breathe.

It has been almost a month since we moved into our very own home. We have lived in the same flat since we got married nearly 3 years ago. It was fully furnished, which has meant that the only pieces of furniture that we could call our own when we moved out last month were a coffee table, a desk and an Ikea Expedit unit. We spent a good number of hours scouring the internet for furniture, thankful for Gumtree in helping us source reasonably priced, local, secondhand furniture. 

We moved during an incredibly busy time in the school year, which has meant I feel I have given our house very little attention since we have moved in. I am very fortunate to work part time as a teacher, which means that my afternoons are my own. However, the nature of the job has meant that nearly every afternoon since we moved has been spent either at school or in a coffee shop, making use of the free wifi to catch up on school work. It has felt like there has been little room in my head for anything other than working my way through the never ending to-do list of school related jobs.

{entrance to The Old Hayloft}

Suffice to say, I was grateful for the half term break this week. We went to Yorkshire for the week, and stayed in a beautiful place called The Old Hayloft with Tim and Becky. This place was a breath of fresh air, thanks to the hard work of Shirley, the owner of the property. Shirley is the most wonderful of women - beautiful and gentle, incredibly hardworking and hospitable. Shirley has created a delightful haven to rest and recuperate in, and we are already talking about visiting again. We arrived late on Saturday night, following a family wedding, and were greeted by a fire blazing in the wood burner, and fresh cut flowers from Shirley's garden adorning every surface.

This Spring has been the coldest Spring in the last 50 years, so we made very good use of the wood burner in The Old Hayloft, which served us well, drying our trainers after running in the rain, warming our toes as we played numerous rounds of Articulate, and shared news with Tim and Becky. The rest of the week was filled with many hours relaxing in The Old Hayloft, a few country runs, a visit to an enormous Antiques warehouse and napping in the sunshine on the Yorkshire moors. I'll be back next week with a few more details of a very lovely week.