Half term draws to a close

Half term is almost at an end. As usual the week went very quickly. We are still in the midst of exams and are on the count down now. Half the family stayed behind when a party from the H household went north to the Northeast to visit family.
 I think we had the better weather- although absolutely freezing with a bitter wind,we had some sunshine but best of all had very little rain. We managed to get out and about and the cobwebs were well and truly blown away!

St Mary's lighthouse

 The first day we headed down to the coast and visited Whitely bay and had a coffee in a fabulous art gallery come italian coffee shop.

 Daughter and I loved it all and dreamt about owning a similar place in the south! It was lovely seeing Italian type pastries  - they were of a lovely small size . Perfect with a coffee , especially  if you are having lunch out too!

We then headed down the coast a few minutes and had lunch in Crusoe's a lovely cafe right on the beach. They are always busy there and its one of our favourite haunts. So a round of paninis and warm drinks before heading back to the city.

Life guard NE style!

Don't you love the colours- I just want to make something using them! 

Newcastle has a number of museums . One of our favourites is Hancocks and we have spent many a damp day perusing all the exhibits which range from wildlife  to historical.

You always know you will find something usual here- something you hadn't seen before on previous visits. They have special exhibitions on and we have visited a Star trek exhibition when the children were small. We were very excited to hear that the museum has had some refurbishment done. So we headed off to investigate and we weren't disappointed.

 We explored the natural history section and the Egyptian exhibition which included displays of real mummies- a bit strange but never the less interesting. We headed back to the ranch to refuel and recharge ready for day two........... More to follow!