Just Humans Being...

It was over 10 years ago that we wrote a blog post about nurturing, simplicity and  Slowing Down  and we are happy to say we still feel the same way. We enjoy helping others, being with animals and nature - somehow we have carved out this path. We can manage on a small income with enough money to do what we want...buying decent food is always our priority and  maintaining our car. We do want to go on a road trip down to our house in France and that will happen at some point soon, but for now - we continue to creep and go. We live very frugally, but always feel our world is abundant and believe as a result, we often receive wonderful gifts - things we require often show up when needed...food, clothes, wood and books are always gratefully received. The kindness of others just blows us away.  A few weeks ago we met a couple while out doggy walking. It turned out that we had a connection with this couple - the chap's mother had been the housekeeper for one of the grand p...

  It has been such a treat to have good weather again, especially as we are on another pet sitting assignment. We decided to take a longer route to our destination in Hampshire - taking a more scenic route out of Cornwall, along the Atlantic Highway and a wonderful stopover with our dear friends in Glastonbury. As always, we enjoyed feasting with great company and left with full bellies, feeling relaxed.  We had already travelled from Cornwall, through Devon and into Somerset and the next part of our journey took us slightly north through Wiltshire and West Berkshire before landing over the border in Hampshire. It was a gorgeous sunny journey with little traffic and we thoroughly enjoyed taking our time, soaking up the sights and loving the changing scenery. It seems such a long time since we travelled through this part of the country...Frome, Trowbridge, Avebury, and Marlborough. Seeing delights such as:  Westbury White Horse   Silbury Hill   West Kennet Long B...

We have always enjoyed road trips and you only have to search through our blog to find many posts featuring our trips. We like this independent, laid-back way of travelling. Staying away from the main routes and instead, exploring the quiet roads away from the traffic. On the rare occasions we have been stuck in hold-ups; we remain calm, go with the flow and if possible just look for an alternative way. Holidays for us start as soon as we exit the door to our home and not when we arrive at our destination. Travelling is very much part of the whole experience and we'll either pack a picnic for the journey or pick up food once we're on the road...sometimes even both! No hard or fast rules, just making decisions as we go and doing what we feel. Slow travel is quite wonderful, setting off early and seeing what happens. There are always opportunities presenting themselves - intriguing places we may come across on the way and the people and animals we meet. Leaving our plans open mea...

We have spent yesterday exploring this lovely area of Brittany. Nice to do when it's a quieter time of year. We drove to Port Navalo at the end of the gulf where it was warm and sunny. We found lots of quiet villages. Marshlands. Maps. Lighthouses. We watched a storm come in while we ate our picnic. There was a cormorant sat on the rock just out at sea, but the camera hasn't picked it up. Lots of the beaches were covered in red seaweed. Chateau Suscinio A 13th century castle with connections to Henry VII and the War of the Roses. We enjoyed a walk around Port Navalo's headland before the stormy weather started! Such a warm and quiet day!  Love Kay and Sime xx

We often get shocked at how much folks are willing to pay for vacations. Even if we become billionaires...no don't laugh, you never know...we will no doubt continue to travel simply.  We love camping for starters, so we can't imagine not doing it and then there's a real joy in bargain hunting hotels and holiday accommodation. We tend to camp if we can do more than 3 nights and the weather's nice. If it's not so good, then we usually look at self-catering accommodation and easily find great places. When we're on the road we tend to find cheap motels for overnight stays and book a few hours before arrival to save money. These can be anything from a motel chain to a more fancy pants country hotel...on our last trip to France we found ourselves staying in the grounds of a vineyard in Burgundy and it was lovely!  A lot of small hotels open up to business travellers out of season and when they still have rooms available, they reduce their prices and ...

All you need is the plan, the road map and the courage to press on to your destination. ~ Earl Nightingale ~  We are pretty sure that we have covered this subject before... We absolutely love road trips and they start as soon as we close the door at home. We focus on the journey, rather than the destination. Sometimes the journey turns out to be completely different than we expected, but it never matters. What is important to us is that we enjoy it. Being on the road lights us both up - the amazing places we come across and the people we meet, the new friends and connections we make - it's all wonderful.  Even when we set out to explore a place only to discover that we have been there before, which seems to happen a lot lately...Hahaha!!! It makes us sad that most people are so keen to get to their destination as quickly as possible, they miss out on so much. Folks who drive long hours don't seem to think of their journey as part of their tri...