Rainy days and Sundays

...always get me down.

After a very frosty spell a couple of weeks ago, we've had dampness and gloom since.  I hate damp and gloomy weather, Winter to me should be frosty lilac skies, crisp underfoot and cold, dry air you can see your breath in.

Like this, taken in 2010 on a December walk along the local canal (when we lived in Birmingham), it must be the prettiest electricity sub station. 

I remember this quite clearly, lots of animal (and human!) tracks across the frozen canal, snow from November to January, thick icicles everywhere, like these

Not so this year, rain and plenty of fog, so the order of the day is to get out and about and forget about the non seasonal weather.

So, last Friday we headed out to Broadway via Evesham. I forgot to take photos in Evesham, it was completely gridlocked and took us over 20 minutes to travel a few hundred yards, we were so relieved to find the car parks had plenty of spaces.  

Evesham is home to some incredibly old buildings, and the drive there, down the back road not the dual carriageway, is very pretty.  I took these photos just three weeks ago, but they now have Christmas decorations up 

The top building is now home to tourist information and is also a little museum, the bottom building stands proudly alone in the centre of a public square and is home to the local branch of a major high street bank.

Broadway, on the other hand, was easy to drive into, although parking was difficult, as it usually is.  We actually stopped for our packed lunch up by Broadway tower, where we have discovered an isolated car park with picnic area and facilities.

After our picnic lunch we headed down into Broadway for a stroll around the shops, I do like window shopping in places with small independent shops, and can't resist a mooch through the two charity shops in Broadway, which this time drew a blank.

No matter, the street view and shop fronts were pretty and we had a nice stroll around.

  Every time I take a photo here, the place looks empty!  The car park showed that the place was busy, and every shop and eating place was in fact full.

My favourite shop, they always have a pretty display, and the small panes of glass give it a very Dickensian feel

We generally browse through every shop which is open, and usually find interesting things.

I'm pretty sure the shop on the left is where I found St Eval diffuser oil, something I've wanted to try for ages but wasn't willing to pay £25 for the oil, special holder and reeds. 

The refill bottle is £7.99 and the reeds were unused from a previous purchase.  So far it smells delicately Christmassy!

On Sunday we ventured out to a Christmas market in a nearby village, Wolverley.  They have an ancient village hall and are raising money to replace it. 

Entry was £1 each and we had to have a go on the pick-a-straw at  £2 a go, although every straw was a winner. We got to choose our prizes and picked these two for the Christmas tree

Aren't they cute?

Onwards, with our picnic basket, to Dudmaston Estate, a National Trust managed property in Shropshire, which we discovered was closing on Monday for the season.  We parked up and enjoyed our lunch before heading into the estate. The house had already closed to the public (it is still used as a private residence) so we couldn't rummage in the second hand bookshop either.

A walk was in order, so off we set for a wander through the woods.

Outfit details for fellow pennypinchers: John Partridge jacket Ebay £10 plus postage, boots from Original Factory shop £17.60, Next denim skirt, old and charity shopped, and black Wallis leggings, free with vouchers from my cashback credit card.

Plenty of water in the stream.  

Back at the house, we had a look through the kitchen garden and shop

Blackbird was quite happy mooching for bits to eat in the raised beds.

The magnificent corkscrew hazel has an eerie feel

So strange wandering around with hardly another soul about, we've had picnics in this orchard in the Summer when it has been ridiculously busy

The clock tower, big enough to live in, I like to imagine being able to convert places like this to live in, how homely it could be. 

We popped in to Bodenham Arboretum on our way home, for a cup of tea and to feed the ducks.

It soon gets dark now as we near the shortest day, thankfully nature put on a pretty display of colour in the sunset, and the drive home down empty country lanes was very pleasant

 Arriving home, the sunset was much richer in colour and I didn't want to close the curtains on the view from the lounge 

Another weekend over and back to the normal routine, trying to go food shopping amongst the Christmas rush of shoppers, no doubt.

I hope you all have had a pleasant weekend!



Note: I include links for reference and do not get paid for clicks

Useful and beautiful

Thank you so much for all of your lovely comments on my last blog post, I thought I would sneak a post on and no-one would notice for six months or so, how wrong, and it was such a lovely surprise to see comments appear so quickly too, you lot are so on the ball!!

On 2nd December the OH and I decided on a trip out to Wightwick Manor, the newer than it looks National Trust managed home of the Mander family, Wolverhampton paint manufacturers.

We have visited several times before, the house is particularly appealing as it is so very liveable, the rooms are big but not too grand, and there are many quirks and interesting corners.

As per usual, I asked at the door about photography, as previously photos have been banned at Wightwick.  To my surprise the lady on the door said no flash but snap what you like, I nearly fell over!

So, sit down and enjoy the photos. Obviously, because of the plethora of wallpaper, paintings and textiles in general, the rooms are kept quite dark, and as December is generally pretty gloomy here, so you may need to squint a bit here and there.

Here's a few outside shots

There is so much to take in, there are even quotations carved into the woodwork above the windows

Inside, the hallway has a large inglenook raised area with a large window, just perfect for thawing out

The house is now dressed for Christmas and there was a tree in the other part of the hallway

The house is very much a whimsical rabbit warren of rooms and nooks, mostly decorated in off the peg William Morris (I overheard a conversation and one of the guides said William Morris was not commissioned to do anything specific for the house, it was all bought from his catalogues)

The house had electricity from the start, and some light bulbs are amongst the oldest still in existance.  Pre Raphaelite art hangs on the silk William Morris wallpaper.  Beautiful Arts and crafts stained glass adorns windows, and I just love the loo roll!

 Silk wallpaper, fraying

 Beautiful window seat in Lady Mander's drawing room

The main dining room

 The great hall

The OH (far right), listening intently to a talk in the billiard room

 In the staff bathroom at the top of the tower (wearing: new boots from Original Factory Shop £17.60, blue bag, charity shop £1, Aldi skinny jeans £7.99 and John Partridge jacket £10 ebay)

 Senior female staff bedroom in the tower (bloomin' freezing!)

Block of tea. Yep, compressed tea in a block, could be used as currency in the far east

 The OH, in the staff dining room

One of the two kitchens

Fireplace in the nursery, complete with very old but working electric fire

 Some little bits that caught my eye, amazingly narrow Edwardian boots, farmyard frieze in the nursery, detail of glass panel in the hallway, William Morris fabric on the bed in the nursery

Well, hope you enjoy looking at the photos as we thoroughly enjoyed our Winter visit to Wightwick.  

 I've managed to run up a couple of welly boot bags this evening, out of an old animal feed sack and the strap off an old handbag 

I really didn't want to pay almost a tenner each for proper ones which seemed too small for the OH's welly boots, so made these.  

Right, time for me to catch up with all your blogs, thank you again for the comments

See you soon!

Ramble on

Apologies for the blogging hiatus, I appear to have lost my blogging mojo of late, coupled with getting my head around being a landlord and attempting to start a business.  Those of you following on Facebook will have been privy to the scant posts I made showing my feeble bargains over the past few months, which is more than I have put on here!

My head is bursting with paperwork, landlord law, problems with the rental property that I hope are almost sorted, despite being pretty major, and the all round headless chicken mode that comes from being fully responsible for everything I do to earn money and keep afloat, it's terrifying but empowering at the same time.

Where to begin?  Not sure really, Christmas is coming, I've done all my shopping, my gift bags for friends and family are sorted.  Some non seasonal generic products (like foodstuffs and toiletries) I have recently purchased in shops or online, other things, individual to the person, are picked up as I shop in the year.  I have found great purchases in the charity shops over the year, and hopefully they will be liked by the recipients (despite the fact I paid pennies instead of pounds)

On a sadder note, I lost one of my chickens at the end of October.  Maisie was just under six and a half, quite a good age for a light Sussex bantam.  She was a lone hatch at the time and I had to keep a mirror and cuddly toy with her to stop her crying.  She spent time in the kitchen with me when she was tiny, she loved me sliding her along the tiled floor and raced back to me for me to do it again!  She moved with us to the countryside and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom, the views and once she was used to them, the horses in the field next door.

Here she is with her mirror

Still living in the kitchen

The terrible trio last summer, Duck passed away last Christmas and now only Lola remains.

I do have two new chickens I was given by the person who keeps horses in the adjoining field.  Lola is now integrated with the female, Florence.  The male, Brian is rather amorous so has to be kept separately!  Both were not in a good condition when I was given them.  Florence obviously has vision problems, this is frustrating Lola big time as Florence does not go to bed or follow her around foraging.  Both chickens had very bad feet when they arrived, the toes were covered in hard balls of caked soil, and after some gentle removal of the loose stuff, and several days walking on good ground, their toes emerged.  Brian has managed his own foot problems, and has no further trouble, but Florence has lost some toes, had to have her ridiculously long nails trimmed and had some sort of scale disorder, which is healing and appears to no longer be causing discomfort.  She is being monitored closely!

On a lighter note, the OH and I now have two days a week when we get to go out and just relax.  We have been to some lovely places, and I hope to start sharing our visits with you all soon.  We are both struggling with a work/life balance at the moment, and hopefully will sort this out soon, especially as things on my side calm down a little and I get used to my new work pattern.

I'll leave you with this bargain I picked up from a charity shop in Broadway (yes, there are charity shops in the Cotswolds) not a cheapy cheap buy at £5.50 but so worth it!

 I  am so fussy with jumpers and only have three that have to last me through every winter.  as a charity shopper I find buying woollens so difficult as donated woollens are usually not in great condition.  We generally hang on to our beloved jumpers and cardis more than anything else I think.

  The jumper is green and lavender and I actually took the photos before I washed it, it came out a little lighter as it was filthy!  Never mind, it is now the softest and most comfy jumper to wear, and must have cost over £100 brand new.  Sometimes it pays to spend a little more, it has certainly expanded my range in the chazzas.  

Right, I think it's time for me to get out there and get commenting on your blogs!

  

  

A half hearted attempt...

...at a blogging comeback.

Work continues to gather pace at the soon-to-be rental in Brum, upstairs totally decorated and carpeted, workman has finished downstairs wall repairs and tiling, gas man contacted to do boiler service and issue landlord safety certificate, fingers crossed that isn't too expensive.

We've visited some lovely places in the past few weeks and bought a few bargains.  I have been quite productive on eBay and the facebook local selling pages, which have been brilliant in covering my share of the bills, phew!

 I won't bore you with all the photos from our days out this past month, as there are too many to share in one post, so I'll just focus on the charity shop stuff and other bargains until I get back to speed with regular blogging.

OH picked up these two shirts, both were £2.50.

   The top shirt is a linen mix one from Sainsbury's, and a very nice fit.  The bottom one was an open waffle weave Cotton Traders one, which proved to be a no-no when we got it home.  I managed to sell it on ebay and we recouped the money, thankfully.

I have bought more of the ASDA boy's socks, still going through the till at £2,

   

and this lovely top, bought on a whim at £2.49 and the labels had been cut out, something I hate.  When I got it home I noticed the name sewn into the hem and on the buttons, it is a Fat Face top, and fits really well, phew.

Oh, and if you look closely you will see the dreaded sleeve turn up bits, I'm leaving them on this top as it fits fine with them and looks better!

High street bargains next, and a lovely violet nail polish from Bodycare (love that shop) just 99p, and just to match, 5 packs of Parma violet sweets for £1 from ASDA

Next up, a plentiful haul for Mr pennypincher, two shirts and two pairs of cool linen trousers for the Summer.

Both shirts are M&S and both were £3.50 each

Both pairs of linen trousers are by Next and both pairs were £3 each

I picked up a couple of toiletry bargains, Pixi glow tonic and Josh Wood travel sized shampoo, both were 20p.

I was quite shocked when I saw the RRP of the Pixi glow stuff, so much so that I sold it on ebay, I was happy to try it if it was cheap stuff but it isn't, so the profit will happily go towards petrol money!  The shampoo (M&S but highly sought after) is for coloured hair so rather than use it myself (as I don't colour my hair) I will pop it in a friend's birthday bag.

I also had a lovely bargain on ebay, this fabulous Next crocheted cardi, just £7.05 and that includes postage!

Isn't it fab?!  

Another ebay purchase for me, these Eddie Bauer leather slip on sandals, had to pay £9.50 (that includes postage) for them but at least no-one bid against me.  

Excuse the chipped nail polish and lillywhite winter feet!

These sandals are so comfy, the soles are the same as the Cotton Traders clogs.

Another charity shop bargain next, a great pair of linen mix Per Una trousers for 50p

They look a bit short in the leg, but so am I so they fit!  There is a teeny bit of hem allowance if I need to let them down a touch, not sure I will bother though.

Another great bargain for OH, I picked up these Levi 506 for just £3.99

The label says they are 38 waist, OH is a 36 but I measured them in the shop and they only measure 38 exactly, no extra for a comfy fit, so when I got them home I measured them against his other jeans and they are the same size. He has since tried them on and they fit comfortably.

I found this 3/4 sleeve t shirt for myself, at the strange price of £1.38 as the chazza had a sale on.

  It is only a George at ASDA top, but I like it, I am looking for more green for my wardrobe, so the flash of green dragon is welcome.

Lastly, on a day trip out we happened to stop off in a small town and I found this Custo Barcelona top for £2.

 I'm not entirely happy with the pastelly colourway, but I like Custo stuff and it was a thrill getting hold of one of their tops for £2!

I did find a stain on the front as I took the photo, so just rubbed a Vanish bar on it and gave it a gentle rub, it came right out in the wash, phew.

As well as the final push on the rental, I have secured a business unit near OH's studio and will be setting up a small business shortly.  I have a name and will be building a website rather than trading through Folksy or eBay.  Until I register with the Inland Revenue I will be keeping it all under wraps, and after everything that has been going on these past months, I'm sure the start up will be slow, as I'm completely cream crackered at the mo.

Just a reminder that if you are UK based, you can still enter my vintage dress giveaway on Facebook, or if you are not on Facebook just mention in the comments below if you would like your name to go in the hat, closing time is midnight on 31st May, good luck!