The word is a very exciting place

 This may sound strange, and probably the wrong way round, but I never sleep very well the first night when we are away somewhere. Its almost like I can't sleep because I don't want to miss seeing anything! I know for most people its the other way round, you can't sleep the night before you go on holiday for excitement. Aren't we all strange creatures? I went with James, and he always seems to sleep well, no matter what night it is! Our first stop was back to the Cathedral to see more of this impressive building, and its just as notable in the daylight. The cathedral is a large complex, broken down into several different key areas. There are multiple (And I mean Multiple) variations of tickets available for the site, I would highly recommend checking the website (www.duomomilano.it) before to work out which ticket would be best for you. We ended up picking the Culture pass for two reasons, first of all parts of the cathedral (terraces & Crypt) were closed for conser...

 February came, and it was decided we needed to go away for a quick post Christmas break, to recharge our batteries and see somewhere new. I'd seen picture of Milan's cathedral online, and I just knew I had to go and see it! We landed in Milan in the evening, and decided to head straight for the Piazzo Del Duomo, and in the dark skies, the cathedral literally seemed to shine! The Italian's really know how to do good mood lighting! I think it also helped that the sky was just so dark, it was literally pitch black. We'd arrived quite late, so we grabbed ourselves a beautiful dinner in the Gallera Vittorio Emanuele 2nd shopping arcade. Its a stunning building, with a soaring roof and decorated with lovely classical style artwork, which makes shopping in the fancy boutiques there, well, even fancier! Gotta love any sort of pudding that comes with Oreo's! We then had a wander through Milan, trying to orient ourselves but actually just because we wanted to see more of it ...

I had a long weekend off towards the end of January, so we went up and visited Swindon. Now there's not a huge amount of stuff to do in Swindon (the birthplace of one of the greatest British actresses, Billie Piper) but there is a fun outlet shopping centre just on the outskirts, with a large selection of shops, which I spent all my Christmas money in. Plus a large amount of my hard earned overtime too! The building itself is beautiful, its and old railway works, where they used to build steam engines in the glorious days of steam powered railways in the UK. The shopping centre brilliants shows off the heritage aspect of it, with information boards and old pieces of equipment kept there. There is also a railway museum there, but it was closed while we were visiting, but I've made a point of returning soon to see it. We also went to the Studley Grange Butterfly World & Farm park. Its a sprawling complex just off the M4 (there's no public transport there as far as I know,...

I know January feels like a long month every year, but this year it just seemed to go on forever! Worse than usual. Or maybe it was just me, I seemed to cram so much in the month that I was probably just knackered! James booked a fun experience of an overnight stay and cooking class at the www.allhallowsfarmhouse.co.uk where we had a personal cooking class with Lisa, where we made a Swiss roll, lemon curd and English breakfast muffins, which were amazing. We also stayed the night there in the farmhouse which was a very restful and enjoyable stay. Here's my beautiful breakfast muffin which we had with salmon & poached eggs in the morning! Why can't every breakfast be like that? While there, we also visited the pretty town of Wimbourne, and had a look inside Wimbourne Minster, a beautiful church building there. Here's the before and after of the bread rolls we made with Lisa at the All Hallows Farmhouse. They were so easy to make, I'm going to keep making them when we...

 And just like, 2019 was here. New year, new me and all that nonsense. We all say it every year, yet it never actually seems to happen! January got off to a good start, with a very cold but pleasant visit to Mottisfont Abbey. Unlike Glastonbury which had become ruined, Mottisfont had been converted into a lovely country home, although interestingly, it was originally a priory, but abbey always sounds much nicer! As national trust members, we got in for free, but otherwise tickets start at £21 (A higher rate applies for certain dates and events, check the website before you book) While the house is not the most exciting you'll ever visit, there is extensive grounds, which even in the depths of winter still has plenty of things to see, such as the little bits of art dotted about and the winter garden. The charming undercroft, perfect for wine tasting parties! A matching suite is always fashionable, in my opinion anyway! These two photos are from the lovely winter garden, which shows ...