Jogging Through Porridge

Author: Nicci

  • Mini Moon to Wales – 29th-31st July 2026

    Over the last few years we’ve booked cabin retreats for our anniversary, this year however we got married on our 22nd anniversary, so we booked a cabin retreat for our Mini Moon instead; as we’re having our actual honeymoon next year due to work commitments this year.

    This was our first time actually staying in Wales, our previous stays have been close to the Welsh border, so we’ve popped over the border for days out etc. I have to say mid Wales is stunning, we stayed in a little cabin near to the village Dinas Mawddwy and the views were everything!

    On the evening of the 29th July; running through the field in front of our cabin was a young Roe Buck, absolutely gorgeous to see and also magical it being on the Buck moon. Soon after sheep appeared in the field, they came right up to our fence whilst we were in the hot tub, for a nosey at what we were doing.

    Caban Tirion is situated on the edge of Eryri (Snowdonia) national park, the views in the valley are honestly breathtaking. It’s so quiet and tranquil I could have stayed forever, hearing the sheep calling to each other and cow’s mooing was a perfect way to wake up.

    The cabin has a sauna and a hot tub, absolutely essential in my book (well the hot tub anyway). One of the evening’s we were out in it around twilight and got to see bats flying around overhead, unfortunately we didn’t get to see the Buck Moon as it was very cloudy where we were, but if there’s no clouds the sky would be stunning as there’s no light pollution.

    Thursday 30th we were looking for places to visit, where we could get a nice coffee from and have a mooch about, a quick Google search came up with a place called Machynlleth which wasn’t far from where we were staying. This place has quickly become my new favourite town, the vibe felt similar to Glastonbury, it’s full of independent quirky little shops, gorgeous coffee shops, quaint book stores and the MOMA – Museum of Modern Art.

    If you want a nice cup of coffee and a bite to eat, definitely visit the Hermit Crab Coffee you won’t be disappointed. For something free to do visit the MOMA which is nestled in the middle of Penrallt street, it’s free to visit but donations are welcomed, the gift store has some lovely things and are all reasonably priced. We bought a couple of books from the Literary Cat Books store, this place is rammed with old, antique and new books. There’s also a whole foods store, which sells a lot of vegan food, gluten free etc, all the places we looked at for a bite to eat had a good amount of vegan options. A lot of places are closed on a Thursday and by all accounts the best day to visit is on a Wednesday when the Market is on.

    Spending our Mini Moon here was perfect, the weather was on our side and the place is stunning. We’ll definitely be back.

    xx

  • Newquay Zoo

    Newquay Zoo

    Cornwall

    Newquay Zoo is a small beautiful and well maintained zoo, however some of the enclosures are smaller than other zoo’s we’ve been to, especially for the Carpathian Lynx whose enclosure looks really small; compared to the penguins whose enclosure is larger than other zoo’s we’ve been to.

    We have been before when the kids were really little so quite a bit has changed, such as the penguins have had a newly revamped larger area built, with undercover viewing area and seating area. I was hoping to see the lions but they’ve been moved to Paignton Zoo, which I suppose is a good thing as their enclosure was really small, which now houses hyenas.

    We were staying in Newquay in May and the weather was weathering hard all week! Between heavy rain and strong winds we had occasional glimpses of sun, thankfully on the day we planned to visit the zoo, the weather held it together. It was cold but thankfully dry, so we were able to explore and spend time watching the animals, rather than racing around and ticking them off as “seen”.

    The cost to get in is probably in the mid to high range, as a family of 5 days out can become really expensive really quickly! With an average day out these days costing around £100+ just to get in places.

    Adult tickets are around £17.50+ with children tickets 3-15 around £12.50+, under 3’s are around £2.75.

    Accessibility:

    The zoo is primarily flat and accessible to wheelchair users, some area’s have slight gradients which can make navigating a manual chair that little bit harder, but overall it’s really good.

    The zoo website actually has an accessibility map which shows area’s of inclines and inaccessibility, you can find that here.

    x

  • Trentham Monkey Forest

    Trentham Monkey Forest

    Home Ed day out.

    Trentham Monkey Forest is located on the Trentham Estate in Stoke-on-Trent.

    In April we visited Trentham Monkey Forest for their home education day. We’ve done a few of these days out at various places, these are offered to home educators for a discount price. Which is great as it means we can visit more places, some places offer discounted rates if there’s a larger group of home edders, but not all places offer either of those things.

    We have visited before, but it was years ago. The sun was shining so it was a really lovely afternoon out.

    The kids really loved watching the monkeys wander about through the forest, especially the babies, some of whom were chasing each other and play fighting.

    This one in the photo stopped right in front of us to have a drink in the river, before jumping across and carrying on with his day.

    We had the opportunity to attend a talk by one of the keepers. This was very informative on the diet of the Barbary macaques, and how they are cared for day to day. There were other workshops we could have attended, but they needed to be pre booked for an additional cost.

    The kids really enjoyed it and have said they would go again, for this day out we paid £40.00 which saved us around £20 from the normal price. They offer these home ed days out across several dates over the year. If you’re nearby and home educators it’s definitely worth a visit.

    The area outside the monkey forest is lovely, lots of seating available under cover for picnics. Along with a couple of park areas, one is designed for littler ones which is located next to the cafe, and seating area whilst the other is located opposite the seating area. There is also a pond, maze, den building area, and meadow walk and bee trail which we didn’t get to see sadly – maybe next time.

    Accessibility:

    For wheelchair access most of the grounds as you enter the park is flat, with slight gradients towards the toilet blocks. To enter the forest it’s a fairly steep slope, with large gated access which may be harder to deal with if you’re in a manual chair and have nobody to give you a push and deal with the gates.

    Within the forest area there’s one part that is very steep and advised to avoid if in a wheelchair, you can go another way which brings you to the bottom of the steep slope.

    Following the slope it brings you in a circle basically through the forest. If you’re a wheelchair user going the other way that’s flatter, just means when you get to this part in the photo you just need to turn back.

    Parts of the path out of the forest (and entering) are rocky and have a slight gradient, and obviously what goes up must come down, so coming out of the gated access gives you a slope to come down.

    x

  • CineStill 400D film – review

    CineStill 400D film – review

    I’ve been on a quest to be more analogue recently, so decided to pick up my old film camera, a Canon EOS 500N 35mm with a 50mm lens which is my favourite of all the lenses. I looked up what film is available these days as I wasn’t sure, I didn’t want to just get a Kodak coloured film and also didn’t want to shoot on black and white. I came across a post on; I think on instagram about CineStill 400d film, and the depth of colours really popped, but with a dream like quality I fell in love with, so I had to grab some.

    My plan was to shoot photos all over Christmas and then have them processed, <Insert laughing emoji!> I think I got maybe 6 photos! So then I thought “I’ll photograph everything and I’ll always carry my camera!” <face palm> So that didn’t happen either! So here we are in June, and I finally finished the roll!

    I now also have another camera on the go as I had a Kodak Ultra F9S for my birthday in January which came with film. That also still hasn’t been finished!

    We went to Trentham Monkey Forest in April (post coming soon on that) and I did remember my camera! I absolutely love the depth of colour and dream like quality on these photos, the depth of those shadows is incredible, you can really see the variants in soft and more harsher shadows that often can be muddied.

    I love how the colours look in the natural light of the sun dappling through the trees, it handled this beautifully. I also really love how the colours pop during twilight too, (photo 2) it really captured the mood of the sky during sunset whilst keeping the shadows of the trees dark. The softness and ethereal feeling it evokes in photo 3, I’m in love with this film. Colour film was never something I got to grips with, I always preferred black and white; that maybe more because at college and university I was only able to develop b&w, so didn’t spend much time using colour film. Overall I love this film and with fine grain, a soft colour palette with rich warm tones; it is absolutely a film I will be reaching for again and again.

    I used Stuck in film to process the film, which was around £12.99 for the processing, jpg downloads and negatives. I decided against prints as I wasn’t sure how they all would turn out, it’s been a long time since I’ve used a film camera. They’ve been really good and kept me up to date during the process, and when the negatives and new film will be delivered.

    I am going to do my best to remember to take my camera everywhere from here on out, as I really love the quality of film.

    x

  • 1000 threads catwalk gala

    1000 threads catwalk gala

    On Thursday 18th June we were invited to attend the 1000 threads catwalk gala, at Central Square Brindleyplace Birmingham, by founder and director of 1000 threads who also happens to be our CreaTech Frontiers mentor, Lee Lapthorne.

    As an alumni of BCU I’ve loved being able to head ‘back’ to uni to work with some of the students on our CreaTech project, and in turn having the opportunity to attend this event.

    The fashion show, showcased talent from 2026 school of arts graduates of Birmingham City University, upon arrival we were given a newspaper and running order sheet.

    The catwalk, going straight through the centre of the square across the fountain, along with the huge crates gave it an impactful backdrop. And it certainly drew a large crowd, with people stopping to watch as they walked through Brindleyplace. Those with wristbands were the lucky ones with a seat, but that also meant we had early access to the X building exhibition, and the after party at IKON.

    designs by Rita Silva
    designs by Imarnie Bennett
    designs by Rebecca Painter
    designs by Chanelle Avey
    designs by Zoe Bennett
    designs by Frankie Ward

    The exhibition at X10 is open to the public until 1st July 2026. Which is well worth a visit if you’re close by to see the creative excellence of the universities student community.

    designs by Sean Pajarillo

    During VIP drinks at Bank restaurant, we were lucky enough to speak with Sean Pajarillo, the designer of the above clothing. The level of detail and finish to his work was incredible. These young designers are definitely worth keeping an eye on, I’ll be following some of my favourites closely over the coming years to see where their talents take them.

    xx

    You can find a similar post to this on our work account – Dyskinetic