Hamm House.

A million years ago when my Dad was in his early twenties, he was kindly left £1,000 by his uncle. Most twenty-something's would blow this on a car, jaegerbombs or an all inclusive holiday to Las Vegas, but what did my dear old Dad purchase? A life time membership to the National Trust. I remember scoffing at the thought of this when I was 18 (and drinking jaegerbombs on a daily basis), and thinking that it was a ridiculous amount of money to spend on looking at ancient houses, trees and gardens. Why would anyone in their right mind want to gain lifetime membership to something so boring when there was a world of vodka shots and hangovers out there!? 

Four years later and I'm past the 18 year old binge-drink phase, worryingly into 'home decor' blogs and pretty obsessed with home-baking. As well as this, I've recently been spending a large amount of time getting to know Dad's National Trust membership card. I've grown up so much in the past few years that I even entertained the thought of a 'national trust checklist' yesterday. I know - stick me in some crocs and hit me with a zimmerframe, right?! Never did I think I'd see the day when spending my Saturday's wandering round a landscaped garden would be something I actually looked forward to doing. 

I also like to drag my boyfriend on these excursions. So we went to Hamm House in Richmond last Saturday when the sun was shining. It's a 45 minute ish drive from my home so we rolled the windows down, turned the music up and took the scenic route. On the drive home, we were treated to the most gorgeous sunset and spent the evening in pyjamas drinking tea and watching rubbish television. Perf. 

If you've been to any National Trust places in Surrey - I'd love to hear about them and get your recommendations! I was only half joking about that checklist...

Chartwell House

Last Saturday was a miserable, cold, rainy day. Where I'm sure most people stayed tucked up indoors with blankets, tea and chocolate, me and Mikey ventured out into the car and drove to Winston Churchill's old crib. Because we just love getting cultured on the weekend. Nah but in all seriousness, it's nice making something of a dreary day and wrapping up warm - because when you get home again it feels even more cosy.









Unfortunately you're not allowed to take photographs inside. I found this out by almost being tackled to the floor by a serious jobs-worth woman as I tried to take a picture of Lady Winston's dressing room. Why people never seem to be able to ask you politely not to take pictures is beyond me.  But lo and behold, I have zero pictures of the inside to share. Anyway, after getting our history on, we (obviously) stopped off for tea and scones in the cafe. And yep, that was the highlight of the trip.

Reading List #2

I didn't mean to leave quite so much time between my first reading list post and this one but, well, life. Specifically fourth year. Anyway, the second book in my reading list is....

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

'We'd reached the end of the line. We had nothing more to lose. Our privacy, our liberty, our dignity: all of this was gone and we were stripped down to the bare bones of our selves.'

I read this book during those middling teenage years when you don't really have a clue what you're doing or why you're doing it. Those years you spend feeling a bit weird and shitty about general stuff that you will later realize really doesn't matter. Growing up, eh - isn't it exciting! While I'm happy to say that I never went the whole hog and ended up on a ward (far from it!), this book really struck a chord with me. It's an autobiographical memoir of Susanna's time spent in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s and not only is it really well written, but it is - in a weird way - just completely relatable, whether you're a bit loopy or not. In fact, the writing is so beautiful that I actually highlighted half the book. This is an uncontrollable habit of mine that means libraries have been out of the question for me from a young age. Instead I had to buy everything, highlight the shit out of it and then stick it under my bed. Imagine my glee when Kindle's came out and they had a highlight option - all my highlights in one place(!!!)...I went into literary meltdown.  Anyway, this book has turned into a bit of a cult classic, especially since being made into a film with Angie Jo in 1999 (which, by the way, I would highly recommend seeing, who doesn't love Winona Ryder in the circa-1990s-Johnny-Depp days!?). I think this will always be the book that reminds of my later teenage years, and rereading it will always transport me back to that odd time in my life, where life didn't really make all that much sense. In the best of possible ways.

I would be interested to know your thoughts about Girl, Interrupted if you've read it or if you plan on reading it. Or if you have any other books you think I might enjoy, I always love book recommendations!