merry christmas everyone!

Hello and Merry Christmas!!

What a wonderful day we had and Santa was very generous this year!

My girlies were more than a little bit excited!  We'd already opened our Christmas Eve present (new pyjamas of course), left out our carrot and mince pies, sprinkled our magic reindeer food outside and now the traditional "stand in front of the Christmas tree" photo! Nana and Bampa (my mum and dad) stayed over so they were there to see the girls open their presents in the morning, so the girls were even more excited (if that was at all possible?!)

And what a mountain of presents they got!!  Every year we say we're not going to go mad, there's nothing much they need.....every year we somehow end up with this mountain!  The girls were overjoyed with what they got and so was I.....

A gorgeous gardening tools bag with tools and tin mug for over the allotment (when we eventually get to go there - grrrr!) and a vase that will look amazing on my Welsh dresser with flowers in it.

My wonderful husband managed to keep my main present until we sat down to dinner (which I cooked by the way and was amazing!) 

Being the sneaky little bugger he is, he hid my main present in a cracker.  He won the pulling of said cracker (as he always does, because he's a cheat!) and inside what this....a weekend away, just me and him, for my birthday at the end of January to a gorgeous cottage called The Lake House in Bourton-on-the-Water in the beautiful Cotswolds. 

I've wanted to visit the Cotswolds for SO LONG!!  So clearly all my hints worked - lol! I can't tell you how excited I am to go here, it looks amazing and the cottage itself has a balcony overlooking its own private lake.  My only problem will be, I really wont want to come home!

So as you can see, we were all very good this year!  Hope you were as lucky and had an amazing Christmas too!

Until next time!

Love Mrs B xx

meet our elf

Love it or hate it, Elf on the Shelf is massive now in the UK.  So many of my friends have one of these creepy looking elves now and I love some of the ideas I've seen for things he gets up to while you sleep!

Now, my oldest little princess is 9, so I did wonder if I'd get away with the whole Santa/Elf/Magic of Christmas this year. However, she didnt ask the dreaded question so I didn't bring it up and went about my merry way!

Elf arrived along with the girlies advent calenders on the 1st December.  He also came with a little note explaining that Santa had sent him to keep an eye on them and make sure they were good before Christmas.  Girls were very excited, although my littlest Miss chose this moment to inform me they also have an Elf at school and she wasn't sure she could be good all day at school then at home - kids eh?!!

Ummm....I dont think that chocolates for you Larry!

Here are some of the antics Larry got up to.  Me and Mr B had lots of fun thinking up new things for him to do!

Graffiti artist Larry

Helping himself to hot chocolate

Ahhh he made the girls a Christmas Card!

Adding his own little touches to the Christmas tree!

No Larry, I think you'll find those are my chocolates and mummy doenst share!!!

Larry made some new friends who convinced him this would be a good idea!!

I have to confess there were a few midnight dashes downstairs when we realised "we haven't moved the bloody elf" - LOL!  All in all the girls had lots of fun waking up and trying to find him and what he'd got up to over night.  It also added a bit of weight to the "Santa's watching" threat when they were being a big naughty!

Not sure if I'll get away with it next year for my oldest but my littlest Miss will love it so Larry's now back with Santa, with a promise he'll return next year.  It all adds to the magical build up of Christmas!

Thanks for reading, until next time!

Love Mrs B xx

bath christmas market

Hello Friends!

Are you feeling festive yet? I have to confess, I wasn't.  Its a stressful time of year with so much going on, so much to organise, so much to remember (if it's not written down it doesn't happen!) However, I challenge anyone to not feel festive after visiting a Christmas Market!  

The smell of roasting chestnuts and mulled wine is the scent of Christmas, throw in a few mince pies and I'm feeling like Mrs Christmas - haha!

I've never been to Bath Christmas Market, which is shocking seeing as I only live over the bridge. I've always been put off by stories of chaotic parking and huge crowds.  If these things make you go cold aswell, I have a tip for you.  Go on the last day of the market (this year was Sunday 13th December) and book a coach trip.  Saves you worrying about parking and the crowds are so much less than when it first opens.  

I went with my mum and dad and we had a lovely time browsing stalls, sampling all cheeses, fudges, honey, pretty much anything that was being given out as a sample! 

Huge beautiful Christmas Tree outside Bath Abbey

I love Bath.  This is only the third time I've been but if you've ever been you'll know its instantly recognisable from the type of stone they use for all the buildings and of course, Bath Abbey in its centre is beautiful if you're into architecture and the like. 

There are loads and loads of stalls at the market, all selling goods from cheeses, to leather belts, to german wooden puzzles.  There's carols in the Abbey, mince pies to be eaten and loads and loads of festive spirit!

I bought quite a few gifts at the market (all of which are wrapped and in a top secret location until the big day!) and it felt good to support local businesses as well as getting myself in the Christmas Spirit!

Thanks for reading, until next time!

Mrs B xx

welcome to my allotment!

Hello!

So, its long been a dream, ambition, wish of mine to grow my own veg.  There's something amazing about growing something from a tiny seed (or plant....I am a beginner after all!) and being able to pick it for dinner and put it on your plate.  We eat a lot of salad stuff and vegetables (not so much fruit for some reason) so I'm hoping to be able to grow a lot of what we need instead of buying it!


So I put my name down with our local allotment society, but was warned there was a long waiting list as they're very much in demand in my area, maybe "growing your own" is in fashion around here! There's quite a few sites around here though so I was hoping to get a plot sooner rather than later.

You can imagine my surprise when I was offered a plot two weeks later!  Admittedly, I'd emailed the man who runs the waiting list once or twice, just to keep in touch, but whatever anyone says, nagging works as I am now the proud owner of Plot 6a!

Welcome to my plot!  My dad there too, eager to get started 

Its actually only half a plot and I share with another lady who I've not met yet, but to be fair, the space I have is ample.  A whole plot in my first year of growing might have been a bit overwhelming as thats a lot of ground to dig over!

I'm lucky as the plot has been grown on up until quite recently.  A lot of allotments get overgrown where people give up on them and let the weeds take over so they can need a lot of work to get them started and in a state fit for growing.

It might not look much at the moment (lets face it, its a fairly small patch of land right now!) but it holds so much potential!  I'm hoping to get a small shed put up right at the back, but for now there's a communal shed I can use to put any tools in.

Unfortunately I think I've jinxed the weather as every day I've been there since I picked up the keys, its rained.  Infact its not just rained, its been the wettest month since records began.  You couldn't make it up!  I will take a wet winter though as long as we get lots of sunshine in spring so I can get over there and start planting!  I have however, had lots of time to start planning.  These two books are really helpful for a beginner as they explain in nice easy diagrams when to plant in a greenhouse or straight into the ground, how long growing time is and are just a generally good all round guide.

My aim for next year is to grow all the veg for my Christmas dinner!  Not only that, I'd like to do a veg box for each of my family too. Ambitious?  Maybe but I like to aim high - haha!

I look forward to updating you more when I eventually get over there!

Thanks for reading!

Mrs B xx

traditional welsh cake recipe

Hello!

If you read my last post you'd have seen my wedding favours were little heart shaped welshcakes. Love welshcakes, can't get enough of them and as I was getting married in London, I wanted a little bit of Wales included in my wedding. Plus it helped I could do them myself which kept costs down! 

For those of you that don't know what a welshcake is, it's a kind of flat scone type cake with currants, sultanas and mixed spice. They are YUMM-MEE!! 

So here it is, my lovely yummy welshcake recipe....

Ingredients 

500g plain flour

2tbsp baking powder

75g softened butter

75g lard

300g caster sugar

200g currants

1tsp mixed spice (cinnamons nice too)

3 eggs

100ml milk (won't need all this)

Method

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a bowl

2. Rub in the butter and lard

3. Stir in the sugar and currants

4. Whisk the eggs and stir into the mixture.

5. Add the milk a little at a time until it forms a soft dough that's not too sticky (if it is too sticky just add more flour until it's more like a bread dough) 

6. Refrigerate for an hour (makes it easier to work with)

7. Heat a bake stone* or heavy flat frying pan over a medium heat and brush on a little oil 

8. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Too thick and they won't cook in the middle 

9. Cut them out using a cookie cutter. I did hearts but the traditional shape is round and about 2 1/2 inches wide

10. Cook on a low/medium heat. They should take around 3 minutes on each side (tip-I normally do a tester one to check the temperature of the bake stone and the thickness of the welshcake) 

11. Sprinkle with caster sugar

12. Try not to eat them all at once 😁

Let me know if you try it! They go perfect with a cuppa!

* a bakestone is a big, usually round, piece of slate that sits over the gas job to heat it up. Don't heat it up too quickly as its really hard to cool it down! 

Thanks for reading, 

Love Rhi xx

my crafty wedding

Hello!

As promised, I thought I'd do a post on the DIY bits and bobs I did for our wedding.

When we got engaged we agreed on two things...the first being that we didn't want to get in debt getting married and that we'd do as much as we could ourselves.

Cue my crafty side!! I love crafting but don't have as much time as I'd like these days...maybe I will now I don't have a wedding to plan!! However, I did manage to include a few little crafty details to my day that saved us money and looked lovely on the day! 

I did all my own flowers using foam flowers from eBay including my bouquet, flower girl posies, button holes etc. I followed a few tutorials on YouTube and did a bit of trial and error but was really pleased with how they turned out!

I thought it would make a nice photo if my dress and my bridesmaids dresses were all hung on matching hangers in the hotel. So made pretty hangers for our dresses using hangers from IKEA and transfers from eBay. I then prettied them up with matching yellow ribbon.

My centrepieces were lanterns from IKEA with artificial flower wreaths wrapped around them and little plastic tea lights.

I might have mentioned before our colour theme for the wedding was white and yellow. I was hoping to include some more artificial daffodils (for the Welsh side of the family!) but they proved really difficult to get hold of!

The guest book was already so pretty but I wanted it to match the rest of the decor so added some yellow ribbon. I made a few signs with matching ribbon for around the venue. They had a few cute poems for our favours, post box and guest book on the internet so printed them and framed them in these super lovely frames from the pound shop (I have these all over my house!)

One of our favours were homemade (by me!) Welsh Cakes. I put them in some cute yellow bags and printed off some labeled with our wedding date on. A lovely friend made our sweet cone favours in our colour scheme...both went down very well!

I highly recommend looking on Pinterest and Google for little wedding poems...there were tonnes of them!

So those were a few of our details! It was so amazing to see them all come together, along with our cake and table runners, the hall looked beautiful. I'm hoping to do a few more wedding posts which will include how we manage to keep our costs down and my traditional Welsh Cake recipe! I'm still obsessed with our wedding so will be talking about it for a little while yet...lol!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing a few of our decor details!

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Rhi xxx

mini autumn shopping haul

Hello! 

I'm not sure what the weathers like across the country today, but here in South Wales the temperature seems to have dropped by about 15 degrees!! Incidentally, I can't tell you how grateful I am that I got married last week and not this week...my poor bridesmaids and I would have froze! Anyway...I digress.

Looking in my wardrobe for something suitably warm this morning left me very uninspired, so I conned/bribed the family into a quick trip to Primark to pick up a few essentials! 

 

I came back with this lovely little lot! I could have bought more (a lot more!) and probably will at some point but this is a good start I feel! 

The cable knit jumper was £10 and is super soft and cosy...who doesn't need a cable knit jumper to cosy up into on a chilly night? I must have two others already but they're longer. This ones quite short so will need a vest underneath but I thought it would look cute with a pair of ripped jeans for the autumn. 

The long sleeve top is another essential "can't go wrong with" from Primark. Think I must have about 90 of these in different colours (slight exaggeration but you get my point). Thin enough to wear underneath a cardigan or layer under another t-shirt but still covers your arms on a chilly day! Plus at £3 why would you not want one in every colour?! 

How warm and cosy do these popcorn socks look??!! Not sure how long they'll last with my sock loving puppy around but they are lovely and warm and if it's one thing I hate is having cold toes! They were so cheap too...£2 for two pairs.

The boots I bought were for my littlest princess. She doesn't wear trainers or daps or anything, it's party shoes and sandles in the summer, Lelly Kelly's and pretty boots in the winter! She's a proper princess! These were from Pep & Co which is a new shop round these parts but at £10 they were more than reasonable and will see her right through to next spring. I'm just gutted they didn't have them in my oldest's size! (or my size for that matter!)

I should really iron my bedding before putting it on my bed. I've always been of the thinking that life's too short to iron bedding! This is from Primark too and I was shocked that my husband picked it out! Good taste Mr B. and it's so pretty for £11. It's called Vintage Rose and you can't really see in the picture, but there's tiny little sequins and embroidered flowers on it too.

Lastly I picked up these memory foam slippers on my way to the till! I'm so bad for doing that and have been known to spend and extra tenner just whilst queing up to pay! Clever Primark - haha! I bought them more for the lovely pastel pink colour than the fact they were memory foam. They are super warm and comfortable though. Again, not sure how long they'll last with my puppy around but at £2 I could afford to give them a go!

And that's it...my lovely little haul for the autumn and I'm sure the first of many! 

Until next time, thanks for reading!!

Rhi xx

our perfect wedding day

Hello!

Well....we did it!  After months of planning, stress, tears and one or two tantrums, my wonderful fiancé and I stood up in front of 50 of our closest family and friends, said our vows and became husband and wife.  At the risk of sounding a bit clique, our day was perfect...it couldn't have gone any better.  However, I nearly had a breakdown the 24 hours previous so I kind of felt all my bad luck was out of the way (traffic on the M25, 3 hour journey taking 7 hours, cutting my finger and blood on my dress were just a few of the disasters the day before!!)

It took Glen six and half years to propose to me and on our first day as husband and wife, we had been together eight years.  So...no rushing in our house!  Some people might say that after having two beautiful kids, house, joint bank account etc. etc. marriage would be just a formality and a little unnecessary.  I guess that is partly true, on the face of it nothing has changed (we even had the same surname already, how crazy is that!?) However, I feel different.  I feel closer to Glen than ever, I feel that our family unit is complete and that we're a team that have each others back.  

We decided to get married in Enfield, North London where Glen is from.  The reason for this was, basically, he has approximately 4,000,000 members of his family and I have about 20 close family and friends.  Everyone travelled up from Wales (where we live and I'm from) so I'm so lucky I had everyone there I could have wanted.  My mum was there helping me get ready, my dad was there to give me away and my beautiful children and my little niece were my bridesmaids.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

 

Glen had left for London on the Wednesday morning to spend some time with his best man who'd travelled all the way from Canada, which made our wedding day!  They've been friends since they were born (three days apart) so I'm not sure we'd have done it without him, it meant so much to have him and his family there. 

 

Glen and his groomsmen, his best friend, two brothers, dad and stepdad

 

I'd travelled up the day before with my mum and dad and my girls...what should have been a three hour journey turned into a seven hour test of my nerves!!  For those of you that don't know the M25 it is the motorway from hell on a good day!  I had things I needed to collect from Glen that he had to drop to my lovely friend at my hotel, plus I hadnt seen him since Wednesday and the girls really missed him.  By the time I got to my hotel it was too late to meet up as we wanted to keep the tradition of not seeing each other before the wedding.  So me and my girls, who were in my room, settled down for the night in our hotel.  I think I managed four hours sleep!!

 

So happy my lovely daddy was there to give me away!  He scrubbed up ok too!



The morning of the wedding went by in a blur!! We didn't have to leave for the registry office until 3.30pm but it seemed to go so quickly!  Girls getting their hair done, my make up being done, photographer turning up to take photos of little bits I wanted before the wedding like my dress and my something old etc.  The car turned up (I wanted a traditional London Cab which one of Glens friends drives and kindly did as a wedding gift) and we had a few photos of me and my dad taken before leaving for the Registry Office.  People must have seen me in the back and the ribbons on the car because all the way there people were beeping and waving and shouting congratulations....made me feel so special!

 

 

By now I'd spent the whole morning an emotional mess after the stress from the day before, missing Glen like mad (ahhhh!), tired after only four hours sleep and I just wanted it to be time to leave already!  Walking down the aisle and seeing all my family and friends is a moment I'll never forget...all the nerves went, all the tears dried up and I was just beaming!  That Cheshire cat grin lasted for the rest of the day too!!

 

We did it!  See those smiles....they are part happiness, part relief!

I got through my vows without a single tear (something I was terrified about...I really thought I'd blub the whole way through!) Glen did amazingly too although couldnt look me in the eye incase he burst into tears.  Then it was over...our lovely registrar announced us as husband and wife.  A moment I'd been waiting for my whole life and even more so for the last eight years.

Our first dance and husband and wife

 

From there the day just got better and better.  Lots and lots of amazing photos (some of which are on my Instagram if you follow me!)lots of dancing, speeches, our first dance as husband and wife, good friends, well wishes and maybe one or two glasses of something bubbly!! Glen's best man did him proud with a speech that made us both laugh and cry and everyone danced the night away!

 

Our first dance was "All of Me" covered by Jasmine Thompson.  If you get a chance, look her up on YouTube she has the voice of an angel.  I walked down the aisle to her version of "A Thousand Years" and there wasn't a dry eye in the place. 

 

There's always a worry at any event that people won't enjoy themselves, or something will go wrong, made worse for me by the fact that I'd asked a lot of people to travel across the country just for me!  I was worried that as we paid for everything ourselves our wedding would come across as "budget" and people wouldn't enjoy it but it literally couldn't have been any better if we'd had £20,000 to spend.  Everybody has said what an amazing time they had and everyone got along amazingly which considering England played Wales in the Rugby World Cup during my reception, I'm very grateful for!! (Incidentally, Wales won and we were very gracious about it too....not!!!)

I hope you've enjoyed a little glimpse into our perfect day.  I'll be doing a blog post on a few of the DIY bits I did for our day too, so check back for that.

Until next time, thanks for reading!

my autumn bucket list

Its Autumn!!!  I know I'm not the only one who love, love, LOVES autumn!  I'm not even sure I can narrow it down to one thing about why I love autumn...the cooler mornings with bright blue sky, being up to see the sun come up, leaves falling to the ground in gorgeous colours, kids going back to school with new stationary, kids going back to school full stop (haha - joke!), cosy nights in with blankets and candles......all these things make me so happy!

I'm not exaggerating when I say I feel alive come the 1st September and after the long lazy days of summer I'm ready to get back to the business of sorting and organising my home.  Think of a spring clean...in autumn...if you will. 

So here's my bucket list for Autumn, things I want to do that I do every year, things I want to try and one or two things I've wanted to do for a long time!

1. Bake Apple and Blackberry Pie

There are tons of blackberries behind my house right now, I literally just have to walk outside and pick them before the birds do!

2. Put my name on the waiting list for an allotment

I've wanted an allotment for so long!  I've finally found out how to go about getting one but turns out there's a waiting list.  I love the idea of growing my own fruit, veg and flowers and although I have a big garden, I also have two rabbits who have the run of it....not a great combination for growing, well, anything really.  I'm hoping my dad will help me out too as I think he's a bit more green fingered than I am.

3. Make Soup & Bread

There's nothing better to come home to after a cold day than homemade soup and bread.  If I time it right the bread maker will finish just before I get home so the house will smell amazing!

4. Go for lots of evening walks

I walk our yorkiepoo Ramsey a lot but often when its dark and not really taking anything in.  I love going for walks just as the suns setting, taking my girls and my fiancé with me to make it a real family walk.

5. Try out different cake recipes

In no small part inspired by the Great British Bake Off, I'm going to try out some new cake recipes.  I love baking but tend to stick to the usual tried and tested cakes....my favourite being lemon drizzle and chocolate brownies.  I'd like to try out a different one every week and find some new favourites!

6. Go pumpkin picking

Ok so carving pumpkin is a tradition in most households around Halloween, ours is no exception!  This year I'd like to find a pumpkin patch where we can pick our own pumpkins so we each pick one and make a pumpkin family!

7. Finish my crochet blanket

Think I started it this time last year, so its pretty overdue to be finished!  However, I will get it finished, once I get back from my wedding, I'm going to be looking for something to distract me from the wedding blues!  Finishing this could be just the thing.

8. Try a pumpkin spiced latte

As much as I love pumpkin carving I don't really like the taste of actual pumpkin so never liked the sound of a "pumpkin spiced latte".  Apparently though, they are really nice so I'm going to be a grown up and try one!

9. Carry on our Family Dinner tradition

We love our family dinners on a Sunday but kind of lose track of them during the summer and opt for eating in the garden or eating out.  However, now the colder weather is here a bit of stodge and home cooking is called for and I love cooking a nice roast on a Sunday for my family (maybe with apple and blackberry pie for dessert?!).

10. Make red onion chutney

Found a really simple recipe for this a few weeks ago and thought it would make an amazing Christmas present for a few people in my family.  Plus...I love it!  So going to give this a go this season.  Hmmm....quite a few things on my bucket list are to do with food actually!

Will update when I've completed some of my bucket list, but there it is, all I want to achieve this autumn!

Until next time, thanks for reading! xx

my blog and a bit of revamping

Hello and welcome to my revamped blog!  Isnt it pretty?! 

 

Ok so I've kind of neglected my little corner of the internet over the past year (really...that long?) but its not without good reason I promise!  There's been lots going on but the biggest thing on my plate right now is planning my wedding!  I will do lots of posts once the big day has been and gone with things I've made, bargains I've found and of course, a few wedding pics (or fifty!)

 

I've changed the name of my blog from Our Shabby Home (also my IG name for anyone that follows me) to Peony Lane for a few reasons....the first one is that peonies are my favourite flowers, everything about them is perfect, they are delicate, pastel coloured and just so dreamy!  I wanted a name for the blog that incorporated my love for all things pastel, floral and shabby chic and Peony Lane seemed to fit! It's a little bit dreamy too which is something I'm hoping to achieve with this blog.  The second reason for the name change is will be revealed soon but has something to do with a small business I'm putting together at the moment....but all will be revealed soon!   

 

Until next time, thanks for reading xx