SmallSteps week 4 and finding BuyBritish toiletries

Week 4 of SmallSteps is going to feature BuyBritish bath and body products, but first I will recap my week's efforts.

If you're new to this theme, I am blogging a series of Monday posts about ideas I think might help our disUnited Kingdom communities to get through the post-Brexit turmoil ahead. You can read the first post here. SmallSteps lifestyle changes, if embraced by enough of us, could help to keep our towns and communities afloat through the uncertain months ahead.

I've decided to keep a track of my attempts to practice what I preach! My initial three SmallSteps were:

1) to CheckTheLabel and BuyBritish whenever possible
2) to ShopLocal and spend at least £5 each week in independent local shops
3) to eat healthily and walk or cycle short distances
and last week I added
4) Not to use self-service checkouts or Pay At Pump.

So how did I do this week?

My ShopLocal spend was just a £1.30 loaf of multiseed bread from Truffles Bakery in Hailsham, although I realised that I didn't include our £30ish spend at last week's festivals in my roundup. Can I allocate it to this week?! We began to ShopLocal for events in our Devon to-be-home as well and now have tickets booked for NTlive broadcast of The Deep Blue Sea at Torquay's Central Cinema and for the Lauren Housley gig at Kingskerswell Parish Church. I've heard rumours of a Richard Shindell gig at the Pig And Pallet in Topsham too, but tickets aren't on sale yet.
The apple and courgettes for my BBQ salad were BuyBritish as was the Borderfields rapeseed oil for the dressing. I also bought Borders and McVitie's biscuits - both brands baked in the UK - and British strawberries and free range chicken.

photo from Ora 

The Ora kitchen roll I mentioned last week is great and I can't see myself ever wanting to return to regular rolls. The cone tower is surprisingly elegant and fits on a low caravan shelf. I think it will be even more convenient on the kitchen worktop once we are in our new flat (Wednesday, eeek!). The sheets are circular and just as absorbent as other brands we have used in the past. I was concerned that two rolls' worth of paper taking up the space of a single roll would turn out to mean cheap, thin paper, but this is most definitely not the case. A good buy!

I walked for at least half an hour on five days, mostly to Hailsham for a spot of shopping and, once to post a Literary Flits giveaway prize. (Have you entered this week's giveaway?)


Now let's talk pampering!

My favourite bath and body products for years have been Lush solid shampoos and conditioner bars which are absolutely ideal for my travelling lifestyle because there's no chance of loosening caps and accidental spills. I can take a whole bar on aeroplanes too without needing to attempt decanting into silly mini bottles or paying way over the odds for travel-sized products. Once we're based in Torquay though I'd need to traipse to Exeter to visit a Lush store, so if I'll be resorting to mail order, I thought I might as well check out other BuyBritish alternatives.

Faith In Nature 

In a spooky coincidence, just as I was starting to write this post another company I like emailed about their latest promotion. Faith In Nature are offering their summery Tropical Range at half price for a limited time and the last day is TODAY so do all rush at once! And if you've found this post later than the 25th July, sorry you missed out, but I think their products are easily worth full price anyway. Faith In Nature don't make solid bar shampoos, but who could resist layering the chocolate shampoo scent with that of the coconut conditioner and, if you wash your hair a lot or set up a co-op with a few friends, splashing out on the 5 litre bottles (yes, really!) makes good economic sense.

While researching what will become my Torquay ShopLocal businesses, I was delighted to discover that I can actually purchase natural soaps and shampoos made within walking distance of my new home. Green Wyse is run by medical herbalist Dawn just three miles away and I am looking forward to sampling the various scents of vegetable soap/shampoo that she creates. I might give the toothpaste a try too. I also want to visit The Soap Stall in Torquay's Indoor Market which apparently is at The Market Forum. I've 'borrowed' the photo below from The Soap Stall's Facebook page - doesn't that display look fabulous?!

The Soap Stall, Torquay Indoor Market 

Please do feel welcome to link to your favourite / your own BuyBritish and ShopLocal businesses in the Comments. Make sure to say in which town they are so other nearby folks will know to look out for them!

Finally I have made a blog badge from my SmallSteps logo image. If you would like to join in this Monday (or any day) blog theme, feel welcome to display the badge and let me know about your post so we can link up.

SmallSteps @ Stephanie Jane

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So this is how it feels to be 40!

To be honest, I don't think I feel any different today than yesterday, but

maybe fortyness takes a while to kick in? Or maybe it's all just what you make of it!

I've done well for pressies with three boxes of choccies; a stash of my favourite LUSH hair products and the gorgeous Paperchase card pictured; a pretty aqua wrap; and cash which is always useful! Plus a generous Kiva card with which I have been able to make two loans: one to a shopkeeper in Timor-Leste and one to a brewer in Burkina Faso.

Huge thanks to everybody for their cards, gifts and messages :-)

We've been out for tea and cake this afternoon, at Purdy's Tea Room which is a cute little place nearby, and I'm now lounging in the sunshine with a book - so that's three of my favourite things all in the space of a few hours!

And, of course, I'm getting to spend my fortieth birthday year travelling to see many new places so, although we might not seem to have done anything particularly amazing today, this whole year is such a wonderful experience. I am feeling very lucky and happy right now!

Happy Birthday Me!

Our first day in Valencia

One reason we chose to spend time in this area of Spain is the city of Valencia which has

The spirit of Valencia 

been on our bucket list for a while, but never quite made it to citybreak status. We also considered visiting last year when we stayed not so far away at Navajas, but it was Fallas time and neither of us are keen on crowds!

Camping Malvarrosa is fairly well situated for Almenara train station. It's not easily walkable in this heat, but is only a short drive and - joy of joys - has a free car park. The return fare to Valencia Del Nord was only 11 euros for the both of us and the journey time of about 40 minutes each way meant we got to see a bit of the surrounding towns and countryside. We stayed on through the Valencia Cabanyal station which looks like it will be the nearest to the City of Arts and Sciences as we're saving that architecture feast for our next visit.

The Del Nord station is beautifully tiled throughout the entrance hall. Ticket sellers sit in ornate wooden booths, and even the clock is worth a moment's admiration. There is a restored, originally horse-drawn, trolley car on the concourse. Interestingly, it was brought over from Bristol and used in Valencia for summer tourist tours. If you ever visit, be sure to turn back once you're outside the station to take in its exterior. I presume it has been fairly recently renovated and the paintwork and decoration is impressive with a hint of whimsy. Valencia must have been a very prosperous city when this structure was built!

Our destination for this first day was the El Carme district of the old city. It is a little run down, but no less attractive for that. Narrow streets are mostly one way which could make it confusing for traffic and there were a surprising number of cyclists taking advantage of the quieter routes. We spent most of the time, as we tend to do, in wandering the streets, drinking in the atmosphere and pointing out interesting murals or doors, etc, to each other. The pictured mural of an singer stood in a paella pan was just on the end wall of a house. I guess it depicts an interpretation of the spirit of Valencia. Dave said he'd buy me a similar dress but I'm not sure I can quite fill it in the same way!

We were delighted to stumble across a small museum called the House of Rocks. Nothing to do with geology, this is where the ceremonial figures and carriages that make up the Corpus Christi procession are housed for the rest of the year. We saw 10 huge human figures, each of which must be three times a person's height and which are wheeled through the streets by someone walking inside the base. The 11 carriages, or 'roca', have lifesize carvings detailing various biblical stories and are fantastically detailed. The earliest was first paraded in 1511!! It was a wonderful experience to be able to get so close to amazing workmanship. I am sure the carriages look impressive in the procession but so much of the work would be invisible at any distance.

More religion followed with our next stop which was the basilica. Somewhat bizarrely, it seemed to only be open because a service was taking place so all the clergy and choir were decked out in their vestments in front of a small congregation in the centre while, around the outside portico, a steady stream of tourists were muttering to each other and taking photographs! The tableau above the altar was absolutely stunning and with so much gilt that it was hard to make out the details of its scene. Obviously we weren't welcome to wander that bit! There was also beautiful paintings of angels and religious figures all around the high domed ceiling right overhead.

After all that history, our heads must have been turned a bit because, instead of our usual grabbing coffees and cakes for lunch, we actually sat down to a proper tapas meal at Cerveceria Navellos. We had croquetas, caramelised morcilla, a very-heavily-mayonnaised salad and deep-fried camembert. All delicious and elegantly presented!

We returned to the station via more contemporary shopping streets including one which had a dozen or so high-end designer stores. A quick stop-off in Valencia's Lush outlet for more shampoo bars and a rich Jungle conditioner bar - all the sea swimming is making my hair a tad brittle - and we stumbled back to our train with slightly sore feet!