A Cottage by the Sea.

 I'm back! 

Ooo we had a lovely, lovely week away, just Wonderful Man and I to celebrate his big birthday. It felt so special to relax and just enjoy being together.

This is Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland. Just a 30 minute stroll from our front door.   Bliss! Every morning we watched the National Trust lady park her car and start her long walk to work. Lovely in fine weather but I'm not sure I'd want to do it in the wind and rain! 

 And about 3 minutes in the opposite direction the pretty little harbour of Craster.

 Our little cottage was the last one on the far right of the picture. Yes for the hawk eyed among you, Lucy of Attic24 stayed in the very same place a week or two before us. 

 We were sooo lucky with the weather and every morning we were greeted by the most breathtaking view from the bedroom window, although I must admit, we didn't see the sun rise every day!

And there on our doorstep...

rock pools...everywhere.

Mind you, as beautiful as they were, I was glad we didn't have a young family with us as I wouldn't  have relaxed for a moment, I'd have been constantly watching to make sure they didn't fall on the rocks!

We enjoyed big skies...

and beautiful beaches.

And visited a different castle almost every day. 

This one is Bamburgh Castle.

Where we enjoyed a delicious lunch of dressed crab, yummy!

There was a little something for him (Barter Books at Alnwick)... 

 and a little itty bitty...

something for me. Mrs Pins Habedashery.

Aaaah good times. I must admit I didn't want to leave.

And just in case you were wondering...

I did manage a little knitting. I finished the fronts and the back of a long cardigan!

Till next time when we will be celebrating my 300th post with a little giveaway.

Fi x

Gilly K.   If you would like to email me, I'd do my best to point you in the right direction.

Virginia.  The gift box is the only box I know how to make and I copied it from a little box the children brought home from school many years ago. Next time I make one I'll try and make a tutorial for everyone.
Toothbrush Rug Instructions. These can be found on Youtube, have fun.

Hello. How are you? Good? Yes, me too. A bit of a stiff neck, I must have slept funny, but nothing to complain about.

I have the day off work today. Hooray! So I've been out and about this morning down at our little market. Eight stalls outside lining the main street and three in the Market Hall. I know, it's all hustle and bustle here isn't it? Two of them were selling slippers and one, walking sticks, not exactly everyday necessities but we do have a rather good veg stall and a little van selling fish. In the summer there are far more stalls of course. Now though, in the middle of winter we are happy with the few stalls we have, especially when the weather is bad and you think of how far they've had to travel to get to us.

The photos are of my latest project.

This is a long over due project.

It was started probably well over a year ago.

It was this months 'Friends Challenge' set by Lesley that made me forage in the loft to retrieve it.

There has been much placing and pinning.

Lots of sewing.

Some embroidery.

And the odd swear word.

And in my best Australian accent, "Can you tell what it is yet?"

London Adventure Part 2

Gosh! Yesterday's post was a bit wordy. I don't want to bore you all rigid with my holiday snaps, so I think we'll try and keep it simple and streamlined today. Here goes...

Up and out early this morning. Top of the list, The Tower of London.

Beautiful buildings.

Lots of these smart gentlemen.

Beautiful carvings, all done by prisoners kept in the tower.

Day 3, another crisp sunny day and the Victoria and Albert Museum

Lots of blurry photos taken here. ( I was so overwhelmed)

Beautiful gowns, recognise this one?

Love this style, Made one similar to wear for work a few years ago, but that's another story.

How gorgeous is this ?

This is the original frontage of the museum, now part of a courtyard garden.

Wow! Can you see the people at the bottom centre of the photo!

A very quick dash around the Natural History Museum, before it closed.

And then

Leadenhall Market

We also managed to squeeze in a walk around the Science Museum, and Covent Garden. Not bad really for two and a bit days.

Oh, and lastly, something I'm quite proud of... I crocheted on the plane and on the tube, YEAY!

London Adventure Part 1

We're back! And what a lovely time we had in London. But before I go any further I just want to say thank you so much for all the good wishes you sent me for my little holiday. It's so lovely that you should take the time to leave a comment on my little blog. Thank you.

But even more importantly, thank you to my parents for keeping an eye on our children for us, not to mention walking sneaky dog and feeding manky cat.

Oh, we had a fantastic time, very tiring but fantastic.

The excitement started the minute we left home. As we set off on Monday morning the weather was decidedly nasty. ( Yes I have to admit the photo I left on my blog was actually taken a couple of days before we went away. Caught out, oh the shame.) We had to carefully navigate our way through several flooded roads, crawling slowly through the deep water. Wild and woolly it certainly was. The rivers were swollen and racing, tumbling and crashing over the rocks. Sheep were sheltering anywhere they could, against rocks, behind grassy mounds. Would we get to the airport? Would we get to the next village? But it was beautiful; raw and exhilarating, but beautiful.

I gave a mental wave to Lucy of Attic24 as we drove south through her little town.

After a little bit of a bumpy flight, though not as bad as I thought it was going to be, and a speedy journey on the aptly named Heathrow Express, we arrived at Paddington Station. Bustling along with everyone else we navigated our way by tube to our hotel near Russell Square. I do like the tube, it's difficult to get lost, it takes you more or less straight to where you want to be and as an added bonus, you get to sit and stare at every ones footwear. Wow! Did I see lots of nice shoes!

We checked into our room and dumped our bags, then straight back out again, not a minute to waste. Back on the tube to Sloane Square to search out V V Rouleaux. All very nice, beautiful ribbons and trims, but it was soooo darned hot in there, I couldn't wait to get out again. Sorry, no photos as they were meanies and wouldn't let me take any pics for you. Now you may not believe what I'm about to say, but... I didn't buy anything! No not a thing, no ribbon, no braid, no tassels, no beads, no feathers, no sparkly stuff, nothing. I think there was so much I would have liked to have had a meter or two of, but nothing that I actually needed. (not that, that has ever stopped me before) Maybe it was jet lag, yeah that must have been it, that 50 minute flight, addled my brain. This is the best I could do photo wise. A snap from outside in the street.

Next was the search for Cath Kidston. Well not her personally, but one of her shops. Once again, no picture taking was allowed. Yeah, disappointing I know. Now this shop was also full of scrumminess. Everywhere I turned I was bombarded with CK retro perkiness. Wonderful man gallantly left me alone to peruse at my leisure, retreating to the normality of the Prince Regent public house on the corner. I carefully circumnavigated the sales floor several times, inspecting and scrutinising, touching and stroking. I descended the stairs, once again making several sweeps of the lower sales floor, mentally logging colour combinations, searching the mental Christmas list, who would appreciate a CK lip balm? And shall I tell you something? Quite frankly I was a little disappointed. When it came down to it, there wasn't anything I actually wanted to spend my hard earned cash on! The stone roses bucket bag that I'd been drooling over for weeks online, was rather stiff and heavy. No I'd rather spend the £40 somewhere else, even the crochet granny square blanket I'd coveted online, looked nylony and thin with several stray ends sticking out.

Back outside it was dark and drizzly, hussly and bustley, London lights shimmering in the wetness. I joined Wonderful Man in the pub. His eyebrows levitating slightly at the lack of carrier bags. We found a dark cosy corner and ordered some deliciously unhealthy pub grub. Tired limbs and full tummies we sat and watched the world go by feeling sleepy but happy. We took a slow walk back to our hotel down Marylebone Rd, passing Regents Park and Tottenham Court Rd, back to Bloomsbury and our longed for pillow.

All in all a good day.

I'll try and regale you with some more of our London adventure tomorrow, but before I go, I leave you with this picture of the rather grand unisex toilet in the Prince Regent. Changing Rooms eat your heart out!