MERRY CHRISTMAS..........

 and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all....

As this will be my last post for 2010 what better subject than my trip to Brussels for the Christmas Market....

We travelled by Eurostar, a first for me, and what a great way to travel. The only downside as far as I was concerned was the fact that you don't actually get to see much of the countryside at all. It seemed as if there were walls, fences and cuttings through the landscape virtually all the way, so any glimpse of an interesting hamlet was almost immediately concealed by some barrier or other.  This said, the speed and comfort of the journey was second to none.

Our hotel was situated about 20 minutes from the Grand Place and the start of the market. Modern, comfortable and with really friendly staff it was the perfect base.  It was also situated in the designer shopping centre, Gucci, Versace you name it. Definitely just window shopping for us, but quite an eye opener!

And when we eventually reached the Grand Place....we were not disappointed......

The market appeared to be quite small until we discovered that it was spread over several streets and squares....

The ice rink was a surprise and I loved the penguins for the little ones to hold onto....

There were rides for the children.....

and we big kids even dared to go on this......

There were beautiful shopping arcades...

whose windows were a delight...in more ways than one.....

 

Yummmm.....chocolate......what else!...

and we finished the day with the most amazing light and colour display on the buildings in the Grand Place accompanied by cheery Christmas music....a most fitting finale.....

And so with the following beautiful picture, as my Christmas card to you all, may I wish everyone good health and happiness over the Christmas break and good fortune in the coming New Year.

I have made so many lovely friends over this past year and I would like to say a big thank you for so many lovely comments, words of encouragement, friendliness and unbelievable generosity. You have restored my faith in human nature.

And finally to Diane from Heart Shaped, Thank you so much for your card, what a lovely gesture.  I am sorry I could not reciprocate as I cannot find your address, but just to let you know how much it was appreciated.

TTFN

Jenny xxx

SANTA CAME EARLY........

Hi lovely bloggers

Welcome to any new followers who I haven't yet contacted. I am sorry if I have missed you or can't trace a way of contacting you. You are very welcome, I do appreciate all your comments, and read and try to reply to as many as possible.

Just got back from a terrific trip to Brussels which I will tell you about later in the week when I have sorted my hundreds of photos....

For now though I want to show you the fantastic goodies I received from Shaz at Odd Socks in the Autumn Leaf Swap.  I posted her parcel last Friday, so hope she receives it soon....before the next snowfall or there's no saying when she will get it!

I cannot believe what a treasure trove this parcel turned out to be...I think I will hire Shaz to pack my cases next time I travel. I have never seen so many items packed into one small space.....

beautifully packaged........ and this is what was inside...........

delicious teas..............

a cute badge and a pretty hand made felt leaf brooch........so so pretty and perfect for my camel coat!

an exquisite decorated needlecase in the most gorgeous autumn colours....

pretty fabric, ribbons and buttons.....

the obligatory edible delight........(they didn't last long!).......

And finally....the Piece de resistance.......

Mr Wol...isn't he just the cutest little owl you ever saw!!!

Of course I had to introduce him to my jacabunny, Val and Tyne, his friend who is a baby burble........(made by the amazing Kit Lane)

I think they will get on very well together in the flatland above the computer.......

So as you can see I was a very lucky girl. Thank you again Shaz, I love it all and hope you like yours too!

Well I'm off to do a few hours hand painting for my DD now. They have only 4 working days to get out about 300+ orders, so all hands to the pump.

TTFN

Jenny xx

THAT WAS THE FAIR THAT WAS.....

Or rather it wasn't....

Too much more of this...

and the antique and collectors fair I was all fired up to do was cancelled, mind you I don't suppose I was as disappointed and possibly deeply distressed as all the stallholders who were hoping to do the Lincoln Christmas Market.  As one of the busiest and most supported Christmas Fairs in the country I suspect a lot of them rely on this to make most of their annual income.  I really feel for them.....

At least my pretty tablecloth embroidered with snowflakes and the acres of red and white bunting I seem to have made won't be wasted...they will  now be the centrepiece of my own Christmas decor....the spirit of 1940s make do and mend.....home made decorations...union jacks...parcels wrapped in brown paper with home made tags.....

so I've put away the bubble wrap and the paper bags, unloaded the sellotape and the cash tin, put all the pottery, sewing collectibles, linen and enamelware back into storage and hopefully in January I will try again....

In the meantime I have kept my self busy with a bit of this....

ably assisted by my little friend.....

and finished a few of these orders.....

so I haven't had too much time for regrets and now I am getting ready for our trip to Brussels (all being well), so plenty of washing and ironing to do too....Oh deep joy!!

Finally I am sorry that the post about York and Harrogate didn't materialise. Both of them turned out to be a bit of a disappointment...not the actual places I hasten to add as I adore both, just the reasons for going, but I will tell all another time, but that will be after I tell you about the super parcel I received today from Shaz at Odd Sox for the Autumn Leaf Swap. I confess I have not posted hers yet, as it has been a bit too treacherous to walk to the Post Office, but it will go this week. We have had no parcels here for a few days and several came at once so it really was a little bit like Christmas.....

THANK YOU Shaz everything is brilliant and I will post about it next.

TTFN

Jenny xx

ITS BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS........

Come on now join in....Everywhere I go........

( Christmas Tree Decoration just added to Folksy)

Well it certainly did late last night when I went to peek out of the bedroom window.......

 I had no idea it had even started, the sky had been so clear....

and come the morning, there had been a bit more...

My retreat looked a bit bleak and tea on the lawn was definitely off.....

they say the snow muffles sound and we found out why....

10.00am on  Saturday morning and the place looks deserted..

but Oh so pretty.....

 and at last evidence of life....running back into the warm as fast as they can go!!!

I do love the snow when it's crisp and fresh, love to hear it crunching beneath my boots, love the freshness in the air....but today the wind chill meant it was bloomin' freezing and so we followed suit and hurried home to warm drinks....shame the mince pies aren't done yet a nice hot one of those would have warmed our hands a treat.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend whatever your weather and I'll be back in the week to tell you about my trips to York and Harrogate.

TTFN

Jenny xx

PLEASE NOTE AS FROM 31 OCTOBER, ENGLAND IS SHUT!!.............

No not really, but more of that in a minute.................

First and very importantly I would like to draw your attention to this Poster ..................( Picture nicked from Elaine's site...but I have told her)....

I think it is so good that we can promote such lovely events, even though like me you may be far away and sadly unable to attend. With so many of our High Streets becoming little more than 'Pound' shops, Estate Agents and though I am not really complaining about these, Charity shops, it is wonderful to know that small groups of enthusiastic people are gathering together talented crafters and suppliers to provide us with the kind of shopping experience we seem to have lost.
This fair brings the collected and collectibles, the hand made and carefully sourced vintage or vintage inspired goodies that so many are now finding really desirable.
So come on ladies if you can get to Pamphill, near Wimbourne Minster in Dorset on Monday 29th November you are in for a real treat. And you will get to meet a few of the lovely ladies that many of you chat to on a regular basis.

AND NOW......to get to the title of this post....

On Sunday, as we do at least twice a month now, we planned a visit to yet another NT property or landmark, within about a 40 mile radius of our home.  Those further away we are gradually getting round on our weekend visits away which we are very fortunate to be able to do about 4 times a year.
Well this Sunday our plan was to go to Keddleston Hall in Derbyshire, but no... the house is closed from 3 November!..
Next we looked at Sudbury Hall,......closed from 31 October.....
Calke Abbey?..........no! closed from 31 October

OK so the grounds of most of them are still open, but it is quite a long way to each of these so we rather wanted to do the whole thing. We know that they need to do maintenance (and dusting) but its a shame they all seem to pick the same time to do it!

But not to be daunted we set off for one of our favourites...Nene Valley Steam Railway intending to catch the train to Ferry Meadows near Peterborough and enjoy a lovely walk around the park....

But you've guessed it........no it wasn't closed....just no trains running!!!

Plan 327......

We eventually drove to Stamford, where we enjoyed a stroll taking in the beautiful Georgian buildings and did a bit of window shopping.  We also discovered that a musical version of  'The Railway Children' is on next Saturday evening, so took down the details to see if we could get tickets. ( I know it's a children's story but I love it, along with 'Goodnight Mr Tom',  it is one of my all time favourites.)

We discovered the most amazing little collectibles shop and.......It was Closed!!!......

.....but we will be back.....

From here we drove to Rutland Water and finished our day with a bracing walk around the lake,

There were even trees with leaves still........................
tho' we didn't expect to find these hiding in them, (the leaves that is not the trees!!)

and finally off to Empingham for a warming meal....and a well earned glass of wine!!

Well it has now taken me 2 hours to upload the photos for this post and quite frankly I am fed up, just as we thought blogger was behaving, here we go again.

So I am now going to take out my frustration on a pair of slippers, for me, .... (oops hope the sewing machine isn't listening or that's another no-no) and wish you all goodnight.

I think I may even resort to a stiff Whisky, (such decadence)!!

TTFN

Jenny xx