I'll be honest, I'm not a huge festival goer.  I dabbled when I was a teenager with T in the Park, and V96/97, but it became very apparent that I'm not cut out for the basic level of camping that these things entail.  And I do like a shower.

So, five years ago, when I was invited on a friend's hen do - at Wilderness Festival - it was with some trepidation that I agreed to go.  And you know what, I discovered that posh festivals are completely tolerable.  I can rough it with the rest of the middle classes, while munching on my avocado on toast, waiting in a queue for a hot shower.  I returned the following year, and the year after too - enjoying long sunny days of yoga, swimming, amazing food and a bit of music too.

I was aware of Festival No6, another big player on the posh festival scene, and had always been keen to give it a go.  So when my old studio-mate and good friend VIP Puppets offered me a ticket, in exchange for helping out with some artwork, I jumped at the chance.  What a lovely end to the summer, I thought; envisaging morning yoga, swimming in the estuary, sipping craft beer in the sunshine, eating amazing veggie food, and getting to listen to some good music too.

We arrived on Friday evening, after battling our way through torrential rain across the top of Wales - not a pleasant drive at all.  A gap in the downpour enabled us to get our tents up, and then it pretty much continued raining on and off all weekend!

There were some really fun parts - swimming in a heated outdoor pool during a heavy rainstorm and seeing my beloved Jarvis Cocker DJ; some really interesting parts - listening to Irvine Welsh reading from Porno, looking round the amazing village of Portmeirion, and (literally) bumping into Maxine Peake; and of course some delicious food - I was delighted to discover my favourite ever, Anna Mae, was there with her legendary Mac'n'Cheese.  But mostly we had a muddy, wet old time!  For me, no amount of glitter, gin and good company can make up for having to wear Gore-Tex and wellies all day long!

We kept our spirits up, and managed to take lots of carefully-composed blue sky photos (it's all about IG), but by Sunday lunchtime we were all flagging a bit.  Tents were blowing away, campervans were getting stuck in the mud, and we were all cold, wet and aching!  It became more of a survival mission than fun - everything became such a big effort that I missed a lot of the things I'd wanted to do and see.

The act that we were there with was a set of 12-foot tall Beatles puppets - the Be-Talls - and it was becoming increasingly unlikely they'd be able to take them out due to the weather.  However, a break in the rain at 2pm meant the puppets could take part in the Sgt Peppers Parade, and this was definitely the big highlight of the weekend!  The puppets looked great and the performers were truly amazing.

But by this point we'd made the decision to go home - our dry warm beds were luring us back, and we packed up and left a day early.  I was really sad to miss Public Service Broadcasting and Flaming Lips - who I'd really wanted to see - but the prospect of warm feet and dry knickers was simply too great.  And, well, I can listen to them both on Spotify anyway.

I had a great time in Portmeirion, it's am amazing little village, and somewhere I'd love to return to explore again in the future - and I would definitely go back to Festival No6... I'd just check the weather first.  Turns out that - for me - posh festivals are only tolerable if it's sunny.

On Saturday 12th August the Merseyside Etsy Team (which I'm honoured to be the Captain of), undertook our first ever Photo Walk.

We met just after lunch at the Albert Dock, and happily strolled our way round the Pier Head (braving a few showers and a lot of wind), up through the Business District (where the sun thankfully put in an appearance), through town to the Georgian Quarter and then on to Chinatown, finishing in Baltic Triangle.  We deviated from our original plan, as we'd slightly underestimated how long it'd take 25 people to walk through town on a busy Saturday afternoon!

Along the way we stopped to look at all sorts of landmarks - and our amazing Team Leaders had all prepared a bit of information about some of the highlights.  We learned about the workhorse statue and the Engineers' Monument on the Pier Head, the missing Banksy on Chapel Street and we had an especially informative presentation (with laminated sheets, no less!) at the Chinese Arch.  The highlight had to be, in the grounds of Our Lady and St Nicholas church, another tour group attaching themselves to our little presentation - all credit to Kerri, who carried on regardless!

Spending a Saturday afternoon surrounded by fellow Etsians was really lovely; wandering, chatting, discovering new things and getting to know everyone that little bit better.  All while getting some extra steps in too!

Here are a few of my photos, but to see many more check #merseyetsyphotowalk on Instagram.  To see photos from the other Etsy Teams who took part in walks on the same day, see #etsyphotowalk.

We are already in full planning mode, hoping to extend our adventures to locations further afield - but still within Merseyside.  Watch this space!

I'll be writing another blog really soon all about my Etsy Team - and how brilliant it is - but in the meantime, if you are looking for your local Etsy Team, here's a handy list of active teams throughout the UK, courtesy of my friend and fellow Team Captain, Joanne Hawker.

This weekend I went to Batfest in Shropshire.  I shared a few photos on social media and had a few questions - "what on earth is Batfest?"!

Well Batfest is no big secret - it's just that it's a private event, so you won't find details about it anywhere!

It all started in 2015 when I'd arranged to go to a fancy industry event in London with a group of my online small business buddies.  The event will remain nameless, but just to say it was the biggest waste of £160 ever.  We were all thoroughly dismayed by the whole thing, and started a jokey conversation about creating our own event... which would be much better, much more fun, and much much better value for money.

From an initial joke, somehow it actually became a reality, when we found a campsite in Shropshire with all the prerequisites; a nearby pub, glamping, B&B accommodation... and as an added bonus a lake with a boathouse!  We hired the whole site, in the grounds of a stately home, arranged a marquee and a fish and chip van, and in July 2016 flung open the gates to over sixty friends and their family members.

It was a total leap of faith - and amazing that people actually got in cars and drove for eight hours to get there, not knowing quite what to expect!  Fortunately (thank goodness) it was such a success we did it all again this year.

Batfest 2017 saw rain, wind and - fortunately - sunshine, rowing, walking, a sports day, SUP action, an epic pub quiz, wild swimming, lots of macrame and an entirely inappropriate game of Cards Against Humanity... among other things!

We're all small creative businesses, which is how we all met each other - but we come from all over the UK (in fact one Batfester this year flew in from Singapore); it's a great chance to get together with kids, dogs, tents, beer and food!  Business is very much on the back burner for the weekend - helped no end by the lack of 3G onsite; it's basically four days of friendship, laughter and fun.  Everyone goes away with a little grin, and a warm feeling inside, thoroughly content with a lovely weekend spend with like-minded folk.

Roll on 2018 - the campsite is already booked and I can't wait until it's Batfest time again!

If you want to put on a similar event then the campsite we use is at Walcot Hall in Lydbury North.  To enquire about the campsite visit www.thepowisarms.com, call 01588 680254 or email enquiries@thepowisarms.com. Say Becka from Batfest sent you!

Pretty much every small business owner I’ve ever met has the propensity to work way too hard, and finds it near-impossible to switch off.  It's one of the reasons we're successful at what we do; it's one of the reasons we can suffer from burnout too.
 
Running a small creative business it can be super-difficult to draw the line between work and leisure, specially when you love drawing/sewing/knitting, or whatever it is you do.  But it is so important to switch off completely every now and then.
 
I’m no exception; and despite choosing to do what I do so that I have the ultimate control over the way I spend my time, it can be all-consuming, especially at busy times of the year.  I make no secret of the fact that I’ve struggled with bouts of stress and anxiety at various points throughout my adult life, but I have worked hard to work out coping strategies for myself.
 
Drawing is genuinely really relaxing for me – which is pretty lucky.  However it is still work – and, to be totally honest, I don’t get that much time to spend drawing in a normal week.  I’m working hard on carving out time each week to draw, but admin and general “stuff” does take so much time it can be difficult.
 
So, here are my six top activities for relaxation.  Handily most of them are super-simple; I can do a lot of them without much preparation, and it’s easy enough to fit one or two in most days:

Swimming
I’ve loved swimming since I was a child.  I used to swim – fairly badly – for a local swimming club.I don’t swim as much as I should these days, but during the summer I try to get down to Liverpool Watersports Centre for a dip in the docks at least once a week.  I first tried open water swimming last summer, and was instantly hooked.  I hate swimming in a wetsuit, and I don’t much like putting my head into the salt water, but I do get a huge amount of enjoyment from tootling round the docks, taking in the gorgeous view of the iconic Liverpool skyline.  45 minutes of no internet access does me a lot of good.

Yoga
I did Pilates for years – first introduced to it by a friend when I lived up in East Lancashire – I though that yoga just wasn’t for me, it was all a bit airy fairy.  Well, Louise at White Wolf put paid to that theory, and I started doing yoga regularly with her about two and a half years ago.  I still go a few times a week, my current regular yoga haunt is Yogacita, for convenience; but I get over to White Wolf when I can – and I’m off to India in November with the White Wolf lot too.  Again it’s a full hour of not checking my phone – it’s so good for the soul.

Cooking
I’ve always loved cooking, but over the past three years it’s become more and more important to me.  After years of health issues I realised that what I eat actually made a real difference to my wellbeing; I mostly eat a plant based diet these days – and I absolutely love experimenting with food and adapting recipes.  I feel so much healthier for it, and I find that I can lose myself in cooking for hours when I have time.  I love preparing food for the whole week on a Sunday afternoon, making sure I am super-organised for the week ahead.  I reckon if I’d not been an illustrator I’d have become a vegetarian chef.  There’s still time…

Walking
I got a Fitbit a few months ago and discovered the pleasure of walking.  It’s great. Spurred on by a little group of small business friends we are all making huge strides in getting fit and meeting our daily step targets.  Walking in the park is a complete pleasure when it’s sunny, and it’s not so bad even when it’s a bit grey too!  I’ve found myself wandering around lots of different places, some really close to my house – that I’d never been before.  It’s ace what you can discover when you go exploring!

TV
Watching TV doesn’t always work as a relaxation strategy for me – my mind can often be really busy and it can wander – before I know what I’m doing something else and the TV is just background noise.  But my guiltiest of pleasures is Coronation Street – I find it so easy to switch off that noisy brain, put my phone in another room, and watch an episode or two of Corrie.  Yep, I know it’s a bit naff, but I blooming love it!

Reading
Again, there are times that I really struggle to keep my concentration on reading, but if I run a bath – ideally with something nice from Lush in it – and get in there with my Kindle I can generally while away half an hour or so.  I really enjoy reading books which aren’t too complicated – my main requirements from a book are that it has to be set in the current day (or at least partially) and there can’t be anything supernatural or magical in it.  Specific, huh?I love a bit of crime or mystery, even a bit of tragedy – my favourite authors include Jonathan Harvey, Emily Barr and Dorothy Koomson.
 
Nearly all of these activities involve me not being able to keep checking my phone – which is pretty telling!  Cutting down on screen time is something I definitely need to work on.
 
How do you find time to relax, and what do you do?