My Top 5 Things To Do In Abingdon-on Thames

Posted on April 25, 2019 Leave a comment

I never thought I’d see the day where I would be writing a blog post about my little historic town but I thought for those of you who are coming from afar to my open studio for Oxfordshire’s ArtWeeks, you may want a little guide to what to do when you get here. Seeing as I have lived here all of my life, I guess I’m the gal to do it!

Quickly before we get started; for those of you don’t know, my studio is open for Oxfordshire ArtWeeks on the 11^th, 12^th, 15^th, 18^th and 19^th of May from 11 – 6. There will be demonstrations given by me, refreshments and nibbles, exclusive discounts and more!

Right, let’s do this!

My top 5 things to do in Abingdon-on-Thames

Have a walk by the river

If Millie could talk (she can’t because she’s a dog..) then she would say it was the best thing since tennis balls. She loves it, as do I. It’s perfect because you can make it as long as you want it to be, just turn around when you feel as though you’ve had enough or there is a lovely loop that you can do too which takes a good hour or so. I don’t know about you but happy dogs bouncing around, birds singing and flowing water is a recipe for a perfect walk. You can also end the walk with a beer in the Nags Head, you can practically high-five the people driving boats down the river, you’re that close to them.

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Go for a walk around Radley lakes

I love walking around Radley lakes. You start walking down a path which has trees either side so it makes you feel as though you could be anywhere, especially on a sunny day! This path leads you to the lakes which will be on your left. The whole way round you can just hear birds singing to each other. You can start this walk at the Abbey Meadows with 2 hours free parking, which is about a 6k walk round or you can park opposite the Bio-Techne building which is about a 3k loop.

Go into Oxford

There are two options here. You can either get the bus from opposite the Boundary House, roughly a 5-10 minute walk away or you can drive in which takes about 15 minutes. Parking at the Westgate is relatively easy but can be a little wait before you get in, especially from 11 onwards. There’s plenty to do in Oxford, lots of beautiful, historic buildings, cute pubs and the fancy new Westgate shopping centre.

Have a meal at the Flowing Well

It takes roughly 10 minutes to walk here, with the walk taking you down little paths, away from the roads only going over the A34. Me and Phil love it here, mainly because they’re dog friendly and decent seating for whatever the weather. A big open fire for when it’s cold and wet, and an outside decking for when it’s sunny. The food is bloomin’ lovely, I’d recommend the skinny burger, it’s delish!

See nature in all it’s glory at Harcourt Arboretum

This is only a little drive away, roughly about 15-minute drive from Abingdon, but it’s a lovely way to spend the day! I’d recommend taking a picnic to eat in the gardens or there’s a lovely pub round the corner called the Seven Stars in a beautiful little village called Marsh Baldon.

There’s definitely enough there to fill the day, there’s definitely a theme running throughout this blog post and you can tell I rarely go further than 15 minutes away, I love walking and going to pubs… So if you’re like me, you’d love doing either of these 5 things! I hope you enjoyed the photos attached that were taken at each location too, every photo we take is mostly of the dog!

I hope this has helped you plan your day and by all means get in touch if you would like to do one of these and I can give you some more detailed information.

See you soon!!!

Fi x

Create Memories, Not Waste.

Posted on February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 Leave a comment

We’ve all had those Christmas’ and birthdays where we have opened a gift and given the well-rehearsed reaction of just been given the most amazing gift ever. A reply of “OMG, thank you sooooo much, this is sooooo cool” knowing full well it will never get used or end up in a charity shop.

At face value, it seems like we are the only people who are affected by this but in reality, we’re not. There is a more serious effect of gift giving and we can make more conscious decisions when it comes to buying someone a gift. I have seen a lot of stories about this, particularly over the Christmas period and it has urged me to speak up too, especially now when we are at the start of a New Year, a year of making more conscious decisions.

We have all been alerted to how our mindless choices impact the environment from using plastic bags to hold our fruit and vegetables to dropping a plastic straw into our cold drinks to avoid hurting our sensitive teeth. I, along with many other businesses, big and small, have been making choices about how we package our products, you can read mine here. Even since writing that blog post I have made more changes by not wrapping the boxes in brown paper anymore. These decisions can be extended to our gift giving too.

Did you know that most wrapping papers are not recyclable? Did you know that from Thanks Giving to New Year Americans throw away 25 million extra tonnes of garbage extra year? Nope, me neither.

For Valentine’s day, me and my boyfriend don’t buy each other gifts, we put the money we would’ve spent towards a holiday or towards an experience day. It’s so difficult to think of something new to buy your partner every year and in all honesty how much would you have to spend to equate to how much you love them? In all honesty, I’m sure the majority of us couldn’t spend the amount of money we would like to spend on our other halves. With buying experiences and holidays, instead of buying unnecessary gifts with packaging that ruins the environment, you’re also creating memories that you will be able to treasure that are more precious than any gift you could be given.

With this in mind, I have asked fellow small businesses for workshops/experience days they run or have been to. A place where you can spend a few hours learning a new skill and you’ll also end up with a piece that you’ve made yourself. Take your partner or a friend for a ‘Galentines’ date and spend some quality time together, making precious memories.

FICH ceramics – Pottery Experiences (I know, I know, a bit of shameless self-promo) – Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Come along with your partner or friend for a throwing session with me, Fi Chappelle. You’ll sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and biscuits while you watch me give you a demonstration, then it will be your turn to jump on the wheel! I can assure you there will be lots of laughs along the way and you’ll be able to take your pot home once it is fully finished. You also have the choice to come back and turn (carve excess clay off of the base) and glaze your pot afterwards too.

£140 for 2 people 3 hours

FICH ceramics’ Pottery Experiences

Flat 102 – Screen printing workshop – All over UK

Join a group of like-minded individuals to create your own screen-printed tote bags and tea towels. Steph will guide you through the whole process to create something colourful that you can wear with pride! Steph does her workshops in various different venues so there may be one near you.