Autumn Colour Spotting in Bridport

It’s a cloudy Sunday afternoon, I’ve got a tray of ginger snaps in the oven and one ready waiting to go in as soon as the other has finished baking. The house is quite except for the low rumble of the oven, the ticking of the timer and the sound of my computer keys as I type this very instant. Alan is quietly working in the lounge on some artwork and I relish the glimpses of autumn colours I can see growing daily through the windows of our dear little home.

The weekend has been fairly mellow, rooted in tasks around the home and getting ahead with things for the Etsy shop. We took a break yesterday afternoon to have a walk around town and enjoy the already vibrant emerging colours and I took a few snaps. It was a gorgeous sunny day so we had plenty of opportunities to enjoy being outdoors. The first few photos are just snaps of areas near to our home as we headed into town with the last being almost to the town centre.

From town we walked over to Mountfield where the council offices are as behind that is the Millenium Green where we proceeded to walk about up to the fields directly behind the former house turned offices. Below are some views first from around the outside of Mountfield and the field behind.

Though there is still a lot of green about, daily more colours emerge as autumn settles in. Walking through the hollow into the Millenium Green the leaves of autumns past still cover the path as you slowly see signs of more colourful leaves to come and signs of late summer in the blackberries that still appear on the brambles. Chestnuts begin to cover the path as well and cheeky little squirrels can be seen darting from branch to branch.

These are the makings of another beautiful autumn and I hope to share more of that with you in the future. I am trying to blog more frequently and be a bit more consistent with this blog. Use it for what I always intended it for, to share the beauty and wonder of this life we lead, simple as it may be and share some of what I love with the world at large. Our walk concluded with a stop to look at the colours emerging at St. Swithun’s Churchyard. Here are a few snaps from there.

Well my lovely readers, my ginger snaps are getting on and I need to find some tins to fill with the ones that have already come out of the oven and cooled sufficiently on the rack. Thank you for joining me on this virtual walk and I hope you will find time to peruse more posts if this is your first time here.

Cheers,

Nadia xoxo

For those of you who aren’t as autumn mad as I am here is a lovely list of ways to get happy about autumn from The Old Fashioned Mama.

I’d love to try this autumn flowers heart wreath from A handmade cottage this year.

Sometimes I love looking back at the beautiful photographic posts of Kitty and Nathan from Searching for Tomorrow. This post, The deer ones, is from September 2016 and is delightful.

After Christmas Sale Bargains

  

Despite the fact that we live in a fairly small market town and that many of the shops weren’t even open yesterday, Alan and I got some good bargains at Lilliput’s and a couple of the charity shops around. The first things we bought in the sales were more Christmas cards at 50% off the regular price. I like to be prepared and thought what better way than to get the cards I didn’t get earlier this year since I already had a ton and use these next year? I still have some leftover from this year but as my list seems to grow yearly it’s always good to have plenty on hand. Also, chocolate, one can never have too much chocolate. 

  

Our local home goods shop was having a sale as well and since we’d been eyeing a wintry duvet set for a while we went in to see if it was included in the sale and BARGAIN! It was and we got it plus a couple of other things that at full price would have cost us £30 more than we actually paid for them. I rarely like to pay full price so for me these were well worth it. 

 

Lots of lovely bits from Lilliputs…

What sorts of bargains do you seek out after Christmas? Or do you not shop at all in the days after the festivities? Normally I don’t shop after Christmas sales but our local shops had such great bargains that they should definitely not have been missed. 

Cheers!

Nadia xoxo

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©2015 Walls in Beauty 

Photography by Nadia M. Perez Bugler 

#Christmas in #Bridport: Lights and Window Displays Around Town

Trying to settle into a routine and get organised after the whirlwind that was my recent permanent move to the UK was a lot more involved than I initially thought it would be but here I am, AT LAST, getting another blog post in. I am hoping to do a bit more consistent blogging in 2016. There are a few changes afloat for Alan and myself and I have to say I am looking forward to them and to sharing some of what we are doing with you all. This is my first British Christmas and I have been having a blast seeing our town come alive in festive wonder. This past Sunday evening we went out and about for a short walk and I had a fun time looking at the different windows and displays around town so I thought I would share a few of my favourites from the evening.

Polar Bear Light in Frost’s Window

Menswear and Hats display for Christmas at T. Snook Hatters in Bridport

The ladie’s hat display at Snook’s

Christmas for your pets, Pet supply display on South Street

A Christmas greeting from the Town with the tree in Bucky Doo Square just outside the Bridport Arts Centre.

The Book Shop’s Display on South Street has some beautiful winter books on display with their subtle lights.

Trees and lights on South Street shop fronts

The nature shop’s pretty display.

I love the trees that adorn many of the buildings on South Street and the lights in people’s flat windows are lovely too!

Merry Christmas on South Street.

Read’s has some fabulous displays…

The other half of Read’s display might be my favourite!

A look down South Street at the red face of the clock on the Town Hall.

Looking the other direction down South Street.

Bridport Music’s display.

Lovely snowmen!

Toy Master from across the street.

I just loved the subdued lights on this tree just barely lighting up the sign…

Merry Christmas from Toy Master!

I’m curious to see all your towns and cities at Christmas! Are there any interesting traditions your towns have during the festivities? Next time I will share with you some photos from the late night shopping night in Bridport a couple of weeks ago.

Merry Christmas!

Nadia xoxo

 

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY NADIA M. PEREZ BUGLER USING AN IPHONE 5S. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©2015 Walks in Beauty

Monday Musings: Thoughts on the Future of Walks in Beauty

I’ve been thinking a lot about the direction in which I would like to take Walks in Beauty which is why I haven’t updated it much lately. Ideally, I’d like to have a main focus on this blog and the focus I’d like to give it is plain and simple but requires a lot of effort, of course. I want to make it into a true expat lifestyle blog and focus mainly on the area of the UK I will soon be residing permanently in, Dorset. I want to bring you, my readers, closer to the place I have come to love and feel most at home at. I want you to see it with me as I go about daily life. I’d like to take you to where I shop, where I go for walks, share my kitchen adventures with you and invite you to share Dorset’s magic with me from the comfort of where you are. While I am here in Florida waiting to complete my visa application process I will be sharing throughout the next few weeks photos and moments from my time in Dorset last year which I did not previously share while I was there. Also, I will continue to research the area surrounding Bridport, the market town I will be residing in, and sharing what I find with you here.

Aside from that though, I really want to share with you what is going on in my life as I wait here in Florida as well so you will be able to catch a glimpse of life in this peninsular tropic. Aside from the heat, it’s really not such a bad place. *wink*

There are also some very lovely places to visit here in the Tampa Bay area and I will share with you some of my favourites so that if you come to the area you will fall in love with it.

So, stay tuned for new blog posts and a few other new things along the way…

Cheers!

Nadia xo

#Bridport Before Sunrise…

On very rare occasions I get the urge to be up at the same time as my husband gets up today happened to be one of those occasions. I walked as far as Barrack Street with Alan and his co-worker Abi before turning around back into the centre of town to see what interesting shots I could get of life before the busy hours. Right before leaving our own area I snapped these two shots:

 

And then just beyond the town hall (pictured in the title collage)…

 

A beautiful walk down South Street, capturing windows and alleys, even being spooked by rubbish bags covered in sheets (I freaked out with one set that looked like a hobo covered up for the night sleeping into the wee hours). I ended up just outside of Ruby in the Dust all before the sun officially rose at 6:20am. What is your favourite time to go for walks in your area?

A Look Inside: The Alleyways, The Woodman Inn, & The Electric Palace in #Bridport

Yesterday we also went to The Alleyways, the Woodman Inn for a late lunch and the tearoom at the Electric Palace. If people think there’s nothing to do in Bridport they are sorely mistaken!
Here are a few of my favourites from the Alleyways:

As a writer I’m in love with the nostalgia of typewriters! The vintage bottles and car front were just too good to pass up!

Inside the Woodman Inn, one of the many pubs available to visit in Bridport and one which I had not yet been inside…

A cheeky look while we wait for our food and the rain to pass…

My hubby starting to feel better after a night and morning of migraine pain…

The Electric Palace was my other favourite spot of the afternoon…

I hope to explore this place further someday soon! What places make your area interesting?

A Look Inside #Bridport’s Old Albion

I went out to coffee this morning to meet up for a chat with my friend Dawn Potter and her cute son Jago and she mentioned in conversation this great shop, Old Albion, a mish-mash of old and eclectic housewares situated in Bridport’s St. Michael’s Trading Estate and I felt I just had to share it with you all!
It truly is a feast for the eyes! Sharon Bradley is the owner and there are loads more photos on her website but these are the ones I snapped today! Enjoy!

Which of these lovely things would you purchase?

Hum-Drum: The Everyday Life

I love the smell of fresh brewed coffee in the morning…it reminds me of my parents’ house. My mom waking early to have her first cup in silence before everyone else awoke when we were younger and then in later years, my room being close to the kitchen, the scent waking me up to join my mom for a nice warm cup. I miss that and yet, it is good to also have my own coffee maker brewing up the familiar scent.
It has been over a week since I last posted and although I felt a bit guilty about that I also realised that life was happening and I cannot worry about a blog post when I’m living life. I admire the lifestyle bloggers that make it their priority to blog everyday about loads of topics and I read many of those blogs for inspiration but right now my dedication is to leading a simpler life with my husband and keeping this as a journal of daily life with a few tips and suggestions along the way.
So, yesterday I was quite busy organising the craft cupboard in the bedroom. Alan and I live in a one bedroom bungalow which we love and are still getting ‘just right’. Slowly but surely. I won’t lie to you, I did have fun going through the boxes and plastic bins to re-organise things. It is by no means complete but is looking better. I found some things I’d forgotten about too! Deep in one of the plastic bins of things I’d left with Alan last year I found these:

Tea bags and sugars from my trip to Cardiff with Jo in March 2013! I miss that place and wish I could have gone this time but who knows, there may yet be some time to go.
I also moved and rearranged some of the shelves on my side of the bedroom cupboard for better storage.

I’ve used the top shelf to house bags, gift bags and some gift wrap supplies by reusing shop bags I’ve kept, decided to use the bar above the second shelf to store my scarves and the actual shelf for beauty supplies, aroma therapy bits and other sundries. I plan on getting coloured boxes for those so I can better contain them. The third shelf has some handbags on it until I can find a more suitable space for them in the front closet, the fourth shelf is at present empty and the last is holding some shoes.
I also rearranged my window sill decor and display adding bits I’d found.

Adding books my husband bought me last year seemed appropriate (they’re held in place by a glass jar I aim to fill with earthy toned stones and glass beads), the flowers were part of my birthday gifts and I added the Welsh dolly from my mother in law and little Dutch clogs I got at the Madurodam in The Hague last year to my small kitsch collection.
I also found in my tidying my book of Celtic Inspirations I’d purchased at The Works in Sutton Coldfield last year, a small pack of Cath Kidston tissues and inside the book a postcard from Jo’s trip to Jersey.

It’s the little things, really!
The big challenge was this cupboard though:

While I’m not quite finished with it, it is quite a bit more tidy than previously and I now know what else I must do to get it looking the way I want!
Such is life, right?
What tidying or organisational tips do you swear by?

Cheers,
Nadia xoxo

Have children? Love Ireland? Then check out Irish beauty and parenting blogger, Fiona Naughton’s blog: Dolly Dowsie. You won’t be disappointed!

Like the hand-made card featured in the window sill photos? Check out Made for You by Jo on Facebook for more of her handiwork.

All photographs and graphics taken/made by: Nadia M. Perez Bugler using an iPhone 5s and the VSCO & Moldiv apps available on iTunes.
©2014 Walks in Beauty
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Sharing Bounties: Cooking with Homegrown Veggies

Yesterday was my birthday so I didn’t have much time to write a post but that’s ok. Sometimes we need a break from being at a computer or mobile device. I had a great day out with my husband and ended it with drinks with a couple of friends and a Skype conversation with my folks before calling it a night.

Today it was back to normal, Alan back at work and I at home doing laundry and designing stationery and the like. Tonight we are making a ratatouille like vegetable sauce to eat with pasta using veggies from Alan’s Uncle Keith’s garden and a bit of our own as well.

The courgettes are from his uncle’s garden and we used a couple of our own tomatoes and one of his in our mixture as well.
Just after I’d gotten it ready to throw in the pan Alan came back from our garden with three newly ripened tomatoes!
This is going to be a feast for the soul! Living as locally as possible is something I aim to maintain throughout the rest of my life whenever possible.
Bon apetit!

Early morning stroll…

This morning I had the good fortune of having the town mostly to myself as I strolled back home after walking a piece with my husband as he went off to work for a few hours. It’s nice to see the town before everyone else has awoken in the wee small hours. I was in need of milk and found the newsagent’s on the eastern end of town to be open quite early which was a relief. I purchased milk for my morning coffee and set off toward home again.

I snapped a few photos of the end of town closest to us. We are on the West heading toward Symondsbury and Lyme Regis and it is quite a very nice and tranquil part of town really.

Isn’t it peaceful looking? I feel very fortunate to be able to have found my heart’s true love in this place. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with him here.
Have a beautiful weekend all!

Cheers,
Nadia xoxo