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JOURNAL

Slowing Down
 

The last few months I’ve been feeling really run down. Last year was consumed by the stress of selling our flat and buying our new home, and then getting in there and trying to make it liveable as soon as possible. I just cannot relax if I don’t feel happy with my home so I literally threw myself into the work and spent every moment I wasn’t at work, fixing up the house. As soon as we got it to a decent standard, the Christmas retail rush began at work and I had the busiest December I’ve ever had.

It got to January and my body freaked out and I ended up being rundown and ill for about a solid month. That, plus not having had an actual holiday since last Easter when I shot ‘Flat Land’ in Holland, and also just generally not seeing any daylight for so long, really did me wrong. Oh, and I turned 30 so I may or may not have been having a slight life crisis. I actually very nearly put the house on the market and was ready to pack up everything and move to the countryside. Luckily I talked myself out of that and realised I just need to get back to real life and slow down. I’ve taken more time for myself (I can happily spend a solid day just pottering around the house), and more time to work on my online shop (which will soon be in physical form at Tynemouth Market and hopefully other places in the future).

The shop will be a mixture of my prints, things I make, plants I’ve propagated and vintage homeware I’ve collected. It’s basically a plan for me to be able to spend my days doing the things I love, and making some sort of a living from it, which is obviously the dream for anyone. Fingers crossed all goes well, and for now, watch out for shop updates on my instagram. Everything can also be purchased from my online shop here in between market days.

 
Amy Spires
Wales - Part 2
 

After spending the first few days in the north of Wales, we set off to explore the Brecon Beacons and the rest of Wales. I don’t plan much, but sometimes I’ll do a quick google search to see if there’s anything nearby that I might miss out on seeing. One of the places that popped up was Goytre Wharf. We spent a morning walking along the canal, looking at boats and absorbing some of the freakishly hot February sun.

 
 

Honestly, I couldn’t even tell you where we spent the rest of the trip. We just pottered, stopping off at bookshops and antique shops and having breakfast and second breakfast at every opportunity we could. It did start raining again towards the end of the trip so we came home a day early, but it was fine. My batteries were fully recharged and I had a good batch of film to get developed.

 
 
 
Amy Spires
Wales - Part 1
 

We set off for Wales pretty early so we arrived at a better time than we expected. We decided to stop at the nearest decent sized coastal town to stretch our legs and brush off the cobwebs of hours in the car. LLandudno. What a place. If I had to describe it to you…. I’d say a mixture between a Spanish tourist town and Whitby. Gloriously cheesy shops along the promenade and cafes shaded by palm trees. All with the mountains in the background. Honestly, as ‘tacky’ (and I genuinely use that word in a good way) as it was, the atmosphere started us off on a great note in Wales.

 
 

After a wander we jumped back in the car and started driving south in the vague direction of our Airbnb. I never usually plan these road trips too much, and just tend to stop when we see something that looks interesting. I’ve found some of the best places this way.

Our next stop was Conwy, where we wandered around the quay and the castle and even stumbled upon the smallest house in Britain. I’d read about it before, but couldn’t get a photo as the light was in the exact wrong place. Some things are just not meant to be photographed.

 
 

After a dramatic first night with some AirBnB problems (read about it here) we spent the next morning at the Betws Y Coed railway station, and I can safely say it was one of my favourite moments of the trip. I was sat in a cafe on the platform, having one of the best breakfasts of my life, the sun shining, watching the trains and the miniature railway. It was one of the moments where you think to yourself ‘I’m having a cracking time’.

So far, so good.

 
Amy Spires