weekend baking

:: making banana muffins (the whole family loves them, including the cat)


:: of course, it helps to have such a cute assistant :)

11 meses :: 11 months

    And on the day she turned 11 months her first tooth popped out :)
 

chester

We only had one afternoon in Chester, but it was enough to enjoy a bit of its lively atmosphere. I had read it was one of the best preserved walled cities in England, full of medieval buildings and other attractions. Chester is also known for its horse races, but that's not what we had come for ....

:: the Eastgate clock, said to be the most photographed clock in England after Big Ben


:: gorgeous black and white medieval buildings (I learned later that some are actually Victorian reconstructions)





:: the Rows are a series of two floored walkways full of shops, also dating from the medieval era. These are unique to Chester


:: Chester castle


:: back at the hotel, S. made a new friend (obviously we had to bring one home with us)


:: delicious Thai dinner, the perfect ending to a well spent day



more photos at Flickr here

matching outfits

Last weekend S. was sick with gastroenteritis - which she later passed on to us, so this was not a fun week - and for obvious reasons we had to stay home. While she napped I decided to do something crafty for a change, since it's been too long since I used my sewing machine. She was in desperate need of some pants so I sewed these two in less than an hour. I didn't have a pattern, just traced one from a pair that she usually wears. And then because I had bought her a few plain t-shirts the day before I decided to turn them into matching outfits...

north wales

A lot of my travel obsessions come from places I read about on my favourite books. And sometimes the idea is planted years before, like this desire to visit Wales, for example. I first became curious while reading the first of the Welsh trilogy books by Sharon Penman, “Here be dragons”, which tells the story between the Welsh King Llewelyn the Great and Joanna, King John’s illegitimate daughter. I remember reading about Joanna’s first impressions of Wales and its landscapes, and thinking “someday I must go there”. And so I did, many years after, and even visited Dolwyddelan Castle, which I remember from the book.

Other books about the Welsh princes I read and enjoyed were the Brothers of Gwynnedd quartet, by Edith Pargeter, which are about the last Welsh prince (another Llewelyn) and his brothers. Coincidentally, Edith Pargeter is more known as Ellis Peters, the author of Brother Cadfael’s medieval mystery books (which I never read), which take part in Shrewsbury, another of the places we visited on this trip.

King Edward I is also featured extensively in Ms Penman's last Welsh trilogy book “The reckoning”, and so I was curious to visit the castles he built in Wales after the conquest. This includes Harlech and Caernarfon, but also Beaumaris and Conwy, which we visited on our way to Chester...

Beaumaris is a quiet little village in the isle of Anglesey. We went to visit the castle, of course, and then stopped at this lovely tea house on the main street for lunch (highly recommended)









Conwy turned out to be a much larger place, and it was incredibly busy when we arrived. We decided to skip visiting the inside of the castle, and opted for a long stroll inside the city walls instead.





The main streets were filled with shops, some of them quite interesting. These especially caught my attention:




.. and naturally, this dress (yes, I did went inside to take a look, but sadly it was way over my budget)