away.

it's come to our attention that we really love london a little bit more, when we don't spend every waking moment in london. she's really very lovely. but then, so are other little bits of this fair isle. we've resolved to try to take little mini-breaks more frequently. just a saturday night away from home can be so refreshing and achieved with such little effort.

this weekend we had hopes for a day at the beach with friends down on the south coast. at lunch on friday i called le boy and said - shall we make a bit of a weekend of it? and so we decided to take a drive down to portsmouth, with a stopover in winchester.

winchester saw us score a fantastic deal on shoes - leather brogues, how i have wanted you for sooooo long. and a wonderful poke around just the loveliest of little shops - the hambledon. it's basically a store of joy. in fact, that is what i declared as we walked in and saw the wall of shelves filled with vintage-y kitchen bits...

i was a goner from the time i saw the weck canning jars. oh. my. word. and i put them to use the other night. i'll explain later.

we ambled around for a couple of hours, and ultimately decided that returning to winchester for a proper visit was really the order of the day. on the list it goes.

we spent the night in portsmouth - a lovely seaside town, with an enormous history of sailing and ports and the shipping trade. after realising that our budget and the cost of touring the ship weren't exactly compatible, we decided to walk around and soak up the free history instead.

we spent the rest of the afternoon napping. it was heavenly.

sunday we drove to christchurch and enjoyed the beach, a little spit of land which requires a 10 minute ride on a toy train or a 25 min walk. we trained out and walked back. it was a lovely day and it was perfect beach weather. blue sky with the occasional cloud (a nice respite from the sun) and HOT. finally.

and so when we returned to our darling city it didn't seem quite so loud or tiring. and we are planning our next getaway.