Goeyemorgen Team,

I hope you enjoyed your extra hour's sleep this morning.  First of all I’d like to thank everybody who has preordered my forthcoming album so far.  The crowdfunding is going really well!  If you haven’t yet had a look at all the cool things on offer, head over to - http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/2nd-album and check ‘em out!

I’ve now been in Holland for 5 days and it’s going great so far.  We started off in Delft for a day and a half doing a bit of sightseeing and generally finding our feet.  It was an interesting first morning to say the least when the top box lock got stuck so that we couldn’t close the lid.  The lady running the B&B came out to help us after a few minutes and accidentally locked herself out of her own house.  This resulted in me getting a leg up to climb the garden wall, shimmying along a slippery edge to the fire escape, coming in through the garden door, which was mercifully open, to then let her back in the front.  We did eventually get the top box working again, and headed off into the centre of Delft to have an explore.  The architecture there is stunning and we visited the church where William of Orange is laid to rest, as well as the Vermeer (Girl with the Pearl Earring) museum.  We also saw some beautiful Delft pottery, the classic wooden tulips and of course a whole load of cheese (yum!) - I will have turned into a wheel of cheese by the time I return to the UK.

​Next we headed off to Rotterdam for gig number 2 at Matrix Club.  Unfortunately we missed the turning to the road where we were supposed to park and since it was a one way street found ourselves trying to get back a different way, which turned out to be the wrong way - another one way street filled with pedestrians, down which we were driving the wrong way apparently (according to all the confused/disapproving looks we were getting), ah well, once again we got there in the end and all was ok.  It was an intimate gig with great sound and fantastic to have Dan there performing with me again.  Tonight we’re off to Hoorn to play at Cafe Swaf.  Looks like Dan will come along to this one too before heading back to the UK tomorrow :-)

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks!  Apologies for missing the blog last week, I shall endeavour to make up for it now.
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My first gig up North was on the outskirts of York.  I was greeted by a very lovely family and the largest amount of cake and profiteroles you’ve ever seen.  Red Velvet, Chocolate, both absolutely enormous - naturally I had a bit of everything, with cream :-) luckily I waited til after the gig!  The small crowd was made up of family and neighbours, which was perfect (though not nearly enough to get through the mountain of food), and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you all and hearing some street gossip.  The next day we went for a gentle walk along the wildlife trail (too gentle to walk off all the cake I fear) and then had a pub lunch - well looked after doesn’t quite cover it!  Here they are, the spoon-whittling, rol-profitering bunch.

​The single is being mixed and finished off today, whoop, so maybe I’ll give you a sneaky preview soon :-)  Also in the process of organising the music video which is being filmed this weekend.  The money made from downloads of the single is going to be donated to a military charity, so your help in spreading the word will be vital.  More details to follow!

Back to the tour and this weekend just gone.  On Friday I was in Kenilworth at the very cosy Tree House Bookshop.  Thanks to Victoria and Tim for welcoming me into the land of squishy chairs.  We filmed the first ever session for “Tree House Confessions” (watch this space), ate pizza and then I performed to a sell out audience, whoop!  So good to see some of my Living Room Tour Hosts and friends there, even though they’d heard me just a couple of weeks before!  You guys are the best!  That night I was put up by my new friends Lewis and Charlotte who hold open mic nights at Tree House Bookshop.  Top musical chat and an explore of Kenilworth Castle where they are starting a series of gigs.  As ever it was a joy to meet you all.

I continued on my way and headed up to Spilsby in Lincolnshire for my next gig.  Spilsby Theatre is a rather magical place I think.  It’s in need of some love and attention (and funding as it’s falling apart in some places), but Bruce, who runs the place is gradually nursing it back to health with passion and dedication.  Fingers crossed in 3 years time it’ll be as good as new!  I was performing in the speakeasy style bar area with support from Suffolk based artist Fern Teather.  The gig was organised by Andrew Skinner in aid of "Teenage Cancer Trust” and in the end it was a sell out so we raised £160 for the charity - well done team!

What I have loved most about this tour is the variation of people and places.  The only constant has been that everyone I have met has been genuinely lovely and happy to welcome me into their homes, families and lives.  It's been an incredible few weeks and with just one house gig to go I'd like to thank anybody and everybody who has played even the smallest part in making this tour special.  I really hope I get to do the whole thing again next year.

I'm off to Holland in less than 2 weeks time, aaaaaaaaaaa!  Before I go there are still a couple of opportunities for you to catch me at a gig:

Oct 8th - Sofar Sounds, Oxford
Oct 9th - Living Room Gig, Whitminster
Oct 10th, 3pm - Instore at Rise Records, Cheltenham
Oct 16th - Forest Folk & Roots, Cranfield Bedfordshire - http://www.wegottickets.com/event/327972

So much excitement I can hardly contain myself!  Also, there are whisperings of a new album on the horizon.  Keep a look out for more details and ways you can get involved this weekend.

It's the final of Bake Off tonight - enjoy!  I will - I know all about cake :-)

H xxx