Marvellous Margate

Gosh it seems ages ago that we trundled off for our annual holiday with our lovely in laws. (sister and brother in law), but it's really only five months ago. I think we've crammed so much in this year though that it feels like much longer!

I've called it Marvellous Margate, as we did have a lovely break and to be really truthful, Margate is certainly putting up a fight and in certain parts the regeneration is creating a vibrant vintage and cafe culture which is definitely worth a visit, but like most towns, seaside or not the High Street has and is still suffering from closed shops and not enough investment to bring back the shoppers to make it a thriving community.
Having said that we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the area and especially the wonderful walk from our base at Westgate on Sea to Margate along the seafront. About a mile and a half, past gorgeous rows of beach huts, the lovely beach stretches way out at low tide, leaving rock pools for investigating and at high tide the sea laps right up by the sea wall. Its colours changing from murky brown to vivid green and the brightest blue when the sun shone.

We were so lucky to have a week of dry weather with quite a bit of sunshine, though the wind was often bitterly cold. Not bad for April though!

We managed to slot in a couple of National Trust visits while we were there. Sissinghurst of course and similar but on a much smaller scale, Batemans. We were a bit early in the season to see either at their best but both were still stunning and well worth the visit. We chose well and I think we had our warmest days there.

We also managed to visit Canterbury. Stunning! The architecture and the atmosphere. We dined Al Fresco under a canopy by the riverside watching the punts ferry visitors back and forth. It was very relaxing, and we had a lovely meal too.

There were other places that we visited too, some less exciting than others, but we loved Whitstable and Sandwich.

All in all it was a lovely break, with walks, car boots and vintage shopping too., What more could we want!

Since then we have had six weeks of school holidays, most of which was spent out in the garden in glorious sunshine, a fabulous week in North Wales with our daughter, son in law and grandsons, another great visit to the Twinwood Festival and have just returned from a weekend in the Derbyshire Dales where we enjoyed a beautiful walk through Dovedale in glorious sunshine.

So hopefully I'll be sharing some more of our exploits and some sewing news with you over the next few weeks.

Have a good week, whatever you're up to

TTFN

Jenny xx

TERRIFIC TWINWOOD........

Now I don't want to shout it out too loud but yesterday was my birthday.....A HUGE birthday, and had it not been for two things I might have been a bit depressed. First there were the wonderful cards, presents, flowers and well wishes of my family and friends, rounded off by the most scrumptious impromptu party (in the sunshine) and secondly I felt a real spring chicken after watching 'Fabulous Fashionistas', a program about 6 women with an average age of 80 who completely destroyed any preconceived ideas you might have had about growing old........

However on our little jaunt (was it really 4 weeks ago) to the Twinwood Festival I didn't feel quite so young watching the incredible dancing talent on show! Jitterbug, Charleston, Jive my word did those guys and gals go!

The tickets were bought for us as a Christmas present by our DD and her family and at the time it seemed so far away, but my how those months galloped by and especially the last one when we were still trying to find what to wear.

I love vintage especially the 1940s and 50s, but would never pretend that I could always tell real vintage clothing or accessories. Of course we do have the Internet now and that's where I went for my inspiration. DH was lucky to have a genuine 1940s double breasted suit which I had found in a charity shop some time ago, and a genuine trilby and braces. so his outfit just needed the finishing touches. However for myself and my SIL it was just a case of trawling through books and Internet images and hoping that we would achieve a reasonable look, without it costing us a small fortune.
In the end I made a dress from an authentic 1940s pattern, and even made a hat from a 1940s pamphlet!. I didn't wear the hat however as it was made from felt and the weather forecast was not good, but it will keep.

Well I am chuffed to say that our menfolk must have cut the mustard as they were photographed several times and are now on the Simply Twinwood facebook site and all four of us were captured by a lady for her job, where she helped the elderly by taking photographs at vintage festivals and getting them to reminisce about their past experiences.

The weekend started very badly weather wise with some torrential rain on the Saturday, but our tickets were for Sunday and a rather misty and miserable morning soon gave way to the most glorious hot and sunny day, and though I am sure we would still have enjoyed the event there is no denying that being able to lounge on the grass listening to the big band sound, the incredible singing acts and watch the amazing dancing really made the day. A doubledecker bus took us from the car parks to the arenas and was the perfect start to a perfect day.

There were fabulous vintage stalls, a veritable fashion parade of different costumes, vintage cars, superb music and plenty of places to eat and drink.

As a teenager of the sixties you would think music festivals would be old hat, but I confess this is the first I have ever been to and I was a bit nervous, however the whole thing was just so brilliantly managed and the atmosphere so friendly I am already planning my outfit for when we go again!!.......

So if you haven't been and want a great vintage music filled day out I can certainly recommend it.

Have a great week

TTFN

                                                                           Jenny xx