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A couple of years ago, my friends and I all went down to Cornwall for a week, where we rented a lovely big cottage and spent the days adventuring around the West Country. This year, we decided to travel a little further. We kept it in the UK to try and keep costs down a little, but this time opted to visit Yorkshire, a good 250 miles away up north!

We found a gorgeous farm house in Guisborough, just half an hour from Whitby and only a couple of miles from the coast. This place was perfect, with two reception rooms, a huge dining table for gaming and group meals, and a self contained games room fully equipped with a pool table, table tennis, foosball and even a dart board!

Originally, I toyed with the idea of driving up, but we discovered that flying to Newcastle from Bristol International was actually pretty cheap (tickets were under £100) and the flight took less than an hour. Beats a five-six hour drive, that's for sure! The only downside was that the flights were so early in the morning - going up wasn't so bad, but having to leave our comfortable, warm farmhouse at 3am on our last morning to catch our return flight was some kind of cruel and unusual punishment. Sarah, who had opted to drive for some crazy reason, and who was able to sleep in and leave at a far more sociable hour, certainly got the last laugh on that one.

Anyway, back to the beginning! After an airport breakfast (did you know Burger King at Bristol Airport sells beer??), we boarded our flight and escaped the rain. It was actually gloriosly sunny in Yorkshire for almost the entire holiday. We were very lucky! The flight took about 48 minutes, most of which was spent playing dumb games on my phone. I gotta say, it's very strange taking a flight to another part of the UK. I associate airports with foreign holidays, of course, so stepping foot back on British soil after a flight was a new experience to me!

Joe went to collect the car while we waited with our luggage. We couldn't get into our house until 3pm, so we decided to make a day of it by driving down to Whitby for lunch. We arranged to meet Sarah, who had decided to drive up. Unfortunately, Whitby on a sunny Saturday was a very popular choice, and we ended up at a very busy Wetherspoon pub for lunch, which wasn't really our ideal start to an authentic Yorkshire holiday! Still, Wetherspoon is pretty good for encouraging local produce and I at least I managed to treat myself to some Whitby scampi and a pint of Whitby Brewery beer!

After lunch, we had a very quick look around before heading to the house. Tidkinhow Farm is actually situated up a private drive, through a working farm, and up a country lane. We were very, very secluded from the rest of the world! But, my, what a view!

That evening, we went food shopping as our plan was to eat plenty of meals at home to save a little money (plus group cooking is fun!) The rest of the night was spent in the games room, which was essentially just a giant barn full of fun things to play.

We had fajhitas and played a little Zombies!!! and celebrated the start of a very fun, busy week!

I hope you enjoy reading about our little adventure 'up North'! It all happened a few weeks ago now, so it's really nice reliving it all through blog posts and photos! We went to the Beamish Museum, Flamingo Land and Eden Camp, among other places, so if you'd like to read more about those, feel free to check back in the coming weeks!

Hello! I know, I know, it's been a while. I've no excuse, aside from the fact that I'm a terrible blogger! But there's something about Autumn, with the falling leaves and twinkly lights on crisp, chilly nights that just makes blogging feel right, so I've decided to blow the dust off this thing, crack my fingers and get to work.

October is, without a doubt, my favourite month. Autumn is, without a doubt, my favourite season. I sort of um and ah when Summer comes around, trying to decide if I like Summer the most, with its promise of sandy beaches, cold beers and evening BBQs, As the shops fill with cute little Summer dresses, slip-on shoes and fruity perfumes, I'm almost convinced that, yes, I'm a Summer girl.

But... then Autumn rolls around. And I realise now that, without a doubt, I'm an Autumn girl. I'm a pumpkins-and-cinnamon kind of girl. I'm layers and messy buns and thick, slouchy socks and chunky scarves. I'm nutmeg and hot chocolate (with a dash of rum!),  and crisp sunny mornings. I'm the excitement of Halloween, the thrill of scary movies.

Autumn is absolutely my season, and October is the best month of all! Sure, Summer's nice and all, but it's got nothing on Autumn! And besides, you can still wear pretty dresses in Autumn. The colder weather just gives you an excuse to layer them up with some cute jumpers or cardigans! And who doesn't love the thick-tights-and-knee-high-boots combo?

* Photo credit