Half Term

This week is half term for us, so we've been to Dorset and visited my family. We walked around the village stopping so Em could do bark rubbings and photograph natural forms for her art homework. We visited Charmouth in the quest for some fossils, but Uncle Tom Cobley and all were there and the fossils were hiding although we found some possibilities.

We've been up to London to visit the Docklands museum for the 100 Years of Guiding exhibition which was brilliant, but if you want to go you'll have to be quick because tomorrow is the last day! If you do go don't forget to ask for your free badge if you are a member of Girlguiding.

We went to the Sea Life Centre in Brighton yesterday; as its a few years since our last visit we noticed lots of changes to the displays. It was very good and we loved the trip on the glass bottomed boat, the turtles were amazing. Em was delighted to be able to collect a piece of Broccoli to throw to the turtles. Today we are hoping to visit the Pumpkin Farm at Slindon so I will post some pictures later. Jane

Holidays in Dorset

We went to Dorset and had a lovely time despite the rain. We went to the cinema to see Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. We visited Tyneham Village which is on the East Lulworth Firing Ranges, because of the summer holidays the ranges were open to the public. Tyneham was taken over by the Ministry Of Defence and the Army during WW2 and it has remained so since, despite the villagers being told they would be able to return after the War. It is a very melancholy experience as the houses are all ruined but there is a schoolroom and the church still intact, both of which have exhibitions. Later the same afternoon we visited Lulworth Cove, which is a very popular spot along the Dorset Coast. We visited Great Chalfield Manor which was used for filming Wives and Daughters and Lacock Abbey, which was used for filming scenes for the first two Harry Potter films. They are both National Trust properties. Finally we spent an afternoon in Lyme Regis which is a lovely place to visit, sadly the sun was not going to co-operate so we decided the sea might be a bit chilly for paddling. Al couldn't resist trying it out - brave girl! As you can see from her expression it was freeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing. On our final day it was raining so hard we went to the pictures to see Ice Age 3 - Brilliant. On the crafting front I have been making another sampler this time for a friend of Tony's who is leaving work to study to be a vicar in the Church Of England, I will post some pictures when its finished. Shortly we are off to Dartmouth for a family holiday, I hope your holidays are fun filled. Jane x

"Dorset is beautiful where ever you go" Part 2

Our trips out this week have included, Athelhampton house and Gardens which are beautiful and have many echos of Montacute and Barrington Court, but Athelhampton is privately owned. Lulworth Castle which was fantastic, it was destroyed in 1929 by fire. It was then rescued and roofed and stabilised, so you can see three floors from the ground floor. One of the towers has a steel stair case to the battlements which give 360 views of the castle lands. Later the same day we visited Lulworth Cove, we even tackled part of the coastal path to Durdle Door. The views were stunning.

We also visited Barrington Court for an Easter Egg Hunt then on Easter Saturday we went to Corfe Castle and later the same day we boarded the steam train to Swannage which was brilliant. I love steam trains despite being born after Dr Beeching wielded his axe on the railway. We visited a wonderful chocolate shop which hand makes all sorts of chocolate including the dairy-free variety. So Em did very well this Easter despite her dairy allergy. I bought the dairy-free bunnies as substitues for the Cadbury's egg she won on the Easter Egg hunt. Easter Sunday we went to Lytes Cary Manor and Easter Monday we visited Coldharbour Mill, Uffculme. The mill has some beautiful wool. Today we came home to Sussex with Ali. I hope you have a lovely week Jane x

"Dorset is beautiful where ever you go"

The title of this post is a line from a song sung by the Yetties and pefectly sums up the County of Dorset. Sunday afternoon we visited Tintinhull Gardens N.T. The gardens were beautiful, the tulips and magnolias were in bloom. Em took her sketch book with her to practise single line drawing of organic shapes. They will be doing more in art lessons at school after Easter. The pond in the photo was full of fish and lots of tiny tadpoles hiding in the clumps of iris. On Monday we went to Bath, to the Jane Austen Museum. It has a display of costumes of the period and tells the life story of Jane Austen, which was fascinating. We walked around the Royal Crescent and down the shopping streets. Tuesday - we visited Athelhampton House, it is a beautiful house and gardens, which we enjoyed discovering. I hope you have a good week. Jane

Dorset Here We Come!

We're off to Dorset, we've packed everything including the kitchen sink! I hope to post during the week but that depends on the time available and broadband connection. We've plans to visit Bath and lots of our favourite National Trust houses. I've packed some knitting and crosstitching and a couple of books to read. I hope you have a good week too. Jane x

Dorset and Pincushions

Photos from our holiday in Dorset at the end of July.

Old Sherborne Castle, which was dismantled during the Civil War after it fell to the Parliamentarians.

Castleton Waterwheel, Sherborne, now fully restored

Clevedon Court, Bristol.

This week I have been sewing - Pincushions. This all came about because a few months ago one of my frequently visited blogs (it may have been Lucy or Lesley) did a post about pincushions and I realised that I don't have a pincushion! I trawled the web and found some wonderful patterns: Flower Pincushion Square Pincushion Hedgehog Pincushion Pretty Patchwork waterlilly Chicken Small Flower Thumb Pincushion Mothers sewing box in between doing other things around the house I have been busy sewing. They aren't quite ready to be photographed yet but when they are I will post a photo and do a give away to celebrate a year and 1 month blogging (1year and 3 months being a member of blogger).

Finally a photo of the finished Sydney collage hung up at Guide Camp last week.

Happy crafting Jane x

We're back.

Dorset was lovely but it did rain, so much so that on Bank Holiday Monday the trains had to go along the line under the bridge at walking pace as the water had stopped the points working and the signals too. Sorry the photos aren't very clear but I only had my mobile phone as it was raining. In the distance you can just see an enormous puddle under the bridge, there was a man in a Network Rail coat standing up to his knees in water winding the points so the trains could go through.

We spent the week with my parents and had a lovely time just chillin' out - it was too wet to do much. Although we did visit Broadwindsor craft village which has a lovely jewellery shop - Earth Design, Rumplestiltskin - which stocks unusual yarns and kits for knitting and felting as well as buttons and allsorts of other goodies for felting and crafting. Becca's Quilt Emporium - full of gorgeous fabrics and more crafty goodness. A restaurant serving delicious food then more units selling beautiful cards, bags, toys, scrap booking supplies etc. We also went up to visit Al in Cheltenham and went for lunch to Frankie and Benny's.

One afternoon the sun did come out - well it tried, so we went for a walk and found this very pretty field full of buttercups. Hope your week was good too. Jane x

Easter Holidays - Hurrah!

They are here at last - our holidays. So Em and I are off to visit my parents in Dorset whilst Tony stays at home as he has to go to work :( But then Em is off in the caravan for a holiday with my parents. Tony is joining me later in the week and we are going to Cornwall for a long weekend. We are hoping to visit: The Eden Project, & Lost Gardens of Heligan plus whatever else appeals to us while we are there. I finished making a bag for Lesley's birthday although it was a little late arriving.

Nothing on the needles at the moment but I am crocheting a bag in 5 ply garden twine but as it is very hard on my fingers I'm only doing a couple of rows each evening. Tony says that it looks like the sole of a shoe for a giant! Can't decided what to knit next, perhaps socks - not sure. Hope you have a good week, Jane x

Easter

We spent Easter weekend in Dorset visiting my parents. Alice was home from Uni and is enjoying her Easter holidays at the moment. We have our school Easter break from the 4th April for two weeks. Despite the weather we had a lovely weekend and managed a couple of egg hunts with the National Trust at Lytes Cary Manor and Barrington Court, both near Yeovil. The weather was so cold and wet that I didn't take my camera so I took these photos with my mobile phone. (Sorry for the poor quality) Over the weekend I planned to knit myself a pair of socks but I changed my mind when I saw a pattern for a Leprechaun in a magazine. It was a perfect gift for my friend Debbie. Debbie had given me an Easter egg. On the previous Monday a couple of the 6th formers had come to school dressed as Leprechauns because the theme for St Patricks day was green clothing. However we all teased her that she was seeing things. I made him (Seamus) a speech bubble introducing himself and left him on her desk this morning. Seamus was a big hit with Debbie and he even brought Debbie to lunch to meet the other staff.

I am delighted that my Bunny, which I made for the Bunny Hop Bunny Swap which Lucy organised, has now arrived in Holland at Heleen's home. I can now show you a couple of photos I took of bunny before I sent her to Heleen, but I think Heleen's pictures are much better so pop over to her blog and have a look.

Return from Dorset

We had a lovely break in Dorset, as I mentioned before we stopped on the journey to visit Stonhenge. It was foggy and so you couldn't see the people walking around the stones very easily which added to the eerie atmosphere.

I half expected an ancient Briton to appear from behind one of the stones clad in animal skin and carrying a spear followed by a group of his people coming to Stonehenge to perform a ceremony. It was bitterly cold and in the eerie stillness all that could be heard was the cawing of the crows as they sat on top of the stones and the distant hiss of traffic as it passed by in the fog.

We visited my parents and spent a day out in Wimborne Minster, mostly in the market but we did have a wander around the town. We also visited Sherborne where I found some teaspoons to add to my collection.

This photo is of Archie (my friends cat) sitting at the top of her stairs. He is very cute and friendly and loves company. He likes to spend his day on the roof of the shed keeping an eye on the surrounding gardens and sleeping.

Knitting WIPs are a Bunny, Sheep & Monkey, I haven't finished anything in ages so I'm off to do some knitting now. Today was a Training Day at school, back to normal tomorrow! Hope you all have a good week. Jane X

Photo's From The Christmas Holidays

I thought that I would share some photos from the Christmas Holidays

This photo was taken on Christmas Day afternoon in Mum & Dad's village. The calves looked at Em and she looked at them, but Al took a couple of steps onto the grass and they all backed off ready to turn tail and run. Not Al's fault I hasten to add.

Em was given a cat jigsaw puzzle which she needed a bit of help with, but we managed to finish it in the afternoon after our walk. It came in the pretty little tin and she loved it.

On the Thursday we went to Stourhead National Trust House and Garden - only the Garden was open. Em was very proudly wearing her High School Musical Bag with Zac Efron's photo on it which Al gave her for Christmas.

It was cold, but we had lunch in the restaurant of soup and roll with sandwiches. Suitably refreshed we then went for a walk around the gardens.

Later in the week we went for a day out to Bath, where I took a photo of Sally Lunn's tea shop. Then it rained heavily which stopped me taking any more photos.

Last day in Dorset, the girls played Monopoly and Robert bear agreed to be the third player and he won! Hahaha clever bear.