You should have seen by the look in my eyes, baby...

Back in September, The OH and I got married.

We had been a couple for nine years, living in our third home together, expecting a little bundle of poop. I mean joy...so tie the knot we did.

It was a simple affair. Ceremony at the local town hall, followed by a reception at the pub.

The song we choose to entertain the guests while we signed the marriage register was Keep On Loving You by REO Speedwagon. We got quite a few raised eyebrows over that one, but come on, it's an awesome song...and it means a lot to us.

 I made my bouquet from flowers, herbs and ferns from my garden. I also made up the flowers for all the men's buttonholes. Not an easy task when your fingers are all swollen and you have the dexterity of someone wearing boxing gloves.

After standing around having photos taken (which I absolutely hated, always have and always will hate having my photo taken) we retired to the pub for the afternoon where friends and family mingled over cheese and chocolate brownies.

I was absolutely exhausted, but a lovely day was had.

I have been put on strict bed rest and really struggled with extremely low energy levels while trying to prepare everything, not fainting during the vows, and staying awake during the reception.

I didn't realise how tiring just milling around talking to people could be, and was very pleased I had brought a change of flat shoes with me.

 

I did have lovely curly hair for about ten minutes in the morning but the curls all fell out and were replaced by a sort of frizzy effect for the rest of the day. I did paint my nails though, which have got surprisingly long. A result of not digging about in the garden and hormones it seems.

The OH got a bit of slack for not being clean-shaven, but I love his beard. Wasn't so sure about the tweed jacket with elbow patches though...

I had been told under no circumstances was I allowed to travel abroad for a Honeymoon, which I was a little sad about.

So a month later we set off up North to The Lake District for a little weekend break.

It seemed a little silly going to prime hill walking land, when I wasn't allowed to do any walking. My midwife needed a lot of persuading to let me go and I was told to take it as easy as possible.

So instead of climbing the hills we frequented nice little pubs (seemed almost a crime having Lime and Soda Water instead of a pint of Jennings) spent time in the Hotel pool (where I just sort of floated while The OH relaxed in the hot tub and sauna) and wandered around very very slowly.

Things I saw included this nice door...

This nice wall with a curtain of Ivy and Ferns...

And this nice view of some houses which reminded me of a scene from that French TV drama The Killing...

 Now, the best part of the whole trip, sort of a dream come true really, was visiting Hill Top - the home of the late great Beatrix Potter.

I have been a huge fan of those little books since I was very young, and was very excited about going to see her house and garden.

We were staying in Ambleside, and chose to combine the visit to Hill Top with a nice little boat trip.

It was really cold and windy so we only lasted on the top deck for about half an hour.

This is a photo of our shoes inside the nice warm bit of the boat. It has started to rain so taking a photo of our shoes seemed the next logical step plus I liked the little wooden benches...

We got off the boat and caught a bus up to Hill Top as I didn't think I would have managed the walk.

By now I was really really excited and was grinning like a lunatic as the bus wound it's way up the hill...

Then we arrived...there was Hill Top...it was A M A Z I N G...

I took another photo of our shoes as we walked up the path to her house...

The garden was in September Slumber mode but there were pumpkins...

The last of the sweet peas hanging on...

And pretty rose hips...

At the top of the path was her house...

I made The OH stand in the doorway...

Just like Beatrix Potter had done in this photo...

We were not allowed to take photos inside the house, but it was absolutely lovely to see where she had lived, worked, ate and slept.


The vegetable garden was an absolute delight to see...

It was so lovely to visit Hill Top, and I shall enjoy recognising little corners of her home and garden in the books for many years to come.

Good Night.