Dorset half term holiday roundup ♡

We decided on more of a ‘staycation’ vibe for our half term holidays this February – living and working in Dorset is obviously great and we as a family really appreciate what is has to offer but all too often we get stuck in a rut and go on the same walks to the same places or don’t leave the village at all for days out and just walk through the forest (which is beautiful too!)

So for the last week or so we have been reacquainting ourselves with our beautiful county. It helps that the weather has been kind to us and inspires you to get out and go exploring.

Just before half term we took an after school trip to Ringstead Bay, it has to be one of our favourite local beaches. It is only a 10 min car ride from Moreton and is very beautiful and a good safe beach for the kids. On this afternoon the sun was shining and there were rainbows to welcome us. The waves were actually quite big for Ringstead and we were lucky enough to have some surfers too watch whilst the sun went down. The girl one collected sea glass (her new obsession when on the beach) and the rest of us enjoyed the views!

For valentines we made cute tassle bunting and homemade cards. We had our favourite breakfast of Rye, scrambled eggs, goats cheese & capers (sounds weird, tastes divine) which is a recipe from the fantastic Rosie Londoner blog ♡ http://www.thelondoner.me/2016/02/goats-cheese-caper-scramble.html

We then headed over to Freshwater Holiday Park – which is in Burton Bradstock. We had been told about the Jurassic Fun Centre which is a small water park with slides and flumes, initially not my idea of a romantic valentines but it was fantastic for the kids, great value and clean. They played for hours and we were rewarded with a trip to The Anchor Inn at Seatown – which is my favourite local pub at the moment, and that was romantic! Check it out – http://www.theanchorinnseatown.co.uk. It is right on the beach with fabulous views and has a delicious menu, cocktail list and open fires.

I am a huge fan of The National Trust and am on a mission to use our family subscription over the year as much as possible without the trips becoming repetitive for the kids, personally I could visit most of our local NT places all the time and never get bored.

We managed not one but two NT visits over half term. I spent a lovely day with two friends and our 9 children at Corfe Castle, it never disappoints and there are always really good activities for the children to enjoy. We managed a picnic in the gaps between rain and warmed up with hot chocolates in front of the wood burner in the visitor centre afterwards.

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We also visited Kingston Lacey with a crew of friends and kids and it was delightful. The sun was shining and the snowdrop garden was in full bloom, the kids ran about the gardens and explored whilst the adults ambled along behind them. We headed up to the kitchen garden where there is a small play area for the kids, it is quite basic with a couple of Wendy houses and mini tractors but they all absolutely loved it and played for ages until the sound started going down, the coffee hut closed and the adults lost enthusiasm!

The next day we continued our tour of Dorset to Kimmerage. I went with a neighbour and five of our children. It was a really lovely little trip and we were happy to discover that the new Etches Collection museum was now open – http://www.theetchescollection.org/home a beautifully designed museum and it contained a great exhibition, the children all loved it. We then had our own fossil hunting expedition on the beach.

We ended the week spending time with visiting friends and on Saturday decided to make the most of the glorious weather and head to Lulworth cove for a walk over Stair Hole in to the cove.

Sea paddling on a sunny Saturday ⛵️?

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We stopped for lunch, OUTSIDE! before heading back to Moreton. The children had not expelled all their energy and decide to go to the Ford where we played in the Kayak and watched the sun go down. On the return home everyone had warm baths before cosying down for the evening. It was the perfect end to a lovely week in Dorset.

T x

Happy New Year from The Manor House

Wishing all visitors to our blog a very happy New Year!

2016 saw many fun and interesting events at The Manor and we welcomed some lovely guests to the house. It is lovely to see many returning guests year after year and to see all the fun ideas that people come up with in ways to use the house.
We have had Uni reunions, hen parties, art exhibitions, Mexican fiesta’s, English Country Garden themed weddings, tennis tournaments, grand weddings for 200 and a small perfectly styled intimate wedding for 50, a spooky Halloween themed party and a blissfully relaxed yoga retreat for a group from London. All in all a varied and eclectic mix which goes to show how the house can be used in plenty of different ways.

We have more to look forward to in 2017 starting with a fitness boot-camp this month and plenty more after. If anyone has any other ideas to put forward please do not hesitate to get in touch via email. We still have a few weekends left in the Spring and more later in the year.

As ever we are constantly working on little improvements in the house and out in the grounds and we hope to work in conjunction with some local suppliers to re decorate rooms and keep the house in tip top condition.

I am hoping to bring more information on places to visit in Dorset when staying with family and friends, good eateries, beautiful walks and the occasional seasonal recipe to indulge in.

Here is a pretty taken of The Manor on a winters morning –

Good morning from The Manor House

A photo posted by T A B I T H A (@tabitha_in_dorset) on

Watch this space….

T x

Autumn in Dorset

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run….

Ah Keats, you nailed it there. Autumn in the countryside is just perfect, my most favorite season.

As beautiful as summer is there is something about September and the start of Autumn that feels much more like a new year than “New Year”. There is a clear change to the season, new diaries, kids back at school and the all exciting feeling that Christmas is just around the corner.

We have a new year plan to discover more of Dorset and the Purbeck’s on foot. We love walking and having Plum gives us an added excuse to get out there and see more of our beautiful county.

Last week we decided to explore Mupe Bay – to the west of Lulworth Cove, with no real plan we just headed down to the beach to see what happened. We nipped in to the tourist information center (which is fab by the way, with a really cute little coffee kiosk and geological info) to pick up a map and discovered that access to Mupe Bay is across the Army ranges which are only open weekends and school holidays. Plans scuppered for another day we had a look at the other maps offering 6 routes around Lulworth. We chose route 1 which starts at Lulworth Castle and takes you on a 5k loop around the estate.

The walk starts at the front of the majestic Lulworth castle (parking £3 per day in car park). You then head through the deer park full of amazing trees, a little further on past the gate house and a farm, across a field or two and you arrive at the Lake. Who knew there was a lake on the Lulworth estate? Not us, what a find. It’s so pretty, there are swans drifting by and an amazing Fort built on one side. You can walk around it and the route then takes you back across parkland to the castle.

I am so pleased we found this walk, one to do with all the family one weekend, rounding off with a drink in front of the fire at the Weld Arms on the way home.

I’ll share more discoveries as we find them.

T x

End of the summer at The Manor

As we are now officially in to Autumn I feel the need to give a brief summer round up before the inevitable influx of Autumn posts hit the blog.. (it is my most favorite season)

Summer was hugely busy, fun and memorable. We had plenty of wedding celebrations at The Manor house. Festival style, English country garden style, big weddings, small weddings! All beautiful with lovely couples. It is such a wonderful thing to host and be part of their special day. Our last wedding of the season is this weekend and it already looks set to be as fabulous as those before it.

There were also lots of lovely families staying through the summer, enjoying the local beaches and exploring the countryside.

During the first few weeks of September we managed to squeeze a few days in at the house with our decorator Rich who has been giving the house it’s facelift, getting all the exterior paint work re done. It now looks all smart and happy with it’s new make up on.

As a family we had a great summer, a lovely holiday in France with our hosts the Shell’s and Loasby’s and lots of camp outs, boat trips, sleep overs, BBQ’s and beach trips.

Oh so pretty Monpazier

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Children of the wine farm – still chirpy after an hour & a half drive to try some more! @louisaloasby

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I’m now nursing my first (and only!) cold of the Autumn whilst the rain lashes down outside so all these sunny throwbacks seem like a distant memory.

Sorry for the lack of photos, my laptop has taken a dislike to my phone, so insta links are all I have at the moment!!

T x

One Saturday at the Ford…..

I had received a phone call from a friend to tell me that I HAD to get the children to the Ford asap as there was something very cool about to happen. As mentioned in a previous post this could be literally anything as the Ford seems to draw in the weird and wonderful of the world…

I was packing for a trip away upstairs when she called and not long after I heard a rumbling, getting louder and louder and closer – I called the kids and we hot footed it to the ford, without shoes I might add as we were in such a rush – to find the most amazing procession of war vehicles I have ever seen, they were on route to Bovington tank museum across the forest and had started at a village fete.

Just another Saturday in Moreton

Just another Saturday in Moreton

Various vehicles in the procession

Various vehicles in the procession

I was such an amazing sight, there were probably nearly a hundred vehicles, ranging from tanks to jeeps to little buggies – everything you could imagine. Everyone was dressed up in the full regalia and were having an amazing time. They took the procession through the Ford and carried on up through Moreton Drive to Bovington. I expect the dog walkers and runners in the woods had a shock when they went passed them!

If I had been a little more prepared it would have been nice to be wearing shoes (it was VERY muddy and we must have looked pretty feral) to have put the dog on a lead, and to be better positioned to take photos as I was kind of squeezed in to a bush. The unexpected surprise was lovely though, and the look on the Boy One’s face when he saw it all was priceless.

Stuck in a bush shot

Stuck in a bush shot

Full dress up

Full dress up

Another Saturday, another village event. This time at The Walled Garden’s Royal Picnic organised by the welcome comittee at our local church, St Nics.

Now I am a great lover of any type of English Fete, village fair, picnic etc. I love the little stalls, the games, colours, cream teas and ice creams. It usually rains at some point and the dog show’s can be chaos but I think they are brilliant and we try to attend as many local one’s as possible. The kids love them and it’s a lovely day out.

Will dressed up

Will dressed up

Sunshine & horse racing

Sunshine & horse racing

The Royal Picnic was just brilliant, and had been very well organised by neighbours in the village – they had hired a great jazz band and local sea shanty singers (amazing!) and there were games, treasure hunts and of course a torrential down pour.

We then went back to our neighbours for a lovely supper in the sunset and had a great evening. The kids played on space hoppers. A perfect village day.

Clem & Olive

Clem & Olive

Sea Shanty Singers

Sea Shanty Singers

We are avidly trying to watch as much tennis as possible and have been keeping the tennis court at the manor spruced up for the guests this week who are looking forward to playing this weekend.

T x

You know you are a certain age when…..

It has been creeping upon me quite slowly but recently we succumbed to getting a National Trust membership. It is not something I actively tried not to do, it always just seemed something that older, more sensible people do – getting the membership rather than paying high prices every time you visited a National Trust spot ( which we often did, utter madness)

So on a Sunday morning trip out Harry & I decided to take the children over to Studland beach for breakfast at Knoll Beach cafe and a nice long walk across the sandy beach towards Shell Bay.

The beaches are beautiful and long, there are great sand dunes and shelved safe waters for the little ones to pay in. The National Trust look after the beach and offer great activities in school holidays. The cafe serves yummy food but I would always suggest a picnic for warmer visits as it does get very busy, arrive early in the summer to avoid traffic!

We always head to either Middle Beach or Knoll Beach, both have excellent views of Old Harry’s Rocks and bathroom facilities.

If you are lucky enough to get a table treat yourself to lunch on the terrace at The Pig on The Beach (book waaaaaay in advance!) it has a delicious locally sourced menu and fantastic views on the sea. When we have been before we walk down from the hotel after lunch for a paddle and some rock pooling at Middle Beach. It is a bit quieter that end but equally beautiful.

Rock Pooling on Studland Beach

Rock Pooling on Studland Beach


I have this thing with floors! Pig on The Beach

I have this thing with floors! Pig on The Beach

On this particular visit we could not get a table at The Pig so hopped in the car and decamped to Corfe Castle, which is a 10 minute drive away from the beach. We arrived just in time to take part in the medieval reenactments that were taking place as part of an event. The boy one absolutely loved this and it has sparked a fascination with armor and medieval weapons.

The moral of this little tale is that without the membership this trip would have cost a lot more and we have since discovered plenty of other spots local to Moreton that are part of the national trust. Clouds Hill is a walk through the forest away. Hardy’s birthplace at Thorncombe woods and his later home at Max Gate. All our on our list of ‘to do’s’ this summer holiday’s.

We have a busy Bank Holiday coming up with a lovely wedding at The Manor House, a birthday sleepover for the girl one and party for Harry too. Exhausted just thinking about it!

T x

It’s been a while!

Having not blogged since before the last half term there is a mountain of stuff I could go on about, but a brief update is probably best and then I can resume normal service!

Moving in blooms at Teal House

Moving in blooms at Teal House

Morning views, a very sunny house.

Morning views, a very sunny house.

The main reason for my absence has been that we moved house – across the field from our cottage so not too far, but is has completely consumed every spare minute outside of kids and work so my little blog has been slightly neglected.
I am starting to feel much more at home and the main chunk of work has been done to make the new house feel like home, we all absolutely love it and are very happy.

The Manor House is looking stunning at the moment, our head gardener at The Walled Garden, Tim Newman has done the most wonderful job of pruning this year and the house is covered in lilac blooms, we have a wedding this weekend and I really hope that the flowers are still in one piece as they would make a wonderful backdrop for photographs…

Wisteria season at The Manor

Wisteria season at The Manor

Beautiful facade to the house

Beautiful facade to the house

The one thing I regret is not blogging more when the spring blooms were abundant in the garden at The Manor, it really is a beautiful sight. Banks of daffodils followed by carpets of purple, lilac and white Bluebells (or Snowbells as Clementine calls them!) then, just after it all calmed down we had a week of glorious sunshine combined with torrential rain which encouraged all the trees along and the Wisteria and now it looks like mid summer and the lawn is needing a lot of mowing. All beautiful, such a great time of year.

Bluebells & *Snowbells* at The Manor

Bluebells & *Snowbells* at The Manor

Bluebell woods at Moreton

Bluebell woods at Moreton

April & May are very busy for us as a family as we celebrate so many family/ friend birthday’s, (I counted 12 off the top of my head but I think there are a few more!) so we have had lots of parties and celebrations, all of which have been great fun.
Jude turned 5 and had a great time with all his pals, he didn’t really want a theme for his birthday or bouncy castles etc so we had a garden party with friends from school and they played football, I think we ended up having three parties over the weekend of his birthday!

The boy one turned 5!

The boy one turned 5!

Birthday boy!

Birthday boy!

I had the most perfect birthday in late April, Harry organised lunch with my parents at Summer Lodge in Evershot (a must visit for anyone new to Dorset, it’s worth the drive!) and then my darling friend Sophia hosted a dinner for me with lots of my nearest and dearest there, it was so much fun. We finished the weekend off visiting friends up near Bath, which was the best way to round off such a brilliant weekend.

Lunch at Summer Lodge with Harry, Mum & Dad

Lunch at Summer Lodge with Harry, Mum & Dad

Birthday celebrations at Sophs.

Birthday celebrations at Sophs.

My friend Louisa Loasby is an incredibly talented chef and cooks for dinner parties at The Manor frequently, a lot of our guests re book year on year and always make sure that Lou is free before they do so! This April Lou organised a hen weekend for one of her best friends Donna, it sounded like they had a very fun weekend. Lou organised a chef for the first night but decided to dress the table herself as a treat for the party, I had to include this on the blog as it really did look stunning and is such a great idea for a celebration meal – the photos do not do it the justice it deserves! Lou is now offering a table dressing service as part of her business. FYI future guests!!

Beautiful new service from Louisa Loasby

Beautiful new service from Louisa Loasby

The Manor!

The Manor!

Hello February

February feels like such a relief. We are all a little too tough on ourselves in January, something I really would like to change!

When we get around the corner to February it feels like we suddenly have all sorts of things to look forward to, pancakes, valentines, half term and spring blooms to name but a few.

We just had a really lovely weekend, which definitely felt like we were over the January hump. It started with a birthday lunch for my sister in law Charlotte at Rick Steins new restaurant in Sandbanks.

We had a really wonderful time, the restaurant has changed a great deal over the years, my first visit was on my 18th birthday! The decoration is spot on and the staff delightful. We were given a great table with a view over the harbour and all enjoyed the delicious food. I decided on the crab and wasabi starter and then had the lamb cutlets with sides of greens & pumpkin. Completely delicious. Highly recommended!

The rest of the weekend included walks, rugby, delicious supper in the village with friends and a great day in West Dorset exploring the country lanes ending up at Mapperton House to have a walk through the garden.

Mapperton House

Mapperton House

Formal garden at Mapperton

Formal garden at Mapperton

Although it was a really grey day we were all so impressed by the beautiful gardens, there were lots of nooks & grottos for the children to explore and secret ponds full of frog spawn. We followed the map given to us to spot all the crocuses, snow drops and daffodils. I can only imagine how stunning it looks in spring and summer and I can’t wait to go back and do more exploring and have a look at the house, which opens from the end of March.

We are really lucky that both the children are happy to accompany us on these days out and don’t whinge too much! It is so important for us that they appreciate our county and all it has to offer, and that they are able to take pleasure in nature, walking the dog and spending time as a family. We are not yet at the gaming / computer / mobile phone stage and I really hope we can fend it off for quite a lot longer! They were bribed along this walk with the reward of tea & cake in the pretty Sawmills Cafe at the end which they both enjoyed very much, as did I, amazing courgette and pistachio cake!

We then went along to Corscombe to visit the children’s godfather, and had a quick drink in the quaint village pub. Massive log fires and traditional ales..

The children are always asking to go to a pub (we do not have one in the village so do not often frequent one) and this one was exactly what I think they thought it would be. I do love the idea of a village pub and the sense of community having one would bring, but in some ways it is probably a blessing not having one!

We are now planning our pancake recipes for tomorrow, so far the requests are ranging from traditional style with lemon & sugar to american style with bacon! for me it’s traditional style all the way, it can’t be beaten.

Hearts & flowers for Valentine's

Hearts & flowers for Valentine’s

Roses for Valentine's

Roses for Valentine’s

With Valentines falling on a Sunday the children are wanting to get fully involved and are making heart wreaths and planning the day. I am getting them all cards from papier.com which have brilliant designs. We already have spring flowers in the garden so the kids will be picking posies and making cookies. I think Harry and I will save our time for supper in the evening!

T xx

Friday, Netflix & Food

Friday, my dear friend, we have made it. Another full week of work, meetings, catch up’s, kids, family and to do lists (mainly not ticked off I must add). Glorious sunshine hit Moreton for most of the week with crisp frosty mornings – my favorite type of weather. The sunshine looks set to continue over the weekend which is not only good for our guests arriving but also for us as we celebrate my pop’s 70th birthday this weekend.

GP celebrating his birthday last year.

I have been busy at The Manor preparing the house for the weekends guests, pottering around that house is most agreeable – painting, sorting, adding this and that moving stuff around. It’s lovely to think about how the guests will be using the space in the house. The Manor is in a great situation and when the sun shines the front of the house gets the full hit…

It is oh so tempting to just lie out on one of the beds and sunbathe like a cat but I am always busying about. I am determined to carve out a weekend stay there myself next year. Here is a view of the house when walking back from The Dovecote at The Walled Garden.

Just lovely.

We are looking forward to starting our weekend, the plans start mid week for the kids as they work out what what food they want to cook (weekend food is pretty important though hey?) They have chosen to marinate ribs for this evening and then they would like to do GP an afternoon tea tomorrow. Nanu is baking a cake so we will be getting other tea related things ready, I think a special birthday crown will also be needed for such an auspicious birthday.
Sunday we hope to do a coastal walk at Dancing Ledge – Harry is suffering with man flu so we need to get him fighting fit first.

But this weekend will mostly be – NETFLIX – I do not know how we have missed the last 7 or so years of this phenomenon. SKY blinkers were on I suspect. But, wow.. considering this is January and we are hibernating it is just perfect for us. Harry received Apple TV for Christmas and it is brilliant but Netflix is the shining star. Currently obsessed with Bloodlines, Narcos & Making a Murderer.. I know there is heaps of other stuff to start too but I don’t think I could cope with any more.

Have a great weekend.

T x

TabsFamilyShoot-253

Weekend Round up

We kick started the weekend on Friday afternoon by baking a huge batch of cookies with the boy one and girl one.. they love getting involved in the kitchen and although its messy, chaotic and not always a great success it’s the moments like this that are the ones I remember the most from my childhood so I think it’s pretty important to make the same kind of memories with my brood. We also received a dashing set of matching aprons from the children’s godfather for Christmas which they have been desperate to put to use..

The cookies were delicious – we used a Millie’s cookie recipe from BBC good food.

I had met my girls on Friday for coffee and ended up having a really feminine discussion about log stacking, log piles and how cool they can look – apparently the biggest selling book at Christmas was one about log piles, I need this in my life. So this chat inspired my Saturday as we had emptied our log store over the festive period and with a hugely anticipated cold spell on its way Harry & I chopped, wheeled and stacked at the cottage.

No fancy patterns here but neat and oh so satisfying. I now need to do the same with the enormous stack of logs at The Manor.. one for my to do list this week.

We ventured out for a walk to the Ford at Moreton to see how the floods had affected the water level.. it is lovely to live in such a beautiful place and see the seasons changing and landscapes constantly changing. We dodged a downpour by minutes and retreated to The Dovecote Cafe, The Manor’s sister site to warm up by the log burner and have some yummy food.

The Walled Garden is directly next door to The Manor and we have co managed the site for around a year now, the gardens are absolutely beautiful, there are lots of different areas, nooks and corners to explore. A stream runs through the garden and there are a series of bridges that look so pretty. At this time of year it is still stunning, with a settled and peaceful atmosphere like it is slumbering until the spring.

We ate a delicious lunch and sampled some of the new local ales. The farm shop within The Dovecote always has tempting bits and bobs to buy too.

Sunday morning was so bright and clear I took off for a run in the forest, apart from a tumble in to a puddle it was great! We then lunched with friends and planned our summer holidays and some important upcoming birthdays. A lovely weekend. And on to a good week with lots of Manor House projects starting.

A little taste of summer on a grey Sunday. Gorgeous lunch with lovely friends. #sunday #bordeaux #friends @louisaloasby

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T xx