On the final Friday before Henry started school we went on a day trip to Margate. I tried to capture the day on film (well, memory card) and I finally got around to editing the clips together. It was all shot on my phone as I had a camera-no-card fail day, so the video stops rather abruptly on our homeward journey. We actually finished off the day with crepes at one of our favourite places.
margate with henry from Alexis Allan on Vimeo.
Despite how it appears it wasn't just the two of us... we hooked up with quite a few insta-pals at the Turner Contemporary and had fish and chips followed by enormous ice creams on the beach. Even when I set out to record the day I still always manage to miss all the major events... but then the little moments look pretty good too.
I've got a lot of other footage from the summer that I need to edit together. Something to keep my busy on the dark evenings to come. I may try a do some better shooting tomorrow as it's my very big, very fat, birthday. As I type I only have 22 minutes of my thirties left. I thought I might manage to write a load of navel gazing posts in the run up to the BIG-END-OF-THE-WORLD-AS-I-KNOW-IT-DAY, but lucky for you guys I didn't actually get around to it.
There's nothing to report really. Business as normal.
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Friday, 4 September 2015
Our Summer in Handstands
Coco spent the summer perfecting her handstands.Everywhere we went she'd be up-side-down within seconds.
Although at times it drove me mad (she'd say "I can't help myself Mummy" like some kind of addict) I admire her perseverance and she really cracked it over the summer...
Of course it's the way that I don't have many photos of her handstand 'before' - this is maybe the closest - a slightly fast and unstable version at Starry Skies right at the beginning of the holidays...
In the garden
On the beach
At the campsite
Beach again - but this time with a view...
An early morning pj handstand at camp
Trebah gardens
St Ives
Polurrian Bay Hotel; indoor handstands are generally a no-no...
... except when there is a brutalist playground indoors... (at RIBA)
In tandem.
In the fountains at the Southbank
Near perfection at Kings Cross
Although they still go awry sometimes
At the roofgarden on the Southbank
And then at the end of the holidays we were a little bit more house-bound thanks to the gorgeous British weather and the handstands slowed down... until on the very last day of the holiday at Kew Gardens when I had to ASK for her to do one last handstand for me.
She hesitated and resisted a little... but eventually obliged.
One last 'stand.
Now she's moved on to cartwheels...
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
Mermories of Summer: Swimming at Kings Cross Pond
It's back to school for Coco tomorrow and as summer begins to draw to a close I'm left with a million photos to edit and a lot of happy memories. One of the best days we had in London over the holidays was also one of the hottest. A Saturday of sun in the midst of a couple of dull August weeks. We decided to have a mini holiday day and got up early to go swimming at Kings Cross Pond. The sun was hot, the water was fresh and we lazed on the grass by the man-made pond - our immediate surroundings filled with nature and flowers against the back drop of a building site. We watched another crane being constructed as we swam; Kings Cross is crazy right now.
I took masses of photos. Wanner see? Scroll on down...
You have to have a shower before going in... they were colder than the twenty degree water in the pool.
One end of the pool has all the planting that naturally filters the water. No swimmers allowed here which makes for a nice photo...
There is something quite special about swimming in fresh water in the middle of a massive construction site. The tickets are limited so even though there were quite a few people there it didn't feel busy (as you can see). If you get the chance then I'd highly recommend it; it's on my next summer list already.
Before heading to Caravan for brunch (so, so good) we had a quick lesson from Coco on how the natural filters work.
Then our mini holiday continued with a sing-along at the Southbank (part of David Byrne's Meltdown), more fountain fun and takeaway in the garden for dinner. It did feel like we packed quite a lot of holidaying into about twelve hours; which was lucky really as it poured with rain again the next day.
Oh London.
Thursday, 20 August 2015
Our British Summer Holiday
I was hopeful for gorgeous weather for this summer - after our trip to Venice at Easter we decided to stay in the UK over the school holidays and try to keep our plans spontaneous.
We started off well with a trip to Wales for Starry Skies festival where we had a wonderful few days, despite the rain. I think it would have been a lot better to have had three days of gorgeous sunshine, but the one day of sunshine was lovely. And we had as much fun as you can hope to have while camping at a festival on the rainy days*; making lemonade bread to bake over a fire in the woods and spending a couple of hours dancing to a great selection of throwback rave tunes in a beautiful tent, plus a wonderful yoga session run by Sally.
*As my camera stayed dry in the tent I've no rainy day photos!
Hugh had the week after Starry Skies booked off work and we had plans to carry on camping but with rain forecast for the week ahead we had a re-think and came back home hoping to re-schedule a trip for when the weather got better. Only it didn't really get better. By the following weekend we'd decided to just go with the flow so we packed the car up again and headed down to Dorset where we had a wonderful time at Jim's Place - the campsite made infamous by the wonderful Artemis over at Junkaholic. The sun came out and we enjoyed just hanging out together; it was the only the second time we'd ever camped as just the four of us and it was wonderfully gentle. The site is tiny but there were only a few other campers - families like ours and the children all played together. We cooked on the fire and read together in the evening (Goth Girl by Chris Riddell).
Exploring the campsite
Home-grown tomato salad with red peppers and Dorset farm-shop steak cooked on the fire for dinner
Typical camp view - socks and birkenstocks plus fire with kettle on.
We had a glorious day at Durdle Door - now nicknamed Dumbledore by Coco - where we stayed on the beach all day and cooked sausages for lunch, swimming in the sea. I've never been to a British beach where I've head so many foreign languages spoken - it really is on the tourist trail, but it's not surprising as it is beautiful. We all got a little colour that day...
Coco - braving the cold water
Henry - not quite so sure about the chilly seas!
After a lunch stop-over at Hive Beach (where we went at half term) we left Dorset and headed further west to Cornwall where we explored the Lizard - one of our favourite areas. We had one more sunny day which we spent on Kynance Cove beach before the weather turned a little more unstable.
I just love this beach... we got there just as the beach was beginning to appear as the tide went out.
We booked ourselves into the Polurrian Bay Hotel - which we went to a couple of years ago and loved. There's nothing like a family hotel to give you a real break. No hassles at all and very happy children who insisted on going to the kids club every morning; no talk of beaches or swimming could dissuade them from having their two hours of play at the hotel; we didn't argue too much but instead played tennis every morning; which was quite comic in the wind but good fun and meant I didn't feel so bad about having a blow out meal everyday.
As much as the hotel is great for the food and childcare and all the attention to detail that make it so relaxing for parents (evening activities, kids meals, Sunday morning club meaning you can have lie in, treasure hunts around the hotel and grounds, playground, swimming pool - I mean really, what is not to love?), the absolute best thing about this place is the location. The views of the sea are restorative on their own plus it's an easy walk to the beach - only five minutes to the nearest; Polurrian Bay itself and then about twenty minutes to Poldu beach - a huge expanse of sand at low tide with rock pools and a beach cafe. We borrowed bodyboards at the hotel so Coco could have a go... there was moderate success. She loved it and then quite shortly after stating that it was BRILLIANT, a wave knocked her under and then it was more of a hate thing. The first day she tried the sea was quite rough though and I was pretty impressed that she even gave it a go.
The moment she loved body-boarding... (and getting good use of the Saltskin wetsuits)
The day of the rough sea meant the beach wasn't as much fun as it had been so after lunch at the beach cafe at Poldu we got in the car to explore some other beaches nearby - the children both promptly fell asleep so we decided to take the opportunity to drive for a little longer and we headed to the Helford river. We found ourselves at Trebah Gardens an hour before closing time but we bought tickets anyway. We were all delighted by the gardens, plus they don't actually chuck you out of the garden, they just close the cafe and visitors centre so we actually did have time to make the most of our tickets after all. I love seeing impressive gardens - Trebah is mainly a woodland garden which stretches out down the valley to its own little pebbly beach on the Helford. There were agapanthuses galore and so many hydrangeas - the children loved the tunnel through the gunnera and discovering the bridges and brook-side pathways and the playground in the woods at the end which we really had to drag them away from.
Henry was still in his wetsuit - so we took it off and he wore one of Hugh's jumpers instead. Made him look very monkish.
Coco pictured for scale purposes only.
Being dedicated food tourists meant we couldn't resist having one stand-out meal and we decided it was about time we tried Porthminster Cafe so we had a great day out in St Ives - well I say St Ives but actually we just went to Porthminster beach. With an unpromising weather forecast we set off for St Erth and caught the train along the coast to St. Ives. It was stunning. The tide was at its lowest - the creek at St. Erth was exposed with the odd boat stranded on the mud and then as the train weaved around the edge of the coastline there were golden sands everywhere. Once we arrived the sun was out so we set to sandcastle building - Hugh and me probably more enthusiastically than Coco and Henry; perfect for working up an appetite. Lunch on the terrace at Porthminster was brilliant, I could see us trying to make it a summer tradition
View of Porthminster beach from the train window.
Henry loved the train journey (this is actually on the way back again - you can see the difference in the tide from the pictures above and below).
The very beginnings of the sandcastle, pre lunch...
... and the end of the sandcastle post lunch.
Sort-of the best summing up picture I could have hoped for - Coco doing a handstand and Henry too busy to stand still and look at the camera. All in all it was a lovely holiday - just the kind I'd love to have every summer.
We started off well with a trip to Wales for Starry Skies festival where we had a wonderful few days, despite the rain. I think it would have been a lot better to have had three days of gorgeous sunshine, but the one day of sunshine was lovely. And we had as much fun as you can hope to have while camping at a festival on the rainy days*; making lemonade bread to bake over a fire in the woods and spending a couple of hours dancing to a great selection of throwback rave tunes in a beautiful tent, plus a wonderful yoga session run by Sally.
*As my camera stayed dry in the tent I've no rainy day photos!
Hugh had the week after Starry Skies booked off work and we had plans to carry on camping but with rain forecast for the week ahead we had a re-think and came back home hoping to re-schedule a trip for when the weather got better. Only it didn't really get better. By the following weekend we'd decided to just go with the flow so we packed the car up again and headed down to Dorset where we had a wonderful time at Jim's Place - the campsite made infamous by the wonderful Artemis over at Junkaholic. The sun came out and we enjoyed just hanging out together; it was the only the second time we'd ever camped as just the four of us and it was wonderfully gentle. The site is tiny but there were only a few other campers - families like ours and the children all played together. We cooked on the fire and read together in the evening (Goth Girl by Chris Riddell).
Exploring the campsite
Home-grown tomato salad with red peppers and Dorset farm-shop steak cooked on the fire for dinner
Typical camp view - socks and birkenstocks plus fire with kettle on.
We had a glorious day at Durdle Door - now nicknamed Dumbledore by Coco - where we stayed on the beach all day and cooked sausages for lunch, swimming in the sea. I've never been to a British beach where I've head so many foreign languages spoken - it really is on the tourist trail, but it's not surprising as it is beautiful. We all got a little colour that day...
Coco - braving the cold water
Henry - not quite so sure about the chilly seas!
After a lunch stop-over at Hive Beach (where we went at half term) we left Dorset and headed further west to Cornwall where we explored the Lizard - one of our favourite areas. We had one more sunny day which we spent on Kynance Cove beach before the weather turned a little more unstable.
I just love this beach... we got there just as the beach was beginning to appear as the tide went out.
We booked ourselves into the Polurrian Bay Hotel - which we went to a couple of years ago and loved. There's nothing like a family hotel to give you a real break. No hassles at all and very happy children who insisted on going to the kids club every morning; no talk of beaches or swimming could dissuade them from having their two hours of play at the hotel; we didn't argue too much but instead played tennis every morning; which was quite comic in the wind but good fun and meant I didn't feel so bad about having a blow out meal everyday.
As much as the hotel is great for the food and childcare and all the attention to detail that make it so relaxing for parents (evening activities, kids meals, Sunday morning club meaning you can have lie in, treasure hunts around the hotel and grounds, playground, swimming pool - I mean really, what is not to love?), the absolute best thing about this place is the location. The views of the sea are restorative on their own plus it's an easy walk to the beach - only five minutes to the nearest; Polurrian Bay itself and then about twenty minutes to Poldu beach - a huge expanse of sand at low tide with rock pools and a beach cafe. We borrowed bodyboards at the hotel so Coco could have a go... there was moderate success. She loved it and then quite shortly after stating that it was BRILLIANT, a wave knocked her under and then it was more of a hate thing. The first day she tried the sea was quite rough though and I was pretty impressed that she even gave it a go.
The moment she loved body-boarding... (and getting good use of the Saltskin wetsuits)
The day of the rough sea meant the beach wasn't as much fun as it had been so after lunch at the beach cafe at Poldu we got in the car to explore some other beaches nearby - the children both promptly fell asleep so we decided to take the opportunity to drive for a little longer and we headed to the Helford river. We found ourselves at Trebah Gardens an hour before closing time but we bought tickets anyway. We were all delighted by the gardens, plus they don't actually chuck you out of the garden, they just close the cafe and visitors centre so we actually did have time to make the most of our tickets after all. I love seeing impressive gardens - Trebah is mainly a woodland garden which stretches out down the valley to its own little pebbly beach on the Helford. There were agapanthuses galore and so many hydrangeas - the children loved the tunnel through the gunnera and discovering the bridges and brook-side pathways and the playground in the woods at the end which we really had to drag them away from.
Henry was still in his wetsuit - so we took it off and he wore one of Hugh's jumpers instead. Made him look very monkish.
Coco pictured for scale purposes only.
Being dedicated food tourists meant we couldn't resist having one stand-out meal and we decided it was about time we tried Porthminster Cafe so we had a great day out in St Ives - well I say St Ives but actually we just went to Porthminster beach. With an unpromising weather forecast we set off for St Erth and caught the train along the coast to St. Ives. It was stunning. The tide was at its lowest - the creek at St. Erth was exposed with the odd boat stranded on the mud and then as the train weaved around the edge of the coastline there were golden sands everywhere. Once we arrived the sun was out so we set to sandcastle building - Hugh and me probably more enthusiastically than Coco and Henry; perfect for working up an appetite. Lunch on the terrace at Porthminster was brilliant, I could see us trying to make it a summer tradition
View of Porthminster beach from the train window.
Henry loved the train journey (this is actually on the way back again - you can see the difference in the tide from the pictures above and below).
The very beginnings of the sandcastle, pre lunch...
... and the end of the sandcastle post lunch.
Sort-of the best summing up picture I could have hoped for - Coco doing a handstand and Henry too busy to stand still and look at the camera. All in all it was a lovely holiday - just the kind I'd love to have every summer.
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