Wow! I can’t believe the summer holidays are almost over.

For those of you with kids- I hope you’ve survived with your sanity intact, and for those without kids, I hope you’ve managed to have a nice relaxing time!

this year we’ve spent a lot of time in our trusty tent. We visited Nethergong campsite in Kent, a lovely quiet campsite with fishing lakes and a large pond teaming with frogs. The children are absolutely mad for pond dipping, so lots of time was spent there, examining frogs, newts and insects.

While in Kent we visited Joss Bay, which was the only seaside spot in the area our eight year old was satisfied with, as it has good waves for body boarding- even I had a go- lots of fun!

I’ve been experimenting with a yellow brush pen and black charcoal pencil in these sketches.

We also visited RHS Hyde Hall, which has a beautiful Australian and New Zealand garden with drought tolerant plants- something we definitely need more of in our own garden.

It also has lots of lovely scented roses- which the five year old is obsessed with- he loves sticking his nose into the blooms!

This week we tried to eke out the last of the summer hols with one last little camping trip, with some pals to the beautiful barefoot camping site in Oxfordshire- here’s a few pages from my sketchbook, illustrating our time there.

Heres a sketch of Jack in the back of the car on the way there..As you can see we travel light

Obligatory marshmallow roasting (don’t worry the fire wasn’t actually that big)

There was a shallow spot nearer to our tent, where the little ones had a go at paddling with the help of the Dads

This is the lock keepers cottage, just across from the site.

We also hired a Kayak and paddled up river to a lovely pub The Mayfly, where we had an amazing Sunday lunch, with live music and lots of people watching opportunities

and finally here’s Jack in a service station. Is it just my kids who love using the word ‘Literally’ every five minutes?

Now I’m sorting out the school uniforms and hoping the kids won’t cry too much on their first day back at school!

I’m back in my day job as a picture editor, but still trying to sketch on my lunch breaks around St Pauls. Here’s a view of my fave lunchtime spot The Reflection Garden.

Hope you have a lovely start to September!

Juliet x