Someone once told me that the way staff members talk about ‘The Trust’ makes it sound like the British mafia. Not true, unfortunately, but there are certain benefits, and free entry to places like these make you remember how beautiful the UK can be – even on a rainy Friday in Wales.

The gardens were extensive and perfectly maintained. Unfortunately, visiting places like this with Trust staff means that the tour of the Castle involved less admiring of the collection, and more peering about trying to find dust and insects worth tutting at – alas we were sadly disappointed on that score.

These peacocks were wandering around quite happily with the visitors, with two little chicks popping out of the border to say hello.

If I lived here I’d turn the Orangery into a massive den and spend all my time there, in a hammock in the sunshine, reading books. This is apparently in an Alternate Universe where it is sunny in Wales.

This is a holiday cottage you can rent. Gorgeous, but I’m not sure how I’d feel about people staring into my living room window whilst I’m trying to relax on my weekend away. But maybe the location makes up for that.

Who could say no to a view like that?

Oh, and by the way: Don’t blink.

P.S. I’m sure you all know via BookFace that I got a First for my degree. I rule, but you already knew that, right? Right? Right.

I genuinely can’t remember how time off works.

Today is my first proper day off in months. Not only do I not have to go to work, I don’t have a dissertation to write either. All I’m doing with my time is waiting for my results/degree classification, and anything else is up to me.

I have a room full of unfinished projects but since I haven’t used my sewing machine once this year, I’m a bit reluctant to leap back into an old project. Equally I don’t want to start a new one to add to the pile of ’stuff I haven’t finished’. I have an enormous pile of books to start reading, now that I’m not tied down to Mr. Dickens exclusively. Haven’t started any of them. I have two crochet blankets to be getting on with, but I do a little bit and get bored and exhausted. Exhausted? What the heck! I’ve started carrying a pedometer around again, and on a non-working day it seems I only do about 5000 steps (half of what I should do). Yesterday I did 18000. How is it that during a day off I’m MORE tired than when I’m on my feet all day?

Maybe I just need a break from the guilt. I feel like even when I’m not at work I should be really industrious, and it can’t be healthy. I’ve worked non-stop on my degree, on working at three properties, and the last week or so has been focused entirely on the Edwardian summer fete; maybe a day off doing nothing at all isn’t so naughty.

In lieu of anything more sensible to say, have some photos from our recent trip to Disneyland Paris. We only went for a couple of days, and it wasn’t much of a relaxing break. It was damn fun though, and the highlights of the trip included getting Mum to go on Space Mountain Mission 2 (the ride behind me and Rob).

We initially thought it would be like the Space Mountain we went on yeaaars ago, last time we went to Disney. But oh no. As we got into the seats, Rob and I shared a glance… there were the padded harnesses that go around your head and neck, which usually only means one thing on rollercoasters: loop the loop. By this time, we’d already got the Queen of Limited Mobility and Dodgy Knees down into the awkward seats, so we made an executive decision not to mention the likelihood of oncoming terror to them, and just Carry On. It turns out, this was a good choice: there was a loop, as well as a corkscrew. Mum did the whole thing with her eyes shut and NEARLY DIED (but didn’t). I said she was very brave, and she said she wasn’t at all because she hadn’t got a clue what on Earth was happening to her, or a say in the matter.

Rob and I went on it again but they didn’t want to join us for a second time. Weirdos.

We also went on Star Tours and for the first time I actually understood what the little French robot was harping on about.

I was very disappointed in the shops though. All the cool stuff like Star Wars/Indiana Jones t-shirts were only for men, and not likely to fit or flatter someone as small as me. Anything that was likely to look OK on me was plastered in images of Tinkerbell or Winnie the Pooh. Seriously Disney, girls want to be in the Rebel Alliance too. Just sayin’.

We also found pirates! YARRRR! In fact, the highlight of the trip for my brother was me getting chatted up by a pirate, as he took the mick mercilessly for the next two days. The pirate was not nearly as exotic as he looked, as it turned out he was called Gavin and was from Leeds. Bah.

Rob and I got very little sleep either. Rob’s bed seemed to be made entirely out of creaking metal and nothing else. If he flexed even one finger the most amazing racket of clanking, creaking and squeaking would begin and would last for several minutes while he lay rigid and fearful that it would never stop. I kept expecting him to emerge as Bedstead Man, Iron Man’s low-budget little brother. I had bunkbeds (I kid you not) which were ridiculously high and also had the teeniest little ladder in the world. In order to get up to the top (sleeping on the bottom was a big no-no since it was like being encased in a wooden coffin down there) I had to physically haul my exhausted carcass up there, and getting down was made easier by just plummeting to the floor. Unfortunately every time I did that, it set off Rob’s bed again.

We also watched about three hours worth of French ‘Don’t Forget the Lyrics’ and spent the rest of the holiday singing ‘Wight is Wight’ and wetting ourselves laughing; such is the effect of major sleep deprivation!

And I was more than happy to find this sign. I’m forever being mocked at work for being so pale.

Now I’m going to go make a cup of tea and maybe watch a film or… have a nap! I’m such a rebel, I really am.

I took this at work today. So tempting to just leap inside and make vroom vroom noises, but that wouldn’t be professional now, would it?