RiZE Festival Chelmsford 2018

This year saw a new festival come to Chelmsford after V Festival closed it's doors last year.  I wasn't too sure what to expect especially as there were clearly some big changes.  For a start V Festival took place over a Saturday and Sunday whereas RiZE was being held on the Friday and Saturday.  I wasn't able to attend on the Friday, this personally didn't concern me too much as looking at the line-up there weren't really any acts I was desperate to see and I much preferred the acts on the Saturday.

About a week before the festival they released a map of the new layout.  The layout was much smaller than V Festival, which to begin with I had my reservations about.   I needn't of worried about the smaller layout though as this proved to be much better and  lot easier to navigate between the stages.  I spent a lot of the day moving between stages to catch as many acts as possible and to make the most out of the day so it definitely worked to my advantage.  

Even though the festival appeared smaller, there was still a big range of stalls on site selling all of your festival gear from hats and sunglasses to fancy dress outfits, plus glitter stations and an oxygen bar.  There were plenty of bars too, and the queues for these were really short, definitely an added bonus as no one wants to be wasting time in the queue for a drink.  I'm not sure if maybe I hadn't noticed the variety before but there seemed to be a lot more rides too.  My only negative was the lack of toilets, as soon as it hit about 5pm there was a constant queue for the toilets and it was a big queue.

Over all the atmosphere was really good and for the first time ever at a festival I didn't feel awkward, out of place or irritated by other festival goers.  It felt like there was an equal mix of ages and everyone seemed to be aware of others round them which made a real difference to the experience.  In the past it has felt like the average age was about 18 so this was a really nice change.

And the highlight of the festival for me, it had to be seeing Sean Paul.  I loved it.  

RiZE was a definite hit with me and I will definitely be looking to go again next year if it returns for a second year.

~ Gem x

The Lakes, Beatrix Potter & Waterfalls

OK, so I couldn't keep away from you guys, blogging has become an addiction.  I've stayed at James' tonight to get my photos off his laptop, I will apologise now, there are quite a lot of them.  

As you all know a couple of weeks ago I spent a week in the Lake District.  It is so picturesque and I constantly had my camera out.  I managed to get some lovely photos.

There were so many gorgeous houses.  I often found myself sighing and thinking how I would love to live somewhere like this.  I could never get sick of the views.  It is just so peaceful.

One thing I really wanted to do while we were there was to visit Hilltop which was the home of Beatrix Potter and a place she spent a lot of time writing her story's.  I did thin there would be more reference to her books within the house which was not the case but I still managed to get some nice photos of the village and the gardens around the house.

Another great day we had was that spent walking up Aira Force which is a gorgeous waterfall near Ulswater.  The walk to the top took us about half an hour and it was so worth it.

Well done if you are still with me, I promise I will no longer bore you with any more my holiday snaps.  This week has done me the world of good, although now after returning back to everyday life I could do with another holiday, if only everyday was like a holiday, now that would be the life hey.

~ Gem x

York

Last Friday myself and James decided we would make a visit to York on the way home from the Lake District.  We thought we may as well while we were up that way, it would be a shame to miss it, plus it would break the journey up a little as well. 

Neither of us had been to York before so it was nice to discover some-place new.  That is definitely something I can now safely cross off my summer list.  

We arrived around 1pm and checked into our hotel then headed out in to the city to see the sights.

Of course you couldn't visit York without a visit to the Minster.

The stained glass windows were huge, they really were very pretty, I could just imagine it in there on a bright and sunny day, I bet it looks beautiful with all that colour flooding in.  

James decided we would take a trip up the Minster Tower.  Why? I really have no idea.  He is afraid of heights and I don't always do too great in small, confined and cramped spaces for long periods of time.  You can imagine that this to me didn't sound like it was going to be a huge highlight in my life, but I am always one for an experience so for a reason still unbeknown to me, agreed. 

The stair case awaited us.

Half way up we got a little rest, this was James' favourite part, we had to walk across part of what seemed like the roof to get to the next tower ha ha.

Me being me, stopped to take some photos, what did he expect?  Me to to be offering support after making me climb all those stairs!  We were still only half way!!!!

 By the time we finally reached the top.  273 steps later, the view was pretty good, although not the best I have seen before, and if I had of known exactly what I was going to see I certainly wouldn't have climbed all those bloody stairs.

And as we all know, what goes up must come down.  

 My legs honestly felt like lead after that.  

We then decided to head back to the hotel to get ready to go out again for dinner later that evening.  Well I got back to the hotel crashed out and had an afternoon nap, ah it was bliss.

We had a delicious Indian for dinner and then a visit back to the Minster to see it all lit up.  Very pretty, well when there are no stairs involved.

Saturday was a much more relaxed day.  We walked back into the city centre, today along the old walls that form around the centre. 

The day was spent walking the streets, in and out of the shops with their old fashioned shop fronts.  I could get used to shopping like this. 

We also made a visit to one of the many food stalls as it was the York food and drink festival.  We thought it would be nice to get some fresh food in for Sunday dinner.  We ended up bringing home everything we needed and couldn't resist this. 

Purple Cauliflower.

Dinner tasted great.  I am so lucky, James is a fab cook.  Look at all that colour, and it tasted delicious too.

What a great way to end a great week

~ Gem x

The Lake District

Where has this week gone?  I can't believe it is almost Thursday already.  It's strange, the hours of each day seem to be dragging, yet the days themselves are flying by.     

I spent last week in the Lake District.  Boy is it pretty up there, every where you turn there are green hills to be seen for miles, it reminded me a lot of driving through Ireland.  All the little villages are so quaint, and so peaceful, it was lovely. 

We made a visit to Aira Force which is a big waterfall that you can walk right up to the top of.  I'll share another post next week on this.

There was a money tree there.  Basically the whole of this tree trunk has had coins bashed into it.  I have never seen anything like this before, it was great.  And of course I had to put my own coin in too.  

This is a close up shot of the tree.  Apparently people have been doing this now for 15 years.  That's a lot of coins.

The drives out were never boring, there was always a view to be admired, although I did get travel sick on more then one occasion.

We were constantly stopping by the road side to take photos like these.  It would be rude not to make the most of a view like this.  This is what I dream of, being able to look at this every day *sigh*.

I will leave it there for today, but I will be sharing more about the trip next week.

~ Gem x