A failed bus trip...

Getting the bus isn't something I have to do much these days - I can borrow my husband's car if he doesn't need it for work and my brilliant Dad is usually around if we need to get a lift anywhere. Occasionally though, we do have to jump on a bus and yesterday was one of these occasions...

Last week we moved house to a quieter part of town and the area is lovely and peaceful however the bus only runs on the hour. Yesterday after a particularly stressful morning trying to sort out our gas supply, I had to go to a specific shop to pick up a temporary card. The shop was by our old house and just a couple of miles away. A nice walk on a sunny day however a bit too far for a toddler to manage!

Due to the house move, the buggy was still buried under a stack of cardboard boxes so we decided to save little legs and jump on the bus and head up to the shop. The bus arrived on time and I asked for a single ticket - I almost fell off the bus in shock when the driver said it was £3.70!! That's probably cheap in some parts of the country but I'm used to paying just a couple of pounds to get from A to B and didn't think it was value for money considering there was only 3 bus stops along the journey!

I told the bus driver that it was extortionate and that actually, I'd rather walk. So I then had to do the walk of shame back off the bus whilst about 50 pairs of eyes looked on in amusement (typical, the bus was just full of tourists!) ...poor Elliot wondered what on earth was going on!

When did buses get so expensive for such a short journey? I thought the public transport companies were meant to be encouraging us to leave the car at home! 

Love Where I Live Linky #4 22nd July 2015

#LoveWhereILive

It's that time of the week again when I invite you all to link up your posts about your local area - I want to know why you love it!

Maybe you have some stunning photography you want to share, or maybe you want to tell the world about a fun local attraction you recently visited. Maybe you've got a favourite cafe, or a favourite shop you want to blog about. Anything goes really, as long as it's about where you live!

Thank you all so much for linking up last week - I just love reading about where you all live! My favourite post from last week was written by Sabrina at The Mummy Stylist and it was great to see a different side of Slough where her and the family live. I must admit when I think of Slough I think of The Office so it was lovely to see what it's really like!

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Rules

There's just a few rules to abide by: 

• You can link up however many posts you like (old or new) but please make sure it is relevant and about your area
• Please display my badge on your post
• Make sure you comment on at least 2 other blogs, more if you have time! 
• Don't forget to comment using the hashtag #lovewhereIlive so people know where you found them

The linky will run from Thursday 12.01am until Sunday 11.59pm.

Feel free to tweet me @eelliotblog using the hashtag #LoveWhereILive and I will retweet your posts. I will also comment on each one.

Each week I will pick my favourite post .

I look forward to reading your posts!

An InLinkz Link-up

10 Reasons to Love Dorset

I have grown up in Dorset and I really can't imagine living anywhere else. Being on the South Coast we have a little bit of everything - beaches, a busy university town, lush green countryside and if you have children you really are spoilt for choice with things to do!

Here are my top 10 reason to love Dorset....and no, I'm not being paid by the tourist board ;) 

1. The Beaches

Dorset has almost 100 miles of coastline so this had to come top of the list! There are traditional seaside towns such as Weymouth which has a great family friendly beach and is very popular with tourists (or grockles as we call them in Dorset!) or for a more peaceful but pebbly beach Lulworth Cove is a breathtaking beauty spot.

Weymouth and Sandbanks (Photo Credit -  Fotolia)
Lulworth Cove (Photo Credit - Kara Guppy)

I can't talk about the beaches without mentioning Sandbanks! Sandbanks is one of the most popular beaches in Dorset with golden sands and a prestigious Blue Flag award. Sandbanks is home to some of Dorset's richest residents (Harry Redknapp is one of them) and it has actually been nicknamed "Millionaires Row"! 

Sandbanks Beach (Photo Credit - Fotolia)

2. Festivals

Throughout Summer, you'll find festivals happening every weekend around Dorset and these include Camp Bestival, The Larmer Tree Festival and the Dorset Knob Throwing festival! We unfortunately didn't make it to the Weymouth Seafood Festival this month but one we will definitely be attending is the Great Dorset Chilli Festival. This festival has just got better each year and we can't wait to go - there are stalls featuring every type of chilli product known to man, live music, local produce, live cooking demos and lots of samples to be had! 

Another Summer must-do is a beer festival and Dorset has many! The biggest and best beer festival (in our opinion!) is held at the Bankes Arm in Studland and runs for 4 days in August. The beer garden is on the edge of the cliff and offers stunning views across to Poole and Bournemouth. We have been taking Elliot to this beer festival since he was a baby and it has such a lovely atmosphere with live music, food and amazing scenery!

3. Scenery

Durdle Door (Photo Credit - Fotolia)

Dorset boasts some pretty amazing scenery, including the world famous Durdle Door, the historic Corfe Castle, the impressive white stacks of Old Harry Rocks and rugged landscape of Portland Bill.

Portland Bill - Old Harry Rocks - Man o War Bay - Corfe Castle

Further inland is at Shaftesbury is Gold Hill. You may not have heard of it but you will definitely recognise it as it was used in the old Hovis ads with the boy cycling up the hill! 

We have the Cerne Abbas Giant ( Britain's largest chalk figure) , pretty Poole Quay, and many picturesque villages featuring thatched cottages and quaint country pubs.

Cerne Abbas Giant (Photo Credit - Kara Guppy) - Kimmeridge Bay (Photo Credit - Fiona Elliot)
Gold Hill - Poole Quay

4. Jurassic Coastline

Although the Jurassic Coastline features some stunning scenery, I think it merits a section of it's own because it's definitely a reason to love Dorset! Stretching for 95 miles, it is England's first natural World Heritage Site. The coastline consists of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous cliffs, spanning 180 million years of  geological history.

Kimmeridge Bay - Lyme Regis - SW Coastal Path just past Durdle Door

One of the most popular towns along the Jurassic Coast is Lyme Regis and it's a great place to go to find fossills. It is also home to Dinosaurland Fossil Museum which is worth a visit. You can even go on guided fossil hunting tours!

5. Food

Photo Credit - Fotolia

Award winning fish & chips, dressed crab, freshly caught mackerel,  Lyme Bay scallops...notice the theme! Dorset is a foodies paradise and seafood fans are spoilt for choice here with so many restaurants offering locally caught produce. 

A number of high profile chefs including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have set up restaurants and cooking schools here and just this month Rick Stein has announced he will be opening a new restaurant in Sandbanks! 

If you like a bit of spice then you might like to try the Dorset Naga - one of the hottest chillis in the world! 

6. Broadchurch

Unless you were living under a rock, you can't have missed all the hype surrounding ITV smash Broadchurch. You may not realise that it was set and filmed right here in Dorset. Broadchurch is actually a fictional name but much of the drama was filmed in West Bay, a pretty fishing village located on the Jurassic Coast. Visitor numbers have increased since Broadchurch was first shown and you can even go on a guided walk taking in all the filming locations! 

(My sister and I did actually visit West Bay last Summer when Broadchurch was being filmed - we think we spotted David Tennant being whisked away for filming but we can't be sure!)

7. Pirates 

Dorset has strong connections to the pirates and smugglers of long ago and Poole even has it's own famous pirate, Harry Paye, who was busy swashbuckling in the late 14th century. Every year the people of Poole celebrate Harry Paye day and the Quay is awash with people dressed in their best pirate fancy dress. 

Photo Credit - Danny Morgan

8. Connections

Dorset might be semi-rural (there are no motorways!) but we can jump on a direct train and be in London within two hours or Birmingham in three. There's an airport with regular short haul flights to Europe and you can even jump on a ferry and get to France within a few hours! 

9. History

History buffs will love Corfe Castle - dating back to the 11th Century it was built by William the Conqueror and has a chequered past. Nowadays it is owned by the National Trust and is one of the top tourist attractions in Dorset. 

Dorset has lots of museums and one of the best is the Poole Museum. Covering 4 floors, Poole Museum illustrates the story of the town and it's people. One of the most impressive artifacts at the museum is a 2000 year old Iron Age boat. It's hard to get your head around something being 2000 years old! 

10. Days Out 

Dorset really excels itself here - there is so much to see and do and something for all ages! Here are just a small selection of fun attractions and days out: 

• Weymouth Sealife Centre and Tower
• Boat trip around Poole Harbour
• Great Dorset Steam Fair
• A visit to Brownsea Island to spot the red squirrels
• A ride on the steam train at Swanage
• Walk around the ghost village of Tyneham
• Ride zip line from Bournemouth Pier to the shore
• Spot the Gruffalo at Moors Valley Country Park
• Visit Thomas Hardy's house
• See the baby swans at Abbotsbury Swannery
• Monkey World Ape Rescue
• Fossil Hunting in Lyme Regis
• Dinosaur Museum in Dorchester
• Farmer Palmers adventure farm
• The Tank Museum
• Dorset Heavy Horse Centre
• Portland Bill Lighthouse
• Nudist beach in Studland!
• A walk along the pier at Boscome Beach
• See the Red Arrows at the Bournemouth Air Show
• Have a nosy round Kingston Lacy country mansion

Weymouth Sealife Centre - Brownsea Island - Swanage Railway
Tyneham Village (photo credit - Fiona Elliott) - Moors Valley Country Park - Farmer Palmers
Boscome Pier - Red Arrows @ Bournemouth Airshow - Kingston Lacy

Have you visited Dorset before? What were your favourite attractions?

Linking up with...

Love Where I Live Linky #3 16th July 2015

#LoveWhereILive

It's that time of the week again when I invite you all to link up your posts about your local area - I want to know why you love it!

Maybe you have some stunning photography you want to share, or maybe you want to tell the world about a fun local attraction you recently visited. Maybe you've got a favourite cafe, or a favourite shop you want to blog about. Anything goes really, as long as it's about where you live!

Thank you to all those who linked up the week before last - I really enjoyed reading everyone's posts and I'm just sorry I had to postpone last week's linky! My favourite blog post from last time came from Ali who blogs at My Life My Love. She linked up a lovely post full of beautiful pictures of her family and the beach. We actually live in the same town and realised how small a world it is this week so I'm a big fan of her photos of my local beach!!

So what are you waiting for, grab the badge below and come and link up!

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Rules

There's just a few rules to abide by: 

• You can link up however many posts you like (old or new) but please make sure it is relevant and about your area
• Please display my badge on your post
• Make sure you comment on at least 2 other blogs, more if you have time! 
• Don't forget to comment using the hashtag #lovewhereIlive so people know where you found them

The linky will run from Thursday 12.01am until Sunday 11.59pm.

Feel free to tweet me @eelliotblog using the hashtag #LoveWhereILive and I will retweet your posts. I will also comment on each one.

Each week I will pick my favourite post .

I look forward to reading your posts! 

An InLinkz Link-up

My Week in Pictures

I've been really bad with the blogging this week and hardly had time to reply to tweets let alone write a blog post but I thought I'd do a quick roundup of our week in pictures so you can see what we've been up to :)

Top Row

- Whilst my parents were away on holiday, we took advantage of their lovely garden and had some of Elliot's little friends over to play. The toddlers spent the whole morning in and out of the paddling pool having the best time! I love this pic of Elliot and two of his mates - three little blondies in a row!
- Again in my parents garden, Elliot has been having lots of fun in the paddling pool. The slide is a permanent fixture in the pool now!
- We went along to a family fun day at a local park and Elliot was very excited to see a miniature steam train, he couldn't wait to have a ride!


Middle Row

- More water fun! We visited our favourite country park where there is a lovely walled garden featuring a brilliant water fountain for the kids to play in. Elliot decided to fill his hat with water, and then put it on his head. Crazy boy!
- This was taken a few hours after the water fountains, Elliot was soooo ready for a nap by this point and he wasn't being very cooperative in posing! The look on his face says it all ;)


Bottom Row

- As a blogger I receive some lovely items to review and this box of fun arrived last week. I'll be doing a proper review on Magformers  next week so look out for that!
- Here's Elliot after his Little Kickers football class waiting for the carnival to go past!
- My choir Just Sing sang at a local school fete today. Elliot came along to watch us and he bumped into Anna and Elsa. We had to take a photo but the look on his face is so funny!!


I really enjoy these type of weekly roundups, it's lovely to look back on all the photos I've taken!

Linking up with...

First Friends Magazine - Review

We recently got offered a chance to review a brand new magazine called First Friends which is aimed specifically at 2-4 year olds.

First Friends features well known characters such as The Gruffalo and The Very Hungry Caterpillar and has been carefully designed to support children's early learning steps.

Although Elliot is too young to read, he loves magazines - especially the free gifts on the front! We normally buy the CBeebies magazine as I know it's going to be educational, and he likes looking at all the pictures of his favourite characters and presenters. Based on this, I had a funny feeling he would love First Friends! :)

The magazine was an instant hit as soon as he spotted the Gruffalo! It was bright and eye-catching and came with a free gift, a little Hungry Caterpillar tea set. It didn't take long before Elliot was offering me a "cup of tea"!

Inside the magazine there were lots of activities to keep Elliot busy and he was immediately drawn towards the stickers. He spent ages recognising the page numbers and seeing where the stickers should go - he particularly liked sticking the candles on the Hungry Caterpillar's birthday cake!

Other features included short stories, colouring pages, Woolly & Tig spot the difference, craft activities nursery rhymes, competitions and part 1 of a cute Elmer height chart.

First Friends kept Elliot amused far longer than other magazines, we read it together from start to finish and amazingly it held his attention! I loved that it captured his imagination and he was really keen to complete the activities.

First Friends is priced at £2.99 which I think is great value considering all that it offers.  I would definitely buy it again for Elliot and would much prefer him to have this than some of the magazines that are in the newsagents these days!

First Friends is published by Redan Publishing Ltd and the first issue (this very issue!) is on sale from 8th July.

Disclaimer: We received the magazine for the purpose of this honest review. All views are my own


Linking up with...

A spontaneous evening at the beach

Much like the rest of the country, Dorset has had a bit of a heatwave this week. On Wednesday after a particularly hot and sticky day we decided to head down the beach to cool off!

We cancelled our evening plans (sorry Just Sing choir!), packed a picnic and headed on down to one of our local beaches, Branksome Chine. It seemed like everyone had the same idea because the carparks were rammed and the beach was just as busy as it would normally be in the daytime!

We walked further on past the hustle and bustle and the crowds thinned out so we were able to find a quiet spot on the sand and not have to worry about Elliot toppling onto a bbq!

It was SO nice to get some fresh air and cool down - there was a bit of a wind on the beach so it was a welcome break from the heat! Elliot couldn't wait to put his swimmers on and was itching to start playing but it was picnic time first. Actually our second picnic of the day!

As soon as Elliot had finished he ran towards the sea but he kept getting scared of the waves! But as soon as he'd jumped one wave and realised how fun it was, we couldn't get him away from water. He spent the next hour racing around, jumping around and generally having a whale of time!

By the time we'd eventually coaxed him out of the waves and got him dried off, it was past 8pm and definitely way past bedtime but it was a lovely evening and Elliot had so much fun.

Sometimes it's good to take a break from routine and be spontaneous - Elliot didn't end up going to sleep until past 9pm but he woke up the next morning full of beans talking about his trip to the beach!

Linking up with...

Love Where I Live Linky #2 2nd July 2015

#LoveWhereILive

It's that time of the week again when I invite you all to link up your posts about your local area - I want to know why you love it!

Maybe you have some stunning photography you want to share, or maybe you want to tell the world about a fun local attraction you recently visited. Maybe you've got a favourite cafe, or a favourite shop you want to blog about. Anything goes really, as long as it's about where you live!

Thank you to all those who linked up last week - I really enjoyed reading all your posts and I certainly have some more places to add to my "must visit" list!

My favourite post from last week came from Becster who linked up with a brilliant  "10 Things to Do in Snowdonia" post - I have visited the area before but I never realised just how much there is to do there! Reading about the underground zip wires gave me chills, I'm far too much of a wuss for that ;)

So what are you waiting for, grab the badge below and come and link up!

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<a href="http://www.entertainingelliot.com" " title="Entertaining Elliot"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/ElaineBetteridge/badge.jpg" alt="Entertaining Elliot" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Rules

There's just a few rules to abide by: 

• You can link up however many posts you like (old or new) but please make sure it is relevant and about your area
• Please display my badge on your post
• Make sure you comment on at least 2 other blogs, more if you have time! 
• Don't forget to comment using the hashtag #lovewhereIlive so people know where you found them

The linky will run from Thursday 12.01am until Sunday 11.59pm.

Feel free to tweet me @eelliotblog using the hashtag #LoveWhereILive and I will retweet your posts. I will also comment on each one.

Each week I will pick my favourite post .

I look forward to reading your posts!