on frome and a freebie

When you’ve got two kiddos and a husband that works twelve hour days, weekends become sacred family time. We try to keep Saturdays for doing fun things, visiting new places or sometimes just relaxing at home – the weekend before last we managed a two-in-one bonanza when we travelled up to Somerset for a fourth birthday party.

Regular readers will know by now that I’ve got a bit of a preoccupation with all things countryside – fields, cottages, wellies, plants, agas, fresh air, the lot. So when we drove over the border and past the sign that shouted, ‘WILTSHIRE’, I got a bit over excited, and we stopped to take some pictures.

A few weeks ago, I entered a competition over on Mathilde Heart Manech, organised by the lovely Lisa, and to my surprise I actually won. The prize was a tote bag of choice from Doodle-Bag, an ace company which produce eco-friendly and ethically made cotton tote bags topped off with contemporary illustrations. If you fancy your hand at designing your own, there’s the option to customise a bag with text or images of your choice – I chose The Stag by Cherith Harrison, and very pleased with it I was too!

A chilly Autumn day in the country calls for three things – boots, a good coat and knitwear. I went with my new bargain eBay boots (£20 for new, unworn Schuh leather chelsea boots – actually a little small, but hey, they’ll stretch!), my beloved teal coat and a jumper that used to belong to my Mum, and was knitted by her own fair hands. All topped off with a reworked vintage necklace, and brand spanking new tote bag.

Best photo face EVER. You should have seen the other ones….

Frome is ace. There’s countryside, markets, winding roads, cobbled streets and the BEST vintage shop. Poot is absolutely packed full of retro and vintage treasures, from tea dresses to suits, shoes to bags, jewellery to linens, and a host of homewares. Owned by the loveliest lady, who let me snap pictures of absolutely everything while chatting away happily, and frequented by Pearl Lowe (who I actually stood next to at the counter, but didn’t realise until after she’d left), my only regret was that I didn’t have time to rummage more.

How amazing is this window display?

More bags than you can shake a stick at.

Linens and the dress I almost bought for Miss Daisy.

There are so many beautiful shops in Frome, and it was only because we had this little man with us that we couldn’t spend more time poking about in them (because who drags children round shops? There is pretty much nothing children hate more than shopping):

Who has the biggest grin?

From homewares and stationers, craft shops to florists and everything in between, there’s pretty much something for everything, and it’s all beeeyoootiful. All topped off with a lovely time at our friends birthday party, and a snooze in the car on the way home – we’re counting the weeks until we can make it back again. (I may already have looked at the price of houses in the area…. ahem…)

This reminds me of a road from ‘Call the Midwife’ – not sure why, seeing as it’s full of cars….

Lovely, lovely enamelware.