Friday lunchbreaks should all look like this

Well, everyone needs to grab some fresh air with their Friday lunchtime sandwich, and I'd spent the morning wading through a pile of marking, so I deserved a break....
Solent Meads beach is just the best. Leading up to the beautiful nature reserve at Hengistbury head, and flanked by sand dunes, it is wilder and emptier than any of the other beaches in the area. Just don't tell anyone else...

A capsule wardrobe for living by the coast!

Seasalt  

We will have been living down by the coast for four weeks tomorrow. That's 28 days already - days when I've gone to work, done some browsing around the shops, been for muddy walks, seen friends, spent a cultural day in London and so on. Yet, I've just realised I could could probably count the different items of clothing I've worn on one hand or, ok, two hands if you must make me count my wellies too.
When we first arrived at the cottage, it was our bedroom that took the longest to sort out, mainly because we just couldn't find enough storage for all of our clothes. As part of our downsizing prior to the move we impulsively gave up a fabulously large vintage chest of drawers that, I now realised, held a huge proportion of our wardrobe.  And so I found myself reduced to one narrow hanging space and 1.5 small drawers (Simon having the other 1.5). Even sneaking into my son's room and securing myself some hanging space in his wardrobe didn't solve the problem, so I was reduced to stuffing as much as possible into cardboard storage boxes, and ramming them into the base of my wardrobe.
However, since then, something strange has happened. Maybe it's because I can't actually SEE any of my clothes anymore, maybe it's because I'm no longer surrounded by anyone in enviably gorgeous frocks, maybe it's the cold weather, or maybe its because I don't know anyone here, and therefore don't care so much about what I look like, but  I've found I actually don't miss my wide range of dresses and tops. In fact, I have found it fantastically liberating to get up and put on essentially the same items every day.

Your Capsule Coastal Wardrobe
So, as far as I can make out after 27 and a bit days in Dorset, this is all you need:

Cabbages and Roses Fisherman's jumper

One pair of jeans - skinny (better for ramming into wellington boots and rolling up when the weather warms up and you can go paddling)
One pair of leggings  (At risk of sounding all yummy mummy, the Boden ones are the BEST EVER!)
One cosy fisherman style jumper - big enough to go over layers (Celtic Sheepskin/Seasalt/Cabbages & Roses)
One tunic - for 'smarter' days (Joules/All Saints/Seasalt)
A couple of longsleeve white t-shirts  (I love White Company's layering ones, but H&M budget ones are great too)
A pair of fantastically comfortable Sheepskin boots (I haven't taken off my Celtic Sheepskin black lace -up ones since I bought them) or, in summer, flip flops.
And good pair of long wellies.
Oh, and a leather jacket and a parka (a hood is a must!)

Of course, in theory, that means I could now empty the wardrobe of everything else, but lets not be rash. Surely even a Coastal girl might need a pair of heels and a party frock one day??!!

Spring finally comes to Avon Beach

After a morning of sitting inside and marking, I needed a lunchtime walk as much as Hamish.

I still can't quite believe that the beach is on my doorstep - especially today, with the sun shining and the sky not completely shrouded in cloud. It actually feels as if Spring might, finally, have arrived.

The view from behind the houses on the other side of Stanpit

When you leave our house on Stanpit, you can dip off the main road, and walk behind the houses opposite ours for a short stretch. I feel incredibly happy to be living in our simple little cottage, so I can't believe that the people who live in these houses can EVER have a bad day!

Their back gardens not only back onto water, but look over it to Hengistbury Head, and the beach huts on Mudeford sandbanks. The buildings insurers must get a migraine just thinking of the flood risk, but I would happily pay any premium to wake up to that view, and be able to wander down the garden and pop a kayak in the water. In fact I stood, enviously, for a minute or two, watching as a girl did exactly that. Simon and I HAVE to get some sea kayaks soon! (If anyone wants to recommend some particularly stable designs, I'd be grateful..)

As Hamish sniffed around the boats, I breathed in the fresh salty air, the bright nodding daffodils, and the birds soaring on the breeze, and just SMILED!

We had all our new neighbours around for drinks on Sunday, and they generously let me pick their brains for new local walks and places to see. I now can't wait for the weekend, to get out and explore a bit more. Maybe I'll even remember to take out my camera and be able to post something better than an iphone snap!

Avon Beach this afternoon - is that blue sky??!!

We've done it - we've moved to Dorset!

Hurrah! We've escaped the smoke of the city and escaped to our new little nest by the sea.

For years Simon and I have dreamt and schemed about doing this - about somehow finding jobs out of London, selling our big house and downsizing to the good life - and, finally, we've done it. Well, sort of.

True, last week we did move into a gorgeous little Edwardian cottage, just a pebble's throw from the Dorset coast. But, ummmm, we also still seem to own a 5-bedroom detached house in the city. And have a son who is still in school 40 minutes away......

So rather than downsizing to a more simple life, we actually seem to have created a far more complicated one, encompassing nightmare-inducingly large mortgages, a family of American tenants, and a whole new set of landlord type of responsibilities, plus a school run that requires me to cross the entire New Forest. But hey, one step at a time I guess!

Inevitably I've had a few wobbles about the whole thing. Such as on Tuesday, when Glam Pam from Texas - our new tenant - called at 8pm to say she couldn't get the radiator in the bedroom to work and could we just 'pop' over. And then there was last Saturday, when all our friends and neighbours gathered for a final dinner and a game of utensil tennis in our very spacious city kitchen and I realised just how much I would miss them. But if at any time I need any reminding as to why we have done this, all I have to do is cross the road in front of the house, breathe in the coastal air and look across the water to the pretty beach huts flanking Hengistbury Head, or pull on my wellies and walk down to Avon Beach with the dog.

So, if you too dream of escaping to the coast and what to find out what doing so is REALLY like, or just want to join us as we discover the best - and worst -  of living in East Dorset, then follow this blog... and do get in touch to let us know what we should be seeing and doing.

How could we resist moving to Stanpit, when this view is just a stone's throw away?