The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

          There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. 'Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,' thought Alice; 'only as it's asleep, I suppose it doesn't mind.'

          The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: 'No room! No room!' they cried when they saw Alice coming. 'There's plenty of room!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.

          'Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.

 

I've had a life-long love affair with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and so when the invitation to a Mad Hatter's Tea Party dropped through my (facebook) letterbox I could not have been more excited. The party was for a friends birthday, and she did not disappoint on the theme. There was croquet with flamingo mallets covers, cocktails in tea cups, and an assortment of mad hats. 

My ridiculous head-gear was home-made, painstakingly hand-painted the night before, only to remember my lack of artistic talent, and swiftly covered in feathers...(the effort paid off though, and I came home with the prize for the best hat!).

Unfortunately in true British style the weather quickly turned sour with torrential rain, and so the garden party was relocated into the house, which could only mean one thing: Party Games! Like Pin the Grin on the Cheshire Cat...

Some were better at it than others...

And the (potentially a bit racist?) 'Be Your Hat Game'...

Followed by many more cocktails, and a pretty fab tea selection of mini afternoon tea staples.

And, of course, birthday cake and champagne!

The drinks continued to flow long into the night, and everyone had an amazing time catching up on our post-uni lives and our plans for the summer. I can't wait for the next reunion. Happy Birthday Hannah!

Boats. Golf. Picnics.

I've been spending the last couple of weeks travelling around the country and visiting various people, and because of this I've fallen a bit behind on the old bloggin'...but I'm back!

Now a lot of these trips have involved sitting around drinking wine and catching up, but occasionally we decided to actually do something with our day. Monday was one of these days, with a get-together in Warwick, with Callum, Julia and Lauren, some of my fave uni people. We were going to go to the castle, but on the way passed the park and swiftly changed our minds in favour of boats and mini golf...

We tried our hand at a spot of rowing first (I was definitely the best...), and recited poetry as we glided softly down the river, stopping for a picnic in view of the castle. (This is all a massive exaggeration, we were truly awful, at both the poetry and the rowing...). 

We quickly traded it in for mini golf, which I was equally awful at...

See that paving in the corner? That's the edge of the course. I went slightly off track...

I had no right to look this smug...

Callum of course won, followed by Lauren, both showing a surprising mini-golf talent. Shockingly, I didn't come last! The beautiful Julia did - but it was pretty close...

We decided to go back to the boats, this time to try our hand at canoeing. Me and Callum were pretty good. Lauren and Julia not so much. None of us wanted to risk our cameras/phones in something so easily cap-sizable, but we did manage to get this rather fetching photo in the totally unnecessary life-jackets...

Beautiful right? 

Anglesey

My mother's side of the family comes from Anglesey, and because of this I've been coming up here at least once a year to stay with my Granny (minus the years when I lived abroad). It used to be not-so-lovingly referred to as 'Grey Land', mainly because the experience was always tainted by long car journeys covered in dogs and luggage, followed by a week of vicious wind and rain. Anglesey is not famed for its weather. In the last couple of years however I've been going up by myself and it has been entirely different. This week especially has been a definite exception, especially weather-wise. People have even been braving the chilly Irish Sea...

Not me. I'm not ridiculous. I've just been taking lots of different pictures of it with my fancy new camera, and suddenly noticing how many abandoned boats there are around the Island. 

Borthwen Bay

I thought I'd take you on a little picture tour of my stay, and show off some of my fancy landscape shots. These were all taken around Borthwen Bay (I think, I'm pretty unsure on the names and where I end up on my walks...).

These flowers are everywhere on the headlands. 

I love these little houses overlooking the beach. A lot of them are for sale or are rented out for holidays. Be warned though, this is rare Anglesey weather...

 One of the things I love about Anglesey are the harsh landscapes. The coast is really rugged, and we used to spend hours when we were little scrambling over the rocks, coming back with grazed knees and treasures from the rock pools.

Another 'abandoned' ship, dragged up onto the cliff. Up close it's a lovely light blue.

On Friday I decided to venture up Snowdon (it was incidentally the hottest day EVER!), but my camera died half-way up (a lesson I really should have learnt by now). I know that sounds like an excuse, but I did, I promise! Here's the view from halfway though...

It was sunnier than it looks, and I came back a bit sun-burnt (another lesson I should have learnt), and very tired. Luckily I was greeted at the door with an enormous Pimms from my Granny. She knows me so well...

My favourite place I only discovered this visit. Maybe it's the sunshine, but it's a bit breathtaking. Mynachdy is part of the coastal walk, but you can also access it by parking up in Llanfairynghornwy (again, I think) and walking across a field to the cliffs.

You do get stared at by a lot of sheep. But it's worth it when you get to the beach...

This cove looked pretty enticing, and the explorer in me wanted to wade in to check it out, but a few steps in  I remembered how cold it is and how expensive my camera was, and decided to check it out from the cliffs instead. 

It was a pretty scary path up to here, especially with the wind blowing. Luckily the beach was deserted apart from a few kayaks, or there would have been a lot of people seeing up my dress as I scrambled up the hill. It was well worth it for the view though. I climbed to the highest point on the very edge, and could see all the way around the coast.

The walk back was a bit surreal, like an old western movie with the locals (sheep) staring menacingly at you as you pass by, and trees that look like this...

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There are parts of Anglesey though that are just beautiful, especially if you're willing to do some walking. If you're staying with my granny however, this is not a big ask. Being a typical welsh Granny, she bombards you with food from the moment you arrive (particularly cakes). The meals are huge, and having less than two helpings is strictly forbidden. It stems from looking after the boys who are out working on the farm all day (my Anglesey family are almost all farmers, and are built like a rugby team), but isn't ideal for the lazier girl. I find myself disappearing on walks just so I don't have to eat anything else for a few hours...

I've only a few days left here now before I head back down south. I've promised myself I'll start applying for jobs, instead of just spending hours looking at them. I'll leave you with one last photo though. This is the church at Church Bay. It looks out over the coast, and it's where a lot of family events have happened, including my parent's wedding and my sister's christening.