Saturday 28 April 2012

Tealby

My Grandad was born and raised in Lincolnshire in a very picturesque village on the edge of the Wolds called Tealby.  Every now and then, my mum likes to visit the village and remember the holidays she spent there when she was a little girl - so for part of her birthday treat, I took her for a visit today.

 Her Grandparents house used to stand where the bungalow is now.  It was like the cottages either side, but had to be pulled down when it became unsafe.  My mum  visited every year with her parents when she was young.  It was their annual holiday.  She says that she can remember her grandfather sobbing uncontrollably when the time came for them to leave every year.  We take communications and being able to stay in touch so much for granted these days.
 After a warming soup in the village pub (and boy did we need warming up, it was freezing!), we embarked on a marathon walk around the whole village - and beyond.
 My Grandad moved to South Yorkshire for work.  He was a farm hand/woodman and eventually landed in Wentworth working on the Fitzwilliam Estate.  Whilst the estate would have been very beautiful, the rest of the area was in its mining hey day and I know he didn't think much of the rows of pit houses and the grime that covered everything.  When you wander around his village, you can see why it would have all been a shock to his system.
 Mum showed me where all the shops etc used to be, now almost all of them are gone.  She also told me that the cottage that my great grandparents lived in had no electricity and no running water at all.

 A brook runs through the village and through many of the gardens of the lovely big houses.  A couple of old Mills have been converted into homes and still have the brook running through them.

 The village has also been home to the Grandparents of Alfred Lord Tennyson, and I think I read somewhere that Elton John's songwriting partner - Bernie Taupin was from here too.
 A few miles away is the church where my great grandparents are buried.  My mum still has the telegram that arrived for my Grandad to say that his mum had passed away back in 1965.
 It was interesting to find the very simple grave with just their names on the stone surround.  My mum realised that she had never known her Grandmothers name!



Thursday 26 April 2012

Motivated!

We are in the middle of possibly the wettest drought on record! This means that lovely light evenings are being wasted by me having to be indoors!  The garden is totally soaked and the lovely spring flowers are battered.  The rain (and hail) are of biblical proportions, and it is starting to have echoes of 2007 about it!  The River Don is on a flood warning and we saw a few worried looking environment officials on a bridge near the Meadowhall shopping centre - which flooded last time. But on a positive note,  it also means that a bit of decorating I have on the go is getting done!

I am still very motivated to try and get a better looking body for summer, and found this book in a charity shop which is helping me too.  Some of the rules are hard.  No wheat (not so hard) No dairy (a bit hard, I am a cheeseaholic) and NO WINE!!!! (very hard!) .  You start by giving yourself 2 weeks on the "diet" .  I thought 2 weeks would be easy, but I realised at the end of day 1 that 2 weeks was going to be a long time!!  However by day 3, I felt a lot less bloaty and my clothes fit much better and this has spurred me on.  I think this book was a bargain for 50p! 

I have also upped my exercise regime too.  I've taken to walking before work again,  I still go to my Zumba class and we have all taken up swimming again each week - which we thoroughly enjoy.

So when it does stop raining, hopefully I will look better/fit into my summer clothes!

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Whitby

We had been invited to a wedding reception on Saturday on the East Yorkshire Coast at Whitby.  I know that you all love a trip to the seaside, so come along and wander with me.  We managed a fabulous day and the weather was great! 













Whitby is a gorgeous place.

Sunday 22 April 2012

Julie Arkell@ Hope & Elvis

What on earth has happened to blogger?  All my photo's have displayed in the wrong order!  Anyway!!  Today I spent the day in the company of some wonderful ladies at the Hope and Elvis Studios, creating chatting and generally having a great time.
Blogger has just deleted the picture I had posted of my effort!!! So i'll have to show you it later.  It was supposed to look like one of these posies that the fabulous Julie Arkell has inspired us with - but I warn you now - it is harder than it looks and mine looked nothing like!


 Julie creations are magical.




 I'm going to have a go at one of these later on.
 I reaquainted  with a bloggy pal, and made new friends too.
 And here is magical lady herself.  Many thanks to Louise, all the lovely ladies, and especially Julie for making today such a wonderful wonderful day - as ever!
And many thanks to blogger for totally messing up my post,deleting photographs that I thought were going to be shown and causing me a bit of IT stress on a Sunday evening!

Friday 20 April 2012

Heritage Re-Loved

A couple of weeks ago, I happened upon a new vintage shop just setting up - I knew you would want me to share with you. I didn't have my camera (!!! I know - I always have my camera!!), but the lovely lady who owns the shop said that she would send me some photographs to share - so here are a few of them.

The shop is at Elsecar Heritage Centre, Elsecar near Barnsley (and just next to Wentworth for a full day out!) and she is full to the brim with vintage fabrics and china etc, all at very reasonable prices.
Apparently, a lot of what she is currently selling is from her own collection, and it is all very lovely. She has some gorgeous vintage aprons etc
If you are in the area, call in and say hi to Julie - and tell her I sent you - but don't blame me if you come out with more fabric for your stash! Julie's daughter told me that her mum has always owned fabric and haberdashery shops in one shape or another and now is keen to teach and will be running workshops from here too.
I wish you great success Julie and Jo. xxx

Thursday 19 April 2012

Sheffield Botanical Gardens

On our way to Sharrow, we took a short cut through the Botanical Gardens in Sheffield.

The gardens are free to enter (unless something special is happening).
The bedding planting is very "parks and gardens" but colourful.



The plants in the glass houses are far more exotic. I believe that this is the plant the Tequila is made from.



It was a lovely and very colourful diversion.

Wednesday 18 April 2012

New Bags

Ive got the sewing machine out at the moment to make a couple of bags for a friends daughter. I love this new Clarke & Clarke fabric - I'm going to be making a couple of beach bags with it .

I also made one with some lovely pinstripe denim......
but I thought you would be more interested in the lining!
(Modelled of course by my hubby and his police motorcycle!)