Twinwood, Gressenhall, Aberdeen, Leeds

Did you miss me?

Ok, so it’s not exactly London, Paris, Milan, New York, but that’s where I’ve spent the last week.

So today I thought I’d give you a whistle stop update on my weeks holiday, helpfully split into sections coinciding with the places visited. After that we can all go back to normal and I’ll write scintillating articles about pretty frocks for you to drool over.

TWINWOOD

So, to begin at the beginning last Friday I went for drinkies with the lovely Claire from Poppy Valentine and Charlotte of Lottie Loves. At this point I had nothing much else planned for the weekend.

I had hoped to go to Twinwood, the Glenn Miller festival at Twinwood Arena near Bedford, but sadly my ever empty bank account wouldn’t allow. Then, at 10:30pm on Friday night, as I sipped my Xth beer, I received a tweet from someone I’d never met. They’d won tickets to Twinwood but couldn’t go, had seen my tweets and wondered if I’d like them.

Excitedly scanning the weather forecast and seeing sunshine predicted for the weekend I said yes.

On Saturday morning we stuffed the tent in the car and set off in blazing sunshine. On Saturday afternoon we arrived in a torrential downpour that threatened to blow our tent back to Norwich with us clinging helplessly to the guy ropes.

Anyway, I sat in the car and let Mr Chick finish pegging it down in the torrential rain (he managed to stick a tent peg up his nose in the process, it’s best not to ask how) once he’d done this, obviously, the sun came out from behind the clouds and the skies stayed clear all night.

Here’s what I wore to pose in front of some vintage cars, this is a fashion blog after all right?

❤ Jacket - Warehouse ❤ Dress - Principles via a Charity Shop ❤ Belt - Primark ❤
❤ Pearls - Antique Market ❤ Handbag - Vintage ❤ Shoes - New Look via a Charity Shop ❤

And, on the basis that everyone seems to be doing it these days and there’s nothing like a good bandwagon, an outake where I’m most definitely not doing any kind of posing whatever.

We bumped into Charlotte from Lottie Loves (again!) and the lovely Shona from Heyday before eventually getting chatting to some WWII reenactors, drinking far too much beer and stumbling back to our tent after 2am.

I woke up the next day to high winds and a thumping headache, but thankfully no rain. Dragged myself out of my sleeping bag and back down to the arena for a proper look around. My arrival in the arena coincided with the arrival of yet more rain. So I took the opportunity to shelter in the stall of the lovely Fiona from Notorious Kitsch. You can probably see it’s a little breezy!

❤ Dress - Vintage 50s Nelly Don ❤ Cardigan - M&S via a Charity Shop ❤ Brooch - Boot Fair❤
❤ Pearls - Antique Market ❤ Handbag - Vintage ❤ Shoes - New Look via a Charity Shop ❤

It was such a shame about the evil British weather as Twinwood was an amazing event with so much more to investigate than just the music and dancing. You can check out the rest of my photos, including  a CC41 utility clothing exhibition and the very odd man sat on a chair in the corner of one of the stages on Facebook.

GRESSENHALL

On Bank Holiday Monday I visited an event that was local to me. The Gressenhall Village at War weekend. Normally the place is an old workhouse and museum, but for the Bank Holiday weekend it was transformed into a living example of wartime village life. A marquee in the courtyard provided tea, cake and entertainment, and the lovely vintage hair stylist Flamingo Amy was present creating victory rolls for visitors. There was a flyover by a Lancaster Bomber and a replica of a corner shop handing out sweet rations to the kids. We left hurriedly when we saw the Home Guard attempting to draft innocent bystanders into performing drill in the courtyard as we didn’t think we were up to that kind of thing.  Keep your eyes peeled on my events page for similar events in the area, if this one is back next year, that’s where you’ll find out about it!

Here’s a selection of photos from the day.

ABERDEEN

Well, Aberdeen is very, very far.

It’s also where Mr Chick’s family are, so 13 hours in a car later there we were.

❤ Dress - Topshop via a Charity Shop ❤ Cardigan - M&S via a Charity Shop ❤ Shoes - Clarks via eBay ❤

Visiting the wilds of Scotland reinforces quite strongly to me how much of City Chick I really am. I had a wonderful time (and there are some good charity shops in Turriff, don’t tell anyone) but mostly all that countryside makes me feel like this.

It’s a duck out of water. It would be better if it were a fish but I don’t have any photos of fish out of water, so lets compromise and go with the duck. It’s actually one of Mr Chicks Parents ducks. And this is one of their chickens.

And this is their house.

This is PROPER countryside. No messing.

While in Scotland I gained several things, apart from 2 lb in weight from delicious cooked breakfasts and haggis I also bought myself a dressing table from a Charity Barn. It needs a bit of fixing up, but when it’s all done and in situ I shall show you it in all it’s glory. Mr Chicks’s generous mum has given me a 1950s travelling dressing table case to use on it, as well as a nice new hat. All of which I’ll show you soon.

And so, back to:

LEEDS

Those of you who haven’t yet fallen asleep or wandered off to do something more fun than look at my holiday snaps will note that the England and Scotland photos were taken on the same day (and also that I look like crap, I did mention it’s a LONG way, right?).

That’s because this is the actual photo I took of the Scottish border on the way IN to Scotland.

Great.

Anyway, my holiday adventures are drawing to a close and Leeds was really just a stopping point to avoid travelling a full 550 miles in one go.

It was a stopping point that involved a trip to a casino (I don’t gamble often, and when I do, I just look on my phone for a list of best sites for UK and pick one), where I drank many cocktails and actually WON some money. (about £30, lets not get excited) I have now crowned the Manhattan as my “New Favourite drink”. Now I just need to find somewhere near me that serves them without thumping music and annoying men in Ben Sherman shirts (or a price that means I have to mortgage the house I don’t own to buy one)

We also paid a brief trip to the Royal Armouries, which is FREE, and therefore exactly the kind of entertainment I like. I really recommend it if you happen to be in the area at any point. Not only does it have all this

But it also has some great opportunities to pose by fireplaces and pretend you’re the lady of the manor.

❤ Jumper - Primark ❤ Skirt - Laura Ashley via a Charity Shop ❤
❤ Shoes - Clarks via eBay ❤ Belt, scarf & bag - vintage ❤

And at least one unmissable opportunity to pretend you are a painting of Queen Elizabeth the first.

And there (to your relief) ends my tales of holiday adventures.

I now have 400 emails to catch up on, and some new pieces for Autumn to photograph and list for the shop, so back to the grindstone I go.

What did YOU get up to over the long weekend?