Winter in the The Hamptons

February is most definitely off-season in The Hamptons.

However last Saturday a few of us were desperate to get out of the city and breathe some fresh air and a blustery, wintery visit to the beach seemed like a good way to blow away the cobwebs.

Six of us (plus our newest, tiniest friend Amelie) headed to the fishing village of Sag Harbor for a walk and seafood lunch followed by a visit to the famous millionaire summer spot of East Hampton for some more chilly beach exploring and eyeing up the many seaside mansions.

The upside of February in The Hamptons is that the drive took only 90 minutes on quiet roads, we didn't have to wait for a table for lunch and we had East Hampton beach entirely to ourselves.

The downside was it started snowing pretty much as soon as we hit the beach for our walk!

{He's behind you...}

{My first time seeing snow on the beach I think!}

{No, not quite like beach weather back home in Mallloca!}

{I definitely want to see this beach again in summer}

Despite the weather we ended the day feeling pretty relaxed and had a beautiful drive home at dusk, spotting some more incredible dream homes as well as 5 or 6 deer running through the snowy forest.

Central Park in the Snow

15 months into our New York adventure we've finally had the sort of snow I expected to be  a regular occurrence here.

We were sent home from work at 3 last Friday to await blizzard Nemo from the safety and warmth of our apartment.

(View from the apartment around 11pm)

 
(Upper West Side the following morning)


On Saturday morning of course we piled on as many clothing layers as possible and headed straight out for an afternoon in Central Park.

After a seriously long walk and lots of leaping around in some pretty deep and powdery snow we headed to our new favourite local spot Jacob's Pickles to defrost with some Matzo Ball Soup.

The opposite of January blues

I'm possibly the only person I know who really loves this time of year. 

We've finally had some properly chilly weather that has required real layering, big scarfs and thick socks. Still no snow though.
I enjoy the muted grey skies and bright light of January and I really love being bundled up and cosy. 

I think New York looks great in winter!

Thanksgiving in Vermont

We spent our second Thanksgiving in a cosy lake-side cabin in beautiful Vermont with Columbia friends. 

We left New York after work on Wednesday night (both cars laden with food and drink including the all important turkey), arrived after 1am and pretty much fell straight into bed. 

I was very happy to wake up on Thanksgiving morning, pull back the curtains and see the above view out of our window.

Our home for the weekend on Lake Rescue

We felt kind of like nine Europeans pretending to be an American family at Thanksgiving! 

We started the day with a very tasty American pancake breakfast followed by a nice walk round the lake to take in our surroundings and rebuild our appetite for the main event.

 Then it was all hands on deck for a lovely relaxed afternoon of cooking...

 The turkey was very much a group effort!

And then we ate far, far too much food..

Followed by more wine, amazing pumpkin cake and games in front of the fire.

The best thing about Thanksgiving is that when it's over there are still 3 more days before you have to go back to work!

We spent the remainder of our Vermont weekend going on walks, making good use of the canoes that came with the house, visiting the maple syrup producer next door, eating, drinking, playing games and generally relaxing.

Hike up Okemo Mountain with spectacular views at top

Unfortunately we completely misjudged how long it would take and ended up walking down in the dark - which was a little challenging! Thank goodness for Iphones and the torch app!