tadaa.....!

With a final flourish The Big Paint Job was completed just before Easter. And I think it worked.....when your heart desires a cupboard like this but it's way out of your pocket, well you have to compromise a bit :)

Painted with one coat of undercoat and two coats of Farrow & Ball oil-based eggshell in Dimity, rubbed down slightly on the edges to "shabby" it up. I retrieved my china collection from various cupboards around the house and it looks so much better displayed in one place. Best of all I've gained a store cupboard, now I can take advantage of those BOGOF bargains!DH even suggested we look out for another dresser or cupboard, to paint and give us more storage....I think I've converted him, yay!

I managed to get to a boot sale on Monday despite the dodgy weather, and had a good long browse around. My bedside reading pile is growing. All for under 50p. Roll on next weekend.

My collection of paperbacks is growing too. Since reading Kim's post about Virago books, I look out for them at boot sales...the distinctive apple on more recent publications is easly spotted, but haven't found many of the older ones yet...I will do I'm sure. Most things usually turn up at boot sales. Lousy picture, so I hope you can see my new mirror. £10 which is more than I usually spend on one item. This is my next project, a coat of cream paint should transform it. I'm thinking it might go on my bathroom wall. Have a good week y'all.

Booty

Oooh it was good to get out again yesterday to the first car boot sale of the year...familiar faces that I see every week, snippets of conversations overheard..." nice to come out again, I haven't been out since last September", "it's like we've all been hibernating and have woken up now it's Spring".

I picked up some goodies of course.

I bought the plastic lemon juicer for 20p then spotted the vintage china one on another stall, 50p. Around the rim in very faint writing "Present from Brighton". One of my favourite cities :)

Glasses 50p the two. Flower bowl £1. Plates £1.

Packets of seeds 50p each.

Books 20p each

Sylvac bowl £5 (more than I usually spend at a boot sale but looks lovely on my coffee table)

Desk lamp £1

Brand new yoghurt maker £2 (I'd been thinking about getting one of these since becoming a Money Saving Expert convert!)

I spent a lot of time browsing, 3 hours! Once home the Big Paint continued. Cupboards emptied out on Saturday and put in place to check the plan would work...think it will....

Doors off.....

Sanding down.....Undercoated......took ages.....In amongst the chaos the girl, still in dressing gown, playing the piano beautifully..she's a natural, paino lessons might be on the cards.

Spring forward....

Ooh lovely, Spring has sprung, I'm feeling more bloggy again if there is such a term....like lots of you I've been lying low through the winter, working all week, doing home type stuff at weekends, and not really in the mood to blog. I couldn't think of much to say about my ordinary life. But I've missed writing and feel I've lost touch with a nice friend. It's good to catch up with you and thanks for still being there.

I've been spending a lot of time over at the Money Saving Expert site in recent weeks....what a great place, especially the Old Style forum which is packed full of good advice for running a home and saving money too. I'm hooked and it's making me think much more about how I cook and shop and generally live my life. Have invested in a new slow cooker which has yet to be christened. I've even used my £10 car boot sale breadmaker a few times. Using up leftovers, buying only the basics and not wasting money on food that doesn't get eaten. Pop over and have a browse, be warned it's addictive.

Even better I came across this nice group of people so I've spent time there too, what a fab forum. I'm really inspired to do some projects around the house and have a few ideas in mind for the Easter holidays (finished work today for 2 weeks, yay).

I dream of owning something like this cupboard (see it there, in the background of this gorgeous room? Loving the mirror too) but as it's gonna be waaay beyond my pocket I've been looking for a similar cupboard on the cheap. Or free. Lightbulb moment.....clever DH pointed out that this cupboard in my bedroom, stood on top of this one in my living room, painted with Farrow & Ball (which is beautiful paint and worth spending a bit more on), might make a nice cabinet. Watch this space, it's first on my list of things to do.

Talking of free things we are now the proud owners of a piano. It was about to be put on Freecycle by a friend of a friend, I heard of it first and was very pleased to give it a good home. It takes pride of place in my kitchen/diner and we're playing tunes very badly. Hmmm think I need to get a smaller dining table ........although it's growing on me, having a table in the middle of the kitchen, but you do have to shuffle around a bit and we have to Give Way to each other when more than one person is in the kitchen so not very practical. I think this one is destined for Ebay.

Have a good week. BTW I like this image which Domesticali discovered.

Last time I looked it was Summertime.......

Gosh, I really didn't intend to vanish.......I started a new job at the end of August and suddenly it's January. Blogging had to take a back seat, but I wasn't expecting to be away for quite so long. I've kept up with my favourite blogs of course, but haven't had the time to leave comments as often as I'd like. I felt like I was standing on the edge of the playground watching everyone else have fun :). And the longer I've been away the harder it is to jump back in. Isn't it disappointing when blogs just disappear, leaving you wondering if the writer is ok...should you drop them an email to say hello, or have they just had enough? I just needed to step back for a while. It seems to be quite a common theme amongst bloggers I've noticed. We love blogging but it keeps us from doing other things with our precious spare time. It's all a matter of balance I guess.
I had some words of encouragement from a few nice people, like this lady, and this one, and this one pointed out that it's still August here at Lucy Locket. So I gave myself a stern talking to, "come on Gillian, get your act together", and here I am. If anyone's still out there, I want to come and play again please!

Where to start....maybe a few snippets from the past months. I'm loving my job, especially when we catered for a wedding with a vintage theme.......right up our street was what I thought, with mis-matched vintage china galore. For the whole day I kept thinking to myself that my blog ladies would just adore this. 16 year old daughter has already decided this is want she wants for her wedding someday so I know what I'll be looking out for at the boot sales! It'll take a long time to collect 100 place settings (she informs me she's planning a large wedding).

Not a lot of creativity has gone on but I'm finding my mojo again I think...I picked up this pine noticeboard at one of the last bootsales I went to last year. The plan was to put it in the kitchen, handy hooks to hang keys on, useful whiteboard for shopping lists, pinboard for important notes and reminders. A coat of F&B paint, vintage fabric to cover the corkboard, it looks fab now...so fab it's taken up residence in daughter's bedroom. We decided it should have push pins with bling, but couldn't buy what we wanted anywhere...until I spotted these stick on trims in Hobbycraft, perfect! Just stick them onto standard drawing pins and tada! Sparkly pretty pins.

Christmas and New Year were lovely, good food, relaxing, catching up with family. We had a bit of a Nigella thing going after treating myself to her book when it was reduced to £8 in Waterstones. I'd resisted up 'til then, I didn't think it had much to offer but how wrong I was.There are some delicious recipes, we tried a couple of her cocktails, the favourite being Yule Mule. My Mum and I got into a cosy little habit of making up a jug of it each day.....The Home cured pork is just wonderful as is the Apple & onion gravy to accompany it....it went down a treat with family who came down for Sunday lunch. Her chilli jam is simple to make and we were having it with everything for a while. Definitely a favourite cookbook for me.

Any way I've rabbited on for long enough, thanks for hanging in there and for taking the time to visit. I'll be back soon. Enjoy the weekend.

Summertime...and the living is easy

It's all a bit slow around here, but I'm not complaining...oh no, I'm enjoying the luxury of getting up and not having to rush around getting things done before work. There are all sorts of things I could be getting on with, but really, can I be bothered?? I find I get more done when I'm working, give me a few weeks off and I vegetate.

We're having a Staycation this year, what with the credit crunch, the car needing some repairs, and most importantly Father in Law in hospital meaing we need to be around for ferrying MIL back and forth for visiting. Once I got over the initial fed-upness of not going away, actually I'm quite liking being at home.

Having time to get on with my Granny square blanket that I started at least a year ago, and it grew even quicker over cups of tea and Victoria sandwich cake shared with good friends one summer evening. You know how you begin a project and wish you'd picked a different colour? I love Lucy's choice of colours for her ripple blanket. But I've started so I'll finish. And it looks ok, really. Even better when I crochet some edging (once I've learnt how to) I'll grow to love my blanket especially snuggled beneath it on the sofa come the chilly evenings.

We've been watching DVDs that I've been picking up for a pound or two at boot sales or on Ebay...........all recommended on various blogs, everytime I read about one I like the sound of I keep an eye open for it, and usually find what I want eventually. Cheap entertainment, best enjoyed with a glass of wine.....and no rustling bags of sweets or people coughing/sniffing/snogging/talking too loud (well I discourage my lot from doing any of the above when Mother's watching a good film)

Painting old junk filled a couple of days..... remember this? Looks much better in white so thanks for your comments when I asked :) Filling space on the landing...mirror £2 from a boot sale, lamp £1, cupboard free from a friend (it was destined for the dump). Ignore the horrible artex on the wall, my newly qualified plasterer son owes me a new wall someday.....

Stool £1 from the boot sale...beautifully covered in wood effect sticky backed plastic.We painstakingly picked it off making our fingers bleed in the process, cleaned it up, and I think we'll leave it as it is, shabby and chippy. We like it but I can see why some people might wonder why we've forgotten to put away the tatty old decorating stool. We've sort of got used to it now so the red paint stays.

Daughter Lucy is enjoying hangin' out with her friends so has no desire to go anywhere that takes her away from them. She celebrated her 16th Birthday this week, gosh where do the years go? 16 is such an exciting age, lots of changes on the horizon. Lucy's starting college in September, a photography course, she's so looking forward to college life. Son Jack has been accepted on the 3rd year of his plastering course thank goodness, places are limited so we've had a nail-biting wait for confirmation. He really wanted to get this third year under his belt, it'll open more doors for him in the future. Now we can sit back and relax for a week or two then back to the grind for all of us.

Ooh, Husband took care of some chickens for 2 weeks...we had chicken love going on, big time. Hubby arriving home with 3 fresh eggs every day, I really miss them now their Dad is back from his hols. We'll chicken-sit any day.

Husband and I have taken a couple of long walks............I've cooked and baked and spent time on the PC and given the kitchen a blooming good clean but other than that we're pottering. I love pottering. Hope you all manage to do some pottering before summer's out.

Mamma Mia

Where did the last 4 weeks go?? Sorry for the rather large gap between posts, hopefully regular service can now be resumed as I'm off work for a few weeks.
Just a short post for now, I urge you to see Mamma Mia the movie, if you haven't already, grab your Mother/daughter/girlfriend/tolerant bloke and go along for an uplifting couple of hours....just wonderful and one of the few movies I've seen that I immediately wanted to see again. The scenery is stunning, it made me laugh/cry/drool!


Be back soon!

What's your preference?

I was interested to read Manda's post over at Tree Fall this morning, she asked what we all enjoy in a blog, and our likes and dislikes There were some useful comments, go check them out if you're interested too. As a result I've removed the music player from my blog! They're a pet hate I read, hmmm.....

It's good to hear what attracts people to your blog, most of us write about our everyday lives and we like reading about other people's everyday lives so it's a win win arrangement seems to me.

What I loved about blogging last week were the film recommendations, thanks for everyone who left a comment to my previous post. I've been busy on Ebay since buying a few DVDs for bargain prices. In these days of tightening our belts it's a cheap form of entertainment and I'm looking forward to some Movie nights once work has quietened down in a few weeks.

Another thing I love about blogging is finding inspiration for decorating my home, I'm no interior designer trust me but I do feel I've found my sense of style since discovering blogs and am gradually re-decorating the house in a much more Laura Ashley/Vintage sort of style ( in spite of living in a 1960s small house but hey, that won't stop me). When I spot something I like online or in a magazine I do become a bit obsessed and make it my mission to find something like it but on a budget. My current obsession is for Anglepoise lamps, I became aware of them a year or so ago and thought they looked quite cool. I see from browsing on Ebay that Herbert Terry lamps are THE sought after ones, I doubt that I'll be lucky enough to stumble across one of those at the boot sale.... ...but this'll do for me. Not bad for £2 do you think? It beckoned me from across the aisle, it was one of those moments when I nonchalantly strolled across hoping the bloke already at the stall wasn't going to reach out and pick it up just as I got there...success..."how much for the lamp?"..."oh give us a couple of quid love". One happy bunny I am. It's an original Anglepoise lamp. Don't you just love it when things come your way?

Saturday night at the movies

Well it's Saturday night, the curry's been eaten, the old man's watching the footie, what better time to catch up with blogland...you won't catch me down the pub , oooh no I haven't done that for years, nothing I like better than a night in, a nice meal and a good movie. I even think twice about going to the cinema these days, it's so expensive and you can bet I'll be next to the bloke chomping on popcorn or the teenagers being very annoying :)

I do get a bit out of touch with current movies though and by the time they come out on DVD I've forgotten which ones I wanted to see especially the lesser known ones. So I always enjoy it when I see a film recommended , and I've bought several films recently that were mentioned by bloggers. I enjoy Jennie's blogs as she always finds something interesting to write about. She often recommends films and I like her recent post about her top 5 melancholy films...I've only watched one of them but I'll be looking out for the others, they sound like my kind of films. Her post got me thinking about my own favourite films. I usually don't watch a film more than once, it has to be pretty special...so here's a list of a few of my "Films worth watching more than once"

Like Jennie, Frankie and Johnny is right near the top of the list. It's a poignant movie that makes you care about the characters and any film with Al Pacino in is ok by me. Michelle Pfeiffer (Frankie) is a down-trodden waitress who isn't looking for romance when Al Pacino's Johnny comes into her life. The movie is the story of how he breaks down her barriers and they fall in love. Fab movie.

I've mentioned Moulin Rouge more than once. I regret not seeing the movie at the cinema when it first came out as it must be amazing to watch on the big screen...it just didn't grab me, not my type of film at all I thought. Then I picked up a video at the boot sale and was hooked. It's a fantasy film, fantastic scenes, wonderful songs. I discovered Ewan McGregor in this film, hadn't really taken much notice of him before then. I watched the film over and over again when I first got it, and must be due another showing any time soon....just look at Ewan, wouldn't you like him to sing to you?!

I watch my copy of Sense and Sensibility every now and then, a beautiful movie and the gentle humour is delightful. Alan Rickman ( Colonel Branden) is so dashing, imagine having a suitor like him yearning for you( I am a bit soppy sometimes) It's a heartbreaking yet uplifting movie.

I adore The Bodyguard, it's Kevin you see, I could watch him in anything. I love a romance, can you see a theme emerging here? A bit of a girlie movie but entertaining anyway and I watch it every now and then

A movie I saw at the cinema (twice) and bought on DVD was Walk the Line, Reece Whitherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix played great parts and really captured the spirit of the era. Like many biopic films I believe the truth about Cash's life may have been stretched but even so it introduced a new generation to the music of Johnny Cash who may not have been interested before this. The music is so infectious even for someone not into Johnny Cash. I loved this movie.
I'd love to hear what your favourite movies are, care to tell?

Pause...play....rewind

Hello out there! Ooops, I'm sorry for the little blogging pause, I really didn't intend to be away for so long, I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. Work has been pretty intense these past few weeks and I've had no computer time really other than a bit of Ebay and reading my favourite blogs. I've done some nice things ; the boot sales are in full swing now, we were lucky enough to have fine weather over the May Day Bank holiday weekend (unlike last weekend!) and I've never seen so many sellers or buyers...almost too many sellers if there can ever be such a thing.

Trouble is when you leave such a gap between posts, where to start?? I feel like I have nothing to tell yet lots to show.Here're some images from the last month just to demonstrate I do have a life outside of work even though it doesn't always feel like it!

We visited our local Bluebell woods...just beautiful.

An unexpected wander around Oxford...DH bought an old car on Ebay for a run-around to and from work, and as we had to collect it from just outside of Oxford we took the opportunity to explore for a while...what an interesting city and somewhere we want to return to sometime.

A spur of the moment break to Cornwall to visit my Mum. Torrential rain cut the holiday short but we managed a few trips out in between. Lovely Looe. Porth beach.

No Cornish boot sales due to the weather, hmmph, but I've picked up a few bargains nearer home recently. I seem to have started a collection of cream coloured jugs, none more than £1...and glass jars...cheap as chips but look fab all over the house storing dishwasher tablets, paracetamols, loose change, whatever takes your fancy. And do you like my Phrenology head? Isn't he fab...£2, hidden in a box at the boot sale. And I knew I'd find one eventually, a new food processer, still boxed, £3.

Oh and I actually read a book from cover to cover, haven't done that for many years. Kim has good taste in books and recently posted about Persephone books. I read this one and can highly recommend it, I didn't want to put it down. Now I only want to order every other book in the catalogue. But I really should work through the unread books on my bookshelf first :)

Hope to be back soon, thanks for hanging in there!

Back in the saddle again

Oh isn't it great to be back out there, browsing the boot sales on a Sunday morning, that anticipation at finding a little bargain. I've noticed one or two other bloggers share my excitement, it's good to know I'm not alone in finding it thrilling being in a field at 6.45am on a Sunday morning :)

I noticed a number of ladies pulling shopping trollies at the boot sales I visited last Sunday, not as nice as Jane's though, now that's a proper shopping trolley! I might have to treat myself one of these days as I do get weighed down by bags and sometimes it's so far to walk back to the car . My daughter would disown me if I produced something like this .......but how about this gorgeous girl?

Anyway in spite of having to manage with my canvas bags, I don't let that stop me, I've developed a knack of sitting on the bags while I'm sorting through boxes or bags on the floor, they make a good cushion and save the old knees from creaking too much. I found some nice stuff. Some clothes (I can't believe what people throw out, I bought a huge bag of good quality clothes from a lady, in my size, asked her for a price expecting to pay around a tenner and was amazed when she asked for £3 the lot.... )

This picture frame, £2...I've been looking for a frame, for my Keep calm and carry on poster, I just manage to squeeze it in. I'm undecided whether to leave the frame gold or paint it white like this or even black...what do you think?

Bargain of the day has to be the clock, £2.

You know what it's like at boot sales, it's all about being in the right place at the right time. The seller had just taken the clock out of her boot along with a vintage style bathroom cabinet, a bit Laura Ashley, a lady next to me spotted it at the same time as I did, she got her hands on it first and stood thinking about it for a few minutes while I nonchalantly clutched the clock and browsed the stall, hoping she'd walk away and I could pounce. It was torture to hear her ask, "how much " and the seller reply " I wanted £15" and the buyer to say, "would you take £12?", and the deal was done in front of my eyes. Grrr, don't you just hate it when that happens. It would have been perfect for my bathroom but hey-ho, one day I'll find another.

I felt better once I'd bought a few more bits and pieces, these nesting dolls were 50p, a couple are missing but they still look cute lined up.

A vintage wire basket, £1...just for show on my hanging rail. Would be perfect for collecting eggs if we had hens :)

Cards 'r' us

I read today that here in the UK we have the highest spend per capita on greetings cards, sending an average of 55 cards a year. Wow, that's a lot of cards. I try and avoid buying mass-produced cards in shops, because

a. Having expensive tastes (but not having the budget to match!) I only seem to like the really nice ones that cost £3.99

b. due to my thrifty nature I can't bear spending money on something that will be thrown away within a week

c. I know that I could make a card myself in no time that will cost pennies

d.I've always,without exception, found that people love receiving hand-made cards.

When I receive cards it's the hand-made ones that I get the most pleasure from. It's knowing that someone spent time producing such a pretty thing, and knowing that the sender put a bit of thought into the card they chose for me. Let's face it the selection of cards in supermarkets are pretty dull at times, and although it's easy to grab one as you do your weekly shop, how much nicer to make one yourself. Many years ago when my children were small I used to make hundreds of cards, and sold them at Mother and toddler groups and school fairs. It was a way to earn some "pin" money. I stopped once I was back at work and I'd got a bit bored with the production line! I have a renewed interest in making cards now, inspired by the many blogs that I read, and wanting to have a supply of cards to hand (oh, the times I've needed a card in a hurry and had to buy a nasty boring card fom the local shop) I had a little session last week using my new X-Cut guillotine, the supplies I bought at the Stitch & Craft fair and some pictures and images cut from magazines and vintage books. Take a look, maybe I can inspire you. I haven't done much on the creative front recently, so it was fun to take a few hours out on a cold Sunday afternoon and have something to show at the end.

And I've finally found a use for my vintage lunch box :) Perfect for storing my card collection.

"This is".....

I'm going to play "This is", started by Angela at Three Buttons, it's a fun way to get me posting more often without too much effort.

The theme this week is "This is"...the contents of my handbag

Ta-da!

I like a large bag, I like to have all my essentials to hand. My friend Frances treated me to this one, after I admired her bag that her Mum bought from Bid TV. It's a Winter bag really so I may treat myself to a more Spring-like bag, but I never spend a lot on handbags and only have one on the go until it's worn out. How do women cope with changing their bags all the time, what a palaver swapping the contents every time!

In my bag I have:

• Primark Leopard print purse
• Diary (very boring, I receive a free one every year from a company we use at work)
• Notebook to write down important information (shopping list, Christmas list, measurements of my windows.......)
• Chequebook (endangered species)
• Farrow & Ball colour chart
• Menu from Cassio College training restaurant (one day I'll go there!)
• Merry Christmas tissues
• Personalised name and address stickers for posting Ebay parcels
• My very own business card (I can't believe I've got one, I was handed them last year at work)
• Bunch of keys
• Paloma Picasso perfume
• Hand-cream/handwash liquid/body spray/vaseline/lippy
• Gloves
• Tic-tacs
• My Bulgari glasses (need them for driving/tv), I splashed out a couple of years ago. I don't buy new ones very often, they last me for years and years so I felt justified in going "designer" for once instead of Specsavers.
• My camera case made by Hilda May (no camera in it obviously, I was taking the picture at the time but it usually holds my Canon Powershot A620)

See who else is playing and join in if you fancy it.

Stitching and crafting Friday

I had a lovely day out on Friday with cousin Julie and friend Brenda to the Stitch & Craft 2008 show in Olympia, London. It's the first time I've been to a show like this, my main passion was dollshouses for the last 10 years or so and I visited plenty of Miniatures fairs. But now I want to broaden my horizons, take up old hobbies again such as card-making, knitting and crochet. It's an eye-opener to see just how many other (mostly) women love crafts too judging by the crowds flocking to the show. The Vitality show was taking place at the same time next door, and it was easy to identify which people were going to which show!

The ground floor was filled with stalls selling Cross Stitch kits and pictures which isn't my bag really. I've enjoyed embroidery in the past but prefer free-style, I love French knot and ribbon embroidery and it's definitely a hobby I want to take up in the future. I gave those stands a miss and we moved onto the Scrapbooking workshop which we'd booked. We really enjoyed it, for the price of £6 we received a goodie bag and were shown how to create a scrapbook page. Again, not my thing (and not my colours...) but I learnt some techniques that I can use in card-making and best of all we came away feeling very inspired.

The first floor was much more exciting, I could have spent a fortune! Full of card-making goodies/tools/equipment. Scrapbooking is a fast growing hobby in the UK and the range of supplies is incredible. The trouble with me is when I want to try a new craft, I want. Everything. Now. I gave myself a stern talking to, I just don't have time to get into a whole new hobby so refrained from buying scrapbook album/pages/fancy-papers/embellishments etc etc etc. I'm also keen to use re-cycled/vintage materials, rather than buy new, maybe start an altered book someday.

Needleless to say I couldn't resist treating myself to a few goodies. An X-cut guillotine, and some punches for card-making, bundle of cardstock, pretty craft paper (Laura Ashley now make crafting supplies)

Some wool to knit socks and wool to knit a scarf. Just got to find some time to do all these things!

Up the downs....

I've a soft spot for the county of Sussex, having spent many happy summers there as a child; my great Aunt lived nearby in Dorking, Surrey, and when I stayed with her we'd always visit my Grandmother (Nanny Townsend) who lived in Hassocks, Sussex. My Great Uncle Mark would announce we were going "up the downs" when we set off, referring to the South Downs which are an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The lovely Kim is lucky enough to live in the area and has often shared some wonderful pictures of her family walks "up the downs". On Easter Monday, wanting to see the sea, we took a slow drive down to Brighton for the day. The plan was to take the pretty route and stop off at Lewes en route, a place I've read about but never visited. Probably not the best plan, given we experienced the worst Easter weather for years... we approached Lewes in the middle of a hurricane and, not being dressed for the occasion, we had a whistle stop car drive through the town and continued on to Brighton. (I think the exact conversation was "you're not getting me out in that" and Husband replying "don't be such a wuss, we've got an umbrella"). Trouble was, it was a small child's umbrella, white with red ladybirds and a frill around the edge. The three of us weren't going to keep very dry beneath that. We weren't well prepared at all. We'll return to Lewes one fine day.

By then we were starving and looking forward to some lunch, along with several million other people it seemed. Brighton is a city of contrasts, and the approach isn't the most attractive I have to say. Husband has never been to Brighton and initially wasn't impressed. But wow, those fabulous properties on the seafront soon turned his head. The architecture is amazing. We had a lovely day. I'd told daughter it wasn't a shopping trip, but how could we resist when we came across Cath's little empire?! I just had to treat daughter to a CK bag, she was one happy bunny this Easter I can tell you. We did a little more shopping, wandering through the Lanes, people watching, dodging the rain, before a stroll along the seafront and pier.Stopping for some photo opportunities of course.

Wearily making our way back to the car, we had a slight delay in leaving as a certain person had left the lights on (and it wasn't me)...hmmmm... Consequently we had to call out the AA (first time ever, but what a relief to have the yellow van come to our rescue). We took the direct, motorway route home which seemed to take no time at all, and finished off the day with a Chinese takeaway. We ♥ Sussex. Next time we'll spend a little longer and explore more of this beautiful county.