Calming Autumn Adventure

So it's official, we have a new house, but we are taking our time to move in as we have another 2 weeks we can stay at our present home. To say it has been stressful is an understatement, especially with so much else going on in our lives with our car seemingly to take forever to be fixed, Mr A settling into kindergarten as well as work commitments has meant that our outdoor adventures feel like our little moments of sanity during the day. I don't know about you but being outside and connecting with natural and simple pleasures is such a great way to calm the mind, I wish everything was as simple and efficient as that in nature. I love the saying from wind in the willows - "The river is always changing yet always staying the same" - seasons come and go with so many changes yet everything does it's part at time it's meant too, wish life went to plan like that. We came across all these little snails huddling together on our adventure this week Wh......

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Discover the real valleys

Mr A with a view of the Rhondda Valley So with the MTV show The Valleys coming to a close I felt it was time to share my thoughts about the "real" valleys. First of all we are renting a small cottage just outside Cardiff, it takes us 23 minutes from our front door to the city centre, on a good day it can be even less, which I have to say to get from any house to the heart of a city is not bad at all, yet our house falls within "the Valleys" but on the show they make out like it's a 100 miles away! We are on the commuter belt, a lot of people who live in this area commute everyday to Cardiff, the are all "making it" in the city, but they often opt to live outside the city due to house prices. I am not going to sugar coat the fact that there are parts of the Valleys that are deprived, lack good transport links, lack good facilities, where ever second shop is closed down and areas that have drug and teenage pregnancy problems, but is there not a p......

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