Chasing Autumn #4 - Exploring

It was my birthday last week, just one year off a milestone. Not looking forward to THAT very much! So we went on a distraction mission and went to visit a lovely little town we've meant to visit for a long time - Southwell.

It's a small, charming place of mellow red brick cottages, Queen Anne mansions and with lovely shops and cafes too. We walked around the green, taking in the wonderful setting and the scent of Autumn,

We bumped into Woody's old editor in Boots. Really nice to see him again, think he was a bit shocked to see us all the way over in north Nottinghamshire.

And the Minster. Well there's little I can say that the pictures don't. For a girl who loves early medieval history it was a bit of a pilgrimage for me. Just superb.

Chasing Autumn #3 - Family Time

Every Autumn we gather our little family together and have a tramp through the woods, hopefully after a nice big lunch. Last weekend we had a fabulous feast, hunted down wellies and waterproofs and headed out.

It's still quite green, Autumn is so late this year and there's only been an one frost. Our boys know thepaths so well by now and they hurtled along through the trees whooping at the tops of their voices.

 

I love seeing my little nephews among the trees here discovering these woods at the same age our two did.

The light was magical, filling the woods with amber and gold.

Special times.

Chasing Autumn #2 - Dark Nights & Sparkle

We travelled east to a medieval castle in the pouring rain  and had the most brilliant time.

There were battling Vikings with sparks flying from their swords, a burning boat burial and fire eaters who set the sky aflame.

Then with the loudest boom in the world the night lit up with a thousand lights and blew us far away.

Best fireworks ever - thank you Tutburyx

Chasing Autumn #1 - Down By the River

The season's moving on quite sharpish isn't it? I'm conscious of resisting the urge to dive headlong into winter, snow and all sorts of festiveness. So if it's alright with you, thought I'd do a quick few posts on the best bits of our Autumn so far.

There's been plenty of rain but there's golden sunlight amongst the heavy clouds. Our river keeps rising and falling, threatening to flood but not quite getting there.

The canal, the old steam railway and the river all run alongside each other, lined with broadleaf trees, a few cosy, brick cottages and the lovely pub.

 

On our walk we met a chap who'd put up a couple of tree swings for his granddaughter to play on. He was so pleased to see our boys enjoying them too. What a lovely, lovely thing to do.

P.S. Thank you ever so much for your massively kind and enthusiastic comments on my new kitchen! I was bursting with pride. We had a smashing lunch last weekend. It's completely changed our home. Thanks for being so kind xxx

At last!

Finally, after 12 long years I've actually got a kitchen to call my own. I've lost count of the times I've painted over tiles, cupboards, floors even to try and improve some hideous set of units in the houses we've lived in to try and make a space feel more like home.

Woody was reluctant it has to be said. He'd have put up with our old, sad, rotten, leaking, broken kitchen forever but I'd reached my limit. I last did it up a couple of years ago but it really was beyond repair. So I went to Ikea and bought a bargain new kitchen that we can just afford and a couple of weeks back it was fitted.

All I wanted was something that when I cleaned it, it actually looked clean! There are no fancy, cheffy touches, just nice simple cupboards, with lovely deep pan drawers and proper lighting so I can actually see what I'm doing.

The Ikea fitters were superb and we didn't have to call or organise anything apart from buying our tiles and new flooring. We arranged for them to fit those too as well as a brilliant little plinth heater that warms up our galley kitchen really quickly and meant we could get rid of an awkward radiator. This meant we also got to have a fridge freezer in this end of the room rather than in the dining end which was always a hassle.

I love the tiles. They're the same as we had fitted in the bathroom last year but in here we chose a light grey grout because I didn't want to get fixated on it discolouring. It looks great!

I can't tell you how happy I feel to have a proper kitchen with appliances that work (and don't smoke or smell!) where we can gather as a family and enjoy where we are. Tomorrow all the family are coming over for a big Sunday lunch and I can't wait to cook for them and feel a tiny bit proud.xxx