July Life Update; Devon Holiday

Hi readers, 

Last week, I went to Devon on holiday with my boyfriend, my parents, my younger brother and his girlfriend. we had a great week visiting lots of different places in Devon and Cornwall. This post is going to be photo heavy and also quick. I've a job interview tomorrow and there's far too much to write about in one post! Here are some highlights;

Tintagel Castle  

There's just something about this castle that makes it stand out above all the others in England for me. Maybe its the connection with the King Arthur Legend, maybe its the fantastic views or the scale of the place. Tintagel is a must visit for anyone, though you'll need to be fit enough to climb all the stairs up! 

I've been a few times now and though my memory is mostly of a ruined castle on a cliff top, it's the beach and 'Merlin's Cave,' I recall the most. Getting down to the cave is little tricky as though there are steps at the bottom you have to climb through a rocky section. The beach is small and covered in stones. There are a few different caves but Merlin's is the one on the left, under the castle. 

A few years ago, they added this statue of king Arthur. It stands on the far edge and looks back over the medieval houses that can be made out. It's a big photo shoot for everyone! I took a few photos and a selfie. The statue is sort of creepy at first due to this ripped up cloak and it sort of looks like the ghost of Arthur. 

They've also added this gallery next to the gift shop where you can read the legends connected to the castle. I liked the 'pop up books' they had there, some awesome paper crafter has created them. 

The views in the area must be some of the best of Cornwall's rugged coastline! That just adds to the greatness of the place. There's just something about powerful sea waves pounding against jagged cliff sides that appeals to me.     

Charlie Bear Museum

I never knew Charlie bears had a shop and museum you could visit! I've collected the bears for years and love them lots. By chance my boyfriend wanted chips when we stopped for lunch in a little village and whilst waiting, I saw a leaflet for the bear museum. I thought we were too far away to visit but as it turns out the next day we were going to the same town and a few roads away from the museum to have the car's air con fixed! So I got to visit the museum! 

It was really great and there were so many bears. I also got to meet the owner Charlie as she was showing an American visitor around and it was so special to talk to her. I suggested that she needed to design a bear named Hayley as there isn't one! She said it was a possibility and thought it was fated I ended up at the museum today. I agreed with that! 

I took so many photos, I just selected 3 to post up here, though I could do a whole blog post about this place alone! I thought it was that good! Of course, I didn't leave empty handed and brought myself the 2018 bear. My mum and brother also about me a bear each for my birthday, so I brought 3 home to add to my collection! 

This is so a heaven for all Teddy bear loves and a must if you are in the area!

Otter wildlife Park

This was one of the first places we visited. It's a small animal home, though they specialise in otters. They are so cute and funny to watch and seeing them get feed is the best thing. There's also two owls talks a day and you get to hold an owl or other bird of pray.

My favourite section was the walk through deer bit, where you can feed birds, deer and wallaby. Most of the animals are tame enough to eat out of your hand and be stroked. There was a wallaby with a joey which was so cute and seemed really interested in my mum. The wallaby was so calm and soft! 

This is a really nice place to spend a morning or afternoon. 

Breakfast with Peacocks 

We stayed at a country club called Woodford bridge. They had lots of peacocks there and they were really use to people, guess they have all been fed over the years. It became something of a habit whilst we were there that when we had breakfast or dinner outside a peacock or a peahen and her chicks would come by for food. 

It was really nice, though a few times scary as peacocks are really big close up. They also wanted to try and get inside all the time! There was one day when I had a peacock at the kitchen window watching me for ages and he also pecked on the glass a few times too. 

I did collect some nice feathers throughout the week and brought them back home with me. I wouldn't want to keep peacocks as pets though!

 The Gnome Garden

This is one of my favourite places in Devon! It's a large garden where you go around and look at a huge collection of gnomes and their friends! You have to put on a fluffy gnome hat so you fit in and you get to try your hand at fishing in a pond. It's just a fun place to spend a few hours. There's also a fairy garden trail and a quiz to do. The shop is really lovely and the old lady owner makes clay pixies and other things which you can buy. 

Jamaican Inn 

This is another hot spot for all visiting Cornwall. Made famous by Daphne Du Maurier's novel by the same name which is said to have been based at the original inn there. There is a museum dedicated to her and a shop with lots of themed items. There's also a farm shop selling local produce and let's not forget the pub itself! 

We'd visited before but this time we had tea here. The food is bit more expensive then a normal pub but it's worth it! The plates are big and the food so lovely! I also got to try out a new Rattler cider - strawberry and lime, also I got to eat the steak and ale pie I'd been craving! 

Well worth the visit for sure! 

We visited so many other places, but I just don't have the time to write about them. I just want to add that the ice cream and sorbet they have there has to be the best. I had a lot whilst I was down there! I never got to try a cream tea which is also famous in Devon, but I've had lots before, so I knew I wasn't missing out really. 

We also got to try out my new board game; Kill Doctor Lucky which everyone enjoyed playing! It's like the prologue to Cludo! And is more a game of chance and luck then anything else. I think this is going to become a family favourite now. 

And that was my holiday to Devon. There's so much more I could write though but it's getting late and I've a busy day tomorrow now. Hopefully, one day I'll go back and then I can write more about it! 

Thanks for reading!

(Please note all photos copyright to me. Please do not use them.)

Book Review; Joyland by Stephen King

Hi readers, 

So, summer is finally drawing to a close even though in the UK it's not been much of a summer! We've only had a handful days that have been good and all the others have been rainy, windy and cloudy. I don't mind though because I'm not one of the sun and the heat! My favorite season is up next; autumn and already there's Halloween items in the shops! I just can't wait! But I thought I needed a book to end summer out on and since I now have a few books that I've finished reading and are waiting reviews, it was hard to decided. Finally, I choice Joyland, because it just seemed so fitting. 

I found this book at a cheap bookshop in London along with another King novel - Cujo-which I had heard about, but I had never heard of Joyland before. My first thoughts were that it was connect to the movie Adventureland, which I really like and does have a lot of the same themes as Joyland, but they are separate. In fact, Adventureland came out in 2009 and Joyland in 2012. Their time and place settings are also different with Joyland being in 1973 North Carolina and Adventureland being in 1987 Pennsylvania.

Joyland is only the second novel I've read by King. The first was Salem's Lot, which I read last year, but didn't review for some reason. though I have read some of his short stories and I do own a few other books. I think and this is before I get to reviewing the book, that I'm not a fan of King's writing style. I like the idea of his stories and I find his characters interesting, but the way he writes just doesn't grip me. I don't know if that's because I feel his style is stuck in the 1960's and 70's. Which given that most of his novels were written then and/or set then is understandable. Perhaps, it's his use of American language that I just don't get. Whatever it is, the story plot and characters carry things through enough for me to keep reading.

So Joyland, if you've not already guessed is set in an amusement park and I have this interested in such places. I have a lot of happy memories of going to theme parks with my family and friends, but I also have a fascination with abandoned theme parks. - Now that's something I do have a post about on here! I think also having watched Adventureland a few times I was more then eager to read this novel. I actually enjoyed reading it, though I was a little let down by the supernatural/horror as coming from King I expected there to be a lot more! This novel's main focus though is about growing up, love and heartbreak. 

Devin Jones a university student takes a summer job at Joyland park after being encouraged by his girlfriend who is having to move away to do her summer job. Devin is then warned by the park's fortune teller that he will met two children  a girl and a boy. Of course he doesn't believe her and gets on with things, including dressing up as the park's mascot Howie the Happy Hound. He also learns that the haunted house ride is haunted by a young woman who was murdered in there by her so called boyfriend and that people have seen her ghost. The crime has never been solved though. 

The fortune teller's words do come true and Devin meets a girl who's life he then saves and the boy is a medium who lives with his mother in a big house over looking the sea. Devin develops a friendship with the boy- who turns out to be very ill and his mother after helping them to fly their kite on the beach. Devin also breaks up with his girlfriend, which leaves him very heartbroken and though he's made new friends he feels lonely. He decides to stay at the park instead of going back to university in the hope that this will make him feel better. Devin also, with the help of one his new friends figures out who killed the girl in the haunted house ride and confronts them in a finally show down at the end of the novel. 

The story and characters are both well written and enjoyable. There are a lot of interesting characters that appear and they felt realist for the time and place. Devin develops a lot too as we get to see the effects heartbreak can have on a young man and how he overcomes this. The dialogue was also effective, even if they did use a lot of theme park term words that I had to keep remembering what they were code for. There was a lot of nice imagery that came out of the description too which really brought everything to life for me. 

I found the plot simple but mysterious and pacy which meant I did read through it fast. Like I said before though, my only issue is that I just can't get into King's writing style. However, I wouldn't let that put you off if you've not read any of King's stuff before because he's worth reading for his characters, which seem so realistic with their many layers. 

Overall, this novel is a good summer's read or even a autumn/winter read if you are wanting the summer back! I think it's also a good novel for first time or beginner readers of King because the supernatural/horror elements are really minimal. If you like 'coming of age' stories and ones set in the theme parks then it's really good. However, if you're looking for a little more horror and/or excitement then you might end up disappointed. Still give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading!           

If you've got the time, please check out my other blogs:

https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

https://negativitybreakout.wordpress.com/

Also, check out my goodreads page for updates on books. 

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7400715-hayley-hardman

Image from Amazon.uk. 

Additional information from; 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventureland_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyland_(novel)

Formby Woods

Its been too long again, but I seem not to be able to find the time, of late anyway. Hopefully I'll have some time now because very little is currently happening. Everything seems to be winding down to summer and the holiday plans. I should be glad for the break, but I feel lazy not doing anything, so I've been reading the set novels for my 3rd year, I'm on my third one now- The Moonstone by Wikie Collins and unlike Oliver this one is more hard to read. I'm not getting into it and so far its taken me just over a week to read 166 pages....but there must be 200 words per page, as the writing is so small and a great many things are happening within them. I must push on though and it might get better later on.

Anyway, I've chosen to write about Formby woods today because I've photos for it and it was the highlight of last week. Its a national animal reserve in-between Liverpool and Southport and is a pine forest really. There are lots of trails through the trees and you sometimes can go off the path, but they are led to the sand dunes and to the beach.

Its less then an hour away from my student house by train and since the weather was okay and we were bored, it seemed a good place to go for lunch. We took sandwiches and ate them on the dunes whilst playing in the sand and joking about moving dunes. That's what most of them are-still growing dunes but it was funny to picture a dune getting up and moving around.

Pine trees

Then we walked back across the beach and drew somethings in the sand, as you do. We got back to the train station and decided to go for tea in Southport....how that place has gone down hill is shocking. I've been before, but this time we went to the pier and all the seaside places. It seems you can do very little there now and what's left is just an empty shell of by gone days. There are things where you can picture the place being once alive with people on holiday and having fun, but now and I guess like many places around Britain, it has fallen prey to the growth of aeroplanes, package holidays and the British peoples' urges to 'escape the country/weather'.

One of the walks at Formby

So many people are missing out and what England has to offer! So what if the weather isn't so good as Spain or the USA? Many places in England are soaked in history, most of it very exciting and you don't have to dig so deep-even in your pockets! to find it. That's why this year I'm grateful that once again I'll be holidaying in England, a place in Cornwall I've never been before and who knows what I might discover there?

Train map To Formby

Easter Sunday Walk

We found this starfish

Yesterday, I hit the beach with my dog, parents and youngest brother. We tend to go on long walks during bank holidays, because we like doing family things together and at home spending this time together can be hard because everyone wants to do there own thing in their own space. So, my plan was to go to Bolton Abbey, but they were having a huge Easter egg hunt and it was decided that to avoid the young kids-speically with grumpy Sandy-We'd go to St. Anne's in Lytham instead.

Being use to such chances of a sudden weather change, we all dressed warmly. I was glad of my jumper once we hit the beach, it was so windy that the warmth from the sun was almost lost most of the time. The beach was busy with walkers through, people who'd braved the weather to take their dogs out or they kids to ride the donkeys.

Sandy had fun digging



The dragon kite

Mum got this kite for her birthday, being a lover of dragons and kites. Now adays we spend much of our camping hoildays flying kite and it seemed fitting to give the dragon his first flight on the beach.

He was a site to see! All those bright colours against a blue sky and the wind carried him high, so that he could be seen across the beach. He was easy to fly as well because he only had one string. The best part was though, when you pulled on the string his wings flapped, so he gainned more air time! He'll be coming on holiday with us for so now.

I've still got easter eggs to eat, which is a good thing. I'm still trying to loss weight at the minute, but its sort of had a set back because my other brother has decided to take up all the time on the Wii fit, so its hard for me to get a look in now. I'll keep trying though!

I've nearly finished Treasure Island now. I've got more into it then Dorian Gray-which I give up on, it was taking too long. I've got another book that goes with Island and its Captain Flints and Sliver's story, though I'm not sure how that's going to be because it was only published in 2009.

Oh, my Easter nest cakes are nearly ready....time to carry on with the bank holiday!