Monday 15 November 2010

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

21 comments:

  1. How frustrating for you! It is a shame that the NT closes down all its houses for the winter as so often the grounds are not what you want on a chilly autumn day. I love Stamford and only wish I lived near enough to go there often. Thanks for mentioning the fair at Wimborne - I will see if I can get there.

    Jane

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  2. Well, what lovely photos they are too, well worth the effort of uploading, and I hope your now enjoying a stiff whisky :)

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  3. Oh don't you hate it when that happens? We use to plan days out and find places were not co-operating. My husband use to get a lot of Mondays off and it was guaranteed that where we wanted to go was closed on Mondays!
    I am loving that little shop with the taped up windows how cute is that?
    I love craft fairs, we don't have enough in my area so we are planning our own. I just hope we get enough crafters and buyers :)

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  4. Gorgeous photos :)

    Such a shame so many places were closed - perhaps they think we're all too busy with the C word to want to visit?

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  5. thanks once again Jenny for the lovely post about my Vintage at the Village Hall fair- I shall have to employ you as the Advertising Exec!

    We live in the Lodge House of a large Nat Trust property (and yes, they all close at the end of October) and we regularly had to fend off irate visitors who came to The House only to find it closed.
    "It's not MY fault" seemed to be the only thing I could say as they insisted on venting their frustration on me- until we came up with the grand idea of blocking off our main access from the road, and now we come in and out through the "back entrance", and peace reigns once again!


    Lotsa luv xx

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  6. Thats the trouble with the National Trust. You had a great ride round though! xxxxx

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  7. It's so annoying when that happens. I walked miles to a place called Erddig in June when we went camping in Wales as my Grandma used to be a servant there when she was a girl and I really wanted to see the house only to find they were closed on Fridays and guess what, it was a Friday!

    Love these Vintage fairs i've got a stall at a Christmas fair on Saturday and know that I will probably spend more than I make but that's half the fun. Whitstable also has a Seaside Brocante every few weeks throughout the summer, so much nicer than high street shopping as you say!

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  8. Know how you feel. We often come to England in the winter (have a lovely island cabin in Ontario) and find that very frustrating....Ive found English Heritage has more going on.

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  9. oh indeed I believe you deserve that whiskey!!

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  10. What beautiful country you saw though! I love your new photo banner at the top. Such pretty dishes!

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  11. Blogger does drive you cuckoo sometimes I agree!
    At least you've got some lovely days out to come now you've discovered some gems.
    Lisa x

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  12. I seem to remember that most, if not all of the NT attractions where I used to live in Yorkshire also closed around this time. I assume that they don't want the expense of heating them during the cold winter months and that their volunteers want time off....it is a shame though that they can only be enjoyed when they are swamped with tourists in summer.

    I don't know Stamford, but it looks like an interesting place to visit and I'd love to see what treasures that collectibles shop has.

    Marie x

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  13. Still not completely happy with your blog's look? I love it, the colours, your banner, everything! Hopefully I'll get mine looking as good as yours soon x

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  14. Hi - first visit to your blog. I'm new to blogland - and I keep finding more and more blogs I want to follow every day! Like you, I'm retired (though busier than when I was working, almost!!) and I think I could make blogging a full time occupation if I wanted - so much out there! Lovely photos you took. I agree about NT properties, we'vew found the same. See you again.
    Abby

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  15. I love love your header but then I saw your kitchen its simply divine.....LOve it!

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  16. Now I'm exhausted now after reading all that lol.....i wish i could attend the vintage fair...always the way never near to where you are....great photos and Mr Tom is one of my fav films too.

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  17. hi jenny, thanks so much for stopping by. my two fellas would love that steam railway. your folksy shop's looking good! have a lovely weekend.

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  18. It really is a shame that so many NT properties are closed at the same time.
    I guess that means that Nov is not a good time to visit the UK.
    By the way, I really do like your new title picture. LOVELY!

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  19. Thanks for visiting my blog again. I just don't manage to visit all blog lately due to the loads of work I have for my sale at home. I hope that soon I will have some more time to spend on everyones blogs.
    In the meantime hope you will still visit mine.
    Take care
    xxx
    Michaja

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  20. Thankyou for dropping by with your good wishes Jenny. No 1 is on the mend and now has some movement in her elbow which we're hoping is a good sign. We will find out on Tuesday if she needs an operation to pin the bone. Fingers crossed that she is healing just fine.
    Jille x

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  21. Hi Jenny! Your post reminded me of when my boys were little and we went round Scotland on a very wet miserable weekend one November. We still refer to it as "That time we went to Scotland and it was shut!" SueXX

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Hi thanks for stopping by, but even better say hello. I love to read your comments and its also a way for me to meet you. I do read every coment but don't always have the time to find your email or web, so do pop back if you have asked a question as I will answer it here.xx