Countryside – Page 4

I Don’t Bee-lieve It!

Posted on May 2, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Crafting, Info, Paddy and Plunkett

Hey there BeastieBuddies! Can it really be May already?!

After a bit of a cold snap here recently, it feels like Spring is back on track again… And right about now is when bluebells have their moment in the sun! Having seen so many pictures of beautiful bluebell woods just about everywhere over the bank holiday weekend, Paddy and Plunkett decided to take a break from adventuring and seek out some of these colourful natural wonders for themselves…
As you can see, bluebells are perfect for a Beastie-sized game of hide and seek.
“BOO!”

“Gaaaaah! Paddy, I had no idea you were even there!”

But it turns out that there was an even bigger surprise just around the corner for Plunkett – the lads aren’t the only creatures out enjoying the bluebells today…
“Paddy, what’s that noise?”
“Hey, look! It’s a bee, Plunkett!”
“A BEE?! AAAAAAARRRRGH!”
We all know that Plunkett is something of a nervous character. So while Paddy made friends…
…Plunkett was heading for the hills!
But he really shouldn’t have worried. This bee is one friendly critter.
I’ve actually been meaning to develop a pattern for this busy little lady for ages! My Mum has been working tirelessly over the last couple of years to make life easier for our native bees, which are facing all kinds of problems due to habitat destruction and a particularly nasty parasite called the varroa mite. I had hoped to provide her with a swarm of felt bees to promote her Bee Garden project at Moneypenny’s Lock on the Newry Canal last summer, but of course I didn’t quite get around to it!

This year, the springing of spring got me thinking about bees again… and it happened to coincide with a call for submissions for a Craftivism event in The Make It Shop in Manchester by The Snail of Happiness, whose blog I’ve been following and enjoying since I started here a couple of years back. Finally, the extra nudge I needed!

So in the past week, three little felt bees have buzzed off to the UK, each with a hand-drawn mini-zine about some simple things we can all do to help out our hardworking insect friends. And yes, Mum finally got some bees of her own to snap in her Bee Garden!
So, what’s next for the bees? Well, I had a lot of fun making them, and once I’d figured out the angles of the pattern, it was actually quite a simple make! So I’m toying with drawing up the templates and putting them out there so everyone can have a go – what do you all think? Let me know in the comments!

Road Trip 2 – Extreme North!

Posted on February 17, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie, Knitted Beasties

This time last week, we left Explorer Beastie on a breezy hilltop overlooking Five Finger Strand in Co. Donegal…
… And now it’s time for us to push onwards and upwards, to Malin Head – the very northernmost point of the island!

There’s some pretty wild coastline up here…
… And before we headed up to the viewpoint, we took advantage of the last little bit of daylight (always in short supply at this time of the year) to wander along the shoreline. There are plenty of places for a Beastie to explore here!
Of course, sometimes just LOOKING at those rocks isn’t enough. The best way to experience them is definitely to get up close and paws-on…
…Because that’s when you discover hidden gems like these! Wouldn’t that pool be just heavenly on a hot day? Mind you, I’m not sure they get many hot days up here…

We also had a chance to watch the waves rolling in off the Atlantic, and see them meeting land for the first time in thousands of miles…
But as you can see, the light was fading fast… So we cut short our stroll and headed back uphill to the official lookout spot.
Here’s the proof that we were there! Oh, and the view isn’t bad either…
Apparently locals would gather here to catch a last glimpse of friends and family as they left in ships to seek an easier life elsewhere. Malin Head also has a military past – those incredible panoramic views made it an ideal spot to put a watchtower! There’s one here that dates back to the Napoleonic wars, and another signal station from around 1902.
I’m guessing my photo shows the signal station – although at the time my main motivation for taking the picture was the fact that it looked kinda like a monster singing into a microphone from this angle.

With a jam-packed camera and only slightly cold paws, it was time for us to hit the road again. But Donegal had a couple more surprises in store for us… First of all, a rather spectacular sunset!
And further down the road, a warm welcome at the Drift Inn! We’d barely entered the cosy bar before some locals sat us down at their table, in front of the most roaring open fire I’ve ever seen – seriously, there was half a tree on there – and started chatting away to us like we were regulars ourselves. They even treated Explorer Beastie to a pint of the black stuff!
That’s a lot of beer for one Beastie – no wonder he looks a little blurry around the edges! Cheers!

It really is amazing what you can discover when you journey even a short distance away from your usual haunts, isn’t it? If any of you have had a fun “staycation” or day trip recently, we’d love to hear about it! Share your story in the comments… and we’ll be back on Tuesday with the last of the pre-Christmas Beasties!

Roooooad Triiiiiip!

Posted on February 10, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Explorer Beastie

Alas, poor Explorer Beastie! He doesn’t get out nearly as much as he’d like. So last week, when an opportunity for a bit of an adventure in Ireland’s wild north west presented itself, it was all I could do to stop him from sleeping in the car the night before.

Ready? Off we go!
Because this is such a small island, we soon felt like we had left the city far behind…
… And of course, it wasn’t long before all this fresh air gave us a bit of an appetite. Time for a pitstop – and that most important meal, Third Breakfast.
YUM! We also had a chance to hang out with some of the locals…
… And sign the visitors’ book!
Tempting as it was to stick around for dinner, there was exploring to be done! We piled back into the car, cranked up the cheesy 90s dance music to 11 and made for the coast. Next stop, Five Finger Strand!
Nice to feel the sand under your paws, Explorer Beastie? Thought so!
There’s plenty to do here – look for bird tracks, clamber over driftwood, hide in the grass… And the view’s not too shabby either!
In fact, it would all make a Beastie feel very small and insignificant… Well, if he wasn’t busy photobombing all my pictures.
As the daylight started to fade, we took the high road away from Five Finger Strand… and stopped on the side of the road to get a different perspective of the beach and the surrounding countryside.
How cool is that isolated little church?

Next stop, Ireland’s northernmost point – Malin Head!

Buuuuut in keeping with the coastal theme, we’re going to leave this post as a cliffhanger! Part two will be coming your way this time next week, AND there’s a marine-themed new Beastie for you to meet on Tuesday too!

Are any of you hitting the road this weekend? Tell us all about it in the comments!

FYI – We got our delicious fry-up in Café Donagh, Carndonagh… Highly recommended if you’re planning a hectic day of Donegal-based exploring and/or Beastie-wrangling. This quirky little café serves generous breakfasts all day long, and I have it on good authority that their coffee is excellent too!

Among Fading Colours - CrawCrafts Beasties

Explorer Beastie’s Wintry Ramble!

Posted on November 18, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie, Knitted Beasties

So, the clocks have gone back and the evenings are starting noticeably earlier every day. And, after a slightly rainy start to the autumn here in Ireland, the sun finally showed his face – fortunately at a time when Explorer Beastie and I were away in the countryside for a couple of days!
The bright sunshine made for some great photos… although the slight nip in the air was a reminder that winter is very much on the way! Care to join us on our stroll?

Oh, but we’ll just have to wait while Explorer Beastie climbs a couple of trees first…
Amazingly, there are still some flowers out brightening up the garden at this time of the year…
…Even if everywhere else is starting to look a little less colourful.
But when the leaves fall, they sometimes reveal hidden treasure among the branches – like this cosy, mossy bird’s nest!
You need to be careful where you perch though… I think you’ve picked up some extra accessories on your hat there, Explorer Beastie!
Further down the lane, we found some natural treats – sloes, blackberries and rosehips!
In fact, the whole hedgerow had become one beautiful natural tapestry, dancing in the sunlight.
But despite the bright sunshine, it was starting to get a little chilly out here! So after a quick pitstop in a sheltered spot…
…It was time to head for home!

How is winter arriving where you are? Or are you somewhere that’s already looking forward to long, lazy summer days? Let us know in the comments!

We’ll be back on Tuesday, when I’m hoping to have a preview of next year’s Beastie Calendar to share with you all! See you then!

Explorer Beastie with Rosehips, by CrawCrafts Beasties

Autumn Fun With Explorer Beastie!

Posted on October 14, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie

Oh, poor Explorer Beastie! We were hoping to get out and about this week, but both the weather and my work schedule were against us… Still, at least we have some great photos from previous years to look back on. I hope you all enjoy this trip down memory lane as much as we did!

First up – Explorer Beastie and Garcia Beastie hanging out in the olive trees at Kew Gardens a couple of years ago!
They also took a stroll through the first fallen leaves of the season…
… And some of the leaves that hadn’t fallen yet, too!
Here’s another photo from later that year, when Explorer Beastie found a perfectly Beastie-sized toadstool. This has to be one of my favourite monster pictures!We got lots of other great shots on that trip, too!
Then last Hallowe’en, he bravely ventured into an isolated graveyard!
Yes, okaaaay, it was daylight… But all the same! We really enjoyed this view from the wall – it was so peaceful!
And nothing could have put him and Crablet off dressing up later on for some trick or treating…
… Not even a furry gatecrasher!
I wonder what we’ll get up to this year? Hopefully we’ll have some new photos to share with you soon – weather permitting, of course!

Here’s wishing you all a super weekend… We’ll be back on Tuesday with another new Beastie! Care to guess which Famous Monster will be joining the gang here at Beastie Towers this time around?

Paddy at Ballintoy Harbour - H Crawford/CrawCrafts Beasties

Paddy and Plunkett, Home Again… (Almost!)

Posted on September 2, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Paddy and Plunkett

It’s been quite a summer for Paddy and Plunkett! They’ve spent a glorious couple of months seeing all there is to see in Sussex and Kent, from white cliffs and lighthouses…
… To fantastic castles!
But it’s hard to get out of the way of travelling once you get started, so after the briefest of stopovers at home, they were back on the road again! This time, their wandering paws took them somewhere a little closer to home…
First stop, Ballintoy Harbour! This picturesque little town, situated a bit east of the famous Giant’s Causeway, may not ring a bell with all of you, but fans of “Game of Thrones” may find this place more than a little familiar. Careful, Paddy and Plunkett… You’ve ended up on the Iron Islands! And look, here come some of the locals!
Well, it turns out that only a couple of them were bona fide Iron-Born… the rest are visitors to the area, taking one of the many “Game of Thrones”-themed tours that have sprung up in the wake of the HBO series’ success. The use of out-of-the-way places in Northern Ireland as locations for Game of Thrones has been a huge lift to tourism in these places… and in the country as a whole. For the first time, people are getting out and exploring the natural beauty of Northern Ireland, rather than focusing on our troubled past… and I reckon that’s something to celebrate!
Here’s Paddy posing with some of that spectacular coastline, to give you a taster…
…And check out this amazing natural stone arch!
Back in Ballintoy, Plunkett’s well-publicised love of unusual architecture led him to seek out a local landmark!
This is Bendhu House, and it was the lifelong project of Newton Penprase, a lecturer from the Belfast College of Art. He started it in 1936, and he continued to add to it over the next few decades, earning the building a reputation locally as “the house that was never finished”. The fact that he taught fine art has really left its mark – each window perfectly frames a view, and apparently Penprase brought his students up here to teach them about composition. He was also responsible for the sculptures you can see on the exterior, which add to its unique look!
Penprase died in 1978, and his house was sold and subsequently fell into disrepair. However, in the early 90s, it was bought by its present owners, who have made it their mission to sympathetically restore this incredible, one-of-a-kind home.

And speaking of home, Paddy and Plunkett are off to put their paws up for a while! I think they’ve earned some down-time, don’t you? Of course, please feel free to share your own weekend plans in the comments – you might just inspire them to start planning their next day away!

Monster Highway in the Forest! CrawCrafts Beasties

More From The Fairy Forest!

Posted on August 12, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie, Knitted Beasties

Regular BeastieBlog readers will know that Explorer Beastie and I were literally away with the fairies a couple of weeks ago! But as I was tidying up the photo files from our trip away, I saw that there were loads of other non-fairy photos that I hadn’t had a chance to use. Away from the hubbub of Fairyville, there was a whole forest for Explorer Beastie to investigate – let’s join him, shall we?
Here we go! The undergrowth was pretty dense in some places…

…But elsewhere we found shortcuts better suited to little short Beastie legs!
Soft mossy patches also make the perfect place to stop for a quick nap…
… And we even found a natural paddling pool in a tree stump!
There was also plenty of clover growing in the forest – surely ONE of these is the lucky four-leafed kind?
Explorer Beastie also found somewhere to test his Christmas Fairy skills!
Hmmm… there might be room for you at the top of the tree this year…

That said, Explorer Beastie will climb pretty much any tree he can find!
But just when we thought we’d gone through the whole fairy forest without meeting a single magical creature… we caught a glimpse of these through the trees!
Wooooah! REAL FAIRIES!

It’s going to be hard to top this on our next day trip!

Have you had a brush with the magical or mysterious lately? Let us know in the comments!

Plunkett at Samphire Hoe - H Crawford/CrawCrafts Beasties

White Cliffs and Teeny Trains

Posted on August 5, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Knitted Beasties, Paddy and Plunkett

Paddy and Plunkett’s tour of the southeast of England continues! Today they’re down by the famous White Cliffs of Dover, which are shining brightly in the sunshine. In fact, Plunkett seems to be quite dazzled by them!
While they were here, the boys decided to have a look around Samphire Hoe Country Park. It’s a relatively new attraction in these parts – when work on the Channel Tunnel began in the 1980s, this area was given the (questionable) honour of being the dumping ground for all the chalk they dug out of the sea bed. The soil was used to reclaim 30 hectares of land from the sea, and a wall was built offshore to create an artificial lagoon. Then Mother Nature was left to recolonise the park as she saw fit!
There are a variety of different habitats to explore, and the lads even met a sunbathing adder on their travels – unfortunately they just weren’t quick enough with the camera to get a picture!

Then in the afternoon, it was time for something completely different!
Oooh, look at that lovely old train! But all is not as it seems…
Welcome to New Romney station, on the Romney, Hythe and Dimchurch heritage railway line – home of Britain’s largest model railway! Even Paddy and Plunkett felt like giants among these miniature landscapes!
They especially liked this part – well, who wouldn’t want to enjoy a monster day out for all the family?
But what really got Paddy’s attention was waiting just outside – real trains, scaled down to one third their usual size! Perfect for a little woolly monster… Let’s just hope Plunkett managed to stop him from taking one for a test drive!
We’ll be back on Tuesday with more monster antics! In the meantime, have a super weekend… and please get in touch immediately if a small green monster in an Aran sweater careens past you in what looks like a stolen miniature train!

Visting the Oak Fairy - CrawCrafts Beasties

Explorer Beastie’s Holiday!

Posted on July 29, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie, Knitted Beasties

As some of you might already know, Explorer Beastie and I took a couple of days off last week and escaped to the countryside! And we really couldn’t have timed it better, since our trip coincided with another brief guest appearance from the ever-elusive Irish Summer.

Explorer Beastie couldn’t wait to get outside…

…And he was soon on the lookout for the perfect sunbathing spot. Check out that view behind him!

Aaaah, just right!
But it’s not in Explorer Beastie’s nature to spend an entire day sitting around. It was only a matter of time before his thirst for adventure got the better of him… Fortunately, we found the perfect place for him to explore! What’s down that path, I wonder?
Ooooh, interesting! Let’s check this out!

First we had to walk through the woven willow tunnel…
…And look what we found on the other side!
A fairy house! At first, we thought this was a one-off… But then we spotted more!
We’d stumbled on an entire fairy town in the forest! Some of the houses were easier to reach than others…
…But Explorer Beastie enjoyed lunch at the Dew Drop Inn, and a quick browse in the bookstore afterwards.
He also had fun taking pictures with our new friend Izzy! Here she is helping us to set up a photo beside a perfectly Beastie-size house. Thanks, Izzy!
We never did find the owner of “The Giant’s Lair”… although I think he must have been at home recently!
Clearly he shares my love of doing the dishes!

After our forest walk, we stopped in the courtyard for human-sized food before heading for home. Explorer Beastie waited for us in the herb garden!
What are you all up to this weekend? If you find yourself in Slieve Gullion Forest Park, don’t forget to say hi to our fairy friends in the forest!

Explorer Beastie on the Fence! CrawCrafts Beasties

Surprise! We’re on Holiday!

Posted on July 19, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie, Info

Aaaah, it’s not often that us monster makers get a chance to get away from it all… so when one popped up out of the blue, Explorer Beastie and I grabbed it with both hands/paws! Unfortunately we’re not 100% sure what the internet access will be like at our destination, so we’ll catch up with you all again when we get back on Friday. In the meantime, we might post the odd holiday snap on Twitter or Instagram to make you jealous!

See you soon, and have a great week 🙂

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