Our Adventure to The Major Oak.

"We have now arrived at that portion of history where we must tread magical ground, where beings like fairies danced, where deer sported in groups unnumbered, and in limit almost unbounded; where Robin Hood and his gay followers, performed their many and renowned exploits" Robert Thorton in his History of Nottinghamshire.

The Major Oak is often thought of as the iconic meeting place that Robin Hood used to meet with his followers. It is named after Major Hayman Rooke of Woodhouse Place after he first described it in a book in 1799.

What is left of this wood is really beautiful, I'm sure if fairies live anywhere it has to be here!

The Major Oak has a girth of 32ft 10inches! This means that this wonderful tree is thought to be around 600 years old.  

And finally here it is... I must admit I am always a little bit disappointed at how this tree is all trussed up with scaffolding. It just feels so unnatural and this is about as close as you can get to it because of all the fencing. 

This part of Sherwood Forest is very, very touristy! You have to stick to the designated paths too which can feel a little restricting at times. 

This log is just amazing! It looks like someone sculpted what they thought the texture of a log should look like then just plonked it down.

After the hectic couple of weeks it was lovely to relax in the forest away from it all. We finished off our adventure with a delicious sunday roast at a near-by pub. What a perfect day <3

Last Weekends Charity Shop Haul.

I was really excited to find all these little beauties in one charity shop at the weekend! I acquired 4 matching pheasant glasses, a well worn Jubilee side plate and a little bowl perfect for nibbles.

I was so lucky to have found these little treasures and only paid the very reasonable price of... £2.80 for it all!

I spotted these glasses immediately, they are just so rurally kitsch, reminds me of being back in Shropshire. 

I did stand their mulling over this plate for quite a while. It was a lot more battered than I usually like, but for some reason I think the wear and tear made it even more irresistible. 

I really love how all the gilding on it is a little bit shabby. I love to imagine all the use it has had over the years. 

This is the perfect size for nibbles when we have guests over, I'm excited to look out for more like this.

I think the colour and pattern on this, whilst being a little subdued, is really eye catching.

I was super happy with this charity shop haul, I must have had the junk fairies on my side that day.

Book Review - The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar.

I picked up this book in a wonderful little bookstore that stocked an eclectic mix of sic-fi, fantasy and graphic novels in Edinburgh. it was up a little cobbled street and the book shop owner was very quiet and book-wormish, I am a confessed bibliophile so I rationed myself to just one book! After a couple of laps around this little shop this caught my eye. I love anything to do with fairies and when I spied that the introduction was my Neil Gaiman my excitement grew. The deal was clinched when I read on the back that "It is a book for every girl with home-dyed hair and fairy wings...". Well for anyone who doesn't know I have fairy wings tattooed on my back and well this may be a shock but I am not a natural red head.

I picked up this book this morning and didn't put it down until I had finished it this afternoon. This book is a real gem, it characters are a mix of fairies and humans that are loveably flawed. The book is set in New York to a backdrop of run down apartments and the main human characters trying to make ends meet. I loved the juxtaposition of the grimy surroundings and the touching goodness of the fairies, even though the kindness is very well hidden at times under lashings of whiskey and bad language. I really enjoyed the hint of dark smut that was sprinkled throughout the pages as well as it gave it a real delicious edge. 

I am going to give this book 4 stars out of 5. This is because I loved this book and I thought the little details that helped to thread the plot together were really well thought out. The Fairies of New York is a surprising book and at times I was left thinking that Martin Millar must have had help from the fairies to manage to entwine all of the characters and events together in such a satisfying and diverse way. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because, even though I enjoyed all the characters and their relationships I didn't feel too sad to leave them behind, when I closed the last page of that book. But maybe that is down to Martin Millar tying everything up beautifully. So you'll just have to read it and decide for yourself.