Hey Country Bumpkins & Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a
fun filled evening celebrating in the New Year either out on the town, or cosied up on the sofa in front of the TV.
I did a bit of both! We headed to a few country pubs: The Royal Oak, Cerne Abbas
& The Sun Inn, Charminster for a few tame drinks before heading home &
popping open the bubbly & having a toast whilst dancing along with Jools
Holland & his musical cool for school crew. I’m pretty chuffed I made it to
midnight without falling asleep & waking up with no hangover – whoop – 2017
you beaut!
And yes I know it’s New Year’s Day & supposedly you
should be looking forward rather than backwards, but December was a busy month
for getting out & doing stuff so I thought it would be a fun one to share
my December Snaps taken on my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
1. Exeter Christmas Markets
During December I managed to have pretty much every Friday
off, so we made the most of the first Friday & headed down to Exeter
Christmas Markets.
They have lots of cute little wooden stands in front of the
Cathedral selling all sorts of things from home-made knick knacks, chocolate, jewellery,
through to cider & champagne.
We obviously made the most of the festiveness & finished
our day’s shopping (or lack of) with a glass of warming Gluhwein. Yum!
2. Christmas Party Time
It’s very rare I have a spray tan, but for some reason I
fancied wearing my trusty old Warehouse Spotlight dress with no tights &
thought a tan would give me the confidence to strut my stuff.
Thanks to Emma from Spray Tan Weymouth for my Sienna X tan
that left me looking (sadly not feeling) like I’d had a quick week in
California, which made up for the fact I was driving that night.
Here’s a pic of me & my friend Sammy before our dinner
at Holbrook House before heading to the main party at The Red House near
Yeovil.
3. Locked in a Room
Mid December we had a planning day with our PR agency –
McCann & in the afternoon we had a fun hour at Locked in a Room in Bristol.
You have to solve a number of puzzles & clues that lead
you to finding & unlocking boxes / treasure chests etc until eventually you
get out of the room. Sadly 60 minutes wasn’t enough for our team, one of our
locks got jammed – which is our excuse for losing!
Thankfully we were allowed out. It’s such a fun game to do with friends or
work colleagues & would be great for a hen or stag do.
4. Festive Merriment with Friends
It’s been a while since I’ve hosted a little shindig at my
house. In the past I used to have a Christmas fete with friends selling
anything from cards, through to jewellery, garden products & Mollie & Fred – one of my fave online gift companies.
This year I gathered some of my loveliest Dorch girlies
(partners & babies) for a night of mulled wine, nibbles & gossip. I
definitely need to plan some evenings in Jan/Feb to help beat the winter blues.
5. Christmas with the Family & Alfie
After a few stressful months during the autumn, it was
lovely to have my folks & of course Alfie over to mine for Christmas Day. Alfie
loved looking out the window at the Christmas walkers & fellow doggies – he’s
such a cutie. Although we’ll just skip over the fact he did a little tinkle on
my carpet. Oopsie.
6. Jolly Jonty Jaunts
Having 11 days off work has been utter bliss & I’ve made
the most of the winter days by getting out on Jonty every day by one. In true
British style we’ve experienced every type of weather from blazing sunshine
through to Jack Frost & torrential rain. Overall Jonty has been a good boy
apart from the odd buckaroo!
7. Boxing Day Booze & Bands
It’s been one of my traditions for the last few years to
head down to Weymouth on Boxing Day in search of some live music &
atmosphere to blow away the Christmas cobwebs.
This year we caught the first half of The Leggomen at The
Spa & then headed over to The Spice Ship in Preston & watched the end
of Shooter & first half of Stereoironics who were fab. I’m probably a
little biased as I love Stereophonics. It was the first time we’d been into The
Spice Ship & there was a really fun & friendly vibe there – we even had
a dance!
8. Pony Walks
I had a lovely sunny afternoon during Christmas Limbo week
hanging out with my friend Rach, my goddaughter Evie & Ben the pony in Abbotsbury.
Ben was even better behaved than Jonty & obligingly posed for a #selfie in
exchange for some polos!
9. Sika Trail
New Year’s Eve Eve we decided to go for a bike adventure
over in Wareham Forest round the Sika Trail. We were fortunate that the thick
fog lying over most of Dorset lifted so we could have an afternoon of fun biking
in the sunshine.
The Sika Trail is a fab little 10km off road track around
the forest & made for a great way to end 2016 with an outdoor adventure.
What did you guys get up to in December? Any adventures
you’d like to share?
PS. If you have any feedback on the Country Bumpkin
Chic blog posts or new look & feel, I’d love to hear what you think. Leave
a comment below or via my social links.
