The Catch Up, Anniversary Edition

Hello! It seems we hit a bit of a blogging burnout back there. There was a tangible sense of freedom in making the decision to put it down for a while, to not have to make sure that we had photos of all the things we were up to. We just wanted to get on with life and the pressure to document had become just that, a pressure.

Almost 1 year later, and conveniently 3 years since our first post and I've found myself wanting to write again, planning posts in my head. So, here are a few photos we've taken in our absence while I wonder what to write about first...

[Southwest Coast Path, North Devon; Birdwatching at Hardwick Old Hall; 

The gardens at Hardwick Hall; London Nightscape; Selfie at the British Museum]

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Knitting, Travelling and DIY: The Urban Cottage in 2014.

I've spotted lots of people doing a year in review on their blogs, going through their blog stats to see what has been most popular each month. Never one to miss an opportunity to look at the numbers I decided to join in, so here I give you 2014 at The Urban Cottage; a year of knitting, travelling and DIY.

January. The year got off to a rocky start as we confessed that our house had sprung a leak. We never did find the source of the problem, and it hasn't dripped since - waiting to surprise us on a wet and blustery day I've no doubt.

This year we've been writing about our favourite games, and in February it was our post about Go, the 60's travel game, that won the most visits.

In March the latest series of the Great British Sewing Bee finally gave me the courage to play with some tartan fabric I'd bought the year before resulting in an a-line skirt.

April was a sad month as we has to share the news that we lost Fizzy to un unknown illness.

Making our guest room a proper bedroom proved very popular in May - with the big reveal making the top spot for the month...

... while in June we continued our DIY stint with some extra wiring for our bedside tables.

July's blog peaks both came courtesy of some good friends with a tantalising extract from Chloe Banks book - The Art of Letting Go, and photos of her son in some of my knitting vying for top spot.

In August you all helped us get excited as we explained the details of our plans to flee the country for three months, 

and finally we were off with September's highlight being our Canadian travels from snowy rockies through to sunny Kelowna.

October was the month that saw us leave our WWOOFing hosts for five weeks of camping, only to have our tent break 10 days in! Our post explaining the change of circumstances and the run for the North Island and campervan hire was the winner on this occasion.

Of course no-one can resist the charms of the hobbits - and it seems you couldn't either, with our photos from our trip to hobbiton in November becoming one of the most popular posts this year.

Finally, December's post about my travel knitting - the Vernal Equinox Shawl - finished off the year nicely. 

And so it just leaves us to say a massive thank you all for your visits, comments and support over 2014 - it means a lot to know that our writing here is appreciated. Have a happy 2015!

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Travelling: The Plan

More and more of our life of late seems to be consumed with planning and organising our trip this autumn. From printing maps and researching sim-card options to buying kit and arranging house/hen-sitters there seems to be an unending list of jobs to be done. Slowly, however, we are getting there.

We're away for three months, and while there are several weeks where we're just touring and going wherever we fancy next, there are also sections where we're getting all the details pinned down in advance. We have a mortgage to pay and jobs that are expecting us back on 1st December so we can't just walk away without thinking things through a bit.

I've been really enjoying most of the planning as it gives a sense of purpose and adventure. I was finding it hard to get excited when all we had were flights and the start date felt like decades away, but as we've read and researched about the different places we're visiting, sorted accommodation and contacted friends around the world, a sense of reality has kicked in and now we just can't wait to be off. Fortunately there's less than a month to go!

Where are we going, you ask? We're starting with two weeks in Canada before heading to New Zealand for the bulk of our trip. While in NZ we're going to spend a few weeks WWOOFing as well as taking our tent and seeing as much of the country as we can. We're finishing the trip off with a few days in Australia and a few days in Thailand.

The blog is going to keep going just as before. We've got some great guests lined up for you on Wednesdays, mixed in with a few things we've prepared in advance. Photo Fridays will continue to be just that - hopefully with plenty of jealousy inducing scenery from around the world! Finally, internet access willing, our Sunday posts will become a travel journal with more photos and stories from where we've been that week and I'm sure food, crafts and gardens will continue to feature there as we explore each area.

And just in case that doesn't seem like enough, we've also started a twitter account. If that's your cup of tea then you'll find us hanging out @Urban__Cottage. It's quiet over there at the moment - but it'll pick up soon!

Just a few more weeks before the off and despite such a glorious summer here in the UK we're definitely itching to get moving...

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Photo Friday - 100

Thanks google for auto animating!

This is our 100th post *does a little dance*. Its been a great eight months and we've loved how much the blog has grown in that time. Coincidentally, we also hit our 10,000 pageviews milestone (according to blogger) this week: that's 10,000 times you lovely people have come to look at our blog and for that we're exceedingly grateful. 100 posts with no visitors would be very dull indeed.

Geek alert: How satisfying is that?!

We're now going to take a break over Christmas, relax and unwind, and we'll be back with our 101st post in the new year.

Merry Christmas!

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