that just rolls off the tongue. We've just celebrated our four year anniversary so what better way to spend day one-thousand-four-hundred-and-sixty-two of our relationship than by filling punnets with juicy berries. {no innuendo intended}

The last time we went fruit-picking the strawberries were out of season, so my pre-weekend mission was to find a farm that still had strawberries to pick. Turns out most farms do (need to work on my seasonality knowledge for when we get our allotment), so we chose The Balloon Tree, just a fifteen minute drive outside of York. 

Obviously we headed for the strawberries first, they're my favourite if you haven't already guessed. It didn't take us long to fill up a punnet of the plumpest strawbs so we then took a trip to the bottom of the field to find some raspberries. It seems no-one had ventured down to the spot we chose, so we had a wide bunch to choose from, and quickly filled up a second punnet. 

It's probably worth saying that this PYO farm isn't the cheapest, especially when it comes to paying per kg not per punnet, but the experience is super relaxing and it's a lot of fun choosing your own fruit/veg for the week. The also do some very tasty scones which make for a great afternoon tea!

The One Where I Cut Off All My Hair

Totally feeling like I'm part of the F.R.I.E.N.D.S gang with this post title, and I may be over-exaggerating a teeny tiny bit. I did (the hairdresser did) however, cut off 12 inches of my hair to donate to the Little Princess Trust, which to me is practically all of it. I am a little late to the short hair don't care trend, but as Queen Clarisse Renaldi once said, the Queen is never late, everyone else is simply early. 

To celebrate we spent the past weekend out in the sunshine showing off my new look, with a day trip out to Yorkshire Lavender. Surrounded by lavender plants and countryside views, it was the perfect location for a sunny Sunday with a few posey photos and an over indulgence in lavender food & drink. 

This past week has been an emotional one- who knew you could have such an attachment to hair, but I'm feeling like Rapunzel and totally loving it! {Although it is only day three of the chopped mop so an emotional breakdown could follow.} To go along with sending my mane off to the charity, I thought I'd try and raise some money along the way. 

For those who don't know, the Little Princess Trust is a charity that makes wigs for girls and boys who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy treatment. Hair donations mean they can provide these children with wigs free of charge, but without them they have to source hair from elsewhere which can cost up to £500. I'm super happy to say I've raised £275 thanks to my very generous friends and family and l'l leave the link below in-case any of you want to donate or check out the before and after pictures. 

For now I'll be spending my time watching short-hair tutorials and mastering the art on how to straighten my shortest strands without burning every part of my scalp/neck/ear. 

Donation link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Bethany-Webb1 

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.

Malton Food Market

Last Saturday we woke up to sun, and after my morning Twitter catch up I realised it was Malton's monthly food market- music to my ears. We've  always been busy when this event cropped up, so with nothing planned and weather good enough for an ice-cream we jumped straight outta bed. {If food is involved I will jump out of bed, literally}

One piece of advice I'd give my future self is always look at where you can park. Usually, I do this, but in our hurried state we wanted to get on our way so we may have driven up and down the same road three times until we found a spot. 10 tense minutes later, and we were wandering towards the most heavenly smells. If anyone was watching I probably looked like a dog picking up a scent- think bread, cakes, fresh fruit, more cakes. 

The temptation to spend all our money on food we didn't need was high, but with a firm hand (and image of my financial excel spreadsheet in my mind) we managed to escape with a pie and tomatoes. Although, we did splurge out on some stone-baked pizzas for lunch, and the sunny weather made it okay to sit outside, sun and pizza what more could you want? 

Ice-cream you say? Well, conveniently we spotted a chalk board directing us to a top-notch ice-cream parlour, so naturally we followed- a bit like Sleeping Beauty to the spinning wheel. A little way up the road sat a popular gelato with too many good flavours that you spend 5 minutes trying to decide. In the end we settled for gingerbread, cookies and cream and mini egg, three flavours that were an ultimate combo and left you feeling sick, a happy kind of sick though. 

After a little stroll to walk off the pizza and ice-cream, my salads for the week made it slightly okay, we headed back to Dudley and set off home with our pie and tomatoes. If any of you are ever around for this event I would highly recommended it, and if you're ever passing through Malton I'd definitely make a pit stop at Groovy Moo's ice-cream parlour, you won't regret it!