Norbury Manor blogger takeover

This weekend, in a Grade I listed house in rural Derbyshire, 12 bloggers and a small dog got together to eat cake, drink wine, play Articulate, watch movies and explore the beautiful house and its surroundings.  Is there a collective noun for bloggers? A pose of bloggers, perhaps? (God bless whomever invented the self-timer – even Bodhi joined in on the photo fun!)

Organised by the lovely Alex at Odd Socks and Pretty Frocks, it really was an utterly wonderful weekend.  The lack of phone signal and internet was slightly alarming at first but turned out to be exactly what I needed.

It was really nice both to see some awesome ladies I now count as friends, and to meet some new faces.
We initially descended on nearby Ashbourne on the Saturday for lunch and hellos, then convoying on to the country house in the afternoon.  After some issues locating the house which culminated in Sarah and Sarah having to lead a search party to find me and bring me back to the house, we all arrived, and the wonderful bakers of the party unpacked some rather exciting sweet treats – Victoria Sponge Cake, sticky toffee pudding, chocolate cake, super slutty brownies, lemon drizzle and peanut butter bars.  Things were about to get a little bit yummy (and remained that way for the rest of the weekend).

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After the excitement of cake we all had a good explore of the house.  It was like nowhere I’d ever even visited before let alone stayed – wood panelling, open fires, stained glass windows and utterly beautiful surroundings.  The house just went on forever, with countless bedrooms, bathrooms and drawing rooms.  Chloe and I were staying in the ‘snug’, a cute little room with bookshelves, window seats and a huge fire.

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The garden even had a little mini ‘maze’ which you could frequently see Bodhi’s tail bobbing around! He loved being out in the fresh air and getting lots of attention and cuddles!

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Aside from a walk in the countryside on the Sunday we spent a lot of time in the house eating, drinking and chatting and it was an utterly blissful weekend.  On our walk we did have the pleasure of meeting these two chaps who I’m reliable informed are alpacas (hence why they were ignoring my cries of ‘hello llamas!)

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I can’t say I relished the four hour drive home and I’ve been pretty exhausted ever since (eating that much cake really takes it out of you!) but Bodhi and I had an awesome time and owe a huge thanks to Alex for organising it and Chloe for doing the food shop and making sure our bellies were full, not to mention the impressive feat of cooking a roast dinner for 12 people!

Derby Blogger Weekend

Have you ever stayed in a National Trust cottage? You can find out more about Norbury Manor here.

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