weekend adventures

You know when you just fancy a day out? Not for any good reason, and not to anywhere in particular, but just the thought of heading out on a Small Cheery Expedition seems like the right thing to do?

Today was one of those days.

The plan was to head to Bakewell to a little open gardens event. I quite fancied noseying around some pretty gardens and eating tea and cake in the refreshments tent. First of all though I wanted to go to Chatsworth.

Now, I don't have a big thing for posh old houses, certainly not ones that cost £12 to get in to. I would have quite liked to toddle round the kitchen gardens, but that would have involved paying to get into all of the gardens, and given that I was off to a different gardens event, that seemed a bit daft. No, I went to Chatsworth to look around the shops.

A little bit daft, yes, but every time I've been there I've oooohed and aaarrrrrred over lots of things, then come to the conclusion I could have a go at making something similar myself. So today I wasn't on a shopping mission, I was on an investigating mission, for a little bit of inspiration.

I must say though, I wasn't quite as impressed today as I have been in the past. Which possibly had something to do with having to drive around and around and around the car park for 15 minutes before I even got as far as the shop. Hmm.

I did get myself a small treat though - one sheet of red polka dot wrapping paper. Look at it there tied up with string!

Oh, and that ice cream at the top of the post, of course. Can't forget about that. Bradwell's ice cream, butterscotch ripple, with a fudge stick, no less. I see from their website that they have a Diploma from the Ice Cream Alliance, so they must be good :)

(I'm conveniently skipping over the fact that I only had the ice cream because the battery warning light on our new car started flashing and I was busy being grumpy and annoyed because we've only had the car for three weeks when I realised I'd pulled over right outside an ice cream shop)

Oh, and I didn't get to the secret gardens event in the end at all! I got so caught up with ice creams and wrapping paper and Peak District bank holiday traffic that I couldn't face doing battle with the car park. At least i was on my own, and had nobody to tell me off for being fickle and changing my plans at the last minute....

Anyway, leaving aside tasty ice creams and wayward vehicles, I've realised I haven't yet shown off my new cardigan!

By the time I got round to taking photos though it had gone all rainy and grey again, and this is the only one that turned out anywhere near good enough. So a proper unveiling will have to wait for another day. I'm rather enjoying it though, even if the sleeves are a little bit short...