Hampton Court Palace

Hi,

I thought I would share some of the photos from our recent visit to Hampton Court Palace.  When we were staying in our caravan at Henley on Thames we made a trip over to Hampton to visit the palace.
We went quite late in the morning and this was a mistake due to the parking once we arrived!  We managed to park on a side road and walked up to the palace but I would definitely recommend an early arrival if you are driving.

I have always been interested in the Tudor period and have read widely in this area particularly historical novels by one of my favourite authors Phillippa Gregory.  Therefore, I was very excited about this visit.  One of the key parts of the visit that really struck me was the extent of the kitchens.  I had never really thought about the mechanics of feeding a Tudor court before and I must say I was overwhelmed by the extent of the these rooms within the palace.

The photos really do not do justice to all the organisation and facilities that were evident at the palace to feed Henry VIII and his court.  I found the audio guide for this section of the palace extremely informative and interesting.

The Great Hall was another highlight and the tapestries in there were absolutely amazing and it was easy to imagine how magnificent they would have been in their original colours in the Tudor era.

Loving my crafts as I do, I stood for ages just looking at these and imagining the hours of work that had been put into these.  You can most certainly see glimpses of what the original colours must have looked like but they must have been exceptional.  My family were very patient with me in the Great Hall whilst I was desperately trying to find one of the sets of initials of H and A that had been carved in the wood work during Henry VIII's relationship with Anne Boleyn.  I did have to admit defeat in the end and ask a guide to help me.

The stained glass windows in the Great Hall were another highlight and were beautiful to look at. Again, I don't think photos can do these justice.
We then went on to look at the newer part of the Palace which had been renovated during the reign of

The wall and ceiling painting were very extravagant and captured a lot of interest as we were walking through this area of the Palace.

The Palace was much larger than I had imagined and it took us ages to get around the whole of the building(especially with my time in the Great Hall).  It was definitely worth the money and I would happily visit again.  We managed to spend some time in the gardens but did not explore these as much as I would have liked.

During our visit we had our lunch in the cafe, which was quite reasonable.  I would definitely recommend a visit to Hampton Court Palace especially if you are intrigued by the Tudor period of history.  I will definitely be returning there in the future.

Bye for now

Von xxx

Heather's Blanket Finished!

Hi,

Yay! I have finally finished Heather's blanket!  Last week I really blasted away on the border and edging.  I do enjoy the borders - that long way round the whole of the blanket.
I used Zooty Owl's border and edging that I have used on a previous blanket because Heather really liked this and wanted to keep the bright colour combination of her blanket.   Here are some photos of my progress with the border and edging.

I have enjoyed the bright colours and using the different granny squares to create this blanket and it has been a real labour of love.  Heather is over the moon with it and is already cuddling up underneath it on these Summer evenings.

The bright colours really glow in the sun and I found this the best place to try to photograph for the blog.  So here is the finished blanket...

My favourite granny squares in this project were the puffy flowers and I must confess I do keep looking at these and thinking how beautiful they are.

Very tempted to use these in a future blanket.   The only aspect of this blanket that I have continued to feel a bit unhappy with are the four large central squares.  I just don't feel they sit right in the overall design.  After chatting with Heather we both agreed the next blanket she has will consist of just smaller squares.   However, she does love her new blanket and it has become a permanent fixture on the settee.

Loving making blankets and definitely got the bug!

Bye for now

Von xx

In The Garden

Hi,

I thought I would share how well our back garden has been doing this year.   We have gradually been adding more and more fruit and vegetables to the garden and we really have a good bounty of fruit this year.

We love rhubarb and wanted to grow it but were very aware that this can be a problem with dogs.  So after some thought my husband set about making a small contained area in which the dogs were kept away and we could safely grow the rhubarb.  I must say, we have had no problem doing this and the rhubarb has flourished, as you can see.

We have a few raspberry bushes along the edge of the garden and these have really shot up this year.  We have already had some raspberries off them and are picking a good handful each day.  There are still an abundant amount of them to ripen so plenty of raspberries for tea!

The blackberries are doing just as well and we have managed to pick a few already!  We have done well with this bush for a few years now and after cutting it right back this year has been another good one.  There are loads of berries ready to ripen and we will soon have a good bounty of these too!

This year we have had a try at growing some butternut squashes from seed.  They have took well and grown into good plants and some squashes are beginning to develop.  We will need to wait a bit longer to see how these grow.

On the other side of the garden we have grown some sweet peas this year.  My Grandad always used to grow these for my Nan and I always remember her having some of these in a vase in the house during the summer.  So this year, we have carried on the tradition and have been enjoying growing Sweet Peas.  We will definitely grow these again next year.

We have been thinking about spring flowers and I am on the look out for bulbs ready to plant out for next year.  How have you been getting on in your gardens?

Bye for now

Von x

Holiday Sightseeing in London

Hi,

We have not stopped this Summer!  We took the caravan away to stay in Henley on Thames and had a great week there.  The weather was pretty good for here in the UK - dry!

It was easy to catch the train from Henley on Thames to Paddington, London and we did just that for a couple of days during our stay to visit the capital.  We walked through Hyde Park and had a little sit and watched the world pass by.  We spotted Speaker's Corner and visited the July 7th Bombings memorial as we went by.

We then carried on up to Wellington's Arch and were lucky to see the guards passing by as we walked along there.

Next, we walked to Buckingham Palace and timed it perfectly to enable us to see the changing of the guard.  It was very busy around there and I would recommend getting there earl if you want to see the Change of Guard to get a good view.

As we walked down The Mall we were able to get a sneak preview of Big Ben behind the trees and then passed Horse Guards Parade.  

We carried on to visit Trafalgar Square and see Nelson's Column.  Again, it was very busy around this area.

There was a lot of walking involved and it probably would have been easier for us to have hopped on and off the tube but we enjoy walking and were quite happy to do so.  However, if you have young children or struggle with excessive walking I would definitely recommend using the public transport to get around.  

We continued to walk down Whitehall, past Downing Street and then to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.  

We had decided that we would like to visit Westminster Abbey on this visit and although there was a long queue this soon went down.  It was very expensive for the three of us to pay to get in costing £57!  I really enjoyed the visit because of the history and found it fascinating visiting the tombs of previous Kings and Queens.

During our stay in Henley on Thames I had taken my blanket that I have been working on for my daughter and managed to complete the last round of squares.  I have been busy joining these to the blanket now and threading in all the loose ends!  Which seems to take forever!  I do try and do this as I go but it still always seems time consuming.  Definitely a job during TV viewing!

Next job is to begin the border and I will update you with my progress on this soon and other photos from our holiday travels.

Bye for Now

Von xxx

Cupcake Keyring

 

Its amazing what you can make from a few left over bits of material.   I'm never one to waste any material and I was able to put these bits to good use by making a cupcake keyring.

 

A nice little addition to my keys.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

 

I don't seem to be getting much time for crafting at the moment but then the summer holidays are always busy spending lots of quality family time together and entertaining the children.  

 

We had a recent holiday in Cornwall, Penzance.  It was a lovely place to visit and one that I would love to return to again at some point in the future.   There is so much to do in and around Penzance.  Our visits included a trip to Lands End and the Eden Project and we were also lucky to have the added bonus of some lovely weather which meant that we were also able to spend some time on the lovely beaches there.

Julie
x

  Eden Project

 

 Porthcurno beach

 

Raspberry crumb bars

 

wow made some raspberry crumb bars today and it was delicious.   It was soo easy to make and the end result didn't fail to disappoint anyone. 

 

 

raspberry crumb bars  

 

 

I rubbed half a cup of butter (unsalted) in to a cup of flour and added 1/4 tsp of baking powder 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 tsp of salt  and 1 cup of rolled oats.      A thin layer of this mixture then went in to the tin and then a 500g punnet of raspberries went on top before finally finishing with the remaining mixture.

 

After cooking for 35 minutes they were ready to enjoy!

 

I took this recipe from Pinterest but  I did adapt it slightly.  Have a go!!

Julie
x