Monthly catch up - July 2026

Oh my goodness, where is the year going for it to be July already!

 

My first weekend I took a trip to Slimbridge, having not been for a month it is incredible to see how much the gardens have changed.

They have done so much work in planting and it just looks stunning, both visually and for the wildlife.

Of course I took my knitting and sat by the river Seven as it is open for the Summer Walkway and just listened to the river, birds and surroundings whilst working on my knitted sock.

My second weekend in July when you just find that holiday spot that ticks all the boxes.  

For me it is the campsite in Dorset which is so friendly and safe, but also the fact that I can leave my van and walk to the beach through a stunning village makes it even more special.

This picture was taken at 6.30pm and you could be abroad somewhere!

When I am home one thing I fail to do is make the most of the long light evenings.  But when I visit here I am out till it is almost dark and it's just perfect. 

I believe it was due to the exceptionally hot weather we have had in the UK for a few weeks, that there where a huge amount of jellyfish around the coast line.  I was told these ones were not harmful.

I am currently working my way through my sock patterns I have designed ready for a craft fair in October. 

What a place to sit and knit! 

8pm and it is still glorious, just so much colour inspiration.

My first full day, even though the temperature was set to get to 31 degrees, I was determined to walk part of the South West Coast Path.  At 9.30am the temperature was a manageable 24 degrees and the beach was not too busy.

I love how these flowers just grow within the shingle, they would definitely be drought-tolerant plants!

I have a thing for collecting pebbles and driftwood, sadly I could not get this home!  But what an amazing piece.

 

It is now 12.15 and 30 degrees and the beach was filling up and I was a tad hot!

For those that don't know me, or even those that do, I am a person that has never wanted to go in a pub solo, let alone eat alone!

But a combination of being hungry, very warm and the incredible welcoming reception I received, meant I was so happy to sit and enjoy my first ever solo meal and it was so worth it.  I will definitely will be doing it again!

Every time I take a walk to the beach I pass this stunning cottage, so when I saw it was for sale I just had to look it up.  Rather out of my price range, but had I won the lottery it would definitely be on my list of places I would love to live. 

My last full evening I took my knitting to the beach and just watched the sun go down and of course people watched.  I can honestly say this place is just my "happy place". 

I will soon be have my second go at yarn dyeing and these colours are definitely inspiring.

The third weekend there were no pictures other than this glorious window box, isn't it just so colourful.

I spent the weekend doing college work and visiting family and going to my new craft club I have found that is a nice group of all sorts of mixed crafts and friendly people.

For the last weekend of the month I had two trips in to the town.

I have not visited Pittville Park and Lake for months and it was lovely to see the fountains dotted around the lake.

I was shocked at just how many cars were parked up at 9.30 in the morning, so I asked a rather sweaty runner who had just got back to their vehicle.  By all accounts, it was the Park Run of which approximately 600 people attend!! 

 

I love just how many shades of green you can get, and when the sun shone through the leaves of this tree it was so vibrant.

Another feature from not having been to the park for a long time was, it must have looked stunning in the early summer, as there was a huge area dedicated to wildflowers which were going over, and a new pathway which had not been there before to walk through.

Part of the interest of walking through the park for me is I saw the first flat I lived in thirty seven years ago, which was the bottom two windows next to the door.  It was a cosy set up with the shower and tiny kitchen all inside and I slept on an airbed for two years before buying my first flat. 

Not a bad location, literally right opposite the park! 

On the Sunday the second craft market took place.  I however stopped off on Saturday to take some pictures that could be used on their social media on the Saturday while it was quieter.

The venue, Normandy House itself is a stunning building with a fascinating history.  Built in 1810 originally as a private house.  In 1839 another wing was added and it was converted to serve as Cheltenham's first general hospital.

It is listed as a Grade II building and is now used by commercial and office spaces.  

The open area a the front works perfectly for Kiwi to be able to allow up to 25 different craft vendors showcasing there crafts. 

I absolutely love the staircase up to the haberdashery shop, which honestly stocks just about everything you could ever want!

I also popped in to the Wilson gallery which is another brilliant venue within the town.

On the top floor was this fascinating exhibition of Dutch paintings. 

I (as you know) love photography, and taking time to notice things.  I have never really paid a huge amount of attention to the buildings in the Promenade, but isn't this building just gorgeous with detail on it.  They don't build properties like this now!

 

 

This impressive building built in 1823, was originally for residential living.  Then between 1914 to 1960's  the local council purchased the property to work in.

 

It is however now up for sale to be turned in to  a 125 room luxury spa hotel.

These are just some of the vendors at the second craft fair.

There were I believe 20 stall holders with a really great selection of crafts.

I am now the happy owner of the cushion in this picture thanks to Angel_a_studio.

We also have the impressive Nath modelling a custom shirt which is one of  Angie's creations.

You will be seeing more of Nath as they have very kindly agreed to model some patterns that will be coming over the next few months.

So another full on month, as always, but so much fun! 

City & Guilds Level 4 - Hand knitting - Felting

As part of my Level Four City & Guilds Hand Knitting course with School of Stitched Textiles I have produced three very different samples, all inspired by WWT Slimbridge.

Sample One, inspired by the Tundra building, this was my first ever go at wet felting.

 Sample Two was inspired by the ripples at the wetlands.

My final sample was inspired by the flora and fauna at the site and I have called it "Threads of the Wetlands".

I have never tried wet felting before, but absolutely love the results you can get.

I would love to know in the comments your thoughts on them. 

Monthly catch up - June 2026

So I am the very proud owner of a stunning British Short Haired cat.

 

Her name is Luna and she is already four.  I have no idea where the time has gone, from initially bringing her home from the breeders. 

She is predominantly an indoor cat, but I do put her on a harness and take her out in the garden and also in a cat rucksack, which unless you knew she was in there she is very well hidden as her coat is the colour of the rucksack.

So besides my own garden I do love to go to a local garden about thirty minutes drive from home.

 

The weather was grey and overcast, which was perfect as it meant the gardens would be quiet.  Luna is not used to lots of people, so is very wary, unless she's in the rucksack, where she lies and watches the world go by. 

 

The flowers where looking incredible.

The size of this Oriental Poppy shows how huge it is, as for scale there is the tiny fly sat on the petal.

 

 

I am a big fan of these hardy Geraniums, I have some in my garden, the only slight downside is that they can spread very easily.

 

 

Nature is such a wonderful place for inspiration.

 

The variety of colour on these leaves and then the red stalk that holds them I just love. 

 

 

On the Sunday I was back at my favourite spot, WWT Slimbridge.

 

As part of Pride month, they had put on mix of events, one of which was a talk by an ecologist Connor Butler 

Connor handed out a handheld lens, which you hold really close to your eye and oh my goodness the detail when you really slow down and observe things is incredible!

 

The above pictures are the lichen growing on the little bit of twig that Conor picked up.

 

 

I then spotted this stunning coloured beetle and watched it whizzing around on a piece of wood next to me.

 

 

I of course had knitting with me, and found a new place to sit and just take part in one of my lovely past times of people watching.

 

 

When I got home I had my first ever go at wet felting for the next module in my knitting course.

 

I really enjoyed the process, I just needed to have agitated the fibres more so that it shrinks to at least a third of the original size and all the fibres are fully bonded together. 

 

Week three was one I have been looking forward to for months, as it was my first trip away in my camper van this year.

 

I arrived on the Saturday and the weather forecast was for lovely, not too hot.

 

The campsite, is one where you pick your own pitch, which is not normally the case, when I have been away, so I picked a lovely one based by the trees, for shade and to be near the birds so I could hear them, morning and evening.

 

After setting up the first thing I did was take a walk, which I remembered from the previous year to the local beach, which was only fifteen minutes walk.

It was around 6pm and just perfect temperature.  Not too many people about, but enough that when sat was interesting to people watch, a pastime I love to do.

The next day I had no set plans.  I had brought my, new to me felting equipment, some hand spun and knitted sample I had made and fleece.  I spent a blissful morning sat in the van listening to the comings and goings and just felted away with no set pattern in mind.

For the afternoon, I again had a walk to the same beach, with a detour into the local church.

Just look how thick the walls are, they don't build places like this now! 

I had a dip in the sea, oh it was so refreshing and spent time looking at all the different coloured stones on the beach.  They are not the most comfortable to walk on, but I do love to just sit and look at them and wonder how old they are.

I also took a short walk along the coastal path which is eroding very rapidly.  I am not sure in a few years if that caravan will still be there! 

I made slow progress on my sock knitting as I was too busy relaxing and walking!

The following day I decided to do an eight mile walk along to the next town called West Bay.  I really enjoyed the walk, it was perfect walking temperature with a nice breeze.

For my final full day, I had planned to do a much longer coastal walk, but there was a very low sea mist, so I would hardly have seen anything.

So instead I decided to head to Lyme Regis.  I am not really a "town" person, but it was a lovely size and not too busy being the week day and not full sunshine.

There were lots of independent shops which were interesting to look in. 

I absolutely loved the mix of houses two, just fascinating the amount of history in one town.

When I got back I decided to head down to Hive beach again for the last time, and goodness look at all the different things I discovered on the beach!

Just a perfect trip away in my perfect home from home.

I have been long overdue a haircut and am lucky enough to know a great hairdresser, albeit he is booked up months in advance.  So on my last annual days holiday I took a trip over to Gloucester and was treated to a lovely hair wash, cut and blow dry, not something I do often!

I could not believe how long my hair is now, or how many shades of grey you can get!
 

As the weather was just perfect I had a little wonder around the town as I had time left on my parking.

I stopped by the Cathedral and saw two classic vintage cars outside as there was a wedding happening, what a venue! 

I also stopped off at the "rugby" cafe Mozo and had a delicious Hazlenut Latte and did a little more sock knitting.

For the last weekend of the month I stayed local.

On Sunday I met up with a good friend first at my favourite coffee chain Nero and we had a lovely catchup, before heading to a new craft market that has started up by small team who have gone from strength to strength in the space of a couple of years here in Cheltenham.

They started off with a haberdashery as a pop up shop whilst a building in the town centre (Cavendish House) was still open.

This building then shut and undeterred they set about finding a new venue.

Whilst the location is a short walk down the main high street, the building itself is very grand, with a huge parking area at the front.  Just right they felt to hold a craft market, so they set about asking vendors if they would like to be part of this new venture and of course many people applied.

So not only were there local craft stalls, but the haberdashery shop, which honestly I think literally covers every craft you could ever thing of was open too.

They had a lovely mobile coffee vendor and home made cakes and a very talented singer.  The weather, albeit a little windy was so much cooler than it had been, so just perfect for the visitors that popped by.

They are set to have three more confirmed fairs in July, August and September which is great.

On my walk home I spotted this incredible art.  

I have lived in this town for thirty eight years and it is finally starting to feel like home. 

See you in July!