It may still only be September, and less than a month into the new school year,  but the last few weeks have been super hectic culminating in sending son number one off to do his last year at uni and taking son number two to start his first. It’s been an emotional time and that’s all I am saying about it because I may start blubbering…again.

Anyhow, a couple of days at sea, well a night in Lyme Regis (more of that another time) and a day at the beautiful River Cottage on the Devon/Dorset borders was just what the doctor ordered. If you need a bit of grounding and a reminder about all that’s beautiful and simple about the world then I can’t recommend this place enough.

Thanks to Foodies100 Blog Camp River Cottage we spent the day making butter, foraging, making soda bread (a favourite of mine), chatting and catching up with old friends, and making new ones. We learned new food photography tips from Capture By Lucy, walked around the gardens smelling and tasting as we went along and met the pigs and the chickens from this nearly totally sustainable farm. Plus the sun shone brightly making this the most truly wonderful day.

We had an amazing lunch too, it was so interesting hearing about where the food we were eating comes from (apparently they only slaughter two cows a year but they go so far…one cow may stretch to 7 or 800 meals…wow) and I love that rather than the chefs asking for particular produce from the garden, the gardeners tell them what’s available. That determines what is on the menu that day!

What did I learn from my day? Apart from feeling relaxed and chilled out, I felt rejuvenated and the most motivated I have felt for a very long time. I remembered why I love blogging, how much I adore taking photos (after all there were so many pretty things to photograph) and my love of cooking has returned. Just check out my instagram feed if you don’t believe me. I also really really would like to start doing cookery courses, the River Cottage ones look fab but I’m not sure I can pop there on a whim so I will start saving my pennies and look for courses closer to home.