Vintage Car and Bus Rally - Hastings

I'm really not much of a "car person", but I must say, I do appreciate these lovelies! Older, vintage cars just seem to have so much more character and I love the shapes and colours. I can't say I enjoy peering under the bonnet as it's all the same to me, but the style of the bodies and interiors of the cars is what does it for me. Me and Danny went for a swim and noticed this vintage car and bus rally on the green opposite and decided to have a look around...

I'd love a gorgeous old car for mine and Danny's wedding!

An Abbie-sized car! I was certainly built to be a Fiat 500 owner!

The highlight for me, were the old routemasters on show. This one was the most lovely shade of green!

Old Town Inspiration - Vintage Treats!

 

I ventured into Hastings Old Town today with Danny and my older sister, The Style PA, to peruse Hastings Old Town for vintage inspiration. We also went to view a potential wedding venue (but that's a story for another blog post. Needless to say it was mightily exciting!). These lovely scrabble rings were courtesy of Little Treasures, one of my favourite shops in the old town.

I love old apothecary cabinets! Each drawer should hold something different and mysterious...

 

The Imaginarium in the Old Town junk yard... I think if I visited the junk yard every weekend for a year, I would never struggle to find new and interesting things each and every time!

 Very tempted by some lovely old maps...

 

 

Pretty things!

I love the idea of using old suitcases for storage and decor.

Hands Up if You're Enjoying The Sunshine!?

Hands up if you're enjoying the sunshine!? We certainly were today. We dipped our toes in the ridiculously cold sea (it looked to inviting!) we ate Italian ice cream, lounged on the West hill and had a thoroughly sunny time!

What did you do today to make the most of the sunny weather?

Epic Adventures Through The Country Park!

Despite the weatherman predicting rain at midday (completely unfounded, the weather was gorgeous!) me, my sister and Rufus - my parent's black labrador - embarked on a little adventure in the beautiful country park right on our doorstep. It's incredibly hilly as it the country park covers the valleys and cliffs from Hastings to Fairlight and beyond, but it is totally worth it if only for the views alone...

Walking up the initial hill with the Old Town in the background...

There were some wonderful flowers around and about including some blackberries and wild blueberries that we stumbled across.

*FETCH!!*

Quite a few steps! The only thing about going down them all to the see the sea, is knowing that we'd have to go back up them all again!

So pretty!

We found a picturesque little pond for Rufus to have fun in... he LOVED it!

Swwwwiiiiim!

Splish, splash, splosh!

After an epic walking adventure... all that remains is to enjoy a well deserved ice cream!

Hastings Old Town Carnival Week - Part Three!

I love the Old Town Street Party, There are some stalls and live music, performances and fun for the whole family! This year saw in some rather grim weather throughout the day so the evening event wasn't quite as busy as previous years, but it was still good fun.

There were fresh locally grown vegetables for sale...

delicious fudge and sweets...

Tush and Pat were cooking their famous "fishermans rolls"

and entertainers juggling fire...

Aaaargh! What a motley crew! My family get quite enthusiastic each year about the Hastings Pirate Day... and this year was no different! Last year Hastings held (if a little briefly, damn you Penzance... I'm not bitter!) the world record for the most pirates in one place. We didn't go for another record breaking attempt this year however, we did a worlds first instead! We were part of the worlds first human skull and crossbones!

We pirates all mustered on the beach where the shape had been mapped out for us to fill... then the helicopter flew over and took aerial photographs...

My cousin's husband was the official photographer for the events and was at the top of the cherry-picker to capture the moment! Unfortunately I couldnt track down a copy of the aerial photograph, but it looked brilliant!

The rest of the day was filled with piratey fun - here's Will Turner sword fighting as Captain Jack Sparrow looks on...

There was a brilliant band playing the stage in the afternoon, called the Sex Pirates... They were great fun, and you couldn't help but dance along to their shanty-based tunes with a twist!

Hastings Old Town Carnival Week - Part Two!

Every year on the Tuesday of Old Town Carnival Week, is the Crown Lane Bike Race. The premise of the race is that you must ride the "Butcher's" bicycle up the incredibly steep hill, from the bottom to the top, without lifting your bum off of the seat. To make sure those behinds are firmly on the seat the whole way, you have to sit on a 10 bob note and if it isn't there at the top then you are disqualified.

One of the best events of Old Town Week... in my opinion... is the pram race. The pubs enter a team into the pram race and they have to go around each of the 22 pubs in the route having a drink in each pub, answering questions and doing forfeits... all whilst dressed up and pushing around their themed "prams".

Bugsy Malone...

Alice in Wonderland...

Greek Gods...

Banana Splits...

Rubber Ducks...

Lego...

It gets a bit of a squeeze down George Street where easily thousands of people congregate to watch the procession of prams in the narrow Old Town streets...