After breakfast, came exploration and adventure.

And when I say adventure, I mean a gentle walk through the countryside, followed by an afternoon of eating and drinking. But we were in a new place, so that’s an adventure in itself, right? Right?

Although our tent was so snug and charming I could happily have settled in for the long haul there with my book (Girl on the Train- finally getting into it, two thirds of the way through!) and endless rounds of coffee, we were determined to see as much of Yorkshire as we could in the few short days we had there. So, after testing out the shower with, I’ll be honest, a little trepidation (we couldn’t bring ourselves to believe that a tent could *possibly* have an instant hot water supply, and were proved quite happily wrong!), Jason and I layered on enough clothes for every possible weather outcome, and headed out into the countryside.

On our agenda for the day was a visit to a village called Harome, where we’d been told we’d find a pub called ‘The Star Inn’ serving some of the best pub lunches to be had for miles around. But first, since we’d maybe eaten one too many slices of toast at breakfast, a walk to work up an appetite!

What I wore :: White T shirt  || Check shirt (past season, similar) || Jeans || Boots.

We wandered through the village in search of a likely looking footpath to set out on, and stopped to admire a sweet gated farmyard that had the flounciest peacocks you’ve ever seen strutting around inside it. In fact, the one in this photo was doing his ‘look how snazzy my feathers are’ dance for the peahen just behind it! The owner of the farm came out and told us that he’s the oldest of all the birds she has, and that the hens mostly ignore his showing off. Clever ladies ;)

The walk we took didn’t last all that long (it felt SO strange to walk without a dog running along up ahead of us!), but we managed to catch the worst luck, and by the time we got back to the Star Inn we found out they’d stopped serving lunch only 15 minutes beforehand. ‘No matter!’ we said, and hopped back into the car and headed to the nearby village of Helmsley (singular, not plural ;) instead!

^^ Sometimes, a little cheesy self-timer action is just totally necessary, right? ^^

Helmsley was as chocolate-box a village as you could dream of finding, but I captured it all via video instead of photographs! You’ll have to stay tuned for the video if you want to see the giant fruit scones with jam and cream we ate for afternoon tea, and the adorable greengrocers on the corner of the village square where we purchased our dinner (so totally charming!), and all the sweet grey-stoned cottages we made heart-eyes at as we walked past…

I’ll tell you though, that scone is up there amongst the best I’ve ever eaten. Maybe it was that we’d been pottering around the countryside for a good few hours and so were ravenous by the time we sat down to eat, or maybe it was that scones are just better when served alongside a cup of good old fashioned Yorkshire tea- I don’t know. But it really was a special one.

And so, to home. We’d picked up a handful of things to cook on the barbecue that evening, and set to work making up new potato and red pepper skewers dressed with oregano, cooking ribs, and also cracked open the bottle of champagne we’d brought with us as a Bank Holiday weekend treat!

It was pretty blissful, that evening. Sipping icey champagne from our favourite little tin mugs (brought with us from home, because we couldn’t pass up the oppurtunity to use them in their natural camping habitat ;), eating a dinner straight from the grill followed by several rounds of cheese and biscuits, and then toasting up marshmallows over the remainder of the heat from the barbecue.

In between the rush of planning our wedding (we’re ticking off the final tasks now, which is crazy exciting!), each of us getting ready to take the best part of a month out of our normal working routines, and all of the other occurrences and tasks and jobs that make life eventful and exciting and busy, I feel as though we hadn’t had chance to really connect in a while. To devote time to just talking, and to catching up with each other and where we’re both at right now, and not getting distracted by things like phones and Netflix and Twitter. It’s amazing how easy it is to become wrapped up in the bubble of ‘self’, and to forget about the importance of quality time spent with the people who matter most.

We talked about it a little whilst we were away, and decided to try and spend less time ‘rushing’, and more time concentrating. On whatever task is at hand, on work, on relaxation- on each other.

And on that note, we clinked tin mugs, and toasted to another happy evening spent in front of a roaring fire in a little tent on the edge of a forest.