Over the Christmas break we went away with some of my boyfriends friends. We went and stayed in a converted barn near a place called Ludlow. It was wonderful. We went last year as well and this year there were 16 of us.
The first night we had spaghetti and Ikea meatballs for tea and hung out together catching up and having a few drinks.
It is such a charming place to stay with real log fires that need to be lit and checked and two huge living rooms. One is stocked with board games, old films and books!
The floors are mainly wood and stone which I had forgotten when packing! A lot of our friends brought animal onesies to keep warm. There was giraffe, red panda and a monkey and then for fakemas dinner out came the Santa and Mrs Claus Onesies! I was very jealous.
Then in the morning some of us headed into Ludlow for Sausage sandwiches and a walk before having a huge fakemas dinner for tea in the beautiful barn.
Some of the lovely ladies had lit candles and there was a huge row of tea lights running along the back wall. It would be the perfect place for a really intimate wedding reception.
We had a great time at dinner, everyone was able to sit around and chat and noone was in a rush to get up and do things. Later we all got dressed up and took part in a murder mystery. (Last year when we did this we were practically stranded due to the bad snow!!)
The Second Living Room! Complete with guns and foam darts. The boys terrorise us with these all weekend!
Unfortunately for some of us the weekend ended on Sunday when had to return to London for work so on Sunday morning we got up and had bacon and eggs before heading to a local castle called Stokesay (technically a fortified manor house) for a bit of an explore.
I had such a great weekend and just wanted to share some photos with you of our brilliant break and the wonderful people we shared it with.
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year and got to do some fun stuff with your friends!
On New Years Eve Day we went to Dudley Zoo and it was awesome!
After Christmas which we spent with my family we ventured to the Midlands to stay with my boyfriends family. We did lots of fun things while we were up there but the best (I would say!!) was visiting Dudley Zoo. We went on New Years Eve during the day and the zoo was nicely quite but the animals were very active. I wanted to share some of the amazing photographs with you…so here goes….
Dudley zoo is built around a castle, it forms kind of an intersection of circles around it. The first animals we came to were the flamingos.
Standing in a row in the pond looking very serene and beautiful! This one was away on is own and just had to be photographed! 
It always surprises me how many different shades they are from orange/coral to pinky to almost white it varies depending on the animal and what they have been eating!
Let me just explain now that both of the cameras failed as soon as we got to the zoo so I apologise in advance for the photos, they were taken on my phone!!
I don't have pictures for everything but next up was the Snow Leopard. There were two snow leopards at the zoo, one outside and one inside, the sign mentioned that they had just received one and were planning on mating the couple, so I expect it was to get them ready. The leopard inside was (we think) the female was lying down stretched out on the bed wriggling around and playing for attention she was absolutely beautiful…
If you know me at all you will know that I want a pet penguin, alas this is not to be so instead I have settled for a dog called Dibdin (Pauls fault!) and a tortoise called Charlie…. and as a result I always visit the tortoise/turtles/terrapins in zoos!
Our friend Kate got to feed the giraffes once as part of a zoo keeper for a day experience. There are three giraffes at Dudley Zoo a mummy, daddy and baby… This is the Daddy… he was busy eating but looked up when we took the photos!! We watched the giraffes go back inside while the keeper cleaned their outside area and it was soo funny baby giraffe couldn’t wait to get back inside but mum took some persuading… until the keeper said STOP!! And low and behold she listened!! and stayed inside.
And I have saved the best until last…the penguins!!!
Dudley has the biggest colony of Humboldt Penguins and they are wonderful. I was a bit worried when we got there to see the eat their lunch that they were really far away!! But I was sooo wrong…..
They are amazing, queuing up to get their lunch!! and my favourite Elliot. Elliot was hand reared and as a result seems to think of herself as a little different from some of the other penguins…she seems to think she’s almost human. For example she forgot to eat because she was too busy trying to attract our attention and then Luke (the keeper) had to come and pick her up to a) feed her and b) escape out of the enclosure after feeding time…
SO here is Elliot…
You have to admit she is cute right!!!
And I would thoroughly recommend a day out at Dudley Zoo if you are ever in the area…. 
