Magpies on a date

Rich and I don't get many opportunities to go on dates.

We are both working (what feels like) all the time at the moment, I'm buzzing here there and everywhere on freelance jobs and he is pushing hard to agree the packaging for the tea company, we hope to launch very soon.

We also have absolutely no family locally we can call on for babysitting so little dates are a rare, but lovely occurrence.

In the past Rich has sent bouquets of flowers to my office, we've spent a small fortune on presents but over the last few years we've realised the more thoughtful, less expensive presents are actually more important.

Both boys are in school and pre school on a Friday and as Rich and I both work from home, we decided to make the most of a child free couple of hours and headed to a village near us over lunch time.

Winscombe is a sweet village with more than your average village high street. It has a brilliant charity shop at the top of the hill, a bustling village pub and lots of little independent shops in-between. 

We stopped at The Pantry, owned by a lovely couple who have 3 young children at the local school and grabbed a sandwich whilst we sheltered from the blinding rain. We somehow got chatting and within a few minutes were discussing their plans for the future, website and food photography. Umm hello! ;)

We then ran up the high street into the RSPCA shop and had a rummage around, Rich found the record section and I headed to the bric-a-brac. I spied a handmade ceramic lemon squeezer which will make a great photo prop and look lovely in the kitchen on the window ledge. 

I walked around the corner to the children's section and couldn't believe my eyes.

Something I have been searching for for weeks! Top of Yasmin lu's wish list for a christening/first birthday present is a rocking horse. But they really would love a plain white one to match her delicate pink, grey and white bedroom decoration.

So my challenge for the coming weeks is to strip, sand and paint! It's big enough for both the boys to ride it!

£10 - what a bargain. I'll show you a photo of the finished horse as soon as I have got him back to his former glory.

We ended our date with a quick visit to Eden, a sweet independent florist. We picked out a few blooms and for the same price as the rocking horse, came away with a beautiful bouquet.

It just goes to show that if you shop local there are some treasures to be found.

We ended our Valentines evening with a double dinner date over Skype! Us with a noodle box from the local Noodle Bar, Tokyo Wok (I adore that it comes in American style cardboard boxes & is the cheapest take away you can buy) and my sister and brother in law with an M&S dine in for £10 meal deal.

It was perfect.

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