A Walk in the Rain

 

Went for a wee walk in the Mizzle today with The Mister. We visited the gardens of the Elizabethan house that is 'more glass than wall', Hardwick Hall. Extremely foggy, the house had a strange and eerie feel. Loved it. Only sorry we couldn't go in.

Home for a pot of tea and a lush plate of Inverawe smoked salmon with scrambled egg. I ventured to buy a packet of the 'by Royal appointment' salmon after a work colleague recommended it. I only bought trimmings mind, well, it was the best smoked salmon we've ever tasted. I shall be purchasing some more for my new freezer.

Keep well everyone.

Behind The Scenes at Hill Top, Home of Beatrix Potter

 Just had an email from The National Trust which included this gorgeous and gentle video, I thought I would like to share it with you my lovely blogging chums.

I have visited the garden shown but haven't managed to visit the house. I particularly liked the dolls house featured as the Mister has just bought me a dolls house shop for my birthday, which I plan to turn into Mister Raymond's apothecary shop from 'Outlander'. Fans of the show will know what I'm talking about. I guess those who don't will see my efforts in due course.

We did stay at Beatrix Potter's old tea room a few years ago, which is very similar to her own house.

 

The Mitford Sisters-Such Fun

 

I suspect that nearly everyone has heard of the Mitford family and in particular the six sisters. They were part of an endlessly fascinating aristocratic English family. The celebrated sisters were quite a scandalous group of 'gels'. If you have never heard their intriguing stories I urge you to pop to your local library and find out all about them. Mary Lovell's book is top notch.

The picture above shows a Q&A small article with Nancy Mitford, the eldest sister talking about herself. I'm sorry about the quality as I nabbed it from my phone, but I'm sure you will get the flavour of her. I especially like her response to 'But what would you really like to do?'.

A New Cellar On A Budget

 

Followers of old will remember we've spent the best part of three years renovating our house, but somehow we've never been able to spare the time to clean out and spruce up the cellar. Not until now that is. In my last post you saw this corner in its 'before' state, this is the same corner after lots of deep filler, sweepings and lashings of a rather lush paint called, aptly, Victorian White.

I hope you like my pantry cupboard, I'm thrilled with it. It is a 1930s wardrobe that was gifted to us via Freecycle. When the Mister went to pick it up, the rather nice gentlemen who was in his 70s, said he'd had it since he was a boy. And now after a lick of Annie Sloane paint it will be good for another 70 years. Inside are small compartments with such labels as, Sundries and Underwear. These now house my excess tins of food and jars, perfect for Christmas and making a good deal of space in our kitchen.

I'm afraid I neglected to take a bigger picture of the 'after' door, but you can just see it in the right of the picture, now a gorgeous shade of Farrow & Ball calamine pink. And who is this lady you might ask? Well she is the keeper of the cellar, Lady Daphne Agincourt, you will see she has her beady eyes on the stairs to the cellar, making sure nobody but me gets their little mitts on the Champagne.

All the paint used for the revamp apart from the white paint I already had, the mouse and cheese shelf trim was in my stash, purchased God knows where and when. So the whole job has cost peanuts, which dear reader is just how I like it. Improvising and using up bits and bobs around the house.

Another small 'improvement' yesterday was implemented after the Mister hit his head yet again on one of the four low door frames in the Victorian part of the house.

Again a nice piece of haberdashery from my stash. Pom pom trim which can be seen from both sides of the door. If this doesn't work I'll have to get some, 'Duck or Grouse' signs made.

Happy weekend all.

Gifts From The Garden

 

Last few things to harvest from the garden including some dried Hydrangeas, I'm loving the greeny blue ones. Found a few raspberries too, although the weather has been misty, damp and cold, but I think they will be the last for this year. I'm not complaining mind as we've had HUGE amounts of raspberries all through the late Summer, saving lots of money. I usually buy blueberries for our breakfast at £3.00 a pack but raspberries have been a great alternative.

I've been busy of late looking after a dear friend who has been admitted to hospital, she is very unwell but we're hoping for some good news next week when she meets with some specialists. Then we can plan a way forward. I have also been intrusted to look after her adorable ginger cat, Hettie, who is missing her Mum.

In between hospital visits this week I will be revamping our cellar, which is under the Victorian part of the house. It will be the last 'room' in the house to receive a makeover. Until now we have kept all the decorating materials in there for easy access, but we have moved them into the garage. The cellar will be our wine and food store, with a smallish freezer for batch cooking and food bargains, a wine rack and an upcycled 1930s wardrobe which will be a little pantry. Is is silly to be excited about it? 

This is the cellar cleared before we start to remove lose paint etc. I will post some updates as I go along.

Keep safe my blogging chums. Love from me and the fat Welsh kitty.