Throwback to August fruit picking day out

Hey everyone,

I thought today I would share with you something I got up to in August which I kept meaning to post on my blog. I had a really lovely day out with two friends at the fruit picking farm. We drove for ages to get to it but it was so worth it and was a lovely day out.

We weren't quite sure what to expect from the farm and called ahead to check it was going to be open to be greeted by possibly the best answer phone recording I have ever heard! The man who owns the farm each day records what produce there is, what fruits are particularly delicious and ready for picking and even the weather...we called twice just so we could hear it again!

On arrival we realised that it was not only a fruit picking farm but also had it's own farm shop with fresh produce not only from the farm but also from other local sellers so had local honey, vegetables and fruit, eggs and even plants. How fantastic if you had this on your doorstep.

The farm is positioned quite near the main road and near a big Asda supermarket so I just hope that lots of the locals come here to support the local businesses and to get their fresh fruit and veg and local produce as well.  It certainly seemed quite busy there.

As well as the farm shop the farm also has it's own tearooms and I was really glad to see that they also support local makers there and had a selection of craft products for sale. Hooray for amazing local businesses supporting other local makers, growers and crafters!

Of course it would have been rude to have gone to the tearooms to have a look around without stopping for a cup of tea and after the long drive we all thought we deserved one! The tea room was clearly popular with the locals and was a good start to the day. We were feeling really excited to start fruit picking and nearly finished our teas when it started raining a lot so unfortunately (!!) we also had to stay and have some cake while we waiting for the rain to stop! Oh what a shame...!

We tried to decide what to pick before we entered the fields but they all sounded amazing so in the end we just wandered around looking at the different fruit before deciding what looked yummiest!

The farm was actually much bigger than we thought and you can even get a tractor ride around the farm which was perfect for visitors who had children. It stops at different points around the farm next to the different fruit so you can just jump off at whichever fruit you would like to pick.

The farm also had signs letting you know which fruit were ready to pick and which weren't.

We picked lots of plums as they looked particularly delicious!

 Even though the farm was by the main road, you did feel like you were right in the countryside and it was really relaxing walking around. The rain managed to stay off after we left the tea rooms (although big grey colours stayed overhead!)

I really liked the signs at the farm so spent more time photographing those than the actual fruit (sorry guys!). Aren't they lovely though?!

As well as plums we also picked raspberries and then when we got home made a raspberry and plum pie (it was super delicious!). We held a 'perfect raspberry' competition between us to find the most delicious, juicy and biggest raspberry. This caused much debate but I am pretty sure I won!!

Was lovely to have such fresh fruit. You can't get fresher than this and it was nice to be able to pick all the best of the fruit rather than when you buy at the supermarket and some are always too ripe or not ripe enough or a bit squishy!

It was a really lovely day out and I hope to go back again soon.

Hope you have enjoyed reading this

The Dorothy Days X

Wordless Wednesday - Dorset Bluebell woods

On Wednesdays all over the internet, bloggers post a photograph with no words to explain it on their blog. Hence the ‘wordless’ title. The idea is that the photo itself says so much that it does not need any description.

Thanks for reading and I hope you liked this post

The Dorothy Days Xx

The royal baby has arrived!

What a wonderful day....!

Congratulations to William and Kate :) !

Spent the last few days as everyone has, waiting for news on the royal baby. Yesterday was so exciting.... when news spread that Kate was in labour everyone was glued to the news and checking the news whenever possible! I have been trying to prepare for my next fair and have been out in the garden as it has been sunny labeling stock but dashing in for cups of tea and news updates. When the news was announced that Kate had had the baby twitter went crazy and there was such a lovely atmosphere here in the village. Flags have been hung out the windows of a few of the houses and everyone seems in really high spirits trying to guess what the name of the baby will be. Henry? George? Albert? Louis?

I thought she was going to have a little girl but was obviously wrong!! I think they might give him a modern (ish) first name and then family names from both sides for his middle names. Possibly George Albert for his middle names I think!

Switched on the news at 6pm today after being out all day and then back for a online lesson and reporters were lined up waiting for news on the baby, felt like forever that we were staring at those same doors of the hospital waiting to see the new baby prince. When the doors finally opened it was such a wonderful moment and so lovely to see such proud parents with their new son :). Love how he did his first little royal wave!! Certainly a day that I will always remember.

Got rather excited on Twitter (oooops!). Sorry for all the excited updates....what can I say....I was excited!! Also funny to see that London has been so wet and rainy today, it has been bright and sunny and beautiful all day here in Dorset. Was weird seeing photos of soaked reporters!!

So much excitement and happiness in the air at the moment :) it is lovely. Feels like it did around the royal wedding, the olympics and the jubilee :).

The Dorothy Days

Lovely things that happened last week....

• The sun put his hat on :) and we had beautiful blue skies over Brighton.
• Beautiful little lambs were born on my friends farm and more are on their way. They are so perfect.
• Lovely cups of tea, lunches and catch ups with friends.
• I got views on my blog from all around the world including Mecca.....how cool is that?! Big hello to all my followers from around the globe :) thanks for viewing my blog
• Spring flowers started to bloom
• Homemade banoffee pie.....need I say more!!

What lovely things happened to you this week?

The Dorothy Days

5 things I love about the countryside....

Hi everyone,

I thought I would do another 5 things blog post so this week. I am lucky enough to live in the beautiful English countryside in a really rural location so this week I am doing 5 things I love about the countryside.

1) You can see the stars and they shine really brightly as everything else is dark around and there isn't so much light pollution. Where I live there are no street lights and the nearest town is about 10 miles away so on a clear night the sky looks incredible.

2) Not having shops or entertainment on your doorstep means you have to find your own entertainment which results in a lot of fun and enjoying the landscape around you. I love going down to the beach or going on a walk through the woods with friends. Means there are no distractions and it is perfect for catching up.

3) Local produce! In the garden we have lovely apples and also other types of fruit but just down the road is a farm who sell the most wonderful local produce in one of their outbuildings. They sell local meat, honey, biscuits, fruit and vegetables, amazing jams etc. There is also a lady who has her own chickens and sells their eggs out the front of her house. The eggs are about as free range as you can get!

4) Community spirit. It is wonderful to see how much of a community there is and how willing they are to help each other out. When our lawnmower broke down and the grass in the garden was getting rather long we had a knock on the door and a neighbour offered to cut the grass for us.

5) Living in such a beautiful area makes me smile nearly every day. It is so quiet and peaceful here and although I love to visit the city and make regular trips to London, it is wonderful to return to the countryside. I can't wait for the leaves on the trees to start changing colour and for us to have the log burner in the evenings.

What do you love most about where you live?

The Dorothy Days

29th April- 1 year since the Royal Wedding!

Well I can't believe its been a whole year since the royal wedding, big events like this seem to mark out time and make you think of how quickly it has flown by. Also makes me think how much nicer the weather was last year as today in England it has been strong winds and heavy rain fall! Last year Britain was celebrating with street parties and tea and cake or heading to London to see the royal couple after they had wed. Was a really great day and I remember crowding around the television watching with friends and family and everyone speculating what kind of dress she was going to wear. She looked absolutely stunning.

Happy anniversary Will and Kate!

Here are a selection of photographs I thought I would share with you all from the royal wedding...enjoy!

The Royal Couple via

 

Prince Harry , bridesmaids and young members of the royal family via

 

Royal wedding themed tea and cake of course ....how very British! Via

 

 The Royal Wedding Official Programme via

 The British Public
This link has photographs of their first year as a married couple

Hope you enjoyed this blog post
What were your memories from the day ?
The Dorothy Days

Beautiful beautiful London!

This week I took a trip over to London to visit some art galleries, shop and mooch around. Even though I am a country girl at heart I do love the big city and my recent trip to London has made me fall in love with it all over again! I know I am rather bias but London is such a beautiful city and makes me very proud to be British! It was St George's day yesterday (the patron saint of England) which has made me feel rather patriotic and proud to live in England so I thought I would share some photos from my recent trip to London.

Big ben!

Looking towards the Dome from across the park

I also found a lovely video of London on youtube which I thought I would share to give a taster of London to those of you who are reading from outside the U.K and for those of you who have never visited London or England.


For those of you reading this from outside the U.K, I would love to hear all about where you are from and the reasons why you love living where you do. Please leave a comment in the section below and  I shall feature some of the places you live in my blog post next week. If anyone has any photographs of where they live that they would like to share please email them to thedorothydays@hotmail.co.uk and I shall pick the best to be featured here on the blog

Have a great week
The Dorothy Days