Loving where I live: Cambridgeshire

I'm throwing it back to the old school in today's blog post with a tag! The gorgeous Nicole of Nicole Navigates wrote an awesome post on why she loves her home town of Towcester and has tagged me to do the same. In the meantime if you're ever looking for something to do within the Northamptonshire area, you should definitely check out Nicole's blog as she regularly posts updates on upcoming events as well as amazing reviews on places to go!

So onto where I live: Cambridgeshire...Technically I live in Lincolnshire but it's literally on the border and I spend all of my time in Cambridgeshire other than when I'm at home! I also live in a very remote area which has a shop and that's it so writing specifically about where I live would take all of about two minutes...

So instead I've decided that I'll take you on a whistle stop tour of some of my favourite places and reasons to love living in Cambridgeshire.

Food

There are an array of gorgeous eateries up and down the county of Cambridgeshire. Whether you're after fine dining in Michelin Star Restaurants such as The Chubby Castor, street food such as Steak & Honour or my personal favourite- The Brampton Mill in Brampton.

For me, The Brampton Mill is my favourite spot as it caters for all occasions. From birthdays, to Valentine's day or just a relaxing drink in the bar by the fire or outside next to the river, The Brampton Mill has it all. The food is always spot on and after recently being refurbished, the mill is even more inviting and gorgeous as ever. If you're ever in the Brampton/Huntingdon vicinity I'd highly recommend you pop in for some good food and gorgeous surroundings.

Local Businesses

There are so many amazing local businesses in Cambridgeshire and it's always great to support and shop local. The two main ones that really stand out to me are:

• Bumble Campers
• Wild Frost

I discovered Bumble Campers in 2017 and they are my go-to for fresh fun camper van holidays. I have had the sheer privilege of working with them and discovered so many amazing places through touring the UK in their camper vans.

Based in Peterborough, they have an array of awesome camper vans to choose from that sleep 2-4 people and dogs too! From discovering them I have been able to travel to places such as The Peak District , The New Forest and The Lake District for a wedding! So when I do fancy escaping Cambridgeshire as gorgeous as it is, I really rate doing it with Bumble Campers. Their service is second to none and they make camping even more enjoyable.

Wild Frost is another amazing local business that brings me such joy to visit! Owner Louise has brought her love of vintage cafes and beautiful blooms together to create the most amazing place to enjoy cakes, flowers and coffee in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire. The coffee is always great and I particularly love the bacon and brie panini when I'm there but if you have more of a sweet tooth, you'll definitely love the hot chocolates and sundaes! The bouquets and flower arrangements in the shop are also incredible and you can see the love that goes into them. Louise and her team provide bouquets for all occasions including weddings and they don't disappoint.

With beautiful fresh cakes and flowers, Wild Frost café is an incredibly inviting space both aesthetically and also atmospherically with their warm welcoming staff. Louise has recently converted her second flower shop in Somersham, Cambridgeshire into another café which I definitely plan on going to in the near future. The Somersham shop also hosts some amazing play dates for anyone with small children.

Cambridge

Cambridge city is possibly one of the dreamiest cities in the country and by far the best in the county. Can I do it justice in a paragraph? Absolutely not.

What I will say though is it is a must visit if you're in Cambridgeshire for a visit. From punting to the gorgeous colleges and architecture, food, festivals and more there is so much to do and see. There is always something exciting to do on any given day and having lived in the Cambridgeshire area for 23 years, I can safely say I will never get bored of this city, nor have I scratched the surface with what there is to do when you visit.

Landscape

Cambridgeshire is known for being flat. Flat flat flat flat and that gives for vast stretching fields and beautiful landscapes and stunning fields in the summer.

Being flat for miles and miles is one of the other things I love about the county. It  makes for great running routes if like me you hate hills!

So those are just some of the reasons why I love where I live. It's actually been lovely to think about what I appreciate ad enjoy in my area and I'd recommend everyone doing the same. We may not all live in idyllic looking areas or sought after places. For some people rural life would be their worst nightmare whereas city life could give another person the exact same feeling but it's what we make of our surroundings and what we do in our downtime to make us happy that counts.

Do you love where you live? Thank you Nicole for tagging me to do this post. I really enjoyed it!

Laydey Katabella & Wild Frost Café's #InstaPrettyParty

Just over a week ago I stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to host my own blogging event know as #InstaPrettyParty.

Photo c/o Loved by Laura

I got the inspiration from attending Louise from B.Loved #InstaPrettyParty at The Handmade Fair in 2015 so decided to use her idea but do my own take on it. 

The purpose of the session was to teach fellow bloggers how to take Instagram-worthy shots and swap tips and ideas.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may well know that I have a slight huge obsession with Wild Frost Café in Ramsey and I’m forever posting snaps of the food and flowers, (I’ve even done a post on it too), so for me this was the perfect place to hold an Instagram inspired event. It’s also blooming gorgeous and has so many pretty photogenic areas, it makes for the perfect blogger meeting point!

I ordered some beautiful blooms from Louise for us to photograph – some arranged and some loose for use in flat lays and made up a little tips pack for everyone to give them some pointers on ways to help them (which I had far too much fun making.)

I also ordered this gorgeous Victoria sponge cake for photographing and of course for eating! I can tell you now that it tasted just as good as it looked if not better! 

I had six lovely bloggers come to the event – some I knew and some I hadn’t met before. I must admit I was rather nervous about speaking to a group as public speaking isn’t my strong point but the girls were lovely and the atmosphere was laid back and fun which is what I was aiming for. It was also lovely to meet Georgina, Alice and Amy for the first time and see Pippa, Sophie and Laura again.

Photo c/o Clashing Time

So I guess you’re wondering what sort of tips I shared right? If you’re like me and you don’t have beautiful wood floors throughout your home, my top tip is to get your mitts on some wallpaper samples from a local DIY shop. Not only are the samples free, they’re easy to store and can be rolled away when not in use and they make for a really great background. Everyone particularly likes this mauve/ grey wood effect one which complimented the bouquets perfectly.

I also gave tips on styling and lighting. Natural light works best and less is more when it comes to composition. I brought along some props for everyone to style too. Things like buttons, ribbons and pretty papers are great for adding interest to an image and another tip I suggest is to print pretty quotes you like from places such as Pinterest to use in your images.

The two hour event flew by with flat lays being snapped, cake being eaten and coffees slurped and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves which I’m so pleased about.

I really want to do some more #InstaPrettyParties and further events now and think I have the bug for it! I’ve got lots of ideas whizzing round so keep your eyes peeled for more in the future. Thank you to everybody that attended and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

I also vlogged the event which you can check out below:

Have you been to an Instagram party?