Friday 23 May 2008

Paradise ..or near as dammit!


You can't beat the old fashioned nursery, can you? And if it's in a beautiful setting (which it usually is) then it makes it all the more worth the visit.
Hill House at Landscove, here in South Devon, is one such place!
A 'to die for' , gorgeous piece of heaven on earth.
And that's where we found ourselves today!



I've been here many times and each time is pure joy.

You can wander to your heart's content.


And, naturally, there's a tea room as well ;-)

I was very good and purchased two poppies

The rest of my photos are here:

http://flickr.com/photos/salgull1/

We came back home via Ashburton where I found a 'little gem' for my garden...will show you that tomorrow, along with the poppies ;-)

Thursday 22 May 2008

Exeter tonight.... is safe and well.


Today was one of those days when I was very thankful for the invention of the mobile phone!
My children both live and work in Exeter.
Within minutes of the news of some sort of explosion in the city, they each sent me a message and messaged each other too. I knew that they were fine and safe. I think they were more worried about me! Knowing how much time I spend in the city, that's understandable!!
To evacuate the centre of a city must be one massive task! But it sounds as if this was done superbly well.
At the moment there are too many rumours flying around to even make a comment on the whys and wherefores but let's hope that Exeter gets back to normality tomorrow!
In the meantime, I have appointed the above and below persons to keep watch over the city...until I get there!

Wednesday 21 May 2008

The best things in life are free!

How cute is this...
This morning brought a real treat.
We have pheasant chicks in the lane at the end of our driveway.

Here's the proud father...

We think there are about five or six chicks in total... but they all moved into the hedge as we crept nearer.

Sunday 18 May 2008

Upstairs to bed....and WIN A PATCHWORK PACK!!

Bed in Summer
by Robert Louis Stevenson

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?




I have always loved this poem since the day that our teacher wrote it on the blackboard for us to copy into our handwriting books!
As a young child, I used to have a small bedroom with a triangular window sill, upon which I would sit and watch the goings ons of the street in the evenings.
Robert Louis Stevenson's poem always reminds me of those childhood days when I should've been in bed.
Nowadays, I'm always happy to go upstairs to bed, as just over a year ago we were lucky enough to have a loft conversion. It's definitely one of the best decisions we ever made !
And was well worth all the mess!
We had to knock down a shower room (which was already situated in the hall space) in order to give us the room for the stairs...



At this point, I wanted to run away for a few weeks!)



And it's really not a good time to invite friends for coffee !

But amazingly it soon all comes together...


As did the upstairs..

And now, the Caption Competition:

Here are our fantastic builders on their last day of working here:


So what are they saying, either to each other OR to us?

(Chris is on the left, Shaun on the right)

Just leave your answers on the comments page of this post ;-)

Winner will be chosen on Saturday 24th May and will receive a fab patchwork pack...'Roses' theme!!

Have fun! Sal x