Wednesday 26 March 2014

Country Escape: PART TWO

What is it about being away from home that makes you want to kick the covers back, rush out of bed at the crack of dawn and spend the day exploring?


After being woken gently by the early morning sun shining through the window I found myself feeling bright and breezy at 7am. Sneaking downstairs to let the dogs out, I put the kettle on and made a start on breakfast for Emily and I. Since we were only dog-sitting at my friend's beautiful farmhouse for the weekend, we had a lot of exploring to do and it was time to crack on!

The pretty village of Warkworth is only a short drive from where we were staying, and since Emily the Southerner had never been, off we went in my canny car Little Blue in search of an adventure...


The backdrop of Warkworth is dominated by the medieval ruins of Warkworth Castle. The castle was once home to the Duke of Northumberland and members of the upstanding Percy family who now call its not-so-distant neighbour Alnwick Castle home.


After crossing the mighty threshold and into the ancient ruins, Emily and I set off to explore.


Delving deeper into the ruins, we tried to picture what the towers, turrets, chapels and great halls would have looked like.



As a self-confessed medieval history geek, my time spent devouring Philippa Gregory's Tudor tales and watching umpteen David Starkey documentaries meant I conjured up images of great feasts by the fire, intimate ceremonies in the chapel and the hustle and bustle of servants clambering up and down to the beer cellar pretty easily, and it wasn't long before we had made up our own imaginary family whose trials and tribulations took place under cover of these old stone walls.


Emily waiting for a long lost love to arrive on horseback over the grassy verge... 


While I kept an eye out for armies on the march to invade our land.... 


 It wasn't long before my inner geek came out in full force and I fell in love with the lighting and romance of the old castle, casting shadows on nooks and crannies just begging to be explored.


The view of rural old Northumberland wasn't half bad either.


After all that exploring it was definitely time to head into Warkworth and show Emily the cute collection of shops, starting of course, with my favourite: Cabosse Coffee Shop and Patisserie.

WARNING: Anyone on a diet should look probably away now....


There's nothing I love more than chocolate, so when I spied the chocolate fondue set, I obviously had to try it. Ladies and Gentlemen feast your eyes on a pot of melted Cabosse milk chocolate, sugar curls, chopped hazelnuts, fresh banana and cream all served on a silver platter for you to tuck in. I think you can probably tell from the picture how amazing it was, and best of all it's only £6.95! 

After lunch we wandered along the gently sloping streets, popping our heads in and out of the lovely little gift shops. Two places you absolutely must visit are Gray's of Warkworth - a girlie gift shop filled with pretty scarves, jewellery and handbags, and Fenwick Gallery and Gift Shop which sells the work of local artists, craftspeople and jewellery designers. Emily and I fell in love with just about everything.


All too quickly it was time to say goodbye to our farmhouse and head back to Newcastle ready for work in the morning. Let's hope it won't be too long before I'm back in my spiritual home!









Tuesday 11 March 2014

Country Escape: PART ONE


Just look at that view. There's nothing like lush green grass, rolling fields and being surrounded by wildlife to make me feel really happy. 

As much as I love Newcastle and living in such a vibrant, busy city, my heart longs for my own farmhouse in the country. I love the sights, sounds and smells of the countryside as weird as that might be. I love the smell of the hay from hay bales, the smell of the grass and the fresh air. Nothing beats the sight of endless open spaces and boxing hares, snuffling hedgehogs and gently grazing sheep. So when a friend of mine asked me if I would dog sit her two lovely labradors Gus and Cinders at their farm for the weekend, I couldn't wait to get my wellies on and play farmer's wife. 

Bringing with me best friend Emily along for the ride, we said goodbye to Newcastle and headed for a small village called Felton near Morpeth. 


Gus and Cinders were pretty pleased to see us and it wasn't long before we settled ourselves into Julie's beautiful farmhouse. 


Since I was the only one out of the two of us who is from up North, I felt duty bound to show Emily just how gorgeous Northumberland is. Bundling the two big labradors into the back of my car, our first stop was Druridge Bay which looked picture perfect in the afternoon sun.



It was lovely to see the dogs enjoy themselves and run freely on the beach. Thankfully the weather stayed nice too so we didn't mind getting wet as we walked along the seafront in our wellies. 






After a good frolic on the beach and the obligatory 'write your name in the sand' photo, we bundled the smelly, wet dogs back into my car and headed for a drink at the beautiful Northumberland Arms. The pub overlooks the picturesque River Coquet and we couldn't resist stopping to say hello to the ducks before going inside. 






The pub was just the right kind of busy for us to take a seat by the fire, grab a drink and have a chat while the dogs lay by our feet. The interior was beautifully decorated and the food smelled amazing. We promised we'd come back for Sunday lunch another time!

Once we were back home we fired up the AGA (or Emily did) and made ourselves a feast. Playing the perfect farmer's wife I set the table for tea before we all piled into the sitting room to watch a dvd, eat chocolate and chatter until the early hours. 


With the dogs snuggled in their basket, we headed upstairs to bed, but it wasn't long before a certain someone decided he didn't want to sleep downstairs and hopped into bed with us. Being used to my two little bichons, I don't mind sharing my bed, but I have to say Gus took up a lot more room than expected! 




After a brilliant first day, I couldn't wait to show Emily more of Northumberland tomorrow.

Stay tuned for part two to see what we got up to! 


Happy Birthday to my blog and I!


Prosecco and Pie is one year old this March!

It doesn't seem like a year ago that I took my first steps into the seemingly-scary blogging world, clueless about blogging platforms, coding and SEO, not least of all building the courage to share my ramblings with the world. The truth is, my blog was born out of a love of writing, talking/meeting new people and of course, two lovely little things called prosecco and pie. My blog is an online summary of what I do in my daily life, getting together with my friends and family, eating, drinking and enjoying life. 

I've met some amazing people, built brilliant friendships and learnt a lot from other bloggers over the past year. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has read my blog, whether you're a regular reader or a silent lurker checking back now and then to see what's new. You've not only inspired me to continue doing what I do best, but helped me build an amazing career out of this experience and long may that continue. Hopefully I've inspired you to visit some amazing places across the North East too. Our region is certainly spoilt for choice and I'm not done yet!

From one birthday celebration to another; I turned 23 on the 23rd of February and thought I'd share a few photos with you. Happy Birthday to my little blog and I. 


How better to start the day than with freshly baked cupcakes? 


Before being spoilt with gorgeous gifts and popping open a few bottles of prosecco with the girls... 


Next we headed to one of my favourite places - SIX at the Baltic. Where better to get dressed up and enjoy a few cocktails with the people you love? After slurping a few dirty daiquiris, fallen angels and breakfast @ Tiffany's we tottered back along the Quayside to meet a few more friends at Babucho and beyond to MSA

I spent my birthday surrounded by my gorgeous family, taking the dogs for a walk on the beach before coming home to a Sunday roast and this genius creation - a homemade profiterole tower with profiterole shaped candles and chocolate sauce made by my mam. Yes, it was as delicious as it looks, mmm! 


Profiterole towers are way better than birthday cakes.