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Can You Really Turn Instagram Into a Career?

I have been on Instagram (in a professional sense) for 3 years now! I created InstaBritain in September 2015 for a number of reasons. Firstly,…

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6 Mindblowing Houses For Sale in the South West

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My Favourite Cotswold Villages

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  • Why go to Disney World when you have the real Disney Castle in Scotland? For real though, Craigievar Castle is supposedly the castle that inspired Walt Disney’s Cinderella Castle. In June 1879 even Queen Victoria couldn’t resist coming for a visit, she described the castle as a strange and curious place. She was spot on. I turned up to the castle to be met with a sign saying ‘closed’, I saw a man and his family turn around, but I thought I would drive up there anyway. My car was the only car in the car park, there wasn’t a person to be seen, even the toilets were closed. The result? I got the entire castle to myself. . The downside I guess was that I could go inside, it was all locked up. I also got the creeps a bit as the castle is surrounded by a mountainous landscape and I convinced myself I was going to be eaten by a bear 🐻 (I know there are no bears in Scotland but when the fear takes you, it takes you!). . According to Queen Victoria’s diary, she too turned up when no one was home. She was a bit more daring than me, she went into the castle regardless and took a look around on her own accord. What she found was a truly unspoilt castle. Dating back to the 1500s, Craigievar began its life as a traditional L plan tower house. This was purchased by William Forbes in 1610, he was very rich due to his trading between Aberdeen and the Baltic States. It was he who developed into the castle we see today 🏰 . The castle is now looked after by the Scottish National Trust, however there remain a few residents, ghostly ones that is 👻 One of these ghosts is said to haunt the Blue Room, supposedly being the spirit of a man from the rival clan Gordon who was pushed from the window by John Forbes. Some visitors have also reported getting a tingle down their spine in the kitchen, where a musician drowned in the well 😱 . If you are interested in castles, Aberdeenshire is home to the Castle Trail, a driving route that will take you through some of the most beautiful castles in the country 🥰 There are more castles per acre here than anywhere else in the U.K., boasting over 300 of them! . . . #visitABDN #ScotlandIsNow #BeautifulABDN
  • [ad] As you all know, I have a slight obsession with stalking other people's houses. Don't ask me why, I just do! This past year I have been working alongside @cheffinsproperty, the market leaders of property sales in Cambridgeshire. Cheffins was established in the early 1800s as a family business, and this week underwent a huge rebranding. Sophie, the lovely lady who runs their social media and PR (and is my sister's pal) has even let me have a snoop around some of their gorgeous properties! . How lucky for these people to live in a city as beautiful as Cambridge, it is high up on my list of the most dreamiest places to live and I often envy those who move there. Yes, the city is pricy and full of bicycles, but it is the most beautiful city in the world, and I also think one of the most romantic! To all you lucky men and women who already live here, do you have space for one more!? . I think part of me was born to become an estate agent, but I'm not sure it's all sunshine and roses having a poke around other people's houses. I think I have mentioned more than once that I would love to become a property developer, building cottages in the countryside, similar to how they were built 200 years ago. I just want to inject a bit of personality into our countryside again! I am fortunate to live very close to East Anglia, whilst the area has so many modern amenities and opportunities, it has very much retained that old school charm, so please have a swipe through these photos to have a look at some of the old and quirky homes @cheffinsproperty has the pleasure of looking after! Their website has been completely relaunched so if you want a nosy at the houses or are considering moving to East Anglia (Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Essex) then the houses don’t get much better than these ones 😍 . PS. I hate having my photo taken but one of my resolutions for this year was to stand in front of the camera a little more often. And it has taken me till 15th February to do so... . Have a lovely evening all! I am back home and snug as a bug with Alex ♥️🐛
  • [ad] Most people when they grow up want to be a ballerina, a princess, an astronaut or a firefighter. Me, at 28 years of age, just dream of being prompt, organised, and less of a scatterbrain, oh and someone how can figure out numbers. It was only when I was brushing my teeth at 5:05am it dawned on me my flight was leaving in 1 hour... and I was in my hotel... brushing my teeth. Never have I ever packed my bags so quick and ran as if my life depended on it. Well I made it, somehow, I missed bag drop, ran through the airport, had about £60 worth of liquids confiscated (brand new fake tan, wahh!), smuggled my suitcase on as hand luggage and boarded the flight. Woohoo! So whilst I highly recommend a trip to Aberdeenshire, I also recommend calculating your alarm clock time appropriately. . I have got so much more to share with you but couldn’t resist telling you about this gem, @thefifearms. You have may seen in my story, one of my lovely followers recommended this place to me the other day so I emailed that day and asked if I could come and take some photos. The staff were so lovely to let me in for an hour and have a look around (and gave me tea ☕️). This hotel is one of the best celebrations of Scottishness I have ever seen, they even had their own tartan designed for them! . It seems pretty fitting having this hotel here in Braemar as Braemar is also home to the world famous Highland Games! The roots of these games stretches back to over 1000 years ago, originally they start as a war game, to pluck out who was the fittest and the strongest of all the men, this would a#help armies choose the soldiers they wanted to fight in battle. In modern day, the Highland Games continue to celebrate pipes, drums, dancing and brute. . The first historical reference to Highland Games-type events in Scotland was made during the reign of King Malcolm III (1057-1093) when he summoned men to race up Craig Choinnich near Braemar in order to find a royal messenger. . So! If you ever fancy visiting the place that birthed one of the most famous Scottish traditions, head to Braemar in the Cairngorms 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 . . . #visitABDN #BeautifulABDN #ScotlandIsNow
  • [ad] It’s incredible what you can squeeze into a day when you put your mind to it. I left the beautiful coastline yesterday and headed inland, into the Cairngorms, a rugged mountain range 🥰 Hidden within these mountains is Balmoral Castle, owned by the royal family. . It seems rather fitting I’m writing this on Valentines Day as I learnt yesterday that @balmoral_castle was bought as a gift from Prince Albert to his wife, Queen Victoria. All I got Alex was a card with a dog on it wearing sparkly sunglasses... so I need to up my game? . However, the house we see today was not the original. Nope. Queen Victoria decided the original building was too small for her ever growing family so the royals commissioned a new house, opposite to where the old tower stood. Once the current building was completed, the old one was taken down. The foundation stone, laid by Queen Victoria herself, still remains at the property and visitors can see it. Underneath lies a time capsule containing a piece of parchment dated and signed by the (then) queen’s, as well as one of each of the realms coins (that was a lot back then!). . Big thanks to Kathleen and James who allowed me to see the beautiful castle when usually it is closed over winter. You all know I’m a history geek so I was in my element 🥰 . . @visitabdn #scotlandisnow #visitabdn #beautifulabdn
  • [ad] As I mentioned yesterday, I am in Scotland for the next few days exploring Aberdeenshire which is around 550 miles from where I live near London. I was invited by @visitabdn so look forward to showing you what the area has to offer, although most of you already know Scotland is one of the prettiest countries ever 😍😍 . Other than forgetting my debit card, getting up here was pretty simple. It was actually my first ever internal flight within the UK! I usually drive or get the train everywhere but flying was much easier in this instance and you’re not even in the air for that long. The Gods were obviously looking out for me and felt bad that I couldn’t finish my breakfast sandwich so gave me a window seat, flying over mountains is always fun 🏔 . If you visit Scotland and want to do more than a city break, your best bet is to hire a car and drive. The scenery is beyond what I can put into words and it means you can stop for photos (or snacks) whenever you feel like it. I took the Coastal Trail which is a winding route in which you can make your way around cliff tops, coves, hills, nature reserves, past beaches, through fishing villages, you name it. . As it’s February the roads are very quiet, I’ve not even had any near misses with cars or decorative rocks, more than what I can say for my every day driving round southern England 😇 I even thought I saw a whale yesterday 🐳 turns out it was a rock but hey, if you’re lucky you can spot seals and dolphins up here! . Can’t believe it’s hump day already. I’m off for breakfast and then onto the Cairngorms (I’m also going to a place where shortbread is made and I’m not gonna lie, it’ll be the highlight of my month 🤤) . . #visitABDN #beautifulABDN #ScotlandIsNow
  • Current situation: alarm went off at 5am, taxi arrived at 5:30am, now sat in Heathrow Airport wondering what the heck I could have forgotten. Then it comes to me. My debit card. Yes my debit card is 30 miles away at home whilst I await my flight to Scotland, of which I have to pick up a car hire at the other end, and we all know car hire companies are notorious for refusing you a hire car unless you have a card on you. So I have my breakfast in front of me but I can’t eat it because I feel so anxious I’m not going to get the car 🥶 That and the fact the government website can’t seem to verify my details to hire the car either. Apparently I don’t exist as a human, maybe I’m a robot 🤪 . So please wish me luck because I don’t want to fly all the way to Scotland (lol it’s a 1 hour flight) to have to figure out their buses instead of getting this car! . Anyone else really bad at travelling alone? Perks of an organised husband: I always have everything I need when we go on holiday. Downsides of an organised husband: I clearly haven’t learnt to be organised myself. . I wonder what the man in the photo is wondering. He kinda looks like he has lost something too, I hope he found whatever he was looking for 🙃🙃
  • Let’s ignore the Christmas decorations and just pretend they are just winter ones 😇 Seeing as I haven’t been out much taking photos I’ve been going through old ones and reediting them. I honestly laugh when I look at my old stuff but in a years time I will probably feel the same about what I’m doing now 🤷🏻‍♀️ . Looking at photos of Lincoln make me a little warm and fuzzy inside. I love the city and have only been in winter so hopefully this summer I can take a trip up and see what it’s like when it’s warm. But for now it satisfies my winter needs. I have a few things coming up, I am off to Aberdeenshire tomorrow and then in a couple of weeks to Bruges and Amsterdam for a few days for 📸📸 . I’ve been a bit grouchy the last few weeks and whinging about winter so I decided to put together a list of winter positives: - hot water bottles, especially ones that look like the Gruffalo - February is definitely seeing a change from the short days of January to a little more sunlight in the early evenings - the daffodils are on their way 🌼 - butternut squash soup 🥣 - snuggles and bringing the duvet down onto the sofa 🛋 - tights and boots 👢 - woolly hats - crisp sunny days - the hope of summer 🌞 - crackling fires 🔥 . . I hope you all have a great Monday! What do you like most about winter? ❄️
  • Still suffering from the winter blues but I did see the pop of some Bluebells yesterday ♥️♥️ Just a little throw back to June when I stayed at @thescrumpyshepherd, a sweet blue shepherd hut in the Suffolk countryside! Last summer was the best summer I’ve ever known in my whole life. We had weeks of 30 degrees and sunshine, I remember this day was another scorcher and I never wanted summer to end. . English summers are, in my opinion, the best summers ever. When it’s sunny that is! Everyone is happier, everything is brighter, you wake up to the sound of the birds or the sound of your neighbour mowing the lawn. The gardens are blooming with flowers, houses are covered in roses, kids are splashing around in lakes and overs, people have garden parties and BBQs. Pub gardens are full of cheery people and the sun shines till late into the evening 🌞 . Summer always reminds me of being little and playing in the garden listening to the light aeroplanes fly around. My sisters and I would spend hours and hours outside hiding in the garden. We had a Wendy house that was a sweet shop and every so often my mum would fill it with sweets and we would pretend to buy them. I remember eating tea in their one night and rubbing beetroot all over my face and telling my mum my sister had beaten me up 🤣 . I hope you all have a lovely day and I hope wherever you are is a little sunnier than here ♥️
  • When it snowed the other day I was at my sisters house. She lives around 50 minutes north of me so I wanted to get home quickly as I have a poor track record with driving... let alone in the snow. BUT all my hopes and dreams were pinned on this house. I convinced myself it was going to be covered in snow and be the most fairytale like thing I had ever seen. I turned up and was fairly disappointed that it looked more like a sprinkling of icing sugar than the winter wonderland I imagined in my head. . Alas, some snow is better than no snow. Surely? Hmmm.... . I find Houghton an odd place. It’s a pretty little village on the outskirts of Huntingdon - a pretty average town (no offence if you live there!). There’s not much going on in the village but there is a shop, a pub and a National Trust mill meaning there is a tea room with scones. I knew of this place long before Instagram which is why I find it funny that people actually travel here to snap a photo (I have now become that person). There was a boy in my class who lived here and he had an obsession with painting fish in art class. No matter what task we had been given, he somehow turned it into a fish painting. Don’t get me wrong, they were brilliant paintings, but he sort of got a name for himself as the fish boy. He was rather sweet and innocent until he tried to snog my friend (Lauren I am sorry for letting out your secret). . Anyway. Here’s to Rose Cottage, scones, and the boy who paints fish 🐠

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