Monday 29 January 2018

10 Most Popular Posts of 2017

Hi there everyone

Well, here we are, well into 2018 and it's time to have a look at which of my blog posts were your favourites for 2017.

Looking back through my posts is always a bit of a treat and a good time to reflect on what we've been up to over the year. In 2018 we certainly seemed to have made the most of Martin working a lot less and got out and about a fair amount.

So here goes with the countdown of the top 10 ... in reverse order of course ...

Beautiful Britain - Ryde, Isle of Wight
After our day trip over to the Isle of Wight back in 2016, we knew we wanted to go back. We ended up spending our two weeks holiday staying on the island in September and really enjoyed getting out and about and exploring lots of lovely places, with Ryde being a very firm favourite.

Cochwillan Cottage - Dulas, Anglesey
In March of last year we spent a week's holiday on Anglesey. We stayed in Cochwillan Cottage, which was in the perfect location and a real treat. Holiday cottage review posts always seem to be popular and my review of Cochwillan Cottage went down really well, coming in as the 9th most popular post of 2017 ...
It seems you also like reading about our annual weekend away with old workfriends. In 2016 our trip to Harrogate made the top 10 and for 2017 we were off to Wales for our get together. This time we were back to an old favourite of ours, Betws-y-Coed, and were blessed with far better than expected weather for a lovely weekend exploring the village and surrounding area ...

In 7th spot we had a tie! You liked seeing what we got up to at home in the garden over Easter and you also liked reading about our return trip up to Aberdeenshire ...

Easter Fun in the Garden at Number 27
We were lucky enough to have a reasonable day weather wise over the Easter weekend and we managed to have a bit of a BBQ eggstravaganza with fun for all the family, culminating in a bit of a crazy Easter egg hunt ... 
This was Bobby's first family BBQ and he seemed to take it all in his stride, though it may have worn him out a bit ...




















Caching on the Haggis Highway - #2
In June we had a week away, back up in Aberdeenshire. We stayed at the same place as we did when we visited in 2015, but this time we went with mum and dad. We had a very busy week getting out and about and this post was one of the only real days that we spent out caching in 2017. We were back on the Haggis Highway, but managed to get a bit further North this time ...

Just Loving Autumn #3 - Trentham Gardens, The Lake, Stoke-on-Trent
The 5th most popular post for 2017 was about our visit to Trentham Gardens in late Autumn. It's somewhere we have wanted to visit for an absolute age and we are so glad we did. It is beautiful and somewhere that I am sure we will be re-visiting at a different time of year ...

The Grange - Ningwood, Isle of Wight
It's back to the Isle of Wight for your 4th favourite post and it's another holiday cottage review. This time of The Grange, which served us well as our home for our two week's holiday ...

And so ... it's time for the top 3 ... Drumroll please 🎵🎵🎵 

Beautiful Britain - Hidcote Manor Gardens NT, Gloucestershire
It wouldn't be a top 10 without an entry from the National Trust and in 3rd spot is the ramblings of the day I spent, meeting up with an old friend, at Hidcote. We had the loveliest of days and the gardens were a real treat, a definite favourite with me and it seems that you felt the same ...

It would seem that a lot of you are real fans of Anglesey as posts from our trip back in March 2017 have made both 2nd and top spot ..

The 2nd most popular post of 2017 was ...

Beautiful Britain - Beaumaris, Anglesey
We loved Beaumaris. It's a tiny village, with a big character and we spent a lovely afternoon exploring and availing ourselves of the delights of Beau's Tea Shop. It's somewhere we will definitely be visiting again ...

Beautiful Britain - Plas Newydd NT, Anglesey
In top spot is another entry for the National Trust, who really did us proud in 2017. Your favourite post, by a country mile, was about our visit to Plas Newydd, where we put in some real effort and walked to the rhododendron garden ...
So, that was it then, for 2017. Thank you all again so much for reading and letting me share our adventures with you.

I started Life of Pottering back in 2014, with my first post being about my last week at work, before retiring. It's interesting to see how many of my old posts still get re-visited and read and I think it will be fun to do a top 10 of all time, so look out for that soon

That's all from me for now, but I've still got lots to share with you from our holiday on the Isle of Wight last year, if I ever get round to it, and of our family trip to Wales for the New Year, so please do keep reading 😊

Monday 22 January 2018

Castle Howard at Christmas

Hi there everyone

I promise that this is the last of my 'Christmassy' posts for Christmas 2017.

One of the '50 things' on my list of what I want to do before I hit 60 is to visit Castle Howard. Its somewhere I have never been, but have seen pictures of many times. What better time to visit than at Christmas?
The 'Angels on High' Christmas event ran from 18 November to 23 December 2017, which was perfect for us, with our November holiday just happening to coincide with the first week. We even managed to take advantage of their earlybird discount of 20% ... bonus.

It was a fairly bleak day for our trip, but at least it wasn't raining, and it was lovely to see the lights all twinkling in the Christmas trees lining the driveway as we made our way to the main entrance.
Once inside, out of the damp and the gloom, it was a different story. It all felt a lot more cosy, as we were greeted by the first of, what would be many, beautifully decorated trees that we would get to see during our visit.
The first show stopping thing that we saw was the main staircase, which was truly breathtaking. Because of the lighting it was just so difficult to capture a photo that did it justice, but here are my best efforts, which are by no means spectacular but do give an idea ...
All the rooms and hallways were elaborately decked out for Christmas ...
... but this tree has to be the most spectacular that we have ever seen ...
It was absolutely laden with the most ornate and beautiful glass Christmas decorations ...
... and topped off with the most beautiful of angels ...
The way the event was laid out and lit did make it all a bit disorientating at times and it was hard to quite work out where we were but they had really gone to town on decorating, there was definitely plenty of oohing and ahhing going on ...
Every room held a new surprise ... like this model of Castle Howard ...
... and the dining table set for Christmas lunch ...
When entering one of the galleries we were just taken aback. The ceiling was all decked out with ribbons in oranges, reds and yellows and there were angels suspended above us. There was a live singer performing and it was all just beautiful ...

Eventually, we'd seen our last Christmas tree and it was back out into the gloom of the afternoon, where we braved the cold for a brief wander around the grounds ...
I am so glad we visited at this time of year. It was just magical and really helped us both get in the Christmas spirit.

I think we need to come back again though ... it would be lovely to see the house laid out as it normally is and to see the gardens at their best. Castle Howard is now closed for the season and re-opens on 24 March, so maybe we will get a trip in over the Summer.

This one isn't quite crossed completely off my list yet. 😉

Monday 15 January 2018

York in November - Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Hi there everyone

Well, Martin is back at work and I am trying to get back into some kind of routine, so its time for this week's post.

It feels a bit strange sharing a Christmassy post as we are well into January, but we saw such a lot on our trip to Yorkshire in November, that its taking a while to get through everything.

Hopefully you may see something that you will feel worth putting on your list to start to get you into the Christmas spirit for next Christmas ... its never too early to start planning!

Whilst up in Yorkshire we spent quite a lot of time in York, which was looking very festive. We visited two National Trust properties in the city centre ... Goddards House, which is just a short walk from the centre of the city and Treasurer's House, which is tucked at the back of the Minster.

The National Trust says that Treasurer's House is ...
"A picturesque town house nestling in the centre of York, with many tales to tell."
We agree, it is a very picturesque house and it is literally right in the centre of the city so very easy to access if on a visit ...
Having had a wander around the outside of The Minster ...
... we entered through the property's gardens ...
Its not a huge property, but there is plenty to see and it was lovely to see the rooms all subtly decked out for Christmas ...

The staircase looked particularly spectacular ...
We also picked up an 'Oddities Tour' leaflet which points you in the direction of some of the most peculiar an unusual elements of the House collection. We would certainly have missed pretty much all of these without the leaflet, so its well worth looking out for.

It is quite a small property, compared to some we have visited and, all told, we probably only spent about an hour there. There is a basement cafe if you want to have a pit stop, but we were planning on tea in Bettys, so, for once, we didn't pay a visit.

It was starting to get dark when we came out of Treasurer's House, so it was a good time for a wander round the Christmas markets, which were looking and feeling very festive ...
We were very tempted by some of the treats on sale, but managed to resist ...
We retraced out steps, back up through The Shambles ...
... and past the Christmas funfair ...
... and made our way to Bettys for a very welcome pitstop.

There was only one thing left for us to do before heading back to our cosy cottage and that was to track down this little imp for a quick selfie ...
We have both been to York many times, but never at this time of year and it was a real treat. It was bustling, really busy, but just felt so festive we both loved it. It really seemed to start Christmas off, be it a bit earlier than normal. 🎄🎄🎄

While we were in Yorkshire we also managed to make a visit to Castle Howard for their 'Angels on High' Christmas event, which was also well worth a visit and a post of its own, so I'm not quite done for Christmas just yet. 🎅