Last Sunday, my family and I made our way into Chester to complete The Twilight Walk for the Brain Tumour Charity. This is an organisation that is very close to our hearts, and we felt inclined to give something back - as their help and support has helped us a great deal over the past year.

Luckily, the weather stayed beautiful for the entire duration of the walk and Chester looked even more lovely at night time.

The walk was 10k and took us all over the city. It was extremely well organised  and very clearly sign posted. What made the walk so special was the support and atmosphere from all the other participators. Not once was it doom and gloom - everybody was so positive and happy. It was truly inspirational.

Passing the finish line was so uplifting, and an experience that I will definitely never forget.



The nicest lunch I've had in a while!



My lovely brother outside the cathedral



Alice and Luke ready to walk

En route

The finish line and the beautiful sunset

Last Saturday morning, we made the six hour car journey down to Somerset - where we had booked to stay in a cottage for a week. Whilst the car journey was long and tiresome, we finally made it to our destination. Situated in a small village named Wheddon Cross, our cottage was small and comfortable, and there was a massive window in the living room which allowed us to look out across the hills, and gave us a beautiful view of the sunset.

Our time in Somerset was very relaxing, we spent most days wandering around different villages, reading and watching The Big Bang Theory on TV (which I am attempting to learn the theme tune to). On Sunday, we even whipped out Monopoly which we hadn't done for a long time.

One of my favourite things about Somerset is the houses. The cottages that were scattered around the quaint little villages were like something you would expect to see from a story book, painted a sweet pastel shade and often had ivy growing up them.

The villages all had something in common ; each held at least two antique shops. I loved this, as you could peer into the window and would always see something new that would catch your eye. One of my favourite villages that we visited was Watchet - as this had a lovely harbour, and a large selection of antique/vintage stores.

Two other towns that we visited were Lynton and Lynmouth, and we got the cliff railway which helped us get from one to the other. Even though the railway track looks terrifying (it goes uphill and looks more like the track of a rollercoaster) it was absolutely fine, and not in the least bit scary.

My all time favourite thing that we did in Somerset was when we went kayaking. This was such a fun experience, and weather was glorious which made it so much better. We spent about an hour in the water, which was just enough time as my arm was beginning to ache from all the paddling.

All in all, although there wasn't an awful lot to do around there, I feel so much more relaxed and ready to start the new school year.

Here are some photographs from the trip;



The lake that we kayaked on.

The sunset



To get me through the long car journey... a peach ice tea.

A doll museum that we went to in Dunster.

Over the past few months, I have been lucky enough to visit many different places, all across England. A few days ago, I returned from the lovely seaside town of Llandudno. Due to the fact that I had never been here before, I was unsure about what to expect. I pictured a quiet resort by the seaside which was vastly occupied by the older generation. How wrong was I?!?

Although a wide range of the residents there were old people, it was also swarming with families. The beach and pier were buzzing with people of all different ages - especially in the arcade bit. (the two- penny slots are surprisingly addictive).

One of my favourite things about Llandudno was the promenade that led you right along the sea front. This was absolutely beautiful at the night time, when it was all lit up by pretty fairy lights which were strung from the lampposts.

On Tuesday, we walked up the Great Orme. Even though it was absolutely FREEZING at the top (I turned into a whingey baby...but I got a hot chocolate out of it;) ) the views that surrounded us were spectacular, and the sea went all the way round the hills. We walked down a different route than we had walked up, and we were led to 'The Happy Valley' which was a lovely park, that was filled with beautiful flowers and Alice in Wonderland statues.

That evening, we went to see 'The Carpentears' who were a Carpenters tribute act. I had only listened to segments of The Carpenters songs before, so I was not familiar with the lyrics or the tune. Again, my expectations were proved wrong as we all ended up having a fantastic night, and the tribute act were surprisingly great. The Carpenters may just have gained a new fan.

On Wednesday we drove up to Conwy, where we spent the day looking round the quirky shops, walking around the village and soaking up the sun in the park. Me and Luke even went and walked around the town walls, which gave us a great view of the town - seeing as we were very high up.

Thursday was our last day, so we decided to visit Betwsy-Y-Coed before we set off on our drive home. We weren't really in the mood to look round the shops, so instead we visited the waterfall (Swallow Falls). This was probably my favourite place we visited, as it was so picturesque and
tranquil - a lovely environment to be in.

As usual, I will insert a few pictures from my trip below. A majority of these were taken by my brother, Luke.

The lovely village of Conwy.

 

 I loved this building, and how they had attached a bike to the top of it!

 

 

 

    A few pictures of Swallow Falls, Betwsy-Y-Coed.

 
 

 

 

 


Climbing up and down the town wall ruins.

 

 
 


                       

                 Llandudno Pier.



The lit up promenade.

The smallest house in Great Britain.




 

 
 

 

 
 





For as long as I can remember, Art has always been an interest of mine. As a child, I was always drawing and colouring in - at that stage, my thoughts towards art were that the prettier the picture was, the better it must be. I believe that as you get older, it is no longer about the pretty picture on the canvas - it is more about how the picture makes you feel. (That's my opinion anyway)

My absolute favourite 'genre' of art is abstract art. Abstract art is like marmite - you either love it or hate it. Personally, I love it. It has a way of looking so simple and effortless, yet so detailed. The detail comes when you look closely, and let your mind wander. You think about certain things, such as why the artist painted that line or used that particular colour. My favourite abstract art piece is called A Remark You Made and is by the wonderful Elín Jakobsdóttir.

Today I was lucky enough to go to the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester and look at the incredible art work that they display there. One of my favourite pieces was a series of photographs by Luke Fowler called Your days are numbered. Both my brother and I had different interpretations of this series of photographs - but isn't that the point? With art, there is never one true meaning or answer.

Another favourite piece of mine was the 'Multi Story House' by Mary Kelly (pictured below). Using stencils and light, she cut out words from women whose experiences in life had made them become active feminists / realise the importance of feminism. One of my favourite quotes from the women was one that read 'I didn't know I was a girl until I studied architecture and a professor said my work was "cute" '.

The Whitworth were showcasing a beautiful Chinese Art exhibition, which had many different pieces, from many different artists, using many different materials. Whether they created their masterpiece in the form of a painting, photography, a video, a sculpture - or even a large array of pebbles on the floor, each piece was wildly intriguing and different from the next one.

Pictured below are some pictures of the wonderful artwork I saw today - which my brother kindly took for me. His instagram is www.instagram.com/___luke.f

 

(Please ignore the kink in my hair, it's driving me insane)

 (left - the portrait section) (right - Lisa Oppenheim)

 (Geng Jianyi - The Second Situation)










(Left - Zhang Huan - family tree)  (Right - Weng Peijun (Weng Fen) - On the Wall Shenzhen)


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One of my favourite places in England is the Lake District, and last week my family and I took our trailer tent and camped up near Ambleside. Although we did experience some horrible weather whilst we set the tent up, luckily the campsite that we stayed on had a library - so we all sheltered in there and waited for the rain to clear up.

Our visit was short and sweet and we took advantage of the gorgeous weather by going on long walks up by the hills and near the lakes.

 On Tuesday we walked into Elterwater and up amongst the hills. We thought that we would do a circular route, but due to our poor map reading skills we ended up getting quite lost. Things went into a bit of a frenzy when both my brother and sister got stung by bees, which was actually the highlight of the day as it stopped their continuous and off tune singing.

On Wednesday we got a boat over to Sawrey and walked up to Hill Top Farm - which was where Beatrix Potter lived. This is a huge tourist attraction, along with the Beatrix Potter museum which we visited on the Thursday, and was swarming with people from all over England. It was a strange experience walking around the village where her story books came to life, as a lot of her inspiration came from the cottages and people who lived nearby.

We then went and walked to a beautiful tarn, which I have forgotten the name of. It was lovely sitting on the rocks and looking at the beautiful view that lay in front of us as we read our books, and had a rest from walking.

That night we went to Zeffirellis, a delicious Italian restaurant - which we later discovered was also a vegetarian place. This was fantastic for me (as I am a vegetarian) but not so good for the rest of my family, as they fancied pizza with a bit of meat on. They were not disappointed with their choices though, and we were treated to a delicious meal - it was a perfect ending to a lovely day.

Then, on Thursday (our last day) we visited our favourite place, the Beatrix Potter museum. You really can never be too old for this place, and every time we go to the Lake District we make it our mission to visit there. The museum has highly detailed sculptures of Beatrix's anthropomorphic characters with beautifully painted backdrops placed behind them. At the end of the magical exhibition, there is a gift shop with gorgeous merchandise and stuffed toys that you can buy to remind yourself of the experience. There is also a tea room that serves tea and cake in stunning willow patterned cups and saucers.

It is said without a shadow of a doubt that, due to the beautiful, idyllic scenery, the Lake District is one of the most visually stunning places in England. Attached below are some pictures from my trip, but no camera can ever do the views experienced by the eyes justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for reading, and I am hoping to write very soon - see you then!

Grace x

I am currently in the middle of the longest summer holiday that I will ever experience in my whole life. This is due to the fact that I have completed my GCSE's and therefore finished secondary school. Although I am having a lovely time, I have to admit that it can get boring sometimes. Sitting on my bed watching countless episodes of TV shows is not exactly how I predicted this summer would be. So... I decided to start this blog so that I can share with you, and look back on, some fun and exciting things that I do this summer that don't involve watching Pretty Little Liars for hours on end (and getting angry because WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHO A IS)

 

Bye for now,

Grace x

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