Summary – July to September 2025

Published on by Mélodie

Summer months have been actually busier than expected with holidays, family visit, weekends away and trips for work. Here a summary of the main things we have done during summer.

Ces mois d’été ont été plus chargé que ce que nous avions envisagé entre des vacances, une visite de la famille, des weekends hors de la maison et des voyages pour le travail. Voici un résumé de ce que nous avons fait cet été.

Read our April  to June 2025 summary here.

Train adventure on the La'al Ratty from Ravenglass to Dalegarth, Cumbria
Train adventure on the La’al Ratty from Ravenglass to Dalegarth, Cumbria

Personal Life:

Vie Personnelle:

During these summer months, we had some nice hot days allowing us to enjoy spending time in our garden and at St Bees beach, however, we didn’t managed to go wild swimming this year.

Pendant ces mois d’été nous avons eu quelques belles journées bien chaude et avons ainsi pu profiter de notre jardin et de la plage de St Bees. Malheureusement nous n’avons pas réussi à nager dans les lacs cette année.

We also had the visit of Matt’s parents and nephew in August. They decided to take Marcus with them in their motorhome for a couple of days and visit Dumfries area. Marcus loved it and it allowed Matt and I to celebrate our 15th anniversary at the one star Michelin restaurant the Cottage in the Wood near Braithwaite. We were lucky as we booked it last minute and I have to say the food and overall experience was amazing. Definitely worth the price and totally recommend it.

Nous avons eu la visite des parents de Matt et de son neveu au mois d’août. Ils ont décidé de prendre Marcus avec eux dans leur camping car quelques jours et d’aller visiter la région de Dumfries. Marcus a adoré et cela nous a permis Matt et moi d’aller célébrer nos 15 ans ensemble au restaurant The Cottage in the wood vers Braithwaite, qui a une étoile Michelin. Nous avons été chanceux car nous avons réservé à la dernière minute et je dois dire que la nourriture et l’expérience dans son intégralité ont été superbe. Cela mérite définitivement le prix et d’y aller.

Unfortunately, September wasn’t great as Matt lost two uncles beginning of that month so he had to quickly travel back to France. He also had to do several trips for work which meant that September went very fast with little relaxing time.

Malheureusement le mois de Septembre n’a pas été très heureux car Matt a perdu deux oncles et a dû rentrer en France en urgence. Puis il a pas mal voyagé pour le travail ce qui a fait que nous n’avons pas eu beaucoup de temps pour nous reposer.

Tasting menu at The Cottage in the Wood

Walking:

Randonnées:

We haven’t explore a lot of of new places during summer and we mainly stayed local with several walks along the coastal path, around St Bees beach and village, Ennerdale lake, Loweswater lake and Keswick.

Nous n’avons pas exploré de nouveaux endroits cet été et nous avons fait en majorité des randonnées locales le long du sentier côtier, autour du village et de la plage de St Bees, le lac d’Ennerdale et de Loweswater et Keswick.

Walking starts to be harder as Marcus is too heavy for me to carry him so only Matt can carry him. Marcus does walk but as any toddlers, he stops every meter to observe a rock, an ant or other things that he found more interesting than walking, which means that we need a good 2h to do 2 km. The main thing is that we managed to spend a lot of time outdoor and we are looking forward to future longer walks.

Cela commence à être un peu dur de marcher avec Marcus car il est trop lourd pour que je puisse le porter donc il n’y a que Matt qui le porte. Marcus marche mais comme tout petit enfants, il s’arrête tout les mètres pour observer un caillou, une fourmi ou autre chose qu’il trouve plus intéressant que la marche. Il nous faut donc 2h pour faire 2km. Mais le principal c’est que nous avons passé beaucoup de temps dans la nature et nous espérons bien pouvoir aller faire de plus longue randonnées.

Matt carrying Marcus on his shoulders on the path to Walla Crag with Skye by their side, Cumbria, England

Travelling:

Voyages:

In July, Marcus and I spent a weekend at our friend Tania’s near Glasgow airport. The weather was very hot that weekend so on the Saturday we decided to enjoy a day on Kip Marina beach, Inverkip.

En Juillet, Marcus et moi avons passé le weekend chez notre amie Tania qui habite pas très loin de l’aéroport de Glasgow. Il faisait très chaud ce weekend la donc nous avons décidé le samedi de passer la journée à la plage de Kip Marina à Inverkip.

We also spent a day visiting Holker Hall and Garden with Matt’s family and a day with our friend Ella and Julian visiting Sizergh Castle.

Nous avons aussi visité la manoir d’Holker avec les parents de Matt et le château de Sizergh avec nos amis Ella et Julian.

The main highlight of the summer was our week all inclusive near Benidorm in Spain. We had a great week enjoying the nice weather, playing in the pool or in the sea and relaxing in family.

Le plus important de cet été fût notre semaine en forfait tout inclus dans un hôtel proche de Benidorm en Espagne. Nous avons eu beau temps et avons adoré jouer en famille dans la piscine et à la mer et nous relaxer.

View of Levante beach, Benidorm, Spain
View of Levante beach, Benidorm, Spain

Blogging:

Blogging:

I always struggle writing my blog during summer months as we are busy enjoying the outdoors. Additionally, as Matt was away from home most weeks in September, I struggled to find the time and the energy to write my blog which means that I have now a long list of blog posts to finish writing. I am trying to not put too much pressure on myself as at the end of the day , writing should be a pleasure and not a chore. Here the latest blog posts.

J’ai toujours beaucoup de mal à écrire l’été car nous sommes occupés à profiter de la nature. Et vu que Matt est parti pratiquement toutes les semaines j’ai eu du mal à trouver le temps et l’énergie pour écrire. J’ai donc maintenant pas mal d’articles à rédiger. Mais j’essaie de ne pas me mettre trop la pression car écrire doit rester un plaisir et ne pas devenir une corvée. Voici les derniers articles.

Holker Hall and Garden, Lake District, Cumbria
Holker Hall and Garden, Lake District, Cumbria

Books:

Livres:

During summer months I managed to read a lot of books (for my standard anyway). I have discovered new authors, was disappointed by others but unfortunately I didn’t really read any amazing ones, except Segou by Maryse Condé. Here the ones I have read / listened (in reading order).

J’ai beaucoup lu pendant ces mois d’été (pour mes standards dans tous les cas). J’ai découvert de nouveau auteurs, ai été déçu par d’autres mais malheureusement je n’ai rien lu de vraiment extraordinaire à l’exception de Ségou de Maryse Condé. J’ai lu/ écouté les livres suivants (dans l’ordre de lecture).

  • England: A natural History by John Lewis- Stempel (EN);
  • Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile (EN);
  • Segou: Les murailles de terre Tome 1 by Maryse Conde (FR);
  • The Glass House by Eve Chase (EN);
  • Mercure by Amelie Nothomb (FR);
  • Le Roi se meurt by Eugne Ionesco (FR);
  • The Djinn waits for a hundred years by Shubnum Khan (EN);
  • The Heart goes last by Margaret Atwood (EN).
Elephants at Terra Natura, Benidorm, Spain
Elephants at Terra Natura, Benidorm, Spain

Blog discoveries:

Découverte de blogs:

Finally I am sharing some great blog posts written by fellow bloggers in the past three months.

Finalement je partage avec vous des articles de blogs que d’autres bloggers ont écrit ces trois derniers mois.

I am now looking forward to the Christmas break and to read all our adventures.

J’attends maintenant avec impatience nos vacances de Noel et de lire toutes vos aventures.

Did you enjoy your summer months? Any books you recommend? Any new hobby you started recently?

Avez vous profité de votre été? Avez vous des livres à recommander? Avez vous commencé un nouveau hobby récemment?

Gooderstones water garden, Norfolk, England
Gooderstones water garden, Norfolk, England

Find all our adventures in UK here.

30 thoughts on “Summary – July to September 2025”

  1. Thanks for the link, Melodie. No-one wants to be tied to the laptop during the summer months when there’s all of winter to catch up. It sounds like you made good use of the time. It’s many years since I was on Naxos so I’ll go and see how Marion enjoyed it, and pop in on Rosie in Toulouse. Have a great Autumn xx

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    1. You’re welcome Jo. Also as I am working on the computer the whole day I found it hard to connect again in the evening to write. I try to disconnect from screens as much as I can in the evenings ☺️.
      I hope you will enjoy Marion and Rosie blogs.
      Thanks you too have a great Autumn.

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  3. Wow! You have been very busy so thanks for the recap. My condolences for your family losses.

    Although busy with lots of visits from friends we did enjoy our summer months so I haven’t started anything new. I’ve read some books too but won’t report on them here. I hope you have some time to enjoy the remainder of autumn. Cheers.

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  4. Wow, Holker Hall and Gardens look absolutely amazing, especially for those interested in history, beautiful gardens, and a peaceful day out.

    You know, I am the same and have a pretty predictable annual pattern when it comes to blogging. When the weather warms up, I just want to be outside. I wanna spend less time inside, less time on my computer, and less time on my blog. I call it the ol’ summer slump.

    Most bloggers I know are super-hard workers, and pour incredible amounts of time and energy and heart into their work. I’m one of them — blogging is something I love to do, and I give it my all. However, like with any other job, working hard earns you time off. So don’t be that crazy boss to yourself that you would never want to work for — give yourself the time off you deserve, and then take those vacation days!

    Thanks for sharing, and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx

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  6. Tu sembles avoir passé un très bel et riche été ❤Les plats sont superbes ! Et si en plus, ils étaient bons… Toutes mes condoléances à Matt pour la perte de ses deux oncles. J’espère que malgré cette épreuve, vous passerez un doux mois de novembre.

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  7. It certainly sounds like you had a busy summer. Congrats on celebrating 15 years together! We can totally relate to walking now being harder and much slower with a toddler! We’re in the same position now with our little one!! Thanks for the shoutout. New Zealand was such an amazing trip. And I’m glad we went when we did as I’m not sure we’d be able to hike as much if we went now!

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  9. Une partie de mon été s’est très bien passée avec le voyage à Naxos mais le retour a été plus que chaotique au travail, ce qui n’a pas été sans impact sur ma santé. Il m’a fallu un peu de temps pour m’en remettre mais je préfère garder seulement en tête le positif et notamment notre joli voyage. Merci pour le partage 😊

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  10. Thank you for the link to my post on Toulouse, Mélodie. I’m glad you enjoyed the trip down memory lane 🙂 It sounds like you had a busy summer. I also tend to enjoy the longer daylight hours and get out and about more… and save the blogging and screen time for the hibernation months over the winter! I’m off to enjoy reading some of the other blogs you linked to now – New Zealand has been on my travel wish-list for a long time, so I am looking forward to seeing where Linda visited.

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  12. I looked at the Cottage In The Wood when we were up in September, we instead went to the Pheasant Inn but the food looks very good in your photos, Happy belated Anniversary. I have to say seeing Marcus being carried does bring back memories of my two. It doesn’t take long for them to be running off ahead and the adults struggling to keep up

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  13. Sounds like you a lovely summer Mél. There will come a day when you can no longer remember the last time you picked Marcus up, which is a good thing but also a little sad. My son is thirty years old and we were talking about that a while ago, so naturally I had to pick him up! Which nearly put my back out! And thank you for the mention 😀

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    1. It wasn’t too bad summer indeed, just the weather wasn’t that great to really enjoy the lakes. I am keeping all the photos of Matt carrying Marcus they are making great memories for when he will be older. Nice that you tried to carry your son recently. Did he try to carry you?

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