Today

My son is doing a photo shoot for Orla Kiely, he knows how much I love modernist houses and so he sent me some photos of the property where they are shooting (sorry about the name dropping...just had to do it)

                           

                         

Molly and I took a walk out at Ashridge and then she helped me baste my Liberty fabric quilt :)

Birthdays

Three of my nieces have been pregnant at the same time, my sisters two daughters, one has had a little girl and the other one is still waiting, and one of my brothers daughters has had her fourth child, also a little girl. 

I made a pair of these trousers for each of the babies that have been born, I forgot to photograph the first pair but here is the second pair. I lined both pairs with soft flannel fabric, or winsiette, depending on where you are from :)

Last week was my birthday, my daughter in law has the same birthday, so we usually meet up somewhere for lunch. This year we met at Petersham Nurseries near Richmond. This is a beautiful place, there is a restaurant and a cafe, each set in the lovely old green houses. We ate in the cafe and I took a few photos around the place. We then walked through Richmond Park. Molly came too and this was the first meeting with some of our family...I am glad to say she was on her best behaviour!

http://petershamnurseries.com/

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                 

     

                               

                                    

     

                                      

        

Wales

The purchase of our holiday cottage in Wales has all gone through. Last week we drove across to pick up the keys and move a few essentials, an air bed and camping chairs etc so we could stay a couple of nights and start doing some work. We got the garden straight and took up the flooring in the hall. Hubby got up on the roof to fix a leak and we had some workmen call to give quotes on some of the jobs we don't want to do ourselves. 

It was a special time as it was also a year since my Mother died, on the day I went into Builth Wells for some time on my own and had coffee in a sweet little cafe. My mother had lived in Builth up until getting married to my Father in the local church so it is a special place. 

                          

Our cottage goes from the left hand side across to the right hand side of the second door. 

We took away the fire surround and will put a large piece of oak across the top. The hearth will be slated with the same as we will use in the hallway.

The sitting room will have new oak flooring down and the kitchen fitted with new units and the whole cottage painted white. We are enjoying buying new materials :)

The garden has trees behind and is well sheltered

                          

                           

The top left photo is of a view across the road from the oldest pub in Powys (bottom right photo)

We went to the pub for a meal with my sister and her husband. The church in the bottom left photo was opposite the pub, such a pretty area. The top right photo is the view from our main bedroom where we have a little window seat.  The field has sheep and lambs in it and the mountains in the distance are the Cambrian Mountains.

We are so blessed to have this cottage in such a beautiful area...we are thankful!

Molly

So after five years of being without a dog, we decided to buy a puppy. The contracts on our cottage in Wales should exchange in the next two weeks and we decided that as Wales is where we will be spending most of our holidays it would be great to have a dog to take walking with us. 

We went for this breed, shih tzu x bishon, as she is small and easy to care for, not needing lots of exercise. She won't shed and we are told won't bark too much....that remains to be seen if the last two nights are anything to go by!

       

                                     

This photo was taken when I was trying to ignore her so as not to respond when she whined for attention. She gave up and sat like this looking very sad :(

                                           

I can't wait for these three to come and visit, she will love the attention they are bound to shower upon her. We were given a list of names that Maggie (on the left) had come up with and Molly was the one we felt we could go with ;)

Easter

We thought the Easter weekend would be quiet with no family visiting but our eldest son called to say he would like to come and stay over. He said if we met him at Richmond he would take us on a nice walk. 

We had a great day, walking along the Thames, through Richmond Park and to the Isabella Plantation which has amazing azaleas planted throughout. 

We walked back through the park to Petersham Nurseries for lunch, back along the Thames and to the car to drive home. Ben and I then went out to Ashridge to see the beautiful bluebells. Sunday was church where my husband preached on the new life we can experience through Jesus and then our neighbour joined us for lunch, such a lovely Easter time. 

                                 

                                  

                                  

                     

Grandsons

    

         

This is the first Easter I can remember that we don't have any of our children coming to stay. So when I received his photo this morning all the way from South Africa it has made my day!

No family to bake for but I am about to get going on cakes and cookies for church on Sunday!

Busy busy

I have just returned from six days in Devon with my daughter, son in law and their family. They have moved into their new home and I went I help keep the children occupied, meals on the table and washing done while they unpacked, shopped for storage and built shelves etc. The house is waiting for an extension to be built but they have done lots of work already in the main part of the property.

The location is wonderful, with amazing views. At the end of each day I sat in the lounge looking out the window across Dartmoor until the sun set. The children are loving the garden and the surprise visit of a neighbours very friendly cat was an added bonus.

While all this is happening with family in the UK, my other daughter still has baby Lilhe in her care. He is such a sweet little baby. 

I've been out and about today and been amazed at the beautiful Spring colours around, such a beautiful time of the year.