Welcome once again, I know my idea is for this blog to be mainly about my love of interiors but it is the time of the year to enjoy getting out and about and this weekend we had an away break booked in Winchester.  I had not been there before and as it is often touted as one of the best places to live in the UK I thought it would be a good idea to go and explore.

Luckily we had the weather on our side for a change this summer and the weekend was warm and balmy.  We stayed in the Holiday Inn which was a rather swish 4* hotel.  Even when I am away for the weekend I have always got my eyes open for interior inspiration and these chairs in one of the foyers rather caught my eye:

The centre of Winchester is everything I had hoped it would be – small enough to be able to walk everywhere on foot with beautiful old buildings, open spaces and the river Itchen which runs through city and provides many beautiful views.

The cathedral was a must see and we were lucky enough to have a guided tour and heard about its colourful history –  the architecture was stunning.   I just love the romanticism of the beautiful arches

………. and the georgeous original 12th century mosaic tiled floor:

Amongst other attractions we visited the city mill which is around 1000 years old and were able to see some milling taking place.

With all this sight-seeing we certainly built up an appetite and for Saturday’s evening meal visited a gastro pub with darkly painted walls and plenty of atmosphere.

After taking in all the culture I found myself needing some retail therapy and whiled away a good hour or so just browsing around the shops (of which there are plenty) and market before sitting in the beautiful gardens for a spot of lunch and sadly saying goodbye to beautiful Winchester before having to make our way home and back to reality for work in the morning.

It was lovely meeting you, hope to be back again one day……….

This week with a couple of days off following the bank holiday myself and hubby have been out and about.  Firstly we visited Grand Designs Live at Excel Centre in London.  If you are a fan of the TV programme like myself, and with a soft spot for Kevin McCloud, it is an opportunity to get a taste of the show in the flesh so to speak.  We tend to go every year, just as a day out as I commented before that in my dreams I would love to undertake my own Grand Design but the reality is that unless we win the Lottery it is not looking likely any time soon – so this is the next best thing.  The exhibition is on twice a year – end April/May at Excel in London and in October  at Birmingham’s NEC.

For the last couple of years we have treated ourselves to VIP Tickets and think that this does really cost in – you get a free guide, Grand Designs magazine, a zoned out resting place where you can also leave coats and any purchases you make during the day.  There are also lots of nibblies to keep you happy and also a glass of bubbly to be enjoyed.  I have found that this is enough to keep me energized throughout the day without having to splash out on extra coffees and sweet treats.

The exhibition is zoned into 6 different areas: these are Grand Build where there is a self build centre, Grand Gardens where there are some show gardens, Grand Kitchens & Bathrooms which has live kitchen demonstrations and the VIP Lounge to the outer edge, Grand Interiors where there are some designed room sets and live theatre talks, Grand Technology and Grand Village which contains the RIBA house of the year model village, Kevin McCloud’s Green Village and the Grand Theatre which has a timetable of talks throughout each day.  There is also a Design Arcade where you are able to purchase artworks, rugs and various smaller items.  There are various cafe’s dotted throughout the space so no need to go hungry at all.

I think that the overall idea of the show is to go along and gather information, talk to experts, get a feel of new ideas and materials on offer, rather than a show to visit with a view to buying lots of  accessories for the home (although as above there are some stalls available) – although of course you can place orders at the stalls if you are in the market for a fantastic new bathroom or living green roofing for your new extension.

I like to try and catch some talks whilst I am there and this year we managed to catch a couple of good ones.  Firstly a talk from a popular design consultancy Two Lovely Gays whom I had read about previously in one of my magazines Two Lovely Gays website.  I found their talk very informative, they spoke about how your experience of life should be enhanced by the space that you live in – that you should listen to the space you are in and three key words when thinking about the design of an interior space are function, colour, material.  More so than ever before people live in FOMO – Fear of Missing Out – it is good to keep up appearances but you need to see how things work for you and try not to follow trends just for the sake of it.  They spoke about 3 kinds of shopper – the micro shopper – who buys an array of items just because they love them and then as an afterthought try to work out where they are going to place the item – the message here is try for a cohesive scheme – secondly the inspiration hoarder – the Pinterest junkie – try to identify what you like about the image but don’t let it control you.  Lastly the collector  – the message here is enjoy what you love and show it off to bring your personality into the space.

The 2nd talk we went to was with the lovely Charlie Luxton – who I admit I have a bit of a TV crush on – he presents such programmes as Building the Dream, Dream Homes by the Sea and his latest series Dream Homes by the Med.  The idea of this talk was that he took some design plans for a new build house for a lady and her daughter who were on stage with him and he went through them to try and help them improve the design.  There was a cameraman behind him so the plans were blown up onto the big screen.  By the end of the session he had changed virtually everything about the plans and it was really interesting to watch an expert at work.  All in all a very nice day out!

The following day we awoke to beautiful weather, which has been a rarity of late, so to set the day off right we went for a refreshing swim followed by breakfast in the garden and then got our tandem ready for its first outing of the year!  We have had our tandem for a couple of years now and it has been a revelation to me as I am one of the few people to not ride a bike – (it is a balance thing!) – but sitting on the back of the tandem is a breeze – quite literally – although I confess it is hard work as hubby is a good cyclist and doesn’t hang around speed wise – although the tandem has a heavy frame – it is a Dawes Touring aluminium frame – and the weight of the 2 of us does not make for racing speeds!  We set out for a local garden centre.  It was good to be out on the road again, luckily it wasn’t too busy being a Wednesday mid-morning and we soon got into the swing of the push and pull of the pedals.  I love the feeling of freedom, with the breeze gently blowing on your face and the scenery soon changed to open fields.  Once we had arrived and parked up the bike we had a browse around the gorgeous products and plants and then for my favourite part – their cafe with their amazing scones – literally the best I have ever tasted! and a welcome cup of tea.

Then it was back on the bike with a different route home through smaller country lanes with some lovely scenery.

It was a great feeling to be out and about again.  We are planning to do many more rides throughout the summer and with an event booked in August for cycling around the Norfolk Broads, we will need to get some training in for that!