Our holiday may be over but the blog posts are here to stay! Here are all of my recaps in one easy to find place.
Arriving at Lime Tree Cottage.
Our first day exploring the area.
Walking round Kingston Lacy Woodlands.
Going to Beaulieu Motor Museum.
Spending our last day in Moors Valley Forest.
Good evening, one last time from Lime Tree Cottage! Our holiday has just whizzed by and I can’t believe we’re already on our last evening in the cottage. We’re travelling home tomorrow morning, fairly early as we have to check out by 10am. We’ve got quite a bit of journeying on busy motorways plus being a Friday we think its for the best that we head home earlier rather than later anyway. With a day of travelling tomorrow in mind, we chose to have another low key day again today and visited Moors Valley.
Moors Valley is a huge forest full of pine trees and it is a truly lovely spot for a bit of peace and quiet. I would recommend a visit to anyone holidaying in the area, there are plenty of onsite facilities like cafe, toilets, information centre etc however two minutes walk and you feel like you’re in the middle of the forest.
The car park was relatively full for a week day in early September, however when we were walking around the trail we hardly ever passed another soul! The forest is incredible and I was overwhelmed by the size of it all. I felt like we had been transported to a completely remote spot in amongst all of the enormous pine trees.
It was so calm and quiet in the forest 
We bought a little map of the forest from the information centre but I wouldn’t recommend buying it as it was rubbish and had us all completely confused. This is the only complaint that I have – the trails weren’t very easy to follow and I would have enjoyed doing a structured walk around the forest. The signposts were very ambiguous as all they provided was the colour of a trail and no directions!
Trail or no trail we mooched around quite aimlessly and still had a very enjoyable time. The weather was perfect today, the sun was bright in a sky full of light fluffy looking clouds and the temperature in the forest was just right. Every now and then there was a cool breeze, but we were still able to leave our jackets off most the day.
Pleased with another chance to flaunt the sunnies 
And needless to say puggy loved it.
Since Polly’s been allowed off the lead walks have been given a whole new meaning to both her and us. She adores the freedom of it and I swear she goes round with the biggest smile on her face the entire time. I love watching her look so happy. Bit of fresh air is so good for us all!
Lovely bit of zooooming around.
She had her own little tag from the park clipped around her harness while we were round the forest 
Too cute.
We found a lovely viewpoint overlooking the forest where we spent a while just admiring the location and chilling out together. I’m so grateful for the family times we have all shared together this holiday, its so nice that we can come on holiday together and have such a nice time.
The last day of a holiday is always bittersweet isn’t it? There’s a part of you that isn’t quite ready to let go of that wonderful holiday vibe, but at the same time you crave home and a sense of normality. But I can honestly say that I enjoyed every minute of our holiday in Dorset and I think I speak for all of us. We have been so busy and totally made the most of our trip… we have seen some incredible countryside, woodlands, forests, towns, ruins, and more.
I will be leaving tomorrow with some cherished family memories….. here’s to the next holiday
Or as I thought of it – the masculine museum. Today we went to Beaulieu which is home to an enormous collection of automobiles across the generations and, at the moment is looking after a collection of vehicles from different James Bond movies. Dad is a huge Bond nerd so naturally he was itching to go. We had a big leaflet in our cottage on Beaulieu and it looked like a decent day out so we gave it a go today.
Dad really enjoyed himself and headed straight to the Bond section first. I thought it was good, and I do enjoy seeing a collection of different items but honestly…. it was all a little lost on me? I thought I might have liked it more because I do like nice cars hell we even had a vintage car in our family before that I was interested in at times…but it was kind of just okay to me.
I was pleased that Dad loved it. Plus for someone who is passionate about cars and vintage vehicles Beaulieu is heaven on earth. It was all kind of Top Gear-ish and not really my kind of scene.
I went inside the museum briefly, had a quick glimpse around and was happy to walk straight back out again.
There is however, more to Beaulieu than just a motor museum. There were huge grounds, gardens, an abbey and a stately home to look around. And so we spent the majority of the day at Beaulieu in the end 
With a nice ice cream shop half way round.
Our holiday has gone so, so quickly I can’t believe we’ve only got one more day left! 
How is your week going? x x
Hello once again from Lime Tree Cottage. We had a nice quiet Tuesday, how was your day? After a busy day yesterday with lots of travelling we decided to keep it somewhat low key today. On checking our National Trust handbook we saw that Kingston Lacy wasn’t too far away so we decided to give that a go. We visited this national trust property last time we were in Dorset on our way home, but we were all happy to return again.
And obviously its a little bit different this time around because we’ve got this one, who naturally isn’t allowed in the house with all those precious treasures and ornaments.
And actually I forgot to mention in my post yesterday that this little lady behaved absolutely fantastically considering that she is not used to cities and continuous big crowds of people. She is such a confident little puppy and I was so proud of her yesterday in Bath. So today we gave Polly a little treat and took her for a lovely walk in the woodlands around Kingston Lacy.
The woodlands were lovely, with enormous old trees towering over us and providing plenty of cool shade as we made our way round the trail slowly.
Polly absolutely loves her walks and today was no different with skipping about here and there and sniffing galore.
The first thing she took a liking to on today’s was the sheep, they received a little bark.
I suppose she’s probably never seen sheep before? They must be very confusing for such a little pug. Aha.
So must funny statues be confusing to a pug.
I have to laugh at how little Polly looks next to them! 
Hehehe!
Sniff.
Sniff.
Now time for some zooming!
Zoom! Zoom! Zoomies!
Such a happy girl in the woods playing 
And thank goodness she loves having her picture taken as she is just so precious! I’m going to be a busy pug mum when I’ve got two gorgeous girls to snap pictures of 
Picnic stop!
Notice the scavenger waiting.
As we went round the trail we got a glimpse of some of the formal gardens.
And the kitchen gardens.
And by the time we were finished this afternoon we had done a total of just over 3 miles.
Although we have visited Kingston Lacy before we made it a completely different day out by doing the woodland trail. The house doesn’t open until Wednesday anyway, but because we’re staying so close we may just go back for a visit one more time to have a look around.
We have another busy day on the agenda tomorrow though…..Beaulieu
Good Evening everyone! I hope your week got off to a nice start, ours most certainly has here in Dorset. The sun came out for us today, which was really lovely because we spent the day in Bath and had a smashing time. I have wanted to visit Bath for ages now because from what I had seen of it, it looked like such a gorgeous city – and I was not wrong! Our cottage is about an hour away and while we were close we decided to make a trip into the lovely city.
Our day involved quite a lot of travelling.
We travelled by car, park and ride and by an open air tour bus. It was mum who suggested we all get the tour bus once we were there, and it turned out to be a really good decision. By taking the city tour it enabled us to get a real glimpse of Bath, which frankly we wouldn’t have been able to cover by foot in a single day. Plus because we were up high on the bus the views were far superior to the views we would have got on foot.
I haven’t been on a city tour bus before but I can see why they are so popular: the buses arrive frequently (approximately every 12 minutes) and you can get on and off as you please. The only down side I suppose is the price, tickets are about £11 which makes is quite expensive when you consider that we travelled as a family of five of us. But then again, when you’re on holiday you sort of allow for things like that as they are a rare treat. However Polly didn’t find the bus much of a treat when I put her down by the footrest!
“Oh let me up?”
“How about if I poke my tongue out?”
Oopsie sorry its so easy to get carried away with pictures of Polly, I can’t help myself when she is so cute! Back on topic.. Bath..
Yes so, the tour was really worth while as it felt like we got to see lots of the city! I was so relieved that my expectations of Bath weren’t let down, it was everything I hoped it would be and more in a way. It was exactly my sort of city, with prosperous buildings, shops and gardens and yet there is still the sense that you are not too far away from the countryside too.
You can tell that Bath is a city that takes pride in itself as it looks completely in keeping with the marvellous old buildings: there are pretty flower arrangements, well kept lawns and the thing that I spotted immediately was a lack of litter.
We are terrible for our litter and I think it is disgusting, so seeing a city looking so clean and tidy was very liberating and rare. I wish that everywhere was a little more like Bath.
It was fascinating gawping at all the lovely old buildings.
Because we could get on and off the bus we did see quite a lot of the city on foot too, we walked up and down the high street, looked outside the Roman Baths, plus walked around the Royal Crescent
Perfect opportunity for picture taking:
Love her 
We’re having a fabulous time on our holiday x
Have a good week everyone ! Much love x x x
We had a busy, blustery day out to Corfe Castle yesterday. It was another great family day out! Unfortunately the weather was a little on the damp side with drizzle on and off, but luckily while we were out it stayed quite dry! We had to take raincoats to be on the safe side though. A little drizzle wasn’t going to keep us away and the fresh air was rather refreshing!
Polly thoroughly enjoyed herself as she got loads of attention from fellow tourists all day long.
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We had originally thought about going on the railway at Swanage but decided against it in the end. I could tell just from our journey into Corfe that it was going to be a good day despite the change of plans. We had great fun on the drive there passing what seemed to be some sort of festival (we think it was the steam fair) and honestly I have never seen anything like it in my life. There were caravans and mad baths galore!
I tried to get a picture of it all but it just doesn’t capture the scale of the mayhem we observed as we drove passed. All that mud and dirt is my idea of hell. There were loads of cars, caravans and police cars whizzing by – it was seriously all go! Thankfully it didn’t interrupt our journey into Corfe too much as we got there in about an hour.
The car park was ridiculously full and we had to park on a separate road that was luckily only quarter of a mile away from the village.
The castle is a ruin but it is so impressive and there is surprisingly so much to see, up on the grounds and in amongst the ruin there are spectacular views in every single direction. I can’t get over the gorgeous county that we are staying in at the moment, its so beautiful.
Its also really surreal when you look at these old bits of building simply sticking out the earth rather precariously. No wonder that they have to get special architects in every five years to check that the place isn’t going to fall down. Yikes!
And although we didn’t get to go to Swanage we still caught a glimpse of the steam trains passing through the village below. The old fashioned train looked so perfect gliding through the gorgeous countryside.
Does anybody else think of Harry Potter when they see steam trains? Haha I had the theme tune bobbing along mentally inside my brain each time I saw the trains passing!
Once we were up in the ruins the views just kept on coming.
Queen of the castle….
Everyone on their holidays… x
Corfe Castle made a really good trip, I would definitely recommend a visit to anyone holidaying in the area if not just for the stunning views around the area!
The best way to end a lovely Sunday?
Naturally, a curry night back home in the cottage!
With a delicious Berry Solero for dessert. Love love love.
Hopefully off to Bath today! So excited! x x
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, or so they say. I love this meal time on holiday. All the family gathered round a large dining room table with the smell of crispy bacon in the air. There is a pot of delicious coffee on the go, a box of cornflakes and naturally Heinz tomato ketchup at hand. Eating and chatting the morning away. Simple family times. Its the perfect Sunday morning breakfast scene.
Despite the drizzly rain outside the cottage windows I’m feeling quite bright and cheerful as we plan our day out. We’re thinking of visiting Corfe Castle and taking a look at the railway at Swanage 
Have a lovely Sunday x
Hello again from Lime Tree Cottage! I hope you’re having a lovely weekend so far. Today is day one of our holiday in Dorset. The weather was mildly better than it was yesterday, it has still been cloudy – although the sun has made an appearance this evening – and when the breeze isn’t up its been quite warm at times. The main thing is that it has remained dry all day! Yipee! We kicked our holiday off with a stunning drive through the land.
The views of the landscape are simply gorgeous here. The yellow and green fields seem to go on forever, weaving in and out of the land magnificently. It was really lovely just taking a leisurely drive around the area.
And just when we thought we had seen it all, we stopped at a little town called Shaftesbury which was very quaint and had yet another view point of the landscape from a different angle. 
We stopped on a park bench, had some lunch, tasty ham and salad cream sandwiches on soft white bread with some other picnic bits and enjoyed the picturesque view.
There were plenty of nick-nacky shops in Shaftesbury and my eager eyes spotted a few little boutiques with my beloved Cath Kidston accessories in. I also treated myself to a little something in one of the jewellers.
My Pandora has been a little neglected lately and I’ve been meaning to buy a new charm for ages now. Actually the last one I remember getting was with my Christmas money so it really has been a while! The last time I went into Pandora at Bluewater I walked out empty handed because I was so overwhelmed with choice. But with a little bit more time on my hands today I actually managed to pick something pretty out. I’m trying to keep the bracelet symmetrical so I bought two of the large round heart charms to go at the ends of the surrounding charms. I’m really pleased with how it looks 
When we got back to the cottage we had a nice cup of tea then took another stroll around the lane where we’re staying. Everywhere I look is so pretty, I love it here.
I think that Polly is enjoying herself, but she still seems a little unsettled with her new setting: lots of barking and charging. She is so busy trying to explore the new place that she has barely slept a wink all day, and so this afternoon when we got back from our walk this happened:
We had a passed out pooch on the tiles!
I’m actually feeling pretty tired myself! I’m sensing a quiet evening full of pug snuggling. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday whatever you’re up to x x x
Hello from Lime Tree Cottage!
We’re on our summer holiday!
Yes I said ‘summer’ and yes I am wearing my coat, it was a bit nippy on our evening stroll last night! Well it is September now.. so maybe this is our autumn holiday.
Our cottage is in the middle of nowhere, on a long, narrow country lane. A week of tranquillity is on the agenda for us.
And hey a girl could get used to having a view like this from her bedroom window:
Love it! Peace, quiet and uninterrupted countryside views.
Oh and one more holiday must have,
Grandma’s homemade cooking! Holy yum.
Hello, hello long time no blog – ok its only been a few days but hey I missed it…. So yesterday I came back from a short break away and if you’re friends with me on Facebook or Twitter you may have heard about the disastrous events with Polly swallowing a bone. The vet did immediate surgery last night to remove it. After a lot of tears, worry and waiting around I’m relieved to say Polly is home now and seems to be recovering well. But so, NOT the reunion I had imagined to come back to. Accidents happen I guess?
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