Rose Vintage

It's Cold.....

My goodness it's cold tonight and I'm tucked up nice and warm with the wood burner glowing and a few candles alight and a couple of the dogs by my side on the sofa! It's been trying to snow today and definitely not a day for being out of doors so it was a quick muck-out for the horses and feeding of chickens and back into the warm. I love snow and the silence it brings and was hopeful of a quite a lot but as normal we had just a few flurries. I think further up country the snow has been laying.

Christmas has come and gone and all that planning and anticipation with it! I have to say that this year was not one of the most enjoyable and for many different reasons so I am looking forward to the coming year with a view to changing a few things. It won't be major stuff just a few things to make me feel comfortable and more in control about certain situations in my life! Perhaps it's just the time of year as I usually feel a bit flat just after Christmas...well we will see! Roll on Easter I say, it's my most favourite celebration as well as all the anticipation of Spring and Summer. I been checking out a few of my favourite flower websites to get me in the mood and David Austin Roses is one of them. 

This picture is taken from the David Austin catalogue. Isn't she beautiful? She is called St.Cecilia and I first saw her at the Country Living show in November. I thought she was peony at first as her petals were so tightly compacted but after chatting with the helpful lady on the stand, I realised that she was in fact a rose. I think it is a must for one of my borders this coming summer.

Sarah Raven's Perch Farm is also quite close-by to where I live and I have been taking note of the opening days for her garden and I see also that there is a food market on these days. These dates are going into the diary! This is one of my resolutions, to write everything in the diary! So often I see something I want to do and then promptly forget about it! Hopefully this will rectify matters! There are lots of unusual seeds and flowers on her website so well worth a look if you favour the slightly more unusual in the garden! I quite like the look of her selection of seed potatoes although I still think I will grow my organic Colleen!

This is a picture of my garden last winter and a reminder of the snow that we had!

I guess there's still time!

Dominique

We have a new member of our family, so please welcome Dominique! I have been trying to find a mannequin for awhile now without much success so I contacted Sue from Vintage to Victorian and she had no less than 3!  I was in Devon at the weekend and arranged to meet Sue as we drove back home in order to collect Dominique.  It was lovely to meet Sue and she was exactly as I expected but sadly we had to hit the road in order to miss the traffic so our meeting was very quick!  As we drove back from Somerset I realised what a beautiful county it is....I have not done my homework so if anyone can tell me what the 44 number represents, please let me know...

She is looking a bit naked at the moment so I am planning what to dress her in and at the moment she is standing in my kitchen ( and getting some strange looks from the dogs!) so I have to decide which room she will live in. It's just like having a new dolly!

I am really looking forward to the weekend, as I'm off to the Knitting and Stitching fair at the Ali Pali on Sunday with the girls from my embroidery group. Apparently it is the most fabulous place to purchase any manner of wonderful things and I can't wait! I feel a few purchases coming on.... One of the exhibitors is Aragon Yarns who are very local to where I live. Check out the fabulous colours and the unusual knitting needles. I just wish I could knit!

This time of year really makes me feel like cooking and baking and I've been watching Nigella Express on Monday evenings.  I really like the programme and I like Nigella but I find her wildly irritating habit of licking spoons and groaning at every opportunity a bit off putting.  Still I have caved in and bought the book so will keep you updated about the recipes I try. So far I have made the Pea and Pesto soup which was very nice. I fancy making the chocolate croissants that Nigella made on Monday and there are lots of recipes that I like the sound of. Cookery books are a bit of a passion for me and I cannot get enough of them. Just recently I bought Nigel Slaters 'The Kitchen Diaries' and I love the descriptive writing of his everyday life and the cooking of what is in season and available in the garden.

Finally,this little heart is care of Claire and arrived with an eiderdown I bought from her earlier this summer . Needless to say the eiderdown is coming in very handy on these chilly Autumn evenings!

At Last....

As I write this post tonight I can hear the hum of tractors and farm machinery in the surrounding fields near to where we live. It is with some sense of relief that the sunny weather has finally arrived for everyone concerned so that at last the hay can be made. This is my husband busily turning our hay this afternoon and this will go on for a few days until the hay is considered dry enough to ' row up' ready for baling. The smell of freshly cut grass all around us is just wonderful and hopefully this should keep our horses fed through the winter months.

I have just started picking our first tomatoes although I have to say that I am a little disappointed with their flavour, I just don't think they have had enough sun this year! I have also planted some more seeds,  a brand of carrots called Eskimo that are supposed to overwinter in the ground and some seed potatoes called Vale Emerald that you plant now and are supposed to be ready in time for Christmas ! It is the first time that I have planted either so I will keep you posted how successful they are. If you are interested the site I bought them from is called Dobies

My neighbour Lu has been busy hatching chicks. This little girl is a Cream Leg Bar, one of a few chicks that can be sexed upon hatching. The girls look like little bumblebees with brown and cream stripes on their backs and the boys have a dark round spot at the back of their head so its very easy to tell one from the other. Cream Legbars are a rare breed and they lay beautiful blue eggs. Both Lu and I are big fans! I have several in my flock and they are good layers usually laying well into the winter months when the other chickens have stopped laying.

This is a chick just about to hatch, you can just see a little beak! 

Here they are helping themselves to a few chick crumbs. Once they are a little bigger and are drinking and eating on their own they will go outside perhaps with a surrogate hen if she will accept them...As this post seems to have a bit of an animal theme going on I thought I would leave you with another picture of Claire's eiderdown! As you can see another one of our cats has fallen in love with it!! I don't think I have a chance of calling it my own, do you?

 

Home and Away

Last Sunday evening was so wonderfully warm that I sat outside until quite late. The moon was high in the sky and the moths were on the wing. This is Neville my black cat who was fascinated by them, captured in the lights outside our house. Nev is really is a good natured cat and he is brother to one of my other cats and was hand-reared by Jennie, my mother-in-law, after his mother died when the kitts were 3 days old. He is now 12 and is like a big black teddy bear! You can also see evidence that the builders are in at the moment from the pile of tiles and the hole in the wall. I always find the process really awful but I shall have a really useful porch to put wet shoes,coats and dogs in when the weather is bad so I have to look ahead and think positive... 

My plants from Beth Chatto arrived today, beautifully packed and I am debating whether or not to plant them as we are away next week.  After some discussion with my mum, I have decided to pot them up and put them in a shallow tray of water in a shady place. We have not had any rain as such for about a month and to put them in the garden when we are not here might be a very good idea. I will take some pictures of them once they are established so you can see what I have bought. I have also made a date to meet my Mum and my Sister at Beth Chatto's garden in May so that we can meet up and also have a good look around the garden. I have never seen the garden in May so I will take lots of pictures and post them so you can all get a good idea of just how lovely it is. We are off to Venice next week for four days so things may be a bit quiet on the posting front but I will take lots of pictures and bore entertain you all with the details when I return...

This is my favourite place of mine to sit in the evening complete with a glass of wine and a candle.......bliss!

Happy Easter

Easter for me is the best time of year! I love the promise of early Summer which is hopefully just around the corner,the garden coming to life and the light evenings....Hoorah!  I didn't think that yesterday though as there was an Arctic wind blowing across our fields as I fed the chickens yesterday morning!  This little bird is on my Easter tree, I have a few twigs that I collected from our Plum tree and sprayed gold. I decorate it at Easter with eggs and and chicks and all things Eastery!  It would seem that some of my family has taken up the idea as well and there are Easter trees popping up all over the place!

Things are moving on in the garden. I've taken out some shrubs that have grown too big for the borders and intend to plant some more unusual plants courtesy of Beth Chatto I am a big fan of her planting style and always try to get to her garden at least once a year, twice if I can manage it! I have some plants on order from the nursery so I will update you all when they arrive. Can't wait to get planting! When we first moved here I filled up the borders with everyday plants but second time around I am going to be a bit more selective. That said I still think everyday plants like delphiniums and lupins are wonderful but I look for the more unusual varieties. 

This little find of a shop is called 'Le Petite Jardin' and is in Tunbridge Wells. It has some lovely garden items and a wonderful atmosphere created by lighted candles and all sorts of Gardenalia - hmmm is that a word?  Penny, the shop owner was more than happy for me to take some photographs. If you are ever in T.W  do take a look, it really is worthwhile!  I thought I would leave you today with a reminder of a little fella you all met earlier this month.....Happy Easter everyone!

Spring!

The first sign of Spring for me is seeing my neighbour Lucy's lambs in her front field. The field is right outside my house so I have a good view of them and of their antics! Everyday about 3pm they perform what is known in our household as 'lamby races!' A whole bunch of them race around the parameter of the field and always at the same time. It's the same year in, year out with all the different lambs that are born next door! It is really funny to watch.

This is Lucy with one of her new-born lambs. He will go outside after a couple of days, weather permitting! The mothers are very protective of their lambs and will stamp a foot if you get too close especially if they are a first time mother. My husband's family have been in farming for many years and my mother-in-law Jennie always had a 'sock' lamb to look after when she was a girl. Sock lambs are lambs that need feeding either because they are orphaned or because they are one of a multiple birth and the mother needs a helping hand. Jennie has always kept sheep as did her Father. I thought I would leave you with one of Jennie's poems which is about him. I find this poem very moving...

.

The Shepherd

.

With every new born lamb

I see his hands

Gnarled, weathered

Yet so able to deliver

That yellow squirming mass

Of unfolding anxious limbs.

.

In every smothered bleat

Uttered by those mothering

Their freshly suckled young,

I hear his voice,

Gruff, confident and hushed,

Words for sheep alone.

.

On every bud-burnt night

I hear his tread,

The rasp of boots on frozen grass

and see those misty mounds

He tends

Where the land lies sheltered.

.

With every flower and frond

I lay upon this marble

I see a man

Who cleaves the burrs and briars

And tells of warmth and calm

In Spring to come.

My Best Find Ever!

This inglenook of ours still needs work and we want to restore it to its former glory. When we viewed our house there was no sign of an inglenook or its beam above. It was all covered in plaster, filled in with rubble and all you could see was a white wall. There was a small cupboard to the right hand side and at the back of it I saw the small oak seat that is so typical of a inglenook. One Sunday afternoon, my husband and my father-in-law thought it might be a good idea to find out what was behind the wall. Well. about one and a half tonnes of rubble later ( which went out of sitting room window!) we revealed our inglenook.  The original pothook is also still in place

Cherry's latest post on her Blog Tales from Pixie Wood talks about traditional values and I was interested to read the responses to her post.  So many people feel the same way and incorporate tradition and traditional values into their lives in lots of different ways. What a relief!  My way of 'doing my bit' for tradition is to try to restore the original part of the farmhouse back to it's former glory. I wouldn't say that it is completely back to the original, we have had a lot of damp to contend with so had to compromise with the flooring but we are doing the best we can.... 

Blue & White

I have been collecting blue and white china over the years and it is a real favourite of mine. Not all of these pieces are old though and some were picked up at boot fairs and a few were presents. I sometimes use the plates and tureens when friends come around to eat. I love it that nothing matches! The lady below is a 1920's posy holder, I'm waiting for the primroses in my garden to bloom so that I can make her look pretty!

Room With a View

 

Thought you all might like to see a picture of part of the new extension that we have added to our house. We added almost half a house and it was, quite frankly a year of hell! I am, by my own admission, a bit of a neat, tidy freak and the amount of dust and dirt nearly pushed me over the edge!! I was trying to work from home at the time and in hindsight ( a wonderful thing!) we should have had a bolt-hole of some sort! If we ever do a similar project again, a caravan or mobile home outside of the house but still on site would be an absolute must! Despite all of the upheaval, it has been SO worth it. This is the back of our sitting room and the glass roof has added so much light into this room, which was very dark and poky before. We now have a lovely view out onto our fields and I love sitting in the armchair as the light is perfect for sewing! In the picture you can just make out my cream table and chairs, a purchase from the Country Living Fair  a couple of years ago. My ticket for the Spring  2007 fair arrived last week and I can't wait to go!  I love the Spring fair more than the Christmas one but only just! The subject of another post I think!

Toile and Silk

 

I love toile, it's one of my favourite fabrics especially the raspberry colour. I made this cushion just recently from some leftover fabric and some red silk that I had. I love the two colours together. The pattern came from the 'Simple Cushions' book that I have listed in 'Currently Reading' and it was really easy to follow. When I first moved house I was astounded at the cost of having curtains and soft furnishings made and decided that I would find a local class and make them myself. It couldn't be that difficult could it? Well 6 years on I am still at the same class (which I love) and make blinds and curtains and cushions. I have met some wonderful women who are on my wavelength and like me stash away fabrics in cupboards just because they too love the look of them and know that one day they ' will come in useful....'