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| Me in Castle Douglas |
Last week was the final full week of the Summer holidays
here in Scotland and I can't help but wonder where on earth have the
Summer holidays gone!? They've seriously flown by this year! Although I think I
say that every year! You blink suddenly it's all over and it's back
to business; back to school!
Anyway, my final week of the Summer Holidays was
certainly nothing short of crazy; I've quite literally been here, there
and everywhere and could do with a wee lie down to be completely honest!
Seeing as I count myself as a lifestyle blogger, I thought I'd share what I've
been up to with you lovely people! So sit back and relax with a cup of tea (or
a nice glass of lemonade!) and enjoy reading about my busy week!
To start last week off I met up with a lovely friend of
mine, Daisy who I've known since we were around five/six years old. I lost
touch with Daisy when I moved house as well as school when I was in Primary
three and bumped into her once every now and then after moving. As I
grew older
I decided to join Facebook and managed to get
back in contact with Daisy, discovering that we share a lot of
similar interests (particularly in music). So it was really lovely to finally
meet up with Daisy after such a long period of time and spent a few hours
chatting and catching up in Costa-it is however, a wonder that the
staff didn't shoo us off as we were in there for hours! Hopefully, it
won't be too long until we meet up again!
On Tuesday, we visited my Grandparents and as it was such
a lovely day I was able to spend some time wandering round their garden
with my iPod taking photographs of all the lovely flowers my Granddad
grows there. Stupidly, I'd ignored the fact that it was a nice day; the perfect
day for taking photos and didn't bother to bring my camera with me to get
capture my surroundings. I was however, pleasantly surprised with the picture
quality that my iPod produced and successfully managed to take a handful of
decent photos.
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| My lovely Mum and I at the theatre |
The following day my Mum, Laurel and I took my
Grandparents on a trip to a lovely town here in Scotland named Castle
Douglas. We visit Castle Douglas at least once every year, sometimes more
frequently than that depending upon just how busy we are. The drive there is
lovely as there's so much beautiful scenery to take in along the way! It is in
my opinion Scotland at some of it's very best!(providing that it's a nice
day of course!)
Castle Douglas itself is a lovely, quaint, little town
with some fabulous little shops and cafes for a much needed snack or even
a spot of lunch. As we arrived, lunchtime was quickly approaching and we
all felt a little bit peckish and in need of a bite to eat. With that in mind
we made our way to the Designs Café which we only discovered a few years ago
after a family friend recommended it to us. Designs Café sell a range of
delicious sandwiches, toasties, soup, daily specials and even home baking. For
lunch, I decided upon the chicken fajita featured on the
daily specials menu which came accompanied by a lovely salad, all of which
tasted great and could easily have fed a small army!
Our lovely lunch was followed by a browse round all of
the lovely independent shops in the area. There was an amazing bohemian shop
selling goods such as clothes, jewellery and house accessories which I thoroughly
enjoyed wandering round and raking through the clothing rails.
I couldn't leave this fab shop empty handed and instead left
with two boho cushions and a gorgeous throw for my bed. Amongst the other shops
we visited my sister and I couldn't help but pop into a little toy shop that we
loved as young children named "Jenny Wren". Despite the fact that
we're a lot older now it's still good fun to look around and reminisce
about all the toys and cute little bits n' bobs we used to play with when we
were little. And of course a visit to Castle Douglas is most certainly not
complete without a visit to the ice cream shop next door! The only problem was
that there were so many different flavours to choose from leaving in deep
deliberation over what to pick. Eventually, I decided to be boring and
completely unadventurous and opted for chocolate ice-cream. But oh my goodness
was it absolutely delicious!
On our way home from Castle Douglas, Mum pulled into
a little lay by beside Loch Ken so that I could take full advantage
of the beautiful scenery and the unusually lovely weather (for Scotland that
is!) and take a few photographs. So I spent a good half hour or so
snapping photographs of the loch which I'll eventually get round to editing. I
think that'll be a job for when the weather's bad and I have nothing to
do!
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| The sunset over Dunure |
Needless to say I was exhausted by the time we arrived back home but
still to accompany my Mum on a trip down to one of our very favourite places,
the small fishing village of Dunure. My sister was invited to a movie night at
a friend's house so we decided to take a short drive there and enjoy the
stunning scenery on offer! I somehow managed in the short time between arriving
home from Castle Douglas and popping back out again removed my camera from my
bag meaning that yet again I missed out on a photography opportunity! Typical!
The following day was of course Thursday which meant I
had my radio show at 3TFM from 1-3pm. Every week during my show I pick a
"Dream Theme" which helps me plan out my playlist for the show and
gives my lovely listeners the chance to request the songs they want to hear
during the show. Last week's theme was a follow up to a show I hosted a few
weeks a few weeks ago named "Girl Power" which celebrated the
best female artists to brace the music industry. So as you've probably
guessed by now last week's "Dream Theme" was of course "The Best
of the Boys". So in the space of just two hours I attempted to
squeeze in as many of the best male bands/singers into my show as I
possibly could. That particular theme could easily have gone on for hours
as there are so many amazing bands/singers that deserved to be included on the
list!
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| Colourful beach huts in Kirkcudbright |
On Friday my parents, my sister and I decided to
pay Kirkcudbright a visit. Kirkcudbright's yearly art trail happened to be
on so we managed to visit a few of the stops and have a look around the
artwork. Up until then I'd never been to Kirkcudbright before which is a little
strange I suppose. Following a mooch round Kirkcudbright we also visited a
place named Gatehouse of Fleet which has an old mill situated directly beside
the river with a cute little café and tourist information centre hidden
inside. We decided it was the perfect time to take a break
and enjoy a much needed refreshment from the café. As we
sat outside in the cafe's patio which looked onto the river we spotted a
heron in the distance closely studying the water surrounding it for fish. Unfortunately, it was too
far in the distance from where we happened to be seated for me to actually
get a decent photo of it-next time perhaps! The peaceful surroundings was the
perfect place for a café and I for one could have easily sat there for
hours enjoying the sweet sounds of nature-pure bliss if you ask me!
To finish off our busy week my Grandparents
treated us to dinner at The Stage Door our favourite restaurant in Ayr on
Saturday. The Stage Door is an extremely popular restaurant inside The Gaiety
Theatre located in the town of Ayr. I've been lucky enough to have dined there
with my family on numerous occasions since it first opened a couple of years
ago and not once have I ever been disappointed! The menu has something to suit
everyone; the prices are great and the portions are huge! My Mum, my friend
Heather and I had breakfast there one morning and couldn't believe just how big
the small breakfast was! It was seriously unbelievable! The food itself tastes
and looks absolutely amazing which is all the more reason to dine there! And of
course my diner there last Saturday lived up to my previous expectations and
was just as good as I remembered it to be! So if you're ever in Ayr and looking
for somewhere to eat; The Stage Door is definitely worth a visit!
Last week was indeed a busy but great week however all
good things must come to an end and so do the Summer holidays. Today, the
schools here where I live have now returned which for so many means early morning rises,
homework and wearing a uniform. So to all my lovely readers who've
already returned or are due to go back to school in the not so distant future; I send
you all my best wishes for the coming school year!
Lots of Love, Peace and Best Wishes from,
Rob (The Hat Hippie) xxx
