My Travels: Miami

South Beach
In part two of my epic adventure to America, we flew into MIA for a few days before hitting the road for the final part of our holiday. We stayed on South Beach near 2nd Street. It feels more residential at this end of Miami Beach. The middle is a little crazy with tourists and people partying, which isn't my thing anymore really. It was very different than I imagined Miami to be. I guess I was expecting it to have a posher vibe about it, I thought it would be full of models sipping cocktails is super cool bars, middle aged men in supercars, I guess a kind of St. Tropez feel. But it wasn't like this at all. It was a bit run down really, I guess years of being a party town has taking it's toll. The sunsets over the harbour where break-taking, the colours are unbelievable, my photos really don't do it justice. The beach is just perfect with silky soft white sand, tall palm trees and adorable wooded life guard stations. I loved all the art deco buildings too, it's like stepping into the 1920's It's just a shame that many of the beautiful buildings are now cheesy bars and tacky souvenir shops! Miami is the perfect gateway to The Florida Keys so from here we hit the road on Highway 1. An unbelievable road built over the ocean, connecting sleepy islands together (The Keys). I'll be posting some inspirational photos I gathered of Key West in my next post, so stay tuned.







My Travels: New York

First timer guide to New York
I've recently returned from an epic adventure to America. We did a little tour of the East coast, New York, Miami and the Florida Keys. I took so many pictures I'm going to split each location into a post. So today I'm starting with New York.

I've always dreamed of going to New York from watching scenes in films and TV shows most of my life. So many amazing things are filmed in NY. From Friends to Sex and the city, Ghostbusters to I Am Legend and a countless number of other films that are shot there. It's such an iconic, historic city and a must see city of the world. As I turned the big 30 this year I wanted to escape and celebrate/commiserate in a far away land so what better place to do it than New York!

As a first timer to New York I was desperate to cram in as much as possible into our 4 nights in the big apple. I've put together some snaps of our favourite spots. We did a couple of walking tours from this Lonely Planet book, which was great as we saw so much of the city just walking around. She didn't disappoint with iconic looking streets of West Village, the bright lights of Times Square, humorous signs, and interesting street art. An absolute highlight was the circle line tour around Manhattan island. I'd totally recommend getting an Explorer Pass which gets you a discount of multiple attractions in NY.

 
Walking across Brooklyn Bridge was really nice and you get amazing views of the city from the across the bridge.

 Another favourite was The Top of The Rock. The views of the city from the top of this skyscraper are breathtaking. We timed it around sunset to make the most of the views. I'd heard stories of tourists queuing for hours to get up the Empire State building so we decided to do the Rockerfella centre instead, and I'm so glad we did as we went straight up the lift and the top wasn't over crowded either. I'd recommend this as a must do if your planning on visiting NY yourself.

We visited the Museum of Modern Art on our last day. Here's a couple of favourites from their collection. Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe. And Vincent Van Gogh's portrait of Joseph Roulin.

There are some beautiful natural areas of NY too, central park being the most famous. We cycled around this but it was so much busier than I expected! Maybe because there was a charity race on and it was a Sunday so there was alot of runners, cyclists and dog walkers. We also walked on the Highline which is an old railway which has been converted into a garden space. It was also a great way to get to the Meatpacking district, which was one of my favourite areas on NY. Full of artisan ice cream shops, lovely garden style eatery's and great bars.
We also paid our respects at ground zero, which is such a beautiful memorial. It's a very moving place and so much bigger than I ever imagined. I was moved more than expected in NY actually from the memories of the horrific scenes of 9/11 to the history of the immigrants coming over in the 1900's to make a better life in the land of opportunity. It's a surprising, mesmerising and intriguing city and we just scratched the surface. As our tour guide said on the boat tour around the island, you need a year and 1 million pounds to explore it properly.

Norfolk Getaway

Travel


Last weekend we took a little trip to North Norfolk, we were very lucky with the weather as it's been a bit hit and miss lately. But the sunshine was out which made the seaside the best place to be. It was super windy but there's really nothing better than filling your lungs with the sea air! It was Bertie's (our little sausage dog puppy's) first trip to the seaside and he absolutely loved it. He spent the weekend digging and sniffing in the sand, dipping his toes in the sea and playing watchdog for our little beach hut which we hired.

When I discovered you can actually rent a beach hut for a few days I was so so excited! I love traditional beach huts, they are so iconically British and the huts at Wells-next-to-the-Sea didn't disappoint. The colours and detailing are so beautiful! I took far to many photos but these will come in handy for a project in the future I'm sure. I found this amazing website where you can find beach huts for rent daily (Around £25 a day) and also weekly rentals, which I highly recommend www.beach-huts.com They are little adverts and you can get in touch with the owners directly for all the details and prices. 

I finally put my new beach towels to use too. They really came in handy when walking on the beach, just throw them down on the sand and enjoy the views. They really are beautiful quality and print is so lovely and crisp considering they are a fluffy toweling. The designs are hand drawn by me in my studio at Welbeck. There is a deck chair design and an ice cream van design to choose from, I couldn't pick a favourite so I got both!

Beach Towels £20 from my At Home with Ashley Thomas collection 
exclusively at Debenhams.com
Picnic hamper £25




Sunshine & Ice Cream

British sunshine

We've had a beautiful weekend here in Derbyshire and we celebrated with a BBQ, a gorgeous walk in the Peak District, ice creams and pints of shandy, heaven!
Bertie had his very first swimming lesson too in the little stream below Burbage Edge. Very entertaining, I'm not sure if he likes water or not as he was a bit of a wimp after a few minutes.
But he's a very natural swimmer and I was bursting with pride when he took to the water for the first time on Sunday.
He was totally spoilt by the ice cream man with his very own free ice cream cone! Watching him tuck into this ice cream was one of the highlights of the year so far. He actually ate the whole thing! What a greedy boy.  Love this photo of him, which totally captured the moment.

London Visit

London
I've just returned from a weekend away in London town. Here are some highlights from my trip.... 
   
The historic Thames, beautiful even on a drizzly day....

 Tracey Emin at Tate Modern....

 Lunch was Mexican street food, which was delicious and a there was a wonderful chalk board to doodle on too....

 
We stayed near Monument, where the great fire of London started in 1666...

  
Picasso at Tate Modern ....

 
I'm obsessed with the architecture in London,
and love the mix of old and new buildings, so wonderful.

There is just so much to see and do in London, I need to arrange another weekend soon to explore more!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

england
I've just returned for a long weekend in Brighton! It's definitely one of my favourite places in England. There's such a wonderfully creative atmosphere down there. Lots of beautiful independent shops, characterful cafes and bars and of course the wonderful beach and traditional British seaside amusements. Here's some snaps of my trip.

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