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I hope you enjoy this photo dump from our gloriously sunny holiday in Mallorca last week. I mean, you likely won’t enjoy it as much as we did, but that would be fair enough. (at Port de Pollença, Mallorca, España) https://www.instagram.com/p/CeJZcjzKI_u/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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All be fair-a in Albufeira

(Sorry for the cheesy title, but I couldn’t resist).

A trip of firsts! Eric’s first holiday, my first mother’s day, our first family trip to the beach, and too many Eric food firsts to mention (though of course him eating most of dad’s poppadums with the mint sauce was a favourite). Plus, it was the first time in 11 years that we’d been away as a Garrett family of five, and it felt like such a lovely way to break the foreign holiday covid drought of two and a half years!!!

We stayed in the fabulous Casa do Mar villa for the week, with a pool table, big TV, super comfy beds, 5 huge bedrooms and every single one had it’s own bathroom! The outside area was a really good size as well with a big pool, sheltered sunbathing area (which was needed with the cool wind that was about), big outside table with a BBQ and, the cherry on the cake, THE JACUZZI.

Ed showed off his BBQing skills on a few nights, so eating in still felt like a massive treat with huge shrimps, delicious burgers and packed-full skewers to work through. But we did also have our fair share of eating out. Ria, Kiki and Ed took on babysitting duties one night so Alex and I and Mum and Dad could go on our respective date nights. Alex and I ate in a little Brazilian place, and it was such good wholesome, filling, food. I don’t know why I insisted we go to a dessert place afterwards as I couldn’t eat even half of my Nutella crepe, such a waste. I did manage to finish my Irish coffee, but only after scooping the copious amounts of thick cream off the top.

My favourite dining experience, however, was at the local Indian on the last night. It was so so good. Had a fish coconut curry, and it was honestly to die for. 

We ventured down to the little local beach a few times, including to go to a beach restaurant which we had totally to ourselves on Mother’s Day evening (though Dad and Alex did have to cart the pram down and up a hefty flight of stairs to get there!), but aside from that our only real day trip was to Quinta da Tor vineyard for a wine tasting - another gift for Mum’s 60th. The tour guide was funny and charming, the views were gorgeous and the homemade bread and olive oil we got with the wine was to divine. Unfortunately that cold wind did mean that we were all slightly frozen before we got our wine jackets on, and Dad the Des, remained cold throughout!

The rest of the time we basically just enjoyed the villa. Lots of pool was played, mum and I watched ‘Death on the Nile’ (good, but we both dozed off at times!) and ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ (depressing but what a performance!!), I finished the first novel I’ve read in years, ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ (gripping and wonderful), crosswords were attempted with varying success, we all turned wrinkly from sitting in the jacuzzi, and the rum and cokes abounded throughout! Oh and while Ria and Kirsty worked on their synchronised swimming, Eric was sadly less than impressed with pool time, but did very much enjoy all the extra baths he had as a consequence.

Even with all the packing and unpacking, and worries and obstacles of our first trip away with a baby, I feel so refreshed and relaxed after this fabulous time away. Sunshine and family time was obviously very much needed - thanks again Mum for turning 60!

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Our haven in Horton in Craven

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Our haven in Horton-in-Craven

Just when it was needed most, a few weeks ago J.A.N.D got the band back together for a long Yorkshire weekend get away, near Skipton. We stayed in a gorgeous little stone chalet-type Airbnb, right next to a farm in the middle of nowhere with a lovely little garden with a stream running alongside it and sheep sleeping under the surrounding trees. The weather was lush, the views even lusher and the company and relaxation the lushest of all.

After a local pub dinner on our first night, we had a leisurely (a key word for the whole trip really) morning and, on the advice of our host, head out on a walk from our front door and into the fields. We met a couple within 2 minutes of leaving the house, and the woman marched straight up to us and said “where have you been?”, which I loved as an opening gambit and she had clearly used it on visitors before. Obviously we didn’t have much to report at that stage, but they too gave us some local rambling recommends which we think we followed, but I guess we’ll never be sure. The walk encompassed many passing sheep (including one dead one!), a picnic lunch and some stone skimming next to a lovely river, a £2 million house, and all the green gorgeousness imaginable. We then drank refreshing drinks and played cub in the garden (I had brilliant beginners luck!) before Jen made us a delicious dinner as her forfeit for picking the losing contestant in Taskmaster series 10. Then of course we put the world to rights before bed.

Another leisurely morning, this time accompanied by a cooked breakie, and then followed by doing as much relaxing as we possibly could. We played games and attempted crossword puzzles in the garden pretty much all day, soaking up the brilliant weather and wishing it never had to end (apart from me feeling a bit round and uncomfortable!). Then we went for dinner in Clitheroe at the Emporium, and ate our body weights in pizza, garlic bread and mussels. What more could you want from a perfect Sunday?

We finished off the long weekend with a walk around Gisburn forest, which was the perfect length and provided another lovely riverside lunch and a fresh set of beautiful nature to admire, before collapsing back into D&J’s car for a snoozy ride home. Absolutely love going away with these guys, and couldn’t have asked for more from our ultimate relaxation weekend. 

(Oh and on a side note, I can’t recall which day it happened, but when Jen and Dan nipped to the shop, Alex and I lay on the lawn and he read some Scottish poetry to bump, and he loved it. Kicked hardest I’d ever felt and I dozed off in the sun. Just a very warm memory I want to remember.) 

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Carefree at the Causeway

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Carefree at the Causeway

In such strange times, it really helped to have a special occasion to work towards for a little getaway this year, otherwise we very well may not have got any proper time away from the Farmhouse in 2020! The occasion was my little cousin Matthew’s wedding, and it was indeed very special, if a bit surreal, given the current social restrictions right across the UK. Thankfully, at least currently, the wedding guest numbers in N.Ireland are venue-size dependant, and the venue was enormous, so we reckoned there were about 80/90 guests in total, which was bizarre seeing as I’ve only spoken to Alex and Sue (and supermarket staff) face to face in the last month!!

The most surreal part was the church, where we were super spread out (we were actually in a separate hall, well over 2m away from any other groups / families), and nobody sang, though there was one hymn played. Nothing can stop my emotions though, and with Matt’s huge grin and the bride looking so beautiful, I was tearing up as usual. The reception venue was really breath-taking, set alongside a river-come-waterfall with beautiful walks around the grounds and the sun was shining brilliantly, we think even more so than it was on the day they were originally booked to get married back in June! The food was absolutely delicious, though we all ate far too much, and they finished the evening with a quiz (as dancing wasn’t permitted sadly), which our table very unexpectedly won, considering there were a lot of N.I. specific questions!! I do just want to make a note here that I still expect a prize at some point Matt, you’re not getting away with that one… So so pleased that this happy couple finally got their (slightly unorthodox!) day and it was so lovely to have such a happy event to go to in all this madness.

We also used the time together as a family to belatedly celebrate my 30th, which again wasn’t how I had hoped we would do so but was very lovely indeed. Mum asked us to dress up as Disney characters so I don’t think I could have looked any less accepting of my age in the photos, with whiskers painted on my face and my hair tied high in a little pink bow on my head (Marie from the Aristocats) behind my bright pink (Ria-made) birthday cake. Oh well, you’re only as young as you feel, right? I was spoilt with lots of lovely food and banoffee pie and mum even got me a little gift; but it was really just nice to be all together as a family for the first time since new year, and Kirsty as Roz from Monster’s Inc was priceless.

Before Alex and I had a few days on our own, we managed to fit in a visit to Aunt Mags and Sandy, as well as a walk along the newly redone front at Whitehead, followed by a long queue for a rinka icecream. There is always room/time/patience for icecream as Granda would say! Oh and all us girls recorded a song in celebration of Matt & Kirsty’s marriage. It was a bit crazy actually as Ria had picked a song the week before for us to record, and lo and behold, it was their first dance! That girl is spooky sometimes. They seemed really chuffed with the recording anyway, and I always love singing harmony with those ladies, can’t beat it.

Alex and I had a really fabulous few days at Stephen and Pam’s caravan up in Portrush. We started out by doing the almost 2 hour coastal walk along to the giants causeway on the Sunday (dad’s cheat so you don’t have to pay entry), and it really was the most glorious day, we couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather. Alex got one picture of the coastline quite early on and I keep just goggling at it. It really is a magical place and it was a perfect day to show off that coastline to the English contingent (at last). We were properly exhausted by the time we got back (about half way we almost decided we wouldn’t even make it to the causeway haha), and happy to just grab some pizzas and wine at the closest shop and mong out on the sofa for the evening in the very spacious caravan.

The next 2 days were very relaxed, mostly just wandering around Portrush, watching the surfers and enjoying mild, bright weather. I loved having time at the beach, it had been so long and, especially at White Rock beach, the coast line is so beautiful with it’s interesting shaped cliff sides and light sand beaches. We had a quick stop at Dunluce Castle, but just admired it from the outside as we didn’t want to pay £5 each to go inside. I think it’s much more impressive from outside anyway, as it’s so precariously placed on a split off of the cliff, with a bridge across to the mainland like the castle in Shrek. We also got some brilliant wildlife glimpses, amazingly seeing some dolphins bobbing in and out of the water in Portrush and spending our picnic lunch at White Rock watching birds with black-tipped wings dive bombing into the sea.

We did manage lunch out at least (we had very lazy evenings in at the caravan), at The Mermaid by the harbour, and it did not disappoint. I had a seafood Thermidor, which was like a creamy curry-like sauce full of all sorts of delicious sea food and mashed potato. I’m salivating just thinking about it. It was funny that Portrush was a bit of a ghost town, but that restaurant was absolutely hiving. The waitress said it was the last of the 25% off deal, a bonus we obviously also enjoyed.

We finished the holiday with a viewing of Tenet at the cinema (very much enjoyed!), a Chinese take away with mum, dad & Ria and then I had a bath the morning before we left (how I miss those!). We are leaving feeling extremely relaxed (Alex even more so as Mum loaded him up with co-codamol for the toothache he’s been having!) and refreshed. It has been an absolute delight to have a bit of normality and respite from the realities of the 2020 world, and to spend some quality time with my daft family. I’ve done too much missing them this year.

Congratulations again Matt & Kirsty, and many thanks for being the catalyst for this much needed holiday.

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I mean, have you ever heard cows do this?!

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Peak District Rambles

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Peak District Rambling

We finally had our first two nights away from The Old Farmhouse last weekend and it was really lovely to get completely away. That’s probably the nicest thing about camping; you properly leave normal life behind! It wasn’t what we’d hoped for weather-wise on the August bank holiday weekend however, so when we arrived in our little hilly camp site near Buxton in the wind and rain, we just quickly put up our tents and ran to the safety of a nearby pub (they squeezed us in – their last customers for the evening) for a really really delicious pub dinner. My enormous steak pie was the envy of the group.

We ALMOST got stuck in the mud on the drive back to our tent, so its safe to say we didn’t stay up long, just a bit of nattering and drinking and then hid away in our sleeping bags (and on my deflating airbed). It was a very cold and windy night. At one point in the night I thought we might either take off or a cow was going to blow straight into the tent and the noises of the big trucks from the road seemed amplified by the wind – it could have been rockets flying past!

Saturday stayed dry most of the day with some sunshine (shock, horror!), so at least it meant we could get out for a long walk and enjoy the beautiful scenery. We walked about 3 hours to get to the absolutely gorgeous little village of Hartington, following, to begin with, a path which used to be a railway line. The way the first bit of it was cut into the hillside was really amazing. Some very cute donkeys and a friendly cat welcomed us to Hartington, we had a walk around the church and I got a postcard for Aunty M.

When Em Jay booked the pub lunch for that day she had spoken to an extremely enthusiastic man on the phone and we knew as soon as we arrived who he was. It was a tiny little bar, and, with distancing, the queues were often out the door, but he was alone behind the bar, over 6 ft tall, and with a personality to match. He was chatting to every person who came in, often including the whole room in the conversation and just so incredibly upbeat. I actually thought he would probably drive you mad if you worked with him. I didn’t want to leave Hartington, it was super cute, the sun was out, and I guess the thought of 3 hours walk back may have also had something to do with it…

The highlights on the walk back included taking a “short cut” behind a farm which Em Jay said felt like she was in an apocalypse game, finding a little tunnel in the hillside which you could just go into and was pitch dark – no idea where that lead! – and seeing the foundations of a 12th century castle. I was really getting tired by the time we reached the castle, and as I was expecting to see a big building on the horizon, I kept thinking we were never going to get there. Grumpy Naomi was certainly kicking in. But then suddenly we reached the top of a small hill and there was an incredible rock jutting out of it and we climbed up to look down from what used to be the wall of the castle and into the now grassy foundations. An impressive sight and a well needed sit down and banana break for a grumpy walker! It was still a fair way to go from there across vast fields to get back to camp, but I knew a camp fire and BBQ were at the other end, which helped!

Oh and just before we got home there we encountered some rather vocal cows... We think they must have been hungry, but I have never heard cows make such loud and unified noises in my life – it was so bizarre. Will post a video below!

The evening was really lovely, and started with a gorgeous sunset over the pretty little hillside we we’re situated on. We got ourselves a camp fire from the guys who run the site (we think it used to be the inside of a washing machine!) but it seemed like the logs had gotten wet, as for a large part of the evening the barrel just produced smoke and not much heat – we were getting proper camp fire envy from all those around us who seemed to have perfectly blazing fires! I set to drinking however and put on all the layers I had, and I was perfectly toasty all evening (unlike J&E!!) and very much enjoyed our little BBQ, chocolate and, later on, camp fire melted Camembert! A lot of silliness ensued, mainly around how Jordan’s car smelt like it had taken a sh*t (from the Camembert) and Em Jay commenting on how amazing the moon looked while we were all toasting our bottoms on the fire. The moon and stars looked glorious and we even saw the International Space Station fly across the sky. My only regret was not bringing marshmallows.

While waiting 45 minutes for scrambled eggs to cook on Jordan’s little tiny gas canister cooker in the morning, we packed everything up and basked in some much anticipated sunshine before heading to Bakewell for a little wander. Bakewell was busy but lovely, with it’s colourful gardens and very quaint craft markets – one lady told us about how knitting had got her through cancer treatment!! We grabbed a coffee and pastry and Alex and I perused a few art gallery shops, but nothing jumped out at us. We quickly realised that we were all really knackered, so decided to call it a day and head out for the lovely drive home.

It certainly wasn’t the holiday I was dreaming of this year, but in these crazy times we’ve got to take what we can get, and I’m very grateful that we had this little get away, and some time to appreciate the beauty on our doorstep with some wonderful company.

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London’s been calling for a while now. Sorry it took us so long to get back to you 📞#londoncalling #catchingup #rockingout #creepyed @garrettria @elliearkle @georginaalissabrown @mess.band (at London, United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5QNLMKhtFU/?igshid=1o82v9uasby42

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#thisyearsvow is to not take for granted the great things we have on our doorstep. Manchester really is a great city as this weekend has once again proved. I also vow not to take my cooking, clothes-washing, food-shopping, problem-solving, hilarious and brilliant husband for granted. I know he’s one of a kind too. #loveisintheayres #holidayathome #househusband #2years #milkingit https://www.instagram.com/p/B4-4BjDBj9I/?igshid=1450m011dk7fu

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If Carlsberg did holidays... #naomisniblings #family #thecoolauntanduncle (at Vilamoura Algarve Portugal) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2pNiiQhfVy/?igshid=1vyc6m653ybtf

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A post shared by Naomi Ayres (@littlenomo) on Aug 8, 2019 at 4:38am PDT

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Camping Kings

Firstly let me say; camping really lived up to the hype.

I’m pretty sure it all began with Alex and I inviting ourselves on Jen and Dan’s romantic and secluded camping holiday, but however it happened, Jen, Alex, Naomi and Dan (or J.A.N.D. as we’re sometimes known) set off on a camping adventure to Alencon and Saumur in France. We had planned on visiting one other spot by the beach during the week, but after putting the tent up in the dark on the first night after around 18 hours of travelling, we decided that erecting and dismantling the tent twice in one week would be more than enough. As already mentioned, the journey to France was less than ideal, filled with traffic jams, delays and lots and lots of rain, but I could already tell we were on to a winner with this trip with the hilarious, occasionally boarding on offensive, car games. The French Toast Game was a real brain strainer, and the number plate game always lead to profanity, but I think my favourite was “Three, two, one; it’s not brick!”… not sure what its actual title is, but ask me about it some time.

Anyway, we made it! And the sun came out too.

The first camp site was really well-equipped with a lovely pool (in which I made the best ball-catch of my life – a perfect cleavage shot!), really nice facilities and plenty of activities going on including some sort of astronomy club, boules tournaments (you really had to watch where you were walking in case you interrupted a game!) and roasted pigs on offer. It was also situated in a really picturesque little village called Fresnay-Sur-Sarthe with a gorgeous river running through it and wooden shuttered houses with ivy growing on them. I felt like I was in Beauty and the Beast. We did also visit “the most beautiful village in France”, but we all agreed that Fresnay could give it a run for its money. In the other village we visited a lovely church and a tiny little chapel (with paper men cut outs hanging from the ceiling for some reason) and I absolutely loved the black metal sculptures in the church of the journey of Christ to the cross. While Alex and I were waiting for Dan and Jen to pull the car around, we actually stumbled across the sculptor’s studio, by a very pretty little bridge. We popped in for a nosy and there he was, sitting quietly in the corner with his apron on. I wish I had been able to afford a souvenir to remember his work, or that I at least could remember his name, but as usual my memory is hopeless!

All in all a fabulous first stop, and we loved just enjoying the space on the campsite too - chilling out by the river. It was a bit less relaxing when the boys decided to venture out into the river to sit on a big log and take lots of photos, but boys will be boys.

On route to our second camping spot we had probably our most memorable stop at Chateau Chenonceau. It was literally a fairy-tale castle, inside and out! It had history, grandeur, far-spanning gardens and the building itself arched over a large river on which we took a hot but wonderful boat ride. There was amazing artwork throughout the chateau and in nearly every room there was some form of stunning floral arrangement. As we enjoyed our delicious sorbets on the way out of the grounds, we discovered the flower and vegetable garden (although ‘garden’ doesn’t really do it justice - it was immense!), next to which was the old farmyard. Nestled in the centre of the farmyard was a beautiful old barn yard building where all through the year a handful of florists work on those floral arrangements in the chateau, using the flowers from that incredible garden. Now if you want to talk about dream jobs that’s got to be pretty up there! I’m sat here now in my flat in Manchester thinking about that chateau and it seems like a dream. What a great day.

We were instantly happy with our decision not to go to the beach as we pulled up at camp site number two. The drive to the site, especially at sunset, was breath-taking; following along the Loire river and seemingly leaving civilisation behind. The second site couldn’t have been more different from the first. Just a patch of land really with a showers and sinks building and a tiny little reception come drinks stand which I think only opened 4 hours a day.

We were in wine land, so we mostly made the most of that fact, but we did also enjoy incredible crepes and cheese (Alex and I had a platter of cheeses which were made of only goat’s and sheep’s milk!) and again really enjoyed cooking and chilling at the campsite. On our first full day at Camping Belle Rive we had a really rather brilliant BBQ, if I do say so myself. It had meat and veggie skewers, prawns, corn on the cob, huge chicken thighs and pineapple rings – a BBQ of kings you might say - and all on one disposable BBQ (with a bit of help from the hob). However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing… While putting up the wind breaker for the BBQ Dan managed to smash his hand (repeatedly) with our newly acquired mallet (we’d managed to completely disintegrate the one we brought with us on the rock solid ground on which we set up camp on day one). A small, but alarmingly bulging lump quickly appeared on his hand and I think he’s still suffering with it now! Also, after the BBQ was devoured, Alex decided to try and keep a fire going in the little tray, but Jen had to come to the rescue with the water bottle in the end as the flames started catching on the grass and I think Alex had visions of our tent going up in flames. “There’s a fine line between a hero and a villain”, as it turns out. We did still manage to roast some marshmallows over our gas cooker though to end the night – I’m not usually a fan of “fake” marshmallows but these toasted perfectly!!

We did two wine tasting sessions before I had to leave the group. Both were recommendations of the very lovely lady at the tourist office who I’m pretty sure everyone in the group had a crush on. The first was in a cellar and walking distance from our campsite, and the second in a vineyard. We think that it was because we were English, but at the cellar we were given the little silver tasting dishes and just left to our own devices in a big cave full of 22 different wines!! We were slightly disappointed with the reds, but there was a white that tasted like marshmallows which stands out in my mind. We all gave a score out of ten for each wine and re-tried any we particularly liked, seeing as no one was keeping tabs. We got a pretty interesting little tour on the second tasting, seeing the machines they use to press the grapes and learning that some sparkling wines become sparkling naturally, rather than having anything added. Then we tried some really lovely wines there, I think my favourite was the “friends wine”, named thus because you should drink it socially rather than with a meal. The woman running our tasting then recommended a wine tasting festival that was in Saumur that evening (where we just so happened to be heading!), which was just €5 per head for a wine glass and as much wine as you could manage! We stopped by the festival for a beer before dinner and we could already tell it was going to be a really fun place to spend some time later that night. In the meantime however, we had a stonkingly good tapas meal, with snails, pig’s feet and of course more wine a little further into Saumur. The chef came out to speak to us personally and check we were happy with our food and when we asked him how he managed in such a minute kitchen he said he’d been in since 7am as he had to prepare one dish at a time! The festival was ace and a really really fun way to end my bit of the holiday. They had live music (of which Alex bought a CD), lots and lots of people and even more wine! We had to wait for Jen to sober up enough to drive the car back as we were struggling to figure out taxi’s, so we finished up the night with another crepe and a cocktail simply called ‘Crazy’. It wasn’t great, but it certainly didn’t take away from the day overall. It couldn’t have been better.

Although it was horrible having to leave this wonderful holiday early, especially because I had to go on to something so sad and disconnected from the trip, it’s lovely to think back through what an amazing week it was and try to recapture a bit of the relaxation I felt while we were there. Star gazing, beautiful scenery, sunshine and lots and lots of laughs with brilliant friends; it’s exactly the kind of thing you need every once in a while.

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A post shared by Naomi Ayres (@littlenomo) on Jul 7, 2019 at 1:43pm PDT

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Ireland - Dingle to home (i.e. pt2)