Charity shop finds!

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post. As promised I said I would tell you about the lovely things I found over the last few days. I love browsing in the charity/secondhand/antique type shops wherever I go. I have definitely noticed a difference in the prices and quality of items in some areas of the country. I can remember reading a tip to go to charity shops in 'well off' or affluent areas for the best stuff. Anyway, on Saturday we decided that as the weather was showery and fairly cool we would go browsing the shops in Pickering and Helmsley. We called in to Pickering on Thursday morning on our way to the cottage and I fell in love with a gorgeous quilt topper in the most beautiful of colours. It was brand new but £40 so I didn't get it there and then. We have got a week off work in 3 weeks and the plan is to decorate the girls' room and the kitchen (and if there is the time to start on the spare double bedroom) and I thought the quilt would be perfect for the girls room.To cut a long story short we went back on Saturday and got it. £40 is a lot of money but some of the vintage quilts are much more than that. I can imagine this one, although new, will be a future heirloom!

When we got to Helmsley, I found a single quilt cover in Oxfam, which I thought would be perfect to go with it. It is in immaculate condition and was a bargain at £3.99. When I got it home on closer inspection I discovered it is Laura Ashley. 

So using my female logic (!) I decided that offsetting the cost of the quilt topper against the price of the quilt cover I had got a good deal.

I also picked up these gorgeous jugs, perfect for flowers.

I couldn't resist this old book by Jane Shaw, she is the author who wrote the 'Susan' books that I loved as a child. It's one I haven't read and it will no doubt be really old fashioned now to read, called 'Breton Adventure'.

And last but not least I got this Fisher Price activity ball for our new baby due in October. His or her dad, my eldest son C had one when he was a baby and I couldn't resist it.

Well that's all for now folks......did you get any good buys this weekend?

Seaside cottage, beachcombing and treasure finding

Hello everyone! We are back from a lovely few days away in our favourite spot on the East coast.Gorgeous Runswick bay. We hired a beautiful little cottage for our 5th wedding anniversary break away. I took these photos to give you a sneaky peak inside it.Although small, it was perfect.

Downstairs was the dining room and kitchen....on the first floor was this stunning bedroom with a lovely bathroom off...

And at the very top of the house was a sitting room with views over the bay....stunning!!

We had lots of lovely beach walks, beachcombing as ever and I have managed to fill this lovely glass heart shaped container that Tony bought for me with sea glass from the last couple of days. Beachcombing here is always a treat, you never know what you will find. We've got lots of fossils collected over our last few visits here which I have dotted in the plantpots in the garden to add a bit of extra interest.

A trip to Whitby was a must of course and we popped in to see lovely Trudie at Dotty about Vintage, (see my previous post here). I was on the look out for some vintage children's toys but she didn't have any this time.It was great to have a catch up chat with her. 

We managed to find time to pop into our favourite cafe in Sandsend, Wits End, for a cuppa and a cake( my favourite pastime but I'm afraid the scales are screaming lately when I get on them so I have decided to register at Weight Watchers to try and lose a stone for my holidays later in the year--no more cakes for a while I guess).

If you have never tried Yorkshire curd tarts, do!! They are delicioso!!

As ever I managed to drag poor Tony (he doesn't mind really...at least I don't think he does) around the charity shops and knick knacky type shops (you know the sort I mean, lovely homewares/gifts-stuff you don't really need but are lovely to look at). I made some fabulous finds but I'm afraid you are going to have to wait for tomorrow's post because I have got some more washing to put in and some more to peg out on the line! Hope you have all had a lovely weekend, I'll be round later to catch up!

Checking in!

Thank you each and every one who left lovely comments on my last couple of posts. I have been remiss at replying but am finding it difficult trying to fit everything in at the moment. I love to read your comments and to leave them on your posts but I don't always get around to replying on my post comments.
We have managed to 'Skype' my youngest son and family' down under' and I am always amazed how wonderful modern technology is! The kids seem to have settled down apart from M, who is the eldest and was probably the one who would find it hardest.I'm sure when she gets to school she will soon make friends and that will help.
They have enrolled in a new school and were so excited to tell me that some of their lessons would be held outside. My son starts his new job on their first day at school so he will probably miss it but his wife L and little A will be able to see they all get there. They are getting a puppy, who is unbelievably cute so he will help the settling in process I'm sure. Little O was at our house when we skyped and she was really excited to see them all especially little A, who she adores.I have got some little goodies to send them this week when I get the chance. E's parting comment to me at the airport was 'Grandma will you make me another Jack?'(she loves cuddly snakes and has several which she mostly calls Jack) so I will be sending the ones I made along too.
As I said last week I have been trying to keep busy and have knitted a baby cardigan for our new arrival in Autumn and a jumper for myself.
I'll post the pictures here....

I do like knitting and as an added bonus I find I don't nibble on rubbish on an evening while I have something to work on.
My garden has also had a lot of attention this last week or so, especially when we had the nice warm weather (do you think that was our summer?) and some of the raised beds are looking so pretty. I love this bed with the gorgeous coloured tulips...

Can you see the globe at the front of the photo? It's a solar lamp and looks really beautiful with its purply light at dusk. A lovely present from Tony this week...just because he loves me! Aren't I lucky? He knows I love anything for the garden.
And speaking of which, what do you think of this old garden chair?

I love it. It's seen better days and is very rusty and could do with a lick of paint, but when we bought it a couple of years ago from a stall at the Harrogate flower show, we were told it was an original from the Munich Oktoberfest beer festival.Whether it is or not I don't really mind and we didn't pay too much for it. I think it's great as it is but I think it would probably last longer if we gave it a bit of TLC.

This bed is at the bottom of the garden and the plant near the blue container is one of my favourite peonies, Peonia mlokosewitschii, otherwise known as Molly the witch!! It has lovely yellow flowers and we bought it when we went away for a previous wedding anniversary.It had just flowered then but now because the weather has been so cold it is just about ready to flower this week, just in time for our 5th wedding anniversary.
We are going away for a few days later this week so will catch up with you when we get back!! What have you been up to this weekend?

Sad farewells and trying to keep busy

Well, we all went to the airport to see my youngest son M, his wife L and their four little ones off on their long journey to Perth, down under yesterday.It was the most heart wrenching thing and I know how people feel when they say they feel like their heart has been ripped out.The kids bless them were upset too, apart from the youngest one, little A who I'm sure would have had no idea of what was going on. They will be there now after a day's travel involving 3 changes of plane.I expect they will have all collapsed into their beds by now to catch up on some sleep so I haven't heard anything since they arrived at Singapore airport.
I have been trying to keep myself busy, sorting out drawers and cleaning at home and at my mum's house. Not sure it's such a good idea because I just find my mind wandering off when I do actually sit down for a moment.Still, I have been 'googling' where they will be living and places round and about and it looks wonderful, who on earth could pass up such an opportunity to live in such a beautiful place? Roll on next year when hopefully Tony and I will be able to fly over and see them again. Meanwhile this year, we have a new grandchild to look forward to, my eldest son C and his partner S are expecting their second baby, so little O will be a big sister later in the year.

It may have been a bank holiday today but poor Tony had to work.Since it looks as if the gorgeous warm spell of weather might be coming to an end today he suggested a walk after tea down to the local canal where we walked along the canal side up through the wood nearby.We ended up walking as far as an area called the Newlands estate, a beautiful area of countryside, part of which has been earmarked for the new HS2 railway to cut through.I know there has to be progress but it will be such a shame if it goes ahead as planned. I was told by a friend at work whose mum researched the history of the area that monks used to walk along the path to an earlier building on the Newland estate for hundreds of years and its a very historic area which will be lost for good.It's an area I have never walked before and nor did I know anything about the history but if you click on the link it is a fascinating read.
I took my camera along with me, just in case (well I'm sure as fellow bloggers you never know when you will need it) and here are some of the photos I took.

These little cottages are gorgeous, I remarked to Tony that maybe we could buy one of these( if ever they came up for sale) to retire to. What lovely views.I suspect the competition from other homebuyers would be fierce!!

This bridge has an interesting history. Click on here to find out more!
We made our way through the bluebell woods (I wonder how many woods are called 'Bluebell woods' up and down the country?)

You know summer isn't too far away when the bluebells are out in force. I remember as a young child they were everywhere and it wasn't illegal then to pick them. I used to go to our local woods and come back with armfuls!

We came across this eerie old building which we now believe to have been the old stable block to the old Newlands Hall. It seems to have been very grand for a stable block.Despite our searching we didn't find the old hall so maybe that will be an adventure for another day.
All in all it was a lovely walk,beautiful scenery, lovely wild flowers everywhere and the only sound was birdsong to accompany us.
Back to work again tomorrow and looking forward to our few days anniversary break away next week. What have you been up to this bank holiday weekend?

Bittersweet weekend

We had a rather bittersweet weekend this weekend. As we are counting down my youngest son and his family's last week in this country my eldest son C, DIL S, Tony and I decided to take all the children out for a special day. Since their ages range from 10 to 2 we decided to visit an indoor play/activity area first out York way, followed by a trip to McDonalds for lunch and then Ten Pin Bowling. Despite minor mishaps in the play area (Little A ended up banging his mouth and making it bleed and Little O cutting her eyelid on the edge of the slide) we had a lovely time.
The kids all thoroughly enjoyed the trip to the bowling alley.Even the two littlest ones had a whale of a time and insisted on having grandad's turn as well!!

I think they were all exhausted by the time we had finished. Just time for them all to win a cuddly toy each in one of the 'grabber' machines (a prize every time guaranteed-saves a lot of tears!) before we returned home. I popped round to see my youngest son's children this morning and they gave me a little gift, which set me off crying.And I was trying so hard not to let them see me upset.E, bless her said 'don't cry grandma' but the more she said something to try and cheer me up, the more I cried. Goodness knows how we will be at the airport next week.The children all seem really excited about their new life 'down under' and are already planning on swimming with dolphins on Christmas Day!!
On a different tack I have been knitting this week, trying to keep my mind occupied. I will share what I am making another day. Hope you have all had enjoyable weekends?

Things that go bump in the night!

Ghosts! Do You believe in them? I popped to mum and dad's yesterday afternoon as it was my customary half day and my dad got out a tin of family photos. We love looking through them and since I would probably be the only one who would want to keep them when mum and dad are no longer with us I asked them if we could go through them all and label them on the back (in pencil of course). We got to a photo of my paternal grandfather, who died when I was about 7.We used to live in an old terraced house and my brothers had the front bedroom. In the corner of the room was a rocking chair and a few years after we moved to a new house, my two youngest brothers chanced upon the photo of grandad.Both looked at each other and said 'That's the old man who used to sit in the rocking chair in our bedroom smiling at us!' Now, the thing is Peter would only have been 2 when grandad died and Paul was only a month old baby so they can't possibly have remembered him.My parents think that grandad was there to keep an eye on them and keep them safe. What do you think? Have you got any ghost stories to tell? Is your house home to a ghost? I'd love to hear about it!

Sculpture park

Firstly welcome to my new followers!! I will pop along to visit your blogs soon.
As I mentionned yesterday we decided to visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at Bretton which is quite close by. It's years since I last visited properly. My brother P started his working life as a trainee park keeper there in the 1980's and I remember it back then before it was host to so many different sculptors. I remember the Henry Moore figures because they have always been my favourites, fluid lines and they look very tactile , however I was quite shocked by some of the exhibits. I know art is very much a personal thing but I thought there were some very strange things which I just don't get. What do you make of this exhibit ?? It looks like a toilet tree to me. Along side it was a similar one with dustbins of varying shapes and sizes.Mmn.....not quite sure I like it and not sure what it is trying to say...

This one was very cleverly done,but a rabbit's head on a woman's body? Still not sure I really get it!

I really liked this one and thought the back ground was the perfect setting for it.
I suppose it's down to individual likes and dislikes. Maybe I'm just a philistine? What do you think about modern art?
Even if you didn't go to see the sculptures the park itself is wonderful. There are miles of lovely country walks, by the river side, through fields and woods and there's even a cafe if you just want to sit with a cuppa and just drink in the views.