DIDNT WE HAVE A LUVERLY TIME THE DAY WE WENT TO............

Peterborough..............

City with beautiful cathedral, decent shopping centre, Little Frankies for lunch and now host to my first blogger get together.........

I arrived well in time for our 11am meet, a bit nervous (how old am I??) outside the lovely Harriets Tea Rooms.   Of course I needn't have worried for within minutes I was greeted by a beaming smile and a hug from Karen (Tilly Rose). Next to arrive was Em (Ems Shabby Shack) followed by Anjalee (Yarn Lover) and her pretty daughter and finally Gill (DosieRosie) who had driven over two hours from Norfolk to join us.

Two of the group were sadly unable to make it due to family commitments, but I am sure we will be able to arrange another meet at a later date when they can join us.

The helpful staff in the Tea Rooms pulled two tables together for us and we were so busy introducing ourselves we almost (but not quite) forgot to order some of the delicious cake on offer.
Now at this point I should apologise...firstly I forgot to take a photo of the outside of the building, which is actually very beautiful, and more importantly.....The Cakes!!!!! So here are a couple I 'borrowed ' just to show you.......

Harriets Tea Rooms

Image courtesy of 'Where to eat out'

Lemon Cake (image by dessert.net.au 

 

As you can see we are surrounded by empty plates...which is always a good indication of  what they were like, but I kid you not when I say they were almost 4 inches high in their cake domes.....carrot cake, lemon, walnut........is your mouth watering yet!

It's amazing though that we managed to eat anything despite the fact that we were here for two hours as I don't think there was a pause in the conversation once!

It was so good though to put not just faces to the blogs but personalities to those faces and I would highly recommend this to anyone. It was a delightful way to say hello, find out a bit more about each other, listen to the tales of projects attempted....but not always completed and what each of us got out of the blogging community.....and I think it was a resounding thumbs up!

 Em (front) and Karen

Gill

Anjalee,
it was great to meet her as she hadn't at that time got a blog, but had found out about the meet through Em's and my blog and decided to come and join us and we're so glad she did. She even brought her very shy (and very brave) daughter who had to put up with us talking ten to the dozen, but she seemed to take it in good part. Anjalee has now set up her blog,(see link above), which will develop as they all do and I hope she gets as much from it as most of us seem to.

Well I do hope everyone got home safely afterwards, I did ....after a bit of retail therapy at M & S....well went to buy what all we girls go there for and they let me down so I had to console myself with something.....didn't I.......and they were bargains.....

TTFN
Jenny xx

WORTH THE WAIT...I HOPE SO

Hi there
Well today has been very different and very exciting. Meeting up with some blogger friends for coffee has been a real treat. However all that is to come tomorrow once I've sorted the piccies out....so you'll have to be patient...

In the meantime here is the promised tour of Rufford Abbey and Country Park..
Last weekend we went on one of our jaunts fearing that the awful weather would spoil our day a little as most of the day was to be spent outdoors...But yet again the sun shone and made everything that bit more special.

Rufford Park, Clumber Park and Sherwood Forest are all very close and I would imagine many many years ago were all joined together. Rufford started out as an Abbey until Henry V111 reign and then eventually became a private house. This was put up for Auction in the 1930s and was eventually bought by Nottinghamshire County Council. In 1956 a large portion of the buildings were demolished as unsafe and then what could be was partially restored and finally opened up to the public.

The courtyard where you will find the restaurant....

Some of the restoration work, as you can see there is little of the original house left....

In the cellar there is an exhibition showing how this would have been used as the refectory for the monastery and lots of information about the life and antics....and I do mean antics of the monks!!

You can see why they were targeted for closure even though the declaration above implies that it was unjust...

The vaulted ceiling is amazing

But I dont fancy one of those apples......

The fireplace down here is from the private house though and installed years later..

This picture was taken about 1909 and shows the house in its prime.....

The stunning walks take you around lakes...

Through a wide grassy ride...

All this and nature too!.....

This fella is obviously used to the camera..

And these were my star performers of the day....dad lounging about with the kids while mum provides all the food.......we've not progressed there much have we.

BUT THE BEST BIT OF ALL......

£3 to park and otherwise FREE!!!

Thanks for lending me your ears again..or should that be eyes.. will be back with the tale of the bloggers meet tomorrow.

TTFN

Jenny xx

HELLO...I'M STILL HERE.......

Hi everyone, after writing a post at least every week and sometimes twice since I started in February, life suddenly caught up with me this week and I have only just managed to grab a bit of time to say hello!

I was going to take you on another tour, this time to Rufford Abbey and Country Park, but I will have to save that for later in the week.

I cannot believe I actually forgot my camera this time, but my friend came to the rescue and let me pinch hers for the day. I have therefore had to wait for her to bring her lead etc so I could download the pictures and they need a bit of attention before I can show you them.

In the meantime.........here are a few things I picked up at the car boot on Sunday morning before we set off for Rufford.

 Yet another 'vintage' book though as you can see by the date it is rather more antique than that and in amazing condition!

....1895......!!

This ones a mere baby by comparison.....

.seems to be a school theme running through my book collection at the moment

only 1949 this time...

My DH bought this first painting  from a CS on the way home from one of our weekends away, I absolutely love it and so wanted to share it. It just sums up the English countryside for me..

a bit more detail....

There is just something about water colours that really appeals to me.  I don't really understand 'art', all I know is what I like. The kind of thing that makes me smile, gasp and wonder at the amazing talent of some artists. I've never really got to grips with modern art ......but then it wouldn't do for everyone to be the same.

One water colour artist I have come across is Jason Parsons, who I believe came from Lincolnshire. I found  a beautiful picture of an estuary with boat sheds and a small boat in a CS once and then later at a CB found another small example of his work.  I keep looking out for more, but no luck yet.

My second picture was from the CB on Sunday...

again I really know nothing about it except it has the same appeal as the vintage books about school life.....or Swallows and Amazons.......

My final treasures (apart from a couple which I can't share at the moment as they are for swaps) were this vintage tablecloth and tray cloth....sorry the pictures aren't so good being white on white...

Such incredible fine stitching it makes you wonder how they did it when they would have had such poor lighting compared to today!!

And last but not least I have wanted one of these for ages. All the ones I had seen were about £8.99 and this little beauty was a mere £3.99 from Timmerman's garden centre on the way to Rufford.  I use this rustic twine for some of my bunting and for hanging unbleached linen hearts, so I will be able to keep it tidy now and not constantly knotted.

Well its time to sign off now, I will get the Rufford photos sorted and be back soon.

TTFN

Jenny x x

Only 3 days to go to the Blog Meet!!!  See you there.......

NOT THE WORLD CUP.............

Well I hope there is somebody out there who like me is not interested in, doesn't want to talk about and certainly hasn't been watching the football!


Don't get me wrong, I do like some sport, but I prefer my sportsmen and women to be dedicated, hard working and proud to put in that little extra to excel. Someone who is proud to represent our country. I don't admire overpaid, timewasting prima donnas! When I think of the hundreds of kids out there with so much talent who will never get a chance to use it, it just makes me so cross. And to end this moan, what kind of society are we that we pay people who save lives, and those who give their lives a pittance compared to these so called stars. (Thats it honest, now for the nice bit)

Another gorgeous sunny weekend. Hot! Hot! Hot!
(I hope we don't have to pay for it later!)
On Friday I went to Peterborough with my DD. It was her birthday today, and next week she is off to a hen party, so wanted to find a few things to take with her. We had a fabulous day, for once finding almost everything we wanted. I got a new linen dress and jacket (not a set) and a Windsmoor dress at a ridiculous price, wrap style with 3 quarter sleeves, for the Autumn. DD found so many lovely things she had to actually limit herself for once, most unusual as she rarely finds what she's looking for! However when you hear that a T shirt and cardigan which she resisted cost over £100 you can possibly understand why!

On Saturday night I was baby sitting and set to wrapping her presents. She had requested a 'Swap parcel' just like I do for my blogger friends, so I have been steadily making and collecting some of her favourite things to put it all together. It wasn't until I came to wrap them that I realised how much we had collected.(It took me all night)

I hope you are ready for this. It looks a bit much just for a birthday but was in fact very thrifty being either made or found in CS and at CBs

The unopened parcel...

containing.........

a wish list book

a hand made pinny

pocket detail

 

a vintage cheese dish

 

 

homepride salt and pepper set 

(to go with her original baking set from the 1970s)

 

scent bottle (to use as paper weight as so heavy)

hand made peg bag (have you seen something similar before)

a small!!!! selection of vintage books .......................

I think she was pleased with her 'swap' and has now added a bookcase to her wish list. It has been great fun doing it and we may keep this up from now on. It certainly beats trying to find 'something different' on the high street!


And finally..............A VERY SPECIAL PIF GIFT from Jackie at Starting off

A wonderful painted house sign.
I already have a sign at my front door so I will be saving this to go on the door of my sewing room when it is done. Thank you so much Jackie for such a personal lovely gift.

TTFN

Jenny x x

PS. Anyone coming to the Peterborough blog meet, can you let me know how you will be travelling so that I can make the final decision about where to meet. (Can't wait!)

THE SUN HAS GOT HIS HAT ON....

Hip Hip Hip Hooray!!!

And not before time!... It's even been hot enough for me to wear mine (new in sale at Boundary Mills as DH crushed my last one in the boot of the car!)
 I cannot remember when we last enjoyed such a long spell of sunshine. So despite the fact that , as my mum would have said, the house needs bottoming .....and we are all in danger of suffocating under the piles of washing to do.... and if I don't iron some of that already done I will need to go shopping (any excuse) we have made the most of it. Outside walking in lovely gardens, playing and just enjoying it while it lasts.

Thursday found us at Belton House, a National Trust property with extensive grounds, wonderful kids adventure play area and a beautiful house into the bargain...typical have loads of photos but not one of the house itself...never mind! What did we do.......

Meander at leisure throught the trees

Got to know the locals

Visited the beautiful lake and boathouse ( I will show a piccie of the house one day as I'm sure we will go there again)

Then on Sunday we headed to a Megaboot!!!....all of 12 stalls!!  A bit of a disappointment, I think it clashed with another one locally so most of the regulars had deserted them.  I did find a couple of bargains, but that's for another time.

From there we headed off towards Tattershall Castle ( National Trust again), but were so parched we decided to have a stop on the way........ here........

Now that's a sign you don't see very often...'Free admission'  

(By the way its apparently pronounced Ascoffy!)...in Spalding

We had been here before but thought you might like a bit of a tour...

Wonderful topiary...I think it looks a bit fairy-like...perfect for a production of A Midsummer Nights Dream!

Can you see the ducks nose to tail!

Still some lovely flowers in bloom....

  

After excellent refreshments in the little cafe in the grounds we finally headed for Tattershall Castle...

It is by no means large and theres not a lot of objects to see, but if you do go do take the taped guides (they're free) because the history of the place and it's final restoration is fascinating and where walking through on your own with no guide would probably only take half an hour with the tape you can spend an hour and a half to two hours and not be bored.

I particularly loved the story of the fireplaces. In around 1911 the place already derelict was sold to the Americans and they removed all the fireplaces intending to ship them out to America. A gentleman (I beleive his name was Curzons) heard about this and decided that the castle was such an important part of our history that it should be retained by the nation. To cut the story short he bought the castle within 24 hours, found where the fireplaces had been stored ready for shipping and returned them after some time, triumphantly to Tattershall.

photographs property of National Trust (please forgive me but it added to my story)

Restoration in progress....

One of the fireplaces back where it belongs!.....

Here endeth the history lesson....Sorry hope you aren't too bored...this is a bit of a marathon!

Anyway that was our weekend, thoroughly enjoyable...and I might add finished of with the most perfect dinner at the 'Queens Head' Kirkby La Thorpe. Well recommended if you live in or near Lincolnshire.

And so finally....

the Puffin progresses!

Drawing complete, digitized for embroidery............

But you will have to wait for the project as I have a daughters birthday to prepare for this week.....

TTFN

Jenny x x