July in the D household has been one of the busiest months in recent months. It’s the twins’ birthday month, my sister returns for the summer from her job in Tokyo and it’s the end of the school year. This year, my brother in law and his family arrived from Australia and we had a reunion with old friends in Devon and lots of outings. July was indeed a super busy month!
Went
Summers in our house often feel like a revolving door or people arriving and leaving – and I say that in a very good way! It’s lovely to have guests but it can take some organisation – not always easy when work is as busy as it is for me at the moment.
We took a trip to north Devon for a reunion with some old friends; 8 have become 14 over the years, including two sets of twins!
I really love this part of the world and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air and sunsets. We stayed at a glamping site near Hartland which was fantastically well equipped and, despite my pre-trip concerns about whether anything even remotely resembling camping was really for me (!) I slept well and would definitely visit again.
Not knowing in advance exactly what the cooking facilities would be, we bought small gas BBQ with us. Safe cooking for me but also…..bacon sarnies for breakfast!
Barring a few accidents, I loved that the kids were in a totally fenced-in safe space and could run around together with fresh country air in the lungs, free range style.
Ate
Really well (too well) this month.
In Devon, we ate fantastically well. I’ll do a separate blog posts on a couple of these finds but here’s a few snippets of the best in the meantime….
If only all pubs offered coeliac safe, gluten free meals like this!
Are you team Devon or team Cornwall? Which goes first; jam or clotted cream on your gluten free scone?
I do like to be beside the seaside, with my gluten free ice cream cone!
The village shop in Hartland had an a-mazing selection of locally produced Devon cheeses. It would be a crime not to try them! What a treat this cheese board was:
I finally got to try Arancini Brothers risotto balls at Robbie Williams. I was super happy to find their stand because very disappointingly there were no other coeliac-safe gluten free options available at the concert.
I also returned to Cote Brasserie for the first time in a long time and I LOVED their menu, so many choices in this Coeliac UK accredited venue! Gluten free flags for the win!
Loved
Spending the month seeing so many friends and family, was a lot of fun. But we also had plenty of musical trips organised this month.
A trip to the moon, thanks to the CBeebies Proms at The Royal Albert Hall…
A very rare child-free free night out to see Robbie Williams in London’s Hyde Park – what a complete performer. I can’t say I’m a super fan of Robbie’s but I loved his performance style; even getting his Dad on stage to sing an old Neil Diamond song – that was class.
Seeing Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the London Palladium – Wow! What a show! Absolutely fantastic production from start to finish. Sheridan Smith plays the role of Narrator and she was AMAZING, very funny indeed. Jason Donovan played the Elvis Pharaoh and, well you can just imagine the applause HE got when on stage! Loved every moment of this production.
And what I really loved this month was watching my kids being utterly transfixed by the musical performances they saw. I wasn’t sure how they would manage with sitting still for the entire performance but they barely moved to take their eyes of the stage. Real memories to treasure.
PIN FOR LATER
