We went away..........

..........for a few days and now we are home again.

We stayed here

 Visited here

We might have bought a book or two here and at some of the other bookshops in town

We went here too - Hereford Cathedral

 and saw this

We visited several of  the small towns in mid Powys and searched for a hovel in the hills, but didn't find one, but we did find that if you share the driving the journey seems much shorter and now I've driven on a motorway too.....Go Me!

Welcome to A Maine Homestead - a new follower.

Back shortly
Sue

Over the Border to Norfolk

We have had  a few days away in the caravan again and popped over the border into Norfolk, our aim being to visit a couple of big National Trust properties and get our moneys worth of the years membership within one month.
Once again we stayed on a small 5 van campsite like ours ( but again, not as nice!)

 We went to Blickling Hall above, and what about this for a kitchen below.

 Also went to Felbrigg Hall but didn't take photos there. After Felbrigg we went to the North Norfolk Coast. Here is Cromer Pier from down the coast at West Runton. We took Scouts and Cubs to camp here in about 1977 and spent several hours on the beach just here. Back then it had big shingle ridges which have now been completely washed away.Each year another part of the cliffs fall into the sea. Then Cromer Pier from much closer, where a lot of work is going on to protect the town from the sea.
 At the end of the pier is the Lifeboat Station

 Also had a day in Norwich, where the Royal Anglian Regiment were having a homecoming and freedom of the city parade. An amazing coincidence happened in Norwich. We we walking down a little lane beside Jarrolds Department store  and turned to look because we could hear someone knocking on a window. And there was my sister sitting in Jarrolds restaurant. She lives in South Norfolk and had driven into Norwich for an appointment.  She had no idea we were there but had just been reading my blog post on her phone, looked up and looked again and couldn't believe her eyes!What are the chances of her noticing us in a city amongst thousands of people! very spooky.

Blickling Hall and Felbrigg Hall both have secondhand bookshops but I found nothing of interest although Col picked up a book about railways for £1.
 We looked around charity shops wherever we went but all I found was this plate for £3. I recognised it straight away as someone from the States had one on their blog just a couple of weeks ago. It is part of The Friendly Village collection and they were made in England by Johnson Brothers mainly for sale in the States. This one - The Schoolhouse -will make a wonderful addition to my Christmas dresser display

That's the end of our holidays, we did both well within budget but now we must stay at home and get some gardening work done.

Thank you to everyone for all the comments about unwanted Charity freebies. I'm feeling quite left out because I've never had any pens etc from Cat's Protection! even though that's where our 2 cats come from.

Big Suffolk welcome to 2 more people following on Google -  Cheryl and Rambler.

Back Very Soon
Sue

Cumbria

We've just got back from a weeks holiday in beautiful Cumbria. It was our first try out of the caravan that we bought off Ebay in the summer and it towed well and was good to live in and comfy to sleep in.

We left home at Silly-O'clock!

  We stayed on a small 5 van campsite ( like out own - but not as nice!) in Ulverstone, down on the south of the county and had trips out around the coast as far as Ravenglass and to several places in the South Lakes.
The weather wasn't good, often threatening rain so we didn't get to do much walking. This is our 4th visit to The Lakes and there are still so many other interesting places to visit  that we will go again.

Walked up a hill over-looking Ulverstone. The water is Morecombe Bay

Saw the original  Amazon in The Ruskin Museum in Coniston

And The Steam Gondola On Coniston Water - and below the mist or low cloud rolling over the fells

 The Dock Museum at Barrow-in Furness was brilliant ( and free) Loads of history of shipbuilding but I was more interested in the social history of the dock workers and owners. So no photos of ships just pics of house interiors.

Not a good photo of kite surfers off the coast as I forgot to take my big camera that day

 We had a look at The Ravenglass and Eskdale narrow gauge preserved steam railway

Here's Col having a close look!

 It's almost obligatory when in the lake District to visit Hill Top - The Farm that belonged to Beatrix Potter

We searched for Peter Rabbit and Mrs Tiggywinkle in the garden, but they were hiding!

 My Favourite place was Townend . A farm that had been in the same ownership for 400 years. No photos allowed inside which is full of all the original features from the last owners. The farm never had running water or electricity, and was given to The National Trust in 1948. Amazingly this small farmhouse has the third largest collection of books of any NT property. Pictures from the internet HERE 
I could have spent ages here but they were running 1 hour tours so we  would have had to have waited until after the last tour to have another look round.

 If you've got children then Wray castle on the western shore of Lake Windermere is a wonderful place to visit. As far removed from the usual national Trust property as you could possibly get, it is full of surprises for children of all ages.See more here

Wray Castle- A Victorian house built to look like a medieval castle

That's our holiday in pictures but what I've not got photos of is the lovely colours of the trees up there. Autumn is a beautiful time to visit, although we were surprised how busy it was especially on the narrow winding roads - it must be hell getting about in the middle of the summer season.

  It was a good test for the caravan. We've got a list of things we need to take with us next time and some things that we don't need to take. There are one or two small jobs to do - like adding some hooks and making sure the water pipe to the washbasin doesn't become un-connected again- turning all the towels in the cupboard below into a soggy heap!

The books I read while on holiday have been added to my Books Read 2015 page. I can really recommend  Love and War in the WRNS by Vicki Unwin which is a book full of letters from a young girl who joined up at age 21 to her mother and father.

A warm welcome to Katia and Lee Ann and thank you to everyone for Mango Chutney comments.

Now I had better get some washing and caravan sorting done so that we can go away again later in the month!

Back Soon
Sue

We had a holiday

We have just got back from a holiday, the first for nearly 3 years. We spent a week in a cottage overlooking the West Somerset Preserved Railway line, the harbour and town of Watchet in Somerset and very nice it was too.

 We looked without any luck for fossils on Helwell beach

The cliff formations all around this part of the coast are like the above.


 To prove we were still vaguely fit we walked up Dunkery Beacon, 1,703 feet or 519 metres -slowly  - it's the highest point on Exmoor. Last climbed by us in 2004.

with views inland to Dartmoor and out to sea too, shame it was a bit misty.

No Purple Heather yet

I dragged Col ( not quite kicking and screaming) to the Clarkes Village shopping outlet place in Street because, even if  we normally avoid all activities that require good clothes, when you have a daughter getting married  you have to have something decent to wear. We are both now sorted and he agreed that it was much easier than going shopping in Ipswich. I resisted the temptations of the Le Creuset  and Denby outlets and also avoided the Cadbury's,Thorntons and Lindt shops. I know........ how virtuous!....... you can almost see the halo!

We walked around the medieval village of Dunster, over the old packhorse bridge

(Once a Bridge Inspector, always a Bridge Inspector!)

 and into the Yarn Market

The West Somerset Preserved Railway had a special Steam Gala on Thursday so Col turned into a train spotter, going in and out to see them passing by.

And then we came home again.
Next holiday in about another 3 years?
Thank you for all the comments after my last post and welcome to Janice and lostinhonkers (?) who are new followers.

Back in a short while
Sue