Holiday On The Isle Of Mull, Scotland

Last April Mr Writer and I went on holiday with two good friends to The Isle Of Mull in Scotland. I've been meaning to share some of the photos of this beautiful island ever since, so I'm pleased to be sharing them today! I hope you don't mind this photo heavy post- I think you'll agree that it is a stunning place...

After flying to Glasgow and them driving to Oban, we took the ferry across to Mull, where we stayed in a little village called Salen. 

This was the view just a couple of minutes around the corner from the cottage we stayed in. From here we watched birds and seals resting on the banks in the water.All of us who went on the trip are nature lovers but one friend in particular is a very keen birdwatcher and "wildlife follower," for want of a better word! I shall call him "Mr Nature." We saw all sorts of things because he pointed them out- sadly I don't have good enough eyesight to identify things! We were really hoping to spot otters as Mull is great territory for them, but sadly they alluded us this time!

We stayed in this  lovely cottage, looking out over the water

Views from the cottage. One evening we looked out to see a stag in the garden! We later saw him several times in a field near the cottage with a group of doe deer!

The island is so unspoiled which was lovely to see. Driving along the scenery was beautiful and it was rare to meet anyone else on the roads.

What struck us was the remote way of life- you could drive for miles and miles and come across a house and then drive for miles and miles and miles before you came across another one. There was a small but very well stocked Spar shop near to where we stayed and from there the only supermarket on the island was in the town of Tobermory, and when I say supermarket, it was what I'd call a local shop size. Truly a different and very lovely way to live

We visited the main town of Mull, Tobermory, several times.With its colourful buildings, it is famous as the location for the children's TV program Balamory ( if you remember the programme you may now get the theme song stuck in your head, as we did!). We wondered how the locals felt about their towns association with the program, but several of the shops seemed to celebrate it with displays in their windows.

We enjoyed fish and chips, a tour of the whisky distillery and a meal at Cafe Fish, which is hailed as one of the best fish restauants in Scotland. 

We went on a woodland walk and there was a lovely view of colourful Tobermory in the diustance across the water

This beautiful beach is in the stunning Calgary Bay. The sand was so white and the water so clear and turquoise blue. We spent time exploring rock pools and walking on the beach. We then drove up the (very!) narrow and winding road up the cliffs to see the views

We went on a Mull Charters boat trip to see White Tailed Eagles and we had the most brilliant views of these magnificent birds. Mr Nature took these photos on the trip and he and his other half, who shall be known as Miss Lovely, gifted us one of the photos as a housewarming gift.

I was hoping to be able to find some traditional textiles on Mull and we found out about the Ardalanish Isle Of Mull Weavers. We drove out there and found Ardalanish Farm down lots of tracks with lots of cows roaming all around. Some of them were pregnant and absolutely huge!

It was brilliant to be able to have a glimpse behind the scenes at the weaving process. They spin yarn from the fleece of their own sheep and then weave it into beautiful fabric using traditional processes. I bought some offcuts of Ardalanish Tweed while we were there (I will eventually make some purses from this!) and we also bought a wrap to use as a throw on the back of our sofa. 

The view from Ardalanish weavers

We saw a lot of sheep!

Ooh and highland cows! Casually chilling here by the road. I wish I'd managed to take a video, we drove past a filed of Higland cows, big and little ones, all charging around!

We traveled all over the island and there was not a single bit that wasn't breathtakingly stunning. I hope it stays so unspoiled

And finally our friendly donkey friends who lived in the field across from the cottage we were staying in. They were very cute and came over to say hello whenever we left the cottage.

Phew, well that was a little taster of our visit to Mull, thanks for reading if you made it this far! I hope it's inspired you to visit this amazing island.

Have you been away somewhere recently? I'd love to hear about it, share your recommendations in the comments and we can all add some places to our must visit list!

Back to the Blog!

Hello there! I've had a little break from the blog recently as life got a bit crazily hectic, but I'm back now and looking forward to sharing lots of new things with you. Mr Writer and I have just got back from a lovely holiday in Sicily, so I thought I'd share some photos of the beautiful things we have seen. Hope you've been having a lovely Summer, I'd love to know what you've been up to too!

We stayed in Taormina, which is a town on two levels. We were based in Taormina Mare, so we were by the sea, and up above us up a windy road was the town of Taormina. One of my favourite things we did was wading across the sandbank to sit and read and swim from the little island. It took us by surprise how hot it was, we were very lucky with the weather.

Something you can just see in the corner of the photo is Cacti- they grow everywhere in this part of Sicily, mainly this type with prickly pear fruit

The towns were so pretty with lots of decorative details

We bought home some tasty treats that we discovered on our travels, including honey from a visit to a honey farm in the foothills of Mount Etna, olive oil and Pistachio Cream which is an alcoholic drink made with pistachios that are used a lot in Sicilian dishes

We visited the Valley Of The Temples in Agrigento to see the ruins from the Ancient Greek settlement in Sicily. The temple above was so impressive because it hasn't been re-constructed, it has been preserved as it was then

Travelling home from our trip to the temples we stopped to take in the lovely view of this town

From Taormina town there is a spectacular view of Mount Etna. We were really excited to get the chance to take a trip to visit Etna and walk on the volcano! A coach takes you half way up and then we jumped in a cable car for a 20 minute trip up the mountain (it was pretty high!). You then take a very bouncy jeep ride for the remainder of the journey. You're not able to go to the very top (it is an active volcano) but we were lucky to have really good views. I couldn't quite get over the novelty of walking on a volcano and we were lucky enough to get to walk through one of the craters

I've not shared a photo of Mr Writer and I on the blog before but I though I would today because the holiday made me realise how important it is to spend time with the people we love. It's also beneficial to take some time away from work to recharge and regain some perspective on things, so I'm thankful we got the chance to do that 

So now and I'm back, recharged and ready to jump back into making and blogging. I'm looking forward to sharing what I get up to with you, watch this space!

What have you been up to over the summer months? Please do share in the comments below!

A Little Holiday In Sherwood Forest, Nottingham!

Last week Mr Writer and I got the chance to go on a short break to Sherwood Forest in Nottingham at the last minute so we headed off to explore the countryside for a few days! Here are some pics of what we got up to in Robin Hood country...

Walking in Sherwood Forest, which was five minutes round the corner from where we stayed. Very peaceful at this time of year, just us, some dog walkers and horse riders

We came across all sorts of interesting tree formations! 

Visiting the ruins of Rufford Abbey and walking in the beautiful grounds

The huge lake in the grounds of Rufford Abbey

This was the view from our wooden cabin in the forest. It was great for spotting birds and squirrels

Visiting Clumber Park and exploring the vast grounds, cared for by The National Trust. There were brilliant views across the lake

We walked all the way around the huge lake in Clumber Park which took a couple of hours and spotted this little guy- the only squirrel who sat still just long enough for me to photograph!

So we're home now and feeling refreshed. There are so many places to visit in this country, we're going to try to get away more often to explore more of England and enjoy the benefits of having a break! Do you have any recommendations of places to visit?