Girl In The Pretty Dress

I've been dreaming of visiting the Smoky Mountains ever since I first heard Dolly sing "In my Tennessee mountain home..." but none of the songs really do justice to their scale or beauty. We picked up our rental car and wound our way into the mountains. We headed to the highest point: Clingman's Dome It felt a little like standing on top of the world. When I could finally tear myself away from that view, we headed back down the mountain and made our way to the edge of the Smokies - to Maggie Valley and Cataloochee Ranch. When we arrived at the ranch, our lovely hosts fed us enough to put us into a food coma.  We awoke the next day to this beautiful view. After another feast for breakfast, we decide to spend the morning exploring Mingo Falls. I have been lucky enough to visit some of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world on my travels, and while these didn't quite match the scale of others, they were by f...

When I was eleven, I discovered Leanne Rimes (thanks to Coyote Ugly) and Country Music became my guilty pleasure. (Believe me, for a teenager in the UK it was not cool, but I fell in love with it anyway.) I love almost all genres of music, but Country is the clear favourite. There isn't much of a country music scene in the UK, so visiting Nashville has been on my bucket list for a very, very long time... and if you can't do something special for your 30th birthday when can you??  We rose bright an early on our fist morning in Nashville (very early in fact - thanks jet lag!) and didn't waist any time heading Downtown. I have been following Kelsey Montague 's art on Instagram for ages, and literally stumbled into her famous wings not long after we left the hotel.  I think this picture accurately sums up my feelings about being in Nashville for the first time... Why can't every city have bike stands in the shape of music notes? ...

Last month we took a little time out and headed to Pembrokeshire for a few days R&R. Driving south we took the scenic route through Snowdonia and along the Pembrokeshire Coast before arriving at our destination: Slebech Park Slebech really is a haven away from the rest of the world (no mobile signal). The building itself isn't much to look at, but the converted stable-block rooms are a modern twist on country comfort. The main thing I loved about Pembrokeshire was that virtually everywhere was dog-friendly and Cali was positively encouraged into every restaurant and shop with us. (It's a good job the rest of the world isn't like this or I fear she'd have a terrible shopping habit and I'd have an empty bank account!) We visited Pembroke Castle on our first day and enjoyed a free guided tour. Followed by a look around the town (and in Cali's case, a chance to scoff all the yummy biscuits people offered her) and an afternoon on Tenby beach. ...

  This is a super simple recipe for little chocolate pots that will rival anything you can buy on the desert aisle in the supermarket. It's no-bake, no-hassle and uses only 4 ingredients. Make 8 when using ordinary sized ramekins as pictured. 1 standard pack of Oreos (154g) Unsalted Butter (50g) 2 packs of Dark Chocolate (300g) 1 tub of double (heavy) cream (300ml) Step 1) Blitz the Oreos in a blender. Step 2) Melt/soften the Butter and add this to the Oreo-mix in the blender. Blitz again. Step 3) Using a teaspoon, line the bottom of your pots with the Oreo mixture (approx 4 teaspoons worth) and compress it. Step 4) Warm the cream in a saucepan until it just bubbles. Step 5) Break up the chocolate and put in a heat-proof jug. Pour the cream over the chocolate and allow to sit for 30 seconds. You'll need to work quickly for this next bit... Step 6) Stir the chocolate/cream mixture until all the pieces have disolved. Step 7) Once you have a smooth...