we set up our camp, there were just a couple of other people there, and lit the fire and got on with the cooking.

in the morning we were awoken by a peacock, and some strange clucking noises which I never thought could be from an animal. I unzipped the tent and found these cute spotty birds roaming around the field!

I have since found out these are Guinea-fowl. Waaaaaay to lovely to eat surely?

And how amazing is our neighbours tent and bunting!

you can never be 100% on holiday when you run your own business, so Nao bought his office too...sending emails to Tokyo.

our new teapot...

and bathroom...

the next day we went to Lulworth cove, we went there before{see this post for more pics of Lulworth}.

We bought a blow-up dingy, and we rowed all the way around the cove, and then again to get ice cream & crisps. We had a picnic on board!

i did most of the rowing because Nao did the driving.

on the way back to the campsite, we had a look at the tiny village we were staying in, it was just like a time warp. We bought some pickled onions, nectarine & plum jams and some sweet peas by the roadside.

the facilities at the campsite were quite amusing...

but just our style!

a romantic mushroom...

we went for a little wander through the farm we were staying on, intrigued by the exotic bird sounds and harvesting of sweetpea flowers.

there were more toilets and showers in old pig sheds.

and lovely old greenhouses, a magical place indeed, I was very curious as to what goes on here and who would own such a place?

I bumped into the peacock,  and followed him...

...and he led me to more delights!

a tiny old garden nursery in full operation, but nobody around...hmm...

well, the next day we met the owner, a 70 or so year old gentleman, who told us about his passion for growing plants and the birds he keeps. He has parrots and budgies and love birds and all sorts. he said when the peacock does his display by his enclosure around teatime, the parrot opposite tries to do it too!

An extraordinary gent, and such a beautiful and magical mess of a place he has! It was like something out of a  story book. {but dont ask me where this campsite is because it is a secret, sorry!}

in the morning we went off to Chesil beach near Weymouth. It was extremely windy and cold, so after a quick look, we went on to a more sheltered beach instead.

Ringstead...

after a lovely peaceful evening, a horrendous monsoon fell upon us! I have never heard rain so loud but we were all snug and dry in our tent. We had a tea and breakfast indoors before working out how we are going to pack up everything in the pouring rain!

I was recently invited to visit Kew for a tour of the gardens, totally flattered of course we hot footed it over there and was met by the lovely guide Colette, who knew everything there was to know about not just the history of the garden but also the amazing work that is going on now-a-days in research. I was left kinda gob smacked, little did I know that so much was going on behind the scenes.

Some of my favourites were the alpines and the grasses. These plants are so important to Kew as they demonstrate how plants have developed to live in harsh environments and the study of these may help find an answer for those countries that struggle to grow their own food due to their weather conditions. fascinating stuff, no?

I pondered a lot about those great persons such as Darwin and how important they were, and so grateful that people want to devote their lives to study plants.

whilst also admiring the beautiful gardens!

Nao did a live commentry to Japan via his twitter, I hope the guide didn't think he was being rude!

so many colours this time! last time we went was in Autumn which was totally different scenery.

the trees at Kew are some of the oldest I ever seen, and they came by ship from all corners of the world, hundreds of years ago! 

in the Palm house...

this timid looking flower is not all it seems, it is helping to save the lives of many cancer patients right now!

check out that tiny pineapple! and that strange flower actually has a landing platform for the birds to land on once it is ripe, bonkers isn't it!

I love the building itself, it does have the feeling of an old metal ship hull, a bit rusty and all riveted together.

and the light is very soothing in there, makes you feel all sleepy and needing a tea.

the water lilies are out right now, and really is a sight to behold. They also have the worlds smallest water lily, which is an endangered species from Rwanda. The folks at Kew are cultivating them and re-introducing them back to the native country even though you can imaging the problems for them to go out there politically speaking.

We thought these plants were kind of cheeky trying to escape the glass house! If it got cold, do you think they would creep back in there?

we had such a super lovely day, and so nice to learn stuff instead of just admiring pretty flowers.

At the moment at Kew you can pretty much visit any country {botanically speaking I mean} and all the flowers are out and blooming! I recommend you have a tour too, because plants are the future y'know! and there is so much we should all learn about them.

after our trip to Kew we had to go to work until 2am! on a sunday ergh. but we survived!

For more information about Kew gardens, visit their website here >

More camping adventures coming up!