A day out with the dogs!

Today I took my cocker spaniel Pennie to a Dog and Horse Show and country fair at a local farm and produce shop in Preston called Huntley's, the event was called the  Mellor Dog School Country Fair. I went with my parents and boyfriend, and then we met up my friends Abi and Rob who also took their Border Collie Bella. Bella was so excited and hyper to be there and was so happy to see Pennie. We sometimes take them walks together so it was great to see them. 

The country fair had a few different stalls on but I think due to the bad, or rather miserable weather, not many people turned up for the event on the day. There were various dog shows  on and also some horse shows going on throughout the day. They also had different dog competitions on but we turned up late so we missed half the events but we still entered our two dogs into a couple of the events. We entered Pennie into the Best Condition and the Dog the Judge wanted to take home categories, and Pennie came second in the Best Condition competition, so proud of her! She came second to a puppy cocker spaniel who had just had his coat cut and groomed so she did really well! Bella took part in the happiest dog competition and also the dog the judge wanted to take home event, Bella won third in the happiest dog competition, which I'm surprised she didn't come first as she always has a huge grin on her face. 

We also watched some of the other dog shows and saw a police dog being trained, along with a gun dog retrieving items. I also went into the Huntley's produce farm shop and purchased far too many cheeses! Afterwards we also had a bit of a wander through their maze too which would be a great place to go to at Halloween or Bonfire night! Will definitely have to keep my eye out for events at Halloween. 

As great as the fair was it would have been great with more stalls and shows going on, especially with more animals. Also I think if the weather had been better then more people may have come to the event. Will definitely be going again next year to the fair, as it is a really lovely day out and a great chance to show off my amazing pooch! 

 

 

3rd Happiest Dog in the competition! 

2nd in Best Condition competition! 

So proud of our pooches! 

Meet Pennie!

I thought I would do a little post showing off my amazing beautiful dog, she is a gorgeous cocker spaniel called Pennie (because she cost a lot of pennies). She is such a sweetheart and is so well trained and behaved all the time. One of my all time favourite things to do is go on walks in the woods and around different parks/beaches with her and my boyfriend. She is also a huge fan of cuddles and loves being the centre of attention, although she isn't too keen on big groups of people or children (in fact she hates children). She also loves hunting and chasing rabbits, although she never actually catches or hurts them, she just loves the chase.

She is almost 4 years old now but still acts and looks like a puppy. If you go onto my Instagram (_katyjayne, I follow back) it is just full of pictures of Pennie, and all the wonderful places I go to on walks with her. 

We brought her home whilst I was still at college, and whilst she was a puppy, so I came home in all my college breaks every day to walk her and train her, so really I am partly responsible for her amazing behaviours. I have always had a dog whilst growing up, so when my last dog sadly passed away the other year the house seemed so odd and strange, especially not having a dog to welcome you home or to cuddle with. Pennie definitely became an important member of the family as soon as we brought her home. She is such an amazing dog, and I would definitely recommend spaniels, and especially cocker spaniels, to anyone looking at getting their own dog. 

Do you have any amazing, loved pooches? 
Also, if anyone has any questions about cocker spaniels, feel free to ask :) 

My trip to Hogwarts!

My mother treated me to an end of exams celebratory trip to Harry Potter Studios Tour in London. The trip was a great deal with National Holidays, which included the travel (although it was a horrific coach), the hotel, two meals and a trip to the Harry Potter Studio Tour and a few hours in London.

  

On the Saturday we left Preston at 7.15am and arrived in Watford at 12. The tour was amazing, and it was great to see so many different kinds of people enjoying the Harry Potter Tour, there were people from all over the world and from all age ranges. First off there was a short film then we entered through Hogwarts giant doors into the Great Hall. I wont go into too much detail about the tour as it will ruin the surprise for anyone who is going to go! But I will say that it has film props and sets from all of the 8 films ranging from clothing, wigs, the creatures, to Diagon alley!

One of my favourite parts of the tour were the area with the board with all the pictures of the “animal actors”, the board contained all the details of the animals they used within each of the films. Made me laugh that they said all the dogs were well trained and were great to have on the set, whereas the cats did what they want.

There was also a part of the tour that allowed people to use the Green screens that allow the actors to appear like they are flying on brooms, or in the Weasley’s car. I did not have my photo taken on the broomstick as the queue was simply too long, but my mother and I had our photo taken within the Weasleys car.

Another amazing part of the tour was the areas with all the details of how they created all the different creatures within the films, with all the different sketches and models for the creatures such as Aragog, Lupin as the Werewolf and all the banks Goblins. The make up was absolutely amazing! But I’ve got to admit that the goblins were actually really creepy and reminded me of something out of a horror film!

The whole tour took my mother and I about 4 hours to walk round, and that was with us rushing the end of tour worrying that we wouldn’t be back in time for the coach. The shop was slightly disappointing however, the shop could have done to be bigger and have more stock, I was disappointed to find that they didn’t have any Dobby soft toys! We only bought a fridge magnet with Fang on it (had to get something with Fang on), a key ring and a lolly for Mark. 

The hotel we stayed in was a 2 minute walk from Watford town centre, the trip included a buffet of various meals for tea, and also a buffet for the breakfast. The hotel was really nice and I would definitely recommend it. On the Sunday we got to London at 9.45am, which was slightly annoying as the shops only really opened at 12pm, and we needed to be back for the coach at 2pm. We were only really interested in going round the shops because I only went to London in December with my boyfriend and went round all the museums and galleries then. However, I did find the time for my one of my favourite shops; Forever 21. Actually only spent about £65, which is good for me! I will do a fashion post another day with all the goodies that my mother treated me to.

A downside to the trip was that there was a rally/protest march on around Hyde Park in the afternoon which meant that the coach only arrived at 3.45pm, when it was meant to pick us up at 2pm! So that was fun, this meant that we only arrived back in Preston just before 9pm. Thus reinstating my hatred for coaches! 

But to any Harry Potter fans out there, the tour in Watford really is a must! Walking round really made me want to watch all the films back to back again. Was so much fun working out where all the sets and the tiniest of props were from. Now I just need to go to Florida! 

I took over a hundred photos so here is just a few of my favourite ones from the weekend. Also, my phone died half way round the tour so I had to steal my mums phone to take some photos, which i have yet to steal to put up sadly.  

Do you want to go to the seaside?

So I've finished my undergraduate degree at Leeds University now! (I hope..!) So I thought I should get into blogging more, simply because I've heard so many great things about actually doing it, and it will keep my writing skills up to scratch, hopefully! I will probably mostly do lifestyle posts, mainly about walking my dog, and going for days out. But I'm going to try get into writing some beauty/book/film review posts, and also hopefully put some of my favourite recipes up on here too! 

Friday was my last day and also my last exam at university, so I went for a celebratory pint at the union and into Leeds City centre with my friend. We went to the Alchemist in the Trinity centre. I only had a cocktail and a small portion of chips, both were yummy, however I do feel like the place is a little overrated; especially because it is so expensive for both cocktails and food. But hopefully I will return again one day and try another cocktail or another meal to see if the place really lives up to my expectations. 

I also went out celebrating on Friday night out in Leeds with my two housemates. I drank cocktails all night and had a wonderful time, the fact that I only spent about £10 the entire night was a bonus too! Saturday I had a day of cleaning and packing/moving back home, by the evening I was shattered so just relaxed and watched a film with my mother and boyfriend. 

On Sunday we went to Lytham St. Annes beach, my cocker spaniel loves running around the sand dunes, and we thought we would make the most of the nice weather! It didn't seem to be too sunny but apparently I did get a bit sunburnt (i had a little red nose last night)! I love going to Lytham as the beach is so lovely and it doesn't take too long to drive to, plus it is a really lovely and easy drive on a nice sunny day. 

We took a picnic and just relaxed on the beach, i just wish I had taken a book with me. But i did end up running around with Pennie and entertaining her. My boyfriend and I walked to the sea and back with Pennie and had to keep running around the sand dunes with her as she hates to sit still when on a walk. 

Once we returned home my mother and I went out for a drive, as i was recently put back onto the car insurance after over a year, so I had to get used to driving again, and I also have to get used to driving a new car.  I went out with my mother for a short drive then went out again to go onto the motorway again, both my mother and boyfriend said I was doing great driving again, so thats great to hear! So hopefully I will be able to drive to lovely places again soon, I think a trip to Manchester is needed! I have to say I have missed driving so much! I am torn between buying my own car or staying on the insurance and saving money. We will see what my mother prefers!

:)

It's a wonderful life.

December 26 2013.

Hi all, so I figured now would be a great time to start a blog, or a blog sort of thing. I'm never too sure what to write or say, and I do have a tendency to ramble. But even if its just me that will read these some time in the future I'm sure they will still be worthwhile. 

So this year has been wonderful. Truly it has. I have been made super happy by one wonderful guy. I passed second year of university and I am well into my third and final year in Leeds, soon to be returning back home, yay! This will be my last year with which I’ll have to cram revision in before my January exams, which is also a plus.

So Christmas day was a typical day for me in all honesty. We went to the neighbours the night before, like tradition, but i left early (well 11) as i wasn't feeling great. I came down with a horrible cold sadly, affecting my mood and appetite and such. But nevertheless I had a wonderful time. I woke early due to sneezing, and obviously being the noisy sod I am I woke my parents too. So we all got up and opened presents, I was spoilt as always. Think my favourite presents are my Sally mug (to match Marks Jack mug), TWD seasons 1-3 and my shoes off Mark. We then rushed over to my grandparents to have Christmas dinner with my grandparents, matt and Sarah. Following which we opened presents and pulled crackers and played our usual charades. Mark then blessed us with his presence and we just walked pennie, ate more food, chatted and opened more presents. Mark had brought me the presents from his Nan, and apparently I did very well with my present for his Nan. Better then her son in fact ha! I later returned back to Blackburn with Mark and we went to his aunties for drinks and so he could spend some time with his family. We ended up playing a very stressful game of the Logo Game, always fun playing a game with competitive women who had been drinking all day, but all in all it was good fun.

Sadly I am still full of a horrible cold and today I have just been resting.  

I suppose this is a reasonable first post, and I should really be going to bed shortly to kick this cold. 

Thought i would add a few photos of my Christmas too :) 

Wonderful cracker toy.

Christmas eve outfit.

One happy pooch in the morning. 

One grumpy pooch in the afternoon.

Such a cute present. 

Happy with her presents. 

Mark got facial hair for Christmas ;) 

My beautiful mother. 

My Grandad never fails to make me giggle :)