GARDENS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After leaving Cornwall, we headed for Essex via Kent.  I've had many gardens to visit  on my wish list and this trip I've now been able to tick "two" off.

Saturday saw us head off, getting lost once again and arriving here................

Can you guess?



Just love these.



The tower.

OK, yes it is Sissinghurst.  This is one that I've wanted to see on our last two visits and although it would probably be at it's best in Spring or Summer, I'm just glad to have been.  I took lots of photos, so will show a few more, then tell where we went next.

From the top of the tower.

Part of the walled garden.

A lovely stone trough full of nerines.

Saturday we visited my sister-in-law and husband in Tonbridge, then left on Sunday for Essex.
On the way I was spoilt by visiting another lovely garden.  I read about Beth Chatto's garden, probably about 25 years ago.  Just a few photos, as I took way too many once again, but it is a beautiful garden.

One of the lovely borders.

One of two ponds in the garden.

The gravel garden.

And to top off a wonderful time away, we left our friends place and headed north.  On the way, we decided to look for somewhere to have a coffee and this place just popped out at me and I had to go and have a look.  We watched Jimmy Doherty's first series and have seen subsequent other programmes by him and have always enjoyed them.

The sign says it all

And lo and behold, who is this?  I suppose you might say this was my lucky day.  He didn't have much time to talk but agreed to have his photo taken with me.  Later he came over and spoke to us about his upcoming trip to Oz, although he was extremely busy.  Just lovely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Looking out over the farm.

We arrived back in Leeds about 8pm Monday and did loads of washing on Tuesday.  Hopefully I'll be able to post again about our lovely Wednesday and Thursday, tomorrow night whilst on our next adventure.  All take care.
Susan.

TIRED, BUT LOVING OUR CORNISH ADVENTURE.

Just a quick post with a few photos.
We are having a great time, but I'm feeling so tired.  Cornwall has been lovely, and the weather absolutely beautiful.  We've been thoroughly spoilt by my long time penfriend B and her husband.
Monday we drove down from Leeds and did our usual  getting lost things, so didn't get any photos.
Tuesday saw us being taken to Liskeard and doing some shopping in Trago, where the naïve Xmas decorations caught my eye and did come away with two.  We had our lunch by the river in Lerryn, then onto Lostwithiel, where we checked out some interesting antique shops and lovely old buildings and bridge.

The stepping stones over the River Lerryn

Lerryn again.

The old bridge at Lostwithiel

The view from Kit Hill, although this is not from the top, but lower down as the heat haze this day was quite bad.  I'd not realised that UK can have "heat haze".

Wednesday hubby and I headed off on our own and went to Falmouth, explored the Maritime Museum and walked the moat around Pendennis Castle.  We then took the scenic route home.

A view from the tower at the Maritime Museum.

Pendenis Castle.

Thursday saw us take a trip into Tavistock in the morning, visiting the Panier Market and the Quilt Shop, whose name escapes me at the moment.  We also went inside the lovely church near the market.

Church in Tavistock.

After lunch, the four of us went off to Polperro, then on to Looe for tea, fish and chips at Daves Diner.  Below are a few photos only, as they are taking forever to load a the moment.

Polperro

Looe with little water in the river.

Banjo Pier

The river a couple of hours later as we crossed back over the bridge.

My new best friend. 

This is Noddy, who came past  B's house in the late afternoon with his owners, their horse and two dogs.  He was gorgeous and loved being patted.
 

Friday saw us leave this beautiful county and our good friends.  We wend our way across Dartmoor, savouring its bleak, but serene beauty.  Along the way we saw these..................

Clapper bridge.

Highland cattle roaming free.  This time I didn't take any photos of the ponies, though I did get some in 2011.

As most people who travel know, there are times when you need "conveniences".  We made a stop in Moretonhampstead and found a small Motor Museum, so made a quick stop of a different nature as well.  Couldn't get any good pics of the cars as they were packed in so close, but these are a few of the other things there.

Pennyfarthing and a toy car.

A sewing machine!!!!!

Very old motor cycles.

That is all folks, but I will be back with more of our adventures.  Putting this together has taken about three hours over two separate days.  Does anyone else have this time trouble with loading photos or am I doing something wrong?  Hope everyone is having a great week and take care.

OUT AND ABOUT

We've been off out and will just do a quick post with some photos.
Monday saw us head to Holmfirth and then up to Holme Moss, one of the stages in Yorkshire of the Tour de France.  How they rode up these hills and then down is beyond me.

The view whilst we drank a cup of tea at a roadside café.

Typical road in this part of Yorkshire.  It really is up hill and down dale and oh so beautiful. 

A mill stone at the entrance to a farm.

I'll leave the photos for that day as they take so long to load and I did take a lot more.

Tuesday saw us catch up on some washing, then back to Temple Newsam to meet Jo from Through the Keyhole.  She arrived with her daughter and dog Archie.  It was so lovely meeting her and we chatted away in wonderful sunshine and will catch up again before we head home.  I just had the feeling we might click when we met and I'm sure we did.  Below is the lovely gift she gave me and I had the pattern put aside for the fingerless gloves and will certainly make use of them next winter.

My lovely mittens and some yummy biscuits.

Today, Wednesday saw us head south to Crich Tramway Museum, where they have trams from horsedrawn, steam, electricity through the tracks and lastly overhead wires.  They came in all shapes, sizes and colours.  We wandered around, then hopped on a tram and rode to the end of the track, passing an old quarry, hopped off and walked up a rather steep hill to the War Memorial at the top.
From here we had 360deg views over 7 counties.

Tram we caught.

One of the lovely reconstructed buildings with the War Memorial in the distance.

Tram with a destination sign of somewhere I've mentioned in these last 2 posts.



Love the warning sign on this tram.

Views from the top of the hill

The War Memorial.

Looking down into the quarry from the path we were climbing to the top of the hill.  You can see how high we had come as the rails are on the left. (click to enlarge).

OK, I'm sure you've had enough of my ramblings and as I'm tired tonight I think I've waffled on a bit.
Sorry!  Hope you are all having a good week and take care.
Susan.

BEAUTIFUL WARM SUNNY DAY

The fabric I said I'd show which I bought on Friday. 

Well, today was just gorgeous and we made the most of it.   I prepared some sandwiches and we drove out to Temple Newsam,  on the eastern side of Leeds.  We explored the wonderful old house (no photos allowed inside), but it was absolutely amazing.  Next we had our lunch seated on one of the brick walls in the amphitheatre above the farmyard which we perused after a cup of tea in the café.  All the old farm machinery and animals kept us fascinated.  Then it was off to the walled gardens and huge long greenhouses.  Below is a selection of my photos.

An old cart.

I loved these ducks.



The coleus collection in the greenhouse.

Check out the length of these glasshouses.

Donkeys, which I adore.

Temple Newsam house.  It is huge!!!

Inner courtyard.

The walled garden.

On Friday I went to the Quilt Show in Harrogate and met Sue who gave me a lovely unexpected gift below.

Sue made a lovely needlecase  and the bus is a keyring.

 This was supposed to be a quick post, but I had trouble with the photo placement, so sorry if it's a bit of a mish mash.  I hope to get better as time goes on.
Have a great week and take care.
Susan.

I AM STILL HERE

OK, it's been over a week since we arrived and yes it's been quite hectic, but I've also not had much luck with this mini laptop.  It's operating system is Windows 8.1 and I've been completely confused.  I finally worked out how to load my photos, so will hopefully be able to get some on here now.  If I don't, it will be just this. 
Last Sunday we went to my great niece's christening and caught up with lots of family.  We've had a trip up to Skipton markets and also over to Scarborough to visit my stepdaughter and family.  We popped up to Bolton Abbey, but it rained and we drove over the Dales and back to Leeds.  Yesterday I went to the Quilt Show in Harrogate and met Sue from Quilt Times which was great. Left with hubby about 2.30pm and made our way to Whitby for my birthday tea.  Although the weather left a bit to be desired at times, I had a lovely day.  I came away from the show with 2, 1/2 metres of fabric which I will show in a later post.
Now for a couple of pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heather clad hills between Blubberhouses and Otley. (I think).

A stone wall in need of repair.

Hubby walking down the hill towards a church in Whitby.  This street also has a "quilt" shop which I've visited twice before.  I will be going back when she's open as she had some very beautiful fabric in the window.

The view over the harbour to St. Mary's church on the headland.  This is  the view I had whilst eating tea.  I didn't have my long lens with me, but I'll try for more when we go back.

I'll leave it at that for today,  as this has been a trying time with this new laptop, but I've worked out things bit by bit so far.
Take care all and hope you are all having a great weekend.
Susan.