Autumn foraging

With the intense late summer heat we've been able to enjoy these last few days, we were inspired to go foraging along the open country footpaths and fields here in South Gloucestershire! It's been great fun and fantastic to see the abundance of fruit around. We picked blackberries, hawthorn, rose hips, sloe and elderberries. Most of these are for making jams and jellies, but we also made some sloe gin! We got a lot of inspiration from the River Cottage Handbook series (particularly nr. 2 and nr. 7). Below are some of the images that came from this autumn's foraging experience! Enjoy and get picking...

Jamie Cullum concert in Aarhus, Denmark

It came sooner than I thought, but as predicted in a previous post, we went to see Jamie Cullum in concert again yesterday! This time we had the opportunity to watch him perform in Musikhuset in Aarhus, Denmark. It was a fantastic show once again and a great venue too. We had a surprise guest band member join in as well: brother Ben Cullum. Uncle Michael joined in to complete the family when they played a blues number in G! In true Jamie Cullum style, the band played a song "unplugged" in the middle of the audience as well! Brilliant...

Viking Moot Aarhus, Denmark

Yesterday we visited the annual Viking Moot in Moesgaard near Aarhus, Denmark. It is Europe's largest annual viking market which displays traditional crafts, clothing and food. One of the highlights is of course the viking battle re-enactment in which around 300 warriors participate!

Gentse Feesten 2011, Belgium

On the first day of our summer holiday we stopped by the annual Ghent City Festival: Gentse Feesten. A lot of people, lots of music and frieten...

TdF 2011

Tomorrow the greatest annual global sporting event kicks off: the Tour de France 2011. Bring it on...

Outdoor greenwood workshop

This is my dream open air wood workshop! It provides all year round weather protected outdoor workspace set in woodlands with it's own wood burner to keep warm in the winter. It has 12 upright posts, that represent the 12 months of the year, which support the shingle roof with skylight. The roof is supported by and up-side-down tree trunk in the middle! Find out more at Ruskin Mill College in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire.

Bespoked Bristol

Last weekend I went to visit Bespoked Bristol, the UK Handmade and Boutique Bicycle Show. It was held at the Paintworks in Bristol and was full of bespoke, handmade and quirky bicycles. One of the highlights was a bike which was made with a bamboo frame (talk about renewable sustainable transport - although, I am not convinced about sturdiness, let alone what would happen in case of a crash!)... Well worth a visit!

London

Recently we visited London and had such a great day that we went back for more a month or so later! One of the highlights was The London Eye of course. Although I had been a couple of times before, it is always a great experience!
We also visited the British Museum and the Natural History Museum which are great to explore with their millions of items on display. Other sights included Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the Underground, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards and of course London Buses. We had a lot of fun and we will certainly be going back again and again...