A bit of a holiday

Hello dear friends and readers,

Thankyou so much for all your kind and thoughtful replies on my last post. It really does help to know that people are keeping me in their thoughts and prayers.

We had planned 2 weeks in N Ireland over Easter and we were all ready to go when we got the news that my Dad had passed away. As we were all packed we travelled over as planned but what should have been a holiday obviously really wasn't that at all. Mostly I was with my Mum and my brother arranging the funeral and so forth, while hubby entertained the kids - i.e. they watched DVDs and played on their iPads. We did manage a few days out though, and I thought I'd share some photos with you....

First though I have some rather exciting news. Can't remember if I mentioned this before but after years of dithering we took the massive (and expensive!) step of buying a holiday home in N.Ireland. It's in a really small town quite close to my Mum's house, and our plan was always to go over loads in the holidays and see a bit more of my Mum and Dad. I'm really sad that my Dad never got to see us in the house, but at least now we have it so I can go over to be with Mum a bit more. Its a new-build, we had no intention of buying a new-build - but we saw it (well, we saw the show house anyway!) and fell in love with the location. The houses are on the edge of the small town Donaghadee which is on the coast. It's approached by a country road and takes about 7 minutes drive from my Mum's. There is a wonderful garden centre with fabulous cafe and gift-shop near our house, and in the town itself there are not 1 but 2 ice-cream shops! What more could you want!

Donaghadee is home to Ireland's oldest pub Grace Neill's (www.graceneills.com) which dates back to the 1600's, and there is a fab family restaurant called Pier36 which we've been to many times in the past with my folks. We didn't manage it this time but there'll be plenty more visits I'm sure 😀 Pier36 is the cream coloured building 2 along from the bright yellow one below. The bright yellow one is a new one opened by the same owners as Pier36 - but they don't allow children in! At all! I don't think we'll be frequenting there much!!

The houses along the sea-front are all postcard pretty. Honestly you feel like you're in an episode of a children's TV programme (remember Balamory any CBeebies Mums out there ?!)

On the right hand side of this photo below you can see the bunting which was hung all along the se front and boy was it whipping in the wind!

There's a lovely promenade, and on a clear day you can see all the way over the Irish Sea to Scotland, as Donaghadee is the most easterly point in N.Ireland.

Donaghadee is also famed for it's lighthouse, we didn't walk right out to it but I did manage to get a couple of pics.

I especially like this photo below showing the harbour and the opening to the Irish Sea.

.... and this one looking back across to the promenade, so pretty ....

There is even a castle! I've visited Donagahadee many many many times as a child but I never knew there was a castle til this time! One to investigate on another visit 😃

As our house is new, everything in it is new too! The hubby does not go in for vintage or antique or rustic even, so I'm afraid everything is from a certain Swedish furniture chain! I've managed to sneak in a few cushions and pretty things though, and next visit hubby can't come due to work, so it will just be me and the Little Peeps, I have my eye on a couple of charity shops and he'll be none the wiser ....

In the meantime though here are a few wee pics of the "nice" things ......

....lovely muted colours in this cushion cover ....

.... delicious apple scented candle, next to swedish (fake - so it won't die lol) house pant, I rather liked the little bamboo-ish pot ....

.... we got some lovely new home cards from family, but my favourite is this one that my hubby bought for me ....

.... my brother and sister-in-law gave us this lovely print of the Donaghadee lighthouse ....

.... and another lovely candle ....

.... in the kitchen everything is quite plain. It do you like my Orla Kiely-esque tea caddy ? I just loved the colours ....

.... and some lovely pussy-willow that was in a little bouquet that some friends gave me. I'm hoping it will dry nicely and just be perfect forever .... doesn't it look gorgeous laying in the sunlight ....

My cousin also gave me this enjoy the little things" china heart, so sweet ....

And of course I have to have a crochet project on the go in our holiday house - I bought, and had delivered straight to Donaghadee, Lucy from Attic24's Coastal Ripple pack. I'm doing the ripple blanket exactly to her pattern, after all who wants to be having angst about stripe sequence on holiday when someone has already done the hard work for you!

I didn't have a lot of crocheting time but managed a few stripes 😊

It's time to go and fetch the Little Peeps from school, so I shall say goodbye for now, wishing you love and hugs,

Jillxxxx