Antrim Coast holidays

We're not long back from two weeks of coastal living with the sea on our doorstep and sunshine almost everyday. There were days of adventure and days of lolling around with not much going on - a good blend, I'd say. Highlights were crossing  the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge (ironically that's all my nightmares right there- heights, falling, crowds but still I loved it) and the stunning cliff walk on Rathlin Island which we followed with a well deserved Prosecco and lunch at the Manor House. We also stomped over familiar ground revisiting the walled garden at Glenarm Castle, the beach at Cushendun and Dunluce Castle, as well as going to some new places in Belfast - the Titanic Experience and the Zoo. 

And now we are home, back to blackberries and berry laden hedgerows, the call of rooks and crows and apples ripening on our four small trees. Somehow Autumn seems to be here - but thankfully there are still a few more days of holiday left before school and routine take over again.

this week

 

There is an autumn touch to the air. The boys ate their first blackberries this morning and the weather has been so inclement that the stove and candles have been lit in the evening on more than one occasion. But there are still blue skied days and breakfasts in the sunshine and walks in meadows. There is also the prospect of August holidays by the sea and the pile of summer reading for those lazy moments when jobs are done. I'm halfway through The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor but I have to admit to being distracted - there's The Handmaid's Tale, Anna and the Swallow Man and Ginny Moon waiting for me too... thank goodness the days are still long.