A Gloomy Day

The clocks went back last night and today has been wet and murky. The autumn colours are so glorious this year, but you really need the sunshine to see them at their best.

I have been quite busy on the craft front recently, and have finished several projects. Firstly a little jacket for number two grandson. He wore it when they last came to visit -

when he played boo round the corner of the sofa....

It was knitted in Drops Fabel to a Garnstudio pattern

Luckily it fits him. He's growing so fast he's almost grown out of everything before it's finished!!!!

I have also finished a blanket I crocheted for my daughter. Her baby is due in January and she wanted a blanket to snuggle into for night time feeds in the rocking chair in the nursery.

I am planning to make a rug for the nursery floor - probably in cream with coloured motifs round the outside.

Not much else to report this week. It's been an extremely painful week so I have rather lost my motivation to do anything much involving standing or walking. I've seen the consultant again and had another MRI scan and shall have to wait to hear the results of that and whether is anything further he can suggest.......



Autumn at Cliveden

I had intended to tell you about the craft projects I have been working on during our French visit, but this morning Mr D suggested that as it was a beautiful sunny morning - if a bit nippy - we should visit Cliveden, one of our local National Trust properties.

We made firstly for the water garden - always at it's best in the autumn....

We crossed over the stepping stones to the temple in the middle of the lake....

...and admired the view from here....

....the sky was full of vapour trails. This one is reflected in the water....

This beautiful tree is shaped like an umbrella, and if you duck and get underneath the leaves you can see the amazing gnarled branches....

I love the peeling red bark on these two trees, but I don't know what they are! Can anyone help?

I always love the autumn fungi....

After baked potatoes in the Orangery restaurant (Mr D is always hungry and the smell of the cooking as we passed by lured us in) we walked round to the front of the house - or is it the back?....

From this South terrace you can admire the parterre....

...and the lichens growing on the stone balustrade....

As we walked back towards the carpark the sun lit the clocktower....

...and the shell fountain....

By the time we arrived home the clouds were winning the battle with the blue so we were pleased that we hadn't decided to go in the afternoon!!!

Craft next time folks!!

Long Time No Post

I think I should hang my head in shame!! We've been back over a week now and I haven't managed to update my blog!!!! We always come back to a myriad of mundane things to do - getting hair chopped - restocking the larder - boring things like that! Also we always suffer grandchildren withdrawal symptoms and need our 'fix' of both number one and number two grandsons.

I thought I would share some of the work we have done in our French house. We have owned the property for nine and a half years now and have worked steadily at improving it and making it fit our needs. As so often seems to be the case in rural France, the property we bought is made up of several buildings - a house that was habitable, a smaller house that most definitely wasn't, and a barn.

This was the day we took possession. The habitable house is on the right and the little house to the left was in danger of collapsing completely!!

After a little demolition, removing the plaster on the little house and replacing the doors, windows, shutters, etc we now have this -

We removed the hedge between the two houses .....

and created a terrace......

The barn had lost part of the roof in a particularly violent storm.....

And we had the roofers replace it - although not with the beautiful old tiles but with the more practical, modern tiles...

The back garden has evolved from this - with a hedge between the two gardens......

To this......

Inside the main house we have converted the roof space to make two bedrooms, a bathroom and shower room - starting from this........

And now we have......

Downstairs was already habitable, but we have insulated, plastered painted, and generally tidied up from this......

To this......

Apart from the upstairs conversion and the barn roof, the rest of the work we have done ourselves and learned so much on the way - getting round the French planning regulations as well as the practical skills such as plastering.

Would we do it again? Probably not. We are all but ten years older and Mr D has had a new pair of knees and I had a new hip along the way. Goodness knows what may need to be replaced over the next ten years!!! I think we'll quit while we're ahead!!!!!