Sunny Sunday in Barnsley

With not a lot of time to spare today, and even less money, we decided to take ourselves off for a walk around the park at Cannon Hall near Barnsley.

Cannon Hall is situated in the picturesque village of Cawthorne, and the house itself is a pretty little museum - however it wasn't open today. My favourite part of the house, is its Victorian Kitchens, but these were not open either. I think that it opens around Easter time. It is set in acres of beautiful parkland. We parked behind the hall - in the car park used for the family farm (which is excellent if you have small children). It cost us £2.50 to park, but then found £3.01 on the floor near our car!! So we were 51p up on the day - until we visited one of the many superb cafe's in the site (sooooo many to choose from and all great). I can highly recommend the "Pavillion" tea room in the main car park - they even provide you with blankets if you want to sit outside! The Raspberry and Rhubarb frangipan cake was to die for.

This is where the Spencer - Stanhope family used to grow their famous Pineapples - you didn't know Barnsley was famous for its Pineapple growing did you! Apparently, they were in such demand at dinner parties, that they used to hire them out! I wonder if they used to come back with chunks missing out of them?

They always have a very colourful display in the greenhouse.

I could only peep through the garden gate into the walled garden - again, this is open around Easter I think. The museum and gardens are free of charge usually.

We strolled around the gardens,

and walked alongside the river which was teeming with birds - mainly Geese and Gulls all having a Sunday nap.

The site features ample parking, plenty of choices for places to eat, a farm, play area's for kids, museum, garden centre, farm shop, gardens, lots of places to roam - its a perfect day out actually. The village boasts a lovely pub and a restaurant too. Another fantastic tourist spot on my doorstep.

The only fault we could find with this wonderful walk was the smell of the Roast Beef and Yorkshire puddings wafting from the farm cafe - made us so hungry!

We have decided to put the cash that we found in a jar, and we are all going to keep our eyes peeled throughout the year, and see how much we can find. Anybody fancy a competition?

Stroll with me.........

around Clumber Park. This morning was a perfect cold but very crisp morning, so the young man and I took off for a stroll.

We walked all way around the lake. Last year, the lake had sprung a leak caused by mining subsidence. How do you find a leak in a lake? and how do you start to repair it?
There was still much evidence of frost in places where the sun hadn't reached.

I love all the beautiful estate houses in the park. The sky was a perfect blue, but there was a very very cold wind blowing. The young man wondered how cold it had to get before it froze your eyeballs!

The birds on the lake were making a real racket!! I don't know what got them so excited.

We stopped and watched the dancing water in the cascade.

The dead trees make spectacular statues.

Whilst the still living trees make music with the wind blowing through them.

A few people asked me what the shrub in my previous post was. It is called Christmas Box or Sweet Box. It has the most amazing fragrance which is really unusual for plants this time of the year.

And finally - I have another claim to fame. For anyone who has just finished watching Celebrity Big Brother - I was once kicked by Vinnie Jones! It was in "Josephines " nightclub in Sheffield in the early 90's and he was dancing behind me in a very exuberant manner! There was I, minding my own business, dancing round my handbag, when I felt a very quick kick to the shin!! He never apologised either.

Family life

Like most families with teenage kids, we find ourselves enjoy different hobbies and interests. And whilst we all still very much enjoy each others company, there are times when we indulge in our different interests. Hubby and the young man are nuts about sport, but the dancing queen and I are not so keen. So on Saturday, whilst DQ was working at her Saturday job, Hubby and the young man took themselves off to watch their team win 2-1 - a rarity this season!


whilst I looked for my own green shoots of recovery in the garden. The garden needed a lot of tidying up and cutting back and I had a great time - although my hands and arms look as if I "self harm" now!!

These 2 beauties are from what I grandly call my "winter border"

Then on Sunday, whilst the dancing Queen danced all day, and the young man enjoyed a preview weekend of a sports channel on Freeview TV, hubby and I squeezed in a little walk around the garden centre.

The best bit for me though, was when we all met up at 4pm at the "all you can eat" Chinese Buffett, before we headed out to watch the Sheffield Steelers Ice Hockey team (who unfortunately lost 5-2 to Hull), because we were all back together again, listening to the kids laughing and chattering away to each other. I like us to all do our own thing, but I do love it when we are all together.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

There's no such thing as a free lunch!

So on Saturday night, hubby suggested that on Sunday, we ought to go out for Sunday lunch. Did I fancy it? Well yes, if someone else is going to do the cooking, count me in! So, do we do what normal people do and don our Sunday best and drive out to a nice country pub? Not quite. Instead, we put on our walking gear and park 3 miles away from the pub and trudge over moors, finding the only snow left in South Yorkshire!
We walked from the Norfolk Arms at Ringinglow, to the Fox House at Longshaw. A walk with superb views and a decent pub at each end. We left Sheffield bathing in sunlight in the valley below.

Nearly every one of the pines at the edge of the forest had been broken by the weight of the snow.

It really is spectacular but very bleak across this moor. It was hard walking as the snow was really deep in parts, and where it had melted and then froze again, the ice was like a Glacier!!!

After 3 hard miles, Roast Beef and all the trimmings and a couple of halves of "Black Sheep" went down a treat! However, all I wanted to do after that was curl up in front of the roaring log fire and snooze, so the 3 mile back to the car was even harder going!!

I felt marvellous and full of fresh air afterwards though. Well worth the trudge.

So what did I make on Saturday afternoon then? (Serious crafters please look away now!!)

I save all the cards that we receive over the year. I hate to just throw them away as some of them are really lovely and cards cost a fortune in the shops these days. I wait until a dreary day in January, then set about cutting, glueing and sticking, and make all the cards I am going to need for this year.

As you can see I am a messy worker!

I use 3d sticky pads and a few other embellishments. Ive now made all my Christmas cards for this year - and all the tags too! (Its the Virgo in me!)

And Ive also made lots of birthday cards for the coming year too.

Well it stops me from getting bored. xx

Clifton Park Museum

I have confessed before to being guilty of not visiting "attractions " that are on my doorstep, and one thing that bad weather makes you do is stick around home a bit more. Between Christmas and New Year, Hubby, the young man and myself found ourselves with a couple of hours spare, and not wanting to hit the shops, decided to visit Clifton Park Museum in Rotherham. Rotherham does not have a lot going for it at the moment which is a great shame as it has a very pretty little town centre, but the building of 2 huge shopping malls/out of town retails parks very close by has resulted in the town centre being left for dead. The museum had always looked a bit uninspiring, but we decided to give it a try and I was very pleasantly surprised.

Firstly, I loved the house and the history surrounding it. It was built in 1783 for the Walker family who were industrialists - iron and steel. When they built the house and landscaped the surrounding parkland, it was well away from the town centre, but the town centre rapidly grew - leaving the house and park like a goldfish bowl.

I am currently finding "The Industrial Revolution" is one of my favorite bits in history. I think it is amazing to see and read about the grandeur that these industrialists lived in, whilst the working classes who made them their wealth struggled to survive.

As well as the story of the house and the history of the town, there are lots of interesting relics to see. I think Mr Bear is loved by visiting kids.

There are also lots of pieces from the very famous Rockingham Pottery. The kiln at the pottery in nearby Swinton still exists - I'll have to have a walk and take some photos for you. This is called "The Rhinoceros Vase". The only other one is in the V& A in London - I was quite amazed by this!

More gorgeous Rockingham Pottery

If you are local, I would say that Clifton Park Museum is well worth a visit of a wet weekend afternoon - and it is also very child friendly.

I am still continuing with my walking "from" work - I'm not going to walk to work until the mornings get a bit lighter. I managed twice again this week - in very unfavourable conditions and still enjoyed it! I think I will love it once the weather is nicer and conditions under foot improve.

Ive had a morning at "Hobby Craft", so I am off to create now - I'll show you what Ive been getting up to later.

Not a snow flake in sight!

I was tagged by HenHouse and also by Joanne to show you my favourite photo. So I had a flick through my last years photos, and I stopped when I got to this one. The photo quality is not brilliant, but its the emotion that it evokes for me (and possibly for Claire I bet too!). The view is of Porthmeor beach in St Ives Cornwall, as taken from outside of my tent, just as the sun starts to set and illuminate the town. If I am not actually on Porthmeor beach, saluting the sunset, then I am to be found sat outside of my tent, after a hard day on the beach, with a glass of vino collapso in hand, contemplating on just how good life is.

Penny also asked us to list 10 things we like that are FREE. Off the top of my head these are currently:

1. Mornings where I don't have to use the alarm clock to get up!
2. Family film night in - getting rarer these days as they both have busy social lives, and following on from this,
3. Laughing at my kids when they laugh uncontrollably at something they find funny on tv or in a film (usually a rude word in the case of the Young Man!)
4. A long walk somewhere beautiful or interesting.
5. A snog with my hubby - best kisser in the world
6. Days when it is so hot I never move out of my back garden
7. Spotting shapes in the clouds
8. Flicking through a pile of gardening magazines that my lovely neighbour thought I might like as she was throwing them out! (Remember the pile I liberated from her recycling pile? Well she just passes them all on to me now!)
9. Looking back through old photos - especially of when the kids were little - time flys so fast!
10. Blogging and reading all your blogs.

Feel free to pick up either of these tags as I don't want to burden anyone, but would love to know more about you.

Busy Fingers.

Just after Christmas, I received a parcel from Bumble Bee cottage in Guernsey. Gillian had struggled to get willing participants for her Pay It Forward gifts, so she asked if I would be a willing recipient. She sent me a box of gorgeous Guernsey toffee's and some sweet Christmas cards that I shall be sending to special people next year. Thank you Gillian - I had forgotten that I had volunteered and it came as a lovely surprise!. I wont be asking for volunteers to carry the PIF on again, as I have done this already, but I will be sending gifts to 3 unsuspecting people - but if you receive one, you are not expected to continue the PIF. I have already sent a parcel to Michela - you can read all about this here (as I didn't photograph it before I sent it!!)

I have been busy knitting a neck warmer (appropriately!!). I loved the colour of this wool. It reminds me of the colour of the sea at Porthcurno in Cornwall. One of my bloggy friends will find this landing on her doormat hopefully this week. I'm not going to say who as it will spoil the surprise. I have one more gift to make and send now.

Ive also been busy crocheting a push chair blanket. I see some lovely colour combinations for crochet on your blogs, but I seem to be stuck in a nautical colour themed rut. I need to be more experimental.

My conservatory floral display is keeping a smile on my face. I planted the paperwhites early November. They grew this tall in about 3 weeks which was encouraging, but they seem to have stopped growing altogether now! Can't wait for the Hyacinths to bloom.

Ive discovered another hazard to walking home in the snow. I walked on the edge of a small town last night as it was dark and I thought it would be safer (although longer) I had to walk on the pavement as it was fairly busy with traffic. I looked up to see the most dangerous looking icicles hanging from the guttering of the houses! Scarey!