I am a lucky lady. Over the past couple of years I have made friends with four women who are competent, friendly, creative, genuine, honest, helpful, supportive and fun.  Together we are a bunch of five mothers with 12 children between us.

Out time is mostly taken up with our children, our jobs, our homes and our volunteering. What tends to get neglected are our hobbies. Between the five of us we sew, crochet, knit, bake and renovate furniture, to name just the main interests we share.

At the beginning of the summer, in a fit of frustration, I suggested we pack up all our hobby-related belongings – sewing machines, cook books, yarn, hook and needles – and head off for a few days of uninterrupted creativity.  The suggestion was met with a big loud yes from the girls.

So, after a little bit of planning and a lot of excitement, last weekend we headed off to the Hunsruck area, 90 minutes drive from our village, to a huge holiday home in the village of Ravengiersburg.

The photos online (we booked through AirBnB) looked pretty nice. When we arrived, we were very pleasantly surprised. The interior was tastefully decorated  in pales blues and greys with lots of wood, white walls and natural materials.

The ground floor houses one spacious double bedroom as well as a large dining room with two six-seater tables, ideal for us. One to eat at, one to craft at. Not having to tidy away our patterns, needles and thread to make room for food was such a luxury.

The adjoining kitchen is equipped with everything you could imagine needing, equipment-wise, as well as a huge amount of storage space and counter space. We baked bread, cooked a good old-fashioned pearl barley soup and made a beef and olive tagine in the oven. Along with the homemake cake, flapjacks and brioche we had baked in advance, we were well-catered for with little effort. Which left us all the more time to relay in the gorgeous surroundings and apply our minds to our hobbies.

Upstairs we discovered five more bedrooms. It was hard to decide which we liked best. Each of us found a favourite – the petrol blue wardrobe struck a chord with one, the room with the day bed and wooden desk was chosen by another. The third chose the room decked out in florals and a pastel green chest of drawers. I chose the room with steps down into it and a view of the village.

The fifth bedroom upstairs is a children’s room, fitted with two sets of bunks, a single bed, a packed bookcase of children’s books and some toys, including a grinning Punch hand puppet.

Most of our time was spent in the dining room, eating, chatting, flicking through copies of The Simple Things, Mollie Makes and patterns from Ottobre and MyBoshi, and creating individual pieces.

I returned home with two pillowcases me with pretty grey and white fabrics, two envelope cushion covers, a chunky wool crochet basket and also made progress on another crochet project. The girls got on fabulously with their projects, including two dresses for daughters, a soft shell jacket for a son, a badger scarf and a owl basket.

As you might imagine, we were sorry to leave when Sunday lunchtime rolled around. The peace, the perfection of the house and the total break from our daily lives had us completely relaxed, refreshed and ready to face into another week of work, school runs, grocery shopping, bedtimes and all the rest of it.