Not Quite Thelma & Louise

Eight villages, two tiny towns, three churches, one fruit farm, a pub, plenty of shops, a continental market, two antique centres and miles of amazing countryside. Now they, if you ask me, are the perfect ingredients for a road trip and a half. And I've just come back from a rather marvellous one indeed to lovely Lavenham in Suffolk.

One dark and freezing night in January my lovely friend Lucy and I got totally carried away in one of our regular discussions about how we love the countryside and discovering beautiful new villages especially. And then a plan began to form - how about a road trip to somewhere neither of us had been before for a bit of a nosey around?

So Suffolk we plumped for having heard very good things, somewhere to stay was booked, travel guides dug out and the waiting began. And it's been a long time coming but finally we set off on Saturday with bacon sandwiches to munch on the journey and headed east for Lavenham.

I hardly know how to describe this beautiful corner of England really. It's chocolate box and more, but in the most hugely charming way. I absolutely fell in love with the corner of the county we trailed through; such a different place to the hill farming country I know.

I've taken so many photos that I'm planning a couple of posts to share the delights we discovered in 36 hours away. Today is all about the tiny town and the amazing architecture there. Even on Saturday afternoon it was ever so calm and quiet, just a few tourists like us ruffling the surface of this little place.

A centre of the medieval Suffolk wool trade, Lavenham and its guild grew rich on the profits and the buildings that give the place its special character are testament to its past.

Lucy and I though were here for a potter about. (I studied the medieval wool trade at university years ago and that's plenty thanks!) We spent the day strolling the pretty streets, admiring wonderful gardens and floral displays and mostly wondering if somewhere so impossibly pretty really exisits or we were just imagining it.

Even the Londis was pretty. And the butcher and baker (no candlestickmaker) were delightful, straight out of a child's story book.

Later in the afternoon we found the church and even for a wool church (usually huge and ornate thanks to the wealth of their original benefactors) it was particularly glorious. Full of light and astounding glass.

And by then we were a little bit foot sore and it was time to head off to our little place for the night. So not quite Thelma & Louise but very, very Lucy & Steph. More next time.

And Away We Went

Finally - after the repairs, the saving up and all that rain, we've acutally spent a night away in our little caravan and it was ever so much fun. Ok, maybe there were a few teething problems (losing things, no water, no gas!) but on the whole we have fallen in love with our little bav (what the Woodhouses have always called caravans apparently-?).

Getting it off our steep drive and simply hitching up was the biggest achievement to be honest so we didn't venture too far and headed for a nice little site in an old Peak District quarry to enjoy a hazy summer's afternoon.

It wasn't a bad site but the lack of views from the pitches (we were tucked under the huge quarry walls in a dip) made it feel a bit claustrophobic and to be honest I'm with Lucy; a farmer's field would be much more up our street.

Mind you it was in one of the best parts of the White Peak and close to one of my favourite villages, Parwich, which is a lovely place to be.

After all the tricksy stuff to do with legs, hitches and jockey wheels was sorted, the boys and daddy explored the playground while mummy faffed around for half an hour making it feel a little cosier.

And oh and I loved this bit so very much; playing house with all the bargain treasures and useful bobs I've been gathering up.

Come early evening our little men were beside themselves with excitement about getting their beds ready, which lasted all of five minutes when they were in them so it was back to the playground for a bit more whooping and whizzing about until dusk.

I don't think our two have ever stayed up so late before, it was after dark when silence finally descended and we got some sleep. And we would have had a lovely old lie in if it hadn't been for the terrific thunder storm that woke us all up at dawn with violent rumbles and hammering rain. But oh was it cosy tucked up in our bav, I've never been more pleased not to be in a tent let me tell you!

I think the morning was my favourite time, the four of us curled up under duvets, chatting and laughing. A cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich would have made it perfect but this was a definitely a trial run and we've got a list as long as your arm to sort out ready for a next trip in a couple of weeks time.

What a thrill (and a relief) to finally be mobile. There'll be no stopping us now!

Blooming

After last weekend's glorious sunshine, the much needed rain descended and now the flowers have really arrived. We've rolled over into summer at No.25 with the last of the late daffs deadheaded, the euphorbia fading and the forget-me-nots pulled out for another year.

This is our third summer here and the garden really looks like mine now (well my style at least, Woody's not much of a gardener beyond the allotment). I've lost just a couple of things to the freezing winter but on the whole I think it's done everything the world of good because it looks the best its ever done.

My garden is planted with things to remind me of people and places and gives me so much joy. This pretty little thing is a geum called Mrs Bradshaw and like so many of my plants orginates from my mum's wonderful garden. I remember this delightful plant from our childhood home and where my parents live now. Isn't she lovely.

Valerian is Cornwall to me, my favourite place apart from home. It's taken ages to really settle in my garden but finally it's sowing itself merrily around (especially in the little drystone wall which reminds me of how it looks along the lanes around Port Isaac). Over the summer it will grow into gorgeous spires of fluffy pink and carmine blooms and this year I've tracked down the white variety to fill the border even more.

Not that there's much room! I think you can tell I'm a cottagey, stuffed-to-the-brim, kind of a gardener. I've got such limited planting space (two raised borders, 6ft by 2.5ft - one shady, one full-sun) so I don't bother to plan and just buy/grow what I fancy and keep my fingers crossed. I'll need to do some dividing next year but for this summer I can just about fit everything in.

Persicaria Superbum loves it here (another from mum's) and I have Firetail in the shady border which does it's thing later in the summer. This fluffy pink variety has spread in a perfect fashion and doesn't seem to need any care or attention at all.

I need to plant more aliums too this autumn. Aren't they fabulous.

So the show is just beginning. Early summer brings lupins, nepeta Six Hills Giant (catmint), geranium Johnson's Blue, aquilega, lady's mantle and the beginning of the valerian. By mid summer the hollyhocks will be in full bloom along with irises, potentilla, verbascum, feverfew, knautia, cosmos, old-fashioned heavenly scented pinks and the climbing roses (James Galway & St Swithun's Day). After that the hot zingy colours take over with crocosima Lucifer, heleniums, rudbekia, dhalias and good old fashioned sunflowers.

For now everything in my garden is lovely (well if you ignore the untrimmed lawn, the nibbled hostas and the weeds that is).

Faith Restored

Well, doesn't the world move in mysterious ways? Thank you for all your sympathies over my stolen purse last Sunday and even more so for the stories about those that turned up again thanks to the kindness of strangers. On Tuesday I had the most incredible phone call from a very kind lady at the Wolverhampton Sorting Office. Amazingly, my purse had turned up in a sackful of post from the Moorlands (yes really, our post is sorted by an office more than 50 miles away; if you post a letter here to someone just down the road it has to do over a 100 mile round trip to get there - ridiculous but I'm waffling!)

Apparently items that are dumped in postboxes (all sorts of things she told me) are routinely destroyed but this kind lady had a quick look inside to see if there was any identification and came across a few snaps in there of my boys and me and took pity on us. She took the time to go out of her way and tracked us down via our Caravan & Camping Club card and my purse was retuned by Wednesday lunchtime, complete with bank cards etc, just the £15 cash missing.

I can hardly believe it and even more kindness in that my mum and sisters don't want to return the replacement Cath purse so I've been extremely fortunate all round. Funny how someone smiles on you sometimes.  The world is full of lovely people.

So to celebrate I had a quick nosey in a new little antique shop in town and came across these beatuies which are just the thing for sitting back and enjoying this wonderful weekend we're having.

They were just £8, can you believe and will be perfect for taking away on our little jaunts.

Summer has arrived all of a sudden after some very chilly weather and we're revelling it. The garden is beginning to bloom again.

 The view is greening up and this morning the steam train is puffing merrily up and round the line (you can just see the steam through the trees).

And there is much potting on and potting up going on on my little bench. 

Happy days.  

A Day Outdoors

I'm feeling a little bruised this week after a bit of an unpleasant incident yesterday. Off I trotted to the car boot for a gleeful hour of bargain hunting all by myself, only for it to all end horribly half an hour later when I realised some complete sod had stolen my purse. Luckily I noticed quickly and cancelled the cards etc but the shock lasted a lot longer.

My own fault really; being in a rush I shoved my purse in the bottom on my basket (under a sheet) but it must have been on view at some point and was swiped. Usually I just take along cash in my pocket but I think I was too busy thinking about not staying out too long and getting back to Woody and the boys and took the whole thing with me.

And most sadly it was my lovely green Cath K purse that I bought with the vouchers given to me by my old work colleagues. My mum and sisters have been very sweet and ordered me a replacement between them, I can't believe how kind they've been. I've registered with an counter-ID theft agency so hopefully that should be an end to it, just waiting for the new cards to arrive now. So very frustrating and at least I'm ok but please, do be more sensible than me and watch out now the car boot season is really underway, there are some horrid people out there.

So, as you can imagine I really needed cheering up so a day outside in our lovely local woods was just the thing. We're really lucky to have an idyllic RSPB wood just around the corner from home and it's a regular haunt for us throughout the year. This weekend the leaves and bluebells have really unfurled and it was the most calming, peaceful place to be.

The wild garlic is in full bloom and smells delicious - I forgot to gather any though. Something to do with the bundles of sticks I was having to carry for two little boys I think (what is it with boys and sticks?!)

This time we finally completed the whole walk all the way down through the wood to the canal and steam railway line and then back again.

Stopping off for a bit of dam building, hide and seek and some bird watching meant it took us all afternoon but who cares - summer is nearly here and it was a day absolutely made for meandering.

This is the lovely Red Lion pub that greets you on the canal bend and for many years you could only reach it by train or canal. We love to stop here for a treat of pop and crisps and watch the barges or steam engine pass by.

I'm not sure if these rather elegant houses (a bit more than cottages aren't they) were built by the railway company or the water board but I would love to live in this house with it's lovely vegetable patch, in this peaceful valley .

We made it home in time for tea and a well deserved sit down. All my troubles melted away and I slept like a baby. Being out in the open; the best therapy there could be.

Have a lovely week and hold onto your purse!

A few treasures

Well, what a week. All the Whitehall and Westminster shenanigans have had us here at No. 25 completely gripped. I've always been a bit of a political junkie and being married to a journalist means that 24 hour news (usually via good old radio) looms rather large in our house on occassions such as these. Definitely a moment in history and the end of an era indeed, whatever the result has turned out to be today.

But even rolling news doesn't deter my vintage nose and I've turned up some lovely things lately. The first is this beautiful old card which I only wish I could give to everyone who leaves such thoughtful, funny and very kind comments on my little blog. They mean the world to me and I cherish them all and do wish I was able to reply to them all, thank you ever so much and hopefully I'll get around to visiting some blogs that are new to me very soon.

And shall we have a nice cup of tea together? My grandad made teapots for a living (a very skilled job apparently) but he was an expert in crafting the little brown Staffordshire ones with the coloured bands around them so I'm not sure if he'd have approved of this very elegant version. "Looks nice but won't brew" I think would probably have been his verdict. I couldn't resist myself, I do love Woods ware and I'm gathering quite a collection in this lovely shade called Beryl.

And sticking on the kitchen theme I picked up these two old Tala food decorating sets which still have all the right bits. I might get around to doing a bit of icing at Christmas but I'm not sure about piping mashed potato though - life's a bit too short I think but still, the packaging is just fantastic.

I'm not completely sure why I bought this though - the colour is gorgoeus but do I really need an old soda siphon? Well for 50p I'm sure it'll find a home somewhere!

And finally... oh this is tooooooo exciting for words. I popped into Oxfam on Friday morning not expecting to find all that much and came out with six meters of Cath Kidston fabric. Honestly the assistants nearly had to give me gas and air! I think this is the Cut Flowers (or maybe Herbaceous Flowers) from a year or two ago and is beautiful. At the moment its made up into two single duvet covers which I'm a bit loathed to unpick but I have the most fantastic project in mind for it.

Think home from home, the open road, fresh air and frolics and visit Attic 24 to get an idea of what I have in mind. Ours has been sitting on the drive for nearly a year awaiting repairs and some funds but we're ready to go now and I'll be joining Lucy in her new club. I'm so excited I could squeal. Wagons roll!

Simple Pleasures for May

#1 Enjoying the green - everything seems to have exploded into shades of lime and moss around here this week. A few much needed showers have made the buds unfurl, watered my thirsty allotment and brought on the weeds! Ah well, this glorious canopy greeted me on the way back from town yesterday and is well worth a bit of time pulling dandelions up I reckon.

#2 Finding three tired littlies having an afternoon slump

#3 Blooming hedgerows. The blackthorn is fabulous this year and the may (hawthorn) isn't far behind.

#4 Black & white ladies back in the fields again following a winter indoors. I never tire of seeing the cows trail in and out of the fields every day; (maybe I would if I had to fetch them in though!) and I do love meeting them in the lanes on their daily jaunts.

#5 At long last finding a milkman who can deliver a pint to our door (and a fresh loaf too). Bottles on the doorstep (usually with holes in the foil thanks to the blue tits), delivered by a farmer in our village who had a milk round, was part of my childhood. Buying milk in plastic containers that curiously never needs a shake to mix in the cream, has never felt right at all to me.

And the talk of "super dairies" where the cows never go to the fields and live in huge hangers with plastic matting feels even worse. I may be naive and have no real idea of the challenges the dairy industry face but I am thrilled to be supporting a local milkman who gets his milk from a local farm where the cows only come inside when the grass stops growing.

#6 And finally, curling up for a very late night tonight in front of the box with crisps and chocs for company (poor Woody will be up all night covering a local count for the paper). What ever tomorrow brings there is something I find quite thrilling about joining in a national occassion, making my contribution and watching history unfold.