Weekend Away

Last weekend my beloved took me away for a lovely weekend near Malvern which is in Worcestershire.  We stayed in a hotel in the hills called the Cottage in the Woods which was really lovely, Bertie loved it as when we arrived they had put a dog bed in the room and left some treats for him as well.



Bertie on our patio

 

The main hotel from our patio

 Now whilst you're all thinking how romantic of Kenneth to take me away for a lovely weekend, there was a slight ulterior motive - there was a car and car parts show on near Malvern!!  So yes, we went and wandered around stalls with lots of old bits of cars so that Ken could try and find bits for his current project - a car that is 50 years old and at the moment doesn't work - I call it his other woman.

We did also get to go into Malvern which is a really pretty spa town with lots of the original buildings still standing.  The priory, which dates from 1541,  is beautiful and the church ladies were getting it ready for harvest festival - lovely flower arrangements and animals made out of bread.

Bread fish (I think)

Bread mouse



One of the carvings under the Misericords (mercy seats) - thought he was quite a cheeky chappy



Malvern is famous for lots of different people, but one that I like is that C.S.Lewis used to visit there - there was a blue plaque on the wall of one of the pubs that he used to frequent.

When we got up on Sunday morning it felt like we were much higher than we were as we were above the mist and clouds - it was a really lovely morning with the sun shining on the mist. 



There were lots of old fashioned lamp post around the hotel grounds and Malvern

  On the way back from Malvern we drove through the Cotswold's, stopping in Chipping Norton and Stow on the Wold.  In Chipping Norton there is a gorgeous little bookshop/coffee shop which we always go to when we're passing by - nice homemade cakes.


Autumn leaves in Chipping Norton



My very dapper looking beloved

All in all a really nice break away with my two favourite men - the cats fended for themselves, and I don't even think they noticed that we were gone.  I've gotten a bit behind with my blogs, so will try and catch up over the next few days.

Hope all is good with you and yours, stay safe and keep smiling.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Deer Walk

Last weekend we went to Woburn Abbey (the site of Ken's magnificent Car victory) to do a deer walk.  We made sure we got there a little earlier than needed so that I could show Ken round the gardens - he was quick to find a friend.

It was such a glorious day with blue sky and sunshine, and there were even some butterflies out in the garden.

When it was time for the walk we were met by tea, coffee, and biscuits (some in the shape of deer which seemed a little bit odd) and then the head deer ranger gave us a talk about the deer park which was really interesting.  We got to hold the antlers to see how heavy they were - I didn't realise that they lose their antlers every year, and each year they grow back bigger and stronger, but with the same basic pattern.  They had antlers from the same deer ranging over several years to show us.

We then went on a two hour walk around the deer park with the head ranger whilst he explained what breed of deer we were seeing - they have nine different breeds in the park!  There are over a thousand deer in the park, and they have a park in New Zealand as well to help maintain the species in the event of any disease ever striking the park over here.

The grounds of Woburn Abbey are beautiful and it was nice to get to see the house from a different perspective.  The deer rangers work six days a week, but for that they get to live in a house within the grounds which must be very special.  I took a lot of photos, but here are a couple of my favourites.

It's mating season, so all the stags are being very noisy and trying to out bellow each other - the noise is amazing.  They also do things to try and make themselves look bigger like digging their antlers into dirt and bushes to add volume to them, and rolling in mud to add mass to their bodies like the lovely looking chap above.

Everywhere you looked around the park there was the sight of antlers, stags sitting off by themselves and groups of female deer's huddling around elsewhere.  There was a very interesting smell in the air, which could only be described as a mix of musk and pee.

As we were finishing the walk it was getting towards dusk and the grass was covered with cobwebs which looked really mystical.

At the end of the walk we were given lovely soup and bread - a fabulous day and I would definitely recommend it to anyone that lives within driving distance of Woburn.

That's it, so look after each other and keep smiling.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S:  Atmospheric shot to finish.

Mind, Body, & Soul Experience

Last Sunday my long suffering husband agreed to accompany me to the Mind, Body, and Soul experience at Olympia - all that new age stuff is not really his thing, but he went with a semi-open mind.  We got the train from Watford into London and as you can see from the photo below Ken could hardly contain his excitement at the coming day.

Ken asleep on the train before we got there.

There were lots of different therapies there and just after we arrived I was already having reflexology (which was fab) and my poor husband was left to wander aimlessly for 20 minutes whilst he waited for me.  When I finished my treatment I went looking for him, which took a while as I was looking for someone walking around with a slightly cynical look on his face, and instead I found him sitting down having hand analysis by needle free acupuncture!

Note the gorgeous floral shirt.

My matter of fact, disbeleiving husband was throwing himself into the experience so off I went for a wander, returning to find that the floral shirt had suddenly disappeared.

I bet he was glad he wore a t-shirt under his shirt!

Next his shoes and socks were removed and I think the lovely lady doing the therapy would have stripped him totally if they were'nt sitting in a public thoroughfare.

My gorgeous man exposing his body to all around - be still my beating heart.

Ken said that the needle free acupuncture really helped his neck and back ache that he constantly has, and he has come away with loads of herbal medicines to sort out his body (though from where I'm standing there's not much that needs sorting out).

We had a great day - especially people watching, as you see all sorts at an event like this, with all sorts of outfits on. 

I bought a lovely book about the power of silence and finding serenity in silence, and a raw food cookbook (I know that sounds a bit Irish, but what else could they call it) as I'd really like to try that every now and then for health reasons.  I also got a lovely pink scarf as there were lots of lovely clothes stalls as well.



Neal's Yard stall



We saw some interesting demonstrations, including belly dancing, yoga, and very weird singing.  We also met the author of a very interesting sounding book that he has written with the premise that God, Allah, and Buddha get together for a meeting and how that conversation would go - it sounded intriguing.

After we'd had our fill of mind, body and soul we went across the road to a lovely Persian restaurant (we went to it over 13 years ago before we were married) for dinner and it was as wonderful as we remembered - with the traditional Iranian bread oven making gorgeous bread.  Ken had mint tea with a really nice little trivet and candle to keep his tea warm.

I was a great meal, and a really good day with my beloved.  That's it for now - be good, stay safe, and keep smiling.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S. Romantic shot to finish.

Pamper day

Have I told you lately how wonderful my husband is??  Well he is fantabulous!!  A few days ago he told me I had to keep Saturday afternoon free as he had booked me a personal M.O.T (for the non-British amongst you that is the yearly car check that happens in this country).

So Saturday afternoon I went to the spa at Presence in Watford and had a wonderful facial which included a foot massage, shoulder massage, and arm massage, and then I had a pedicure and got my toe nails painted a lovely red colour befitting of Autumn.

The waiting/relaxing room in the spa



Scary makeup free face after my facial



My newly painted nails



My gorgeous husband (note the beard)

It was a really lovely treat and I felt thouroughly pampered.

That's it for now - just a quick one today, but longer tomorrow as we went to the Mind, Body, & Soul experience today and there's lots to tell there.

Be good, and keep smiling.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Scrapbooking Show

So today was the day that I got my own back for the car show of a few weeks ago - The Big Stamp and Scrapbooking show was on at Alexandra Palace!  I love it - they hold it twice a year but to keep my budget under control I only go once and keep myself to a strict monetary limit which is very difficult.

Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace) was built in 1873 as a place for recreation for the public - it now hosts concerts, sports events, exhibitions, has an ice rink, and has an amazing view over London.  I would have taken a picture to show you the view but it was pouring with rain - not nice at all.

My beloved drove us there so that I didn't have to go on public transport and spent the day sat reading his book and listening to his music whilst I was in scrapbooking heaven.

He had a nice little corner of the hall all to himself.  The architecture is amazing around the different areas, and I've taken a few photos to show you along with the craft stalls.

I bought lots of lovely papers for my projects, along with lots of bits and bobs to add to the pages.  The best thing was that one of the stalls had past copies of the Australian scrap magazine which I love and always buy when I'm home in Tassie, so of course I had to get a few copies - the lady on the stall said that she thinks it's one of the best magazines out there.

I also took pictures of some of the projects on display for inspiration in the future - I really liked this one.  It was a lovely day (shame about the weather) and my beloved was very patient and wonderful to navigate the traffic to find the way there.

Hope all good in your world, stay safe and keep smiling.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pimlico to Chelsea

On Saturday we decided to go to the Farmers Market in Pimlico - just for something different to do.  It was a beautiful day, bright sunshine and we wanted to make the most of it.  The Farmers Market is a small local market with all organic products - it was very busy with all the people that live nearby buying their meat, veggies, fruit, cheese, eggs, and flowers.  There were also stalls with cooked food so we took advantage and bought something for lunch.  Ken was talking to one of the stall owners and she said that the market organisers are very strict about everything being organic, so they make sure even the cooked goods apply to this as well.

The area of Pimlico is really beautiful with lots of Georgian buildings that look very grand - if it wasn't for the cars you could almost imagine what it was like in this area a hundred years ago.



This is my arty photo that Ken wanted me to take - looking down through all the entry ways



Now I don't want anyone to get the impression that we spend our lives in tea rooms, but we did find a couple of really nice ones.  The first one, morning tea time, was a gorgeous patisserie and we both partook of some of the loveliness on display - Ken a strawberry cream cake and me a coconut macaroon.

We then wandered down to the Thames via the Royal Hospital where the Chelsea Pensioners live, and as you can see, Ken found a friend.

When we got down to the river we discovered that the great river boat race was on - it is a 21 mile course that attracts over 300 boats from all over the world.  It was a great sight, with serious crews, and others that were dressed up to enjoy the day.  There were lots of dragon boats with drummers on board to keep the rowers in time - though some of the drummers weren't showing much enthusiasm. 



Note the top hats

 



Vikings - someone in the crowd near us said 'what are they meant to be - refugees?'

 The bridge we stood on to take the photos was the Alfred bridge, which is one of the prettier bridges in London.

After the excitement of the race we went to Battersea park which is just over the bridge on the south side of the river to eat our lunch from the market.  The park covers 200 acres and includes a petting zoo, sports fields, fountains, cafes, and a beautiful peace pagoda.  There were logs of people out with their dogs in the park, and we met a gorgeous 12 week old French Bulldog who I had to pat - it was only the second time he'd been out and his owner was struggling to get him to walk.  He was so small our cats could beat him up - but oh so cute - I would love one.

We sat in the sun for ages and just enjoyed some lovely food in beautiful surroundings.

Next was a walk down the Thames path to Wandsworth bridge and along the way we always see things that make us not notice how far we're walking - also because of the weather there were lots of crazy people out exercising but we also saw people about to get married and lots of lovely house boats along the river side.



Cows on top of a pub




I took this photo because the lovely old houses in the front look very dwarfed by the modern flats next to them



Someone has tied lots of old pairs of shoes to a chain along one part of the river

 By now our feet were very sore - we'd walked slightly further than we intended, so up the Kings Road until we found a lovely tea shop that we'd been to before called the Chelsea Teapot and I finally got my red velvet cupcake.  The teashop is really lovely with mismatched furniture, old fashioned china, and lovely decorations.



 Great day out with my beloved.

Distance walked:  8.5 miles

Blisters:  Three

Love to all, stay safe and keep smiling

Pamela & Ken

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx