When I started blogging at the beginning of this year I decided that this year was going to be my year and I set myself a few goals that I would like to achieve in order to conquer my anxiety and make this year my year.  I'm determined that anxiety is no longer going to rule my life and one of my goals was to go on a little trip away to somewhere new.  Little did I know that just two and a half months later I would be taking that trip.  As I still haven't quite worked up the courage to get on a plane yet, I decided to start a little closer to home.  I happened to come across Mill Farm Leisure where I saw they were building these cute little Lakeside Lodges.  They sounded so ideal, in a small relaxing setting by a lake, each with their own hot tub.

We stayed in Cedar Lodge and, as you can see, the little wooden lodge is cute, cosy and very well equipped.  I was also pleasantly surprised by how roomy it felt, it didn't feel as small as it looked at all and had everything you would ever need.  The living area had a sofa, tv and fully equipped kitchen with a cooker, microwave and fridge/freezer.  The kitchen contained every utensil possible, they did not miss a beat. A nice little touch was a welcome tray with tea, coffee, sugar and biscuits on with a fresh bottle of milk in the fridge.  Then there was the bedroom, which had the comfiest duvet and pillows I have ever slept on.  Wish I'd thought to ask where they are from!  There was also another tv in there and off to the side was the bathroom.  I'm amazed at how well they utilised the space and it felt so homely.

As for the outside space there's only one word I could use to describe it... idyllic!  There was a large decked area that overhung the lake, which is literally in the middle of nowhere.  It was so peaceful and quiet you could hear a pin drop, besides the odd quack from the few resident ducks.  Then last but not least was my favourite part of our entire stay... the hot tub!!  We spent every night in there keeping warm, relaxing and stargazing with the odd glass of prosecco.  It did wonders for my anxiety and I have now decided I need a hot tub of my own, if only they didn't cost a fortune!

I'm actually amazed at how far I've come with my anxiety within the last few months and it's something I wanted to document here on my blog as it is something that has played a big part in my life and it will be nice to look back and see how far I've come.  I can actually for the first time in a long time say how proud I am of myself for not only taking this trip but not confining myself to the lodge. We went to the seaside, bowling, out for a couple of meals, to a wildlife park and even took a trip to the cinema to see Beauty and The Beast.  I know that being able to do this doesn't sound like much to some people, but considering that this time last year I couldn't get through the day without having several panic attacks let alone step foot out of my front door, this has been a huge achievement for me and has given me a massive confidence boost.  I can't wait to share more of my trip with you.

On the last night of our Santorini trip our holiday was perfectly rounded off with a sunset cruise around the Caldera.  I was a little bit nervous about this trip as I am not a big fan of boats and was slightly worried about getting seasick.  However I pushed through my anxiety, and I am so glad I did as it was a breathtaking experience that I will not forget.

The first hurdle was getting down to the boat.  Santorini's capital city Fira is built up 400 meters high,  so as you can imagine it is quite a way down to the port.  There were two ways to get to the boat: walk or cable cars.  I did not like the look of the cable cars wobbling their way down the cliffside and already had anxiety about the boat, so a few of us decided it didn't look that far and we'd take the steps.

These pictures were taken at the start of our trek down the steps, which we found out when we got to the bottom that there were 600 of!!  They also do donkey rides up and down the steps but after seeing how unruly they were that was not an option.  There was no formation to them and the ones that didn't have any riders on were just running in all directions.  They were crazy!  I think we got about halfway down when my legs started to shake, so there was no more stopping to take in the views we just wanted to get to the bottom and get a bottle of water.  It's safe to say I have never been happier to sit down on a boat in my life, ha ha.  It was also really nice that the groom had organised a private cruise for us so we had the boat to ourselves.

It was absolutely amazing cruising around the smaller volcanic islands and getting so close that you could smell the sulphur.  It's just crazy to think that these islands were created by volcano eruptions, especially when you see the sheer size of them up close.  We also went past a little island where the tour guide told us that there is a little old man who lives alone on the island with his goats and goes fishing in the sea for food, I'm not sure how I'd cope without technology but I love the idea of such a simplistic life on my own little island.

After our little tour around the volcanic islands we headed to the small island of Thirassia where the boat was moored for us to eat.  Now I was clearly too hungry after my long walk down those steps at Fira to take any pictures of the food, but the staff on the boat put on an amazing spread.  There was souvlaki, greek salad, breads, the most amazing potatos I have ever tasted, tzatziki, keftedes, my new favourite tiropitakia (little feta parcels) and much more.  Then for dessert there was the traditional greek baklava and honey cake.  I've always loved greek food but this trip has reignited my love for it and am definitely thinking of trying out a few recipes myself as I am missing it so much.

After we had finished eating we cruised our way to Oia on the north of the island of Santorini to watch the sunset.  This part of the cruise was so relaxing as we could just sit and watch the sun go down as music was softly played around the boat.

(This is Oia as seen from the boat, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and we did manage to find a couple of hours to spend there before we left.  I am thinking of doing another post on here though, if you're not too bored of my Santorini posts yet?)

If you ever find yourself in Santorini I cannot recommend this boat trip enough, and that's coming from someone who hates boats!  The worst part for me was getting the cable car back up to Fira, as I was not walking those steps again but if you don't mind cable cars it'd be a breeze for you.

On our first day in Santorini we went to a little coastal village called Kamari where the bride and groom had organised a wine tasting for us on the beach front.  We went to a small winery called Gaia Wines, where we got to taste their 3 white wines that they produce and their dessert wine.  We were first taken into the winery where it was explained to us how the wine was produced and a brief history of the building, which also used to be a tomato factory and a nightclub!  Then we sat at our table by the beach for the best part, the wine tasting!  It was such a beautiful setting and really relaxing, being able to sip wine whilst looking out to the sea.  Before tasting each wine we were told a little bit more about it's flavours and how the wine was created.  It was also explained to us how the grapes were grown in such warm climates thanks to the minerals in the volcanic soil.  The one thing that stuck in my head though, coming from rainy old England, is that they only get approximately 400mm of rainfall each year!!  We probably get that here in a couple of days!  Just another reason to love Santorini...

Kimono - Bershka

Top - New Look

Shorts - Dorothy Perkins

Sandals - Topshop

Sunglasses - Ray-Ban

Bag - Marc Jacobs

Before we left for Santorini I was umm-ing and aah-ing over what to take for weeks, one day I'd look at the weather and it was forecast to be in the early twenties and sunny and then the next I'd look and it would have changed to cloudy and 16°c.  As it was so early in the season it wasn't guaranteed to be hot, so I had to pack accordingly and when I saw this Bershka kimono at only £14.99 I thought it'd make it the perfect cover up for those chillier days.  I love the pretty floral pattern on it and the longer length makes it the perfect cover up for shorts.  Speaking of shorts, I'm loving all the suede around at the minute with the 70's revival this summer and was so happy when I rediscovered these shorts hanging in my wardrobe that I hadn't worn for a long time.  I knew I kept them for a reason!  I just think they make a nice change from the typical denim shorts I usually spend my holidays in.

This is probably the only day from the whole holiday that I wore my hair down.  The main reason is I'm not a big fan of having my hair down and straight, it just looks so limp and for some reason my hair just did not like the greek water.  After washing, it was so hard to work with and just wouldn't hold any style.  My hair isn't the best at holding curls anyway but they usually hold pretty well with my Babyliss curling wand but about an hour after these photos were taken my hair was completely straight again.  Does anybody else have this problem when they go on holiday?  I'd love to hear if you have any holiday hair tips.

If you follow my blog you'll know that I recently went to Santorini to be bridesmaid at my best friend's wedding.  So the first thing I'm going to do is apologise for the next few posts where you will no doubt be inundated with our antics on the beautiful island.  I have completely fallen in love with this little picturesque Greek island, so needless to say I have hundreds of photos but have decided to separate them into separate posts so as not to bore you.

We stayed in a lovely quaint little place called Aghios Artemios Traditional Houses, a lovely little family run hotel where the staff were so friendly and helpful, they just couldn't do enough for you.  The rooms were just beautiful and are perfect little restored white caves built into the hills.  I just love how this hotel is just everything I imagine when I think of Greece... white walls, little blue doors, blue church roofs... it was just perfect.  Also as it is a fairly small place and as there were 25 of us we had the whole complex to ourselves, which was lovely.  We arrived fairly late at night and the staff put on a delicious Greek meze for us.  I have always loved Greek food but the food we had throughout this trip was just amazing!  I am determined to try and learn to recreate some of the wonderful dishes we had now I'm back home.

I have lots more to share with you from our trip but I thought I'd start with where we stayed, as it was just perfect and is quite central in Santorini making pretty much anywhere on the island easy to get to.  If you're ever looking for somewhere to stay in Santorini I cannot recommend this place enough.  We're already planning on going back.