Easing into Autumn 🍂🍃🍁

Hi there everyone😀

Whilst there are things I love about all of our seasons I think autumn has to be my favourite.

I love that feeling of hunkering down, cosy nights in, slow cooker dinners, home made soups and crisp sunny days.

It’s a time for finishing off projects, cramming in a few last jobs before winter sets in, putting the garden to bed and starting to think about the festive season.

For us it’s also a busy season socially too … with lots of birthdays for special friends and family, my own birthday … a big one this year … and festive celebrations to look forward to.

Since getting home from our week away at the lodge in October there has been plenty going on …

❤️ We said our final farewell to our car … it has served us very well for the last 10 years but we have been plagued with very expensive problems over the last six months and we finally decided it was time to cut our losses … we are now hopeful for a good period of stress free motoring …

We have gone for something very similar but a bit bolder on the colour front …

🧡 Autumn colours are abundant in the garden …

… and we’ve been lucky enough with the weather to have a couple of good sessions outside. Firstly we repotted the bays out the front …

… and secondly we had a big leaf clearing session … probably the first of several …

🩷 I had the first of my 60th birthday celebrations … a very early one. Jackie, Rachel and I all have autumn birthdays and we always make a point of doing something special together. This year we opted for a ‘pink’ afternoon tea at The Belfry. We’d not been there before and, whilst it was not the cheapest of treats, it was a lovely way to spend an autumn afternoon …

… and I wore  another dress 😀😀😀

🎃 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Exploring :: The British Ironworks Centre

Hi there everyone 😀

It seemed like ages since we’d been over to the lodge so … as Martin’s knee replacement operation recovery was going well … we decided to head back over for a week earlier this month.

He still had a way to go before he would be fit enough to drive so I was in the hot seat … for the first time for this journey.

I opted to avoid the narrowest of mountain roads and stuck to the A5 across to Llangollen and it seemed the ideal opportunity to call in and have a look at the British Ironwork Centre.

We’ve driven past a fair few times and have always been intrigued as to what could be found within … based on the giant transformer sculpture at the entrance.

Well … we were in luck. At this time of year it’s free to visit from Tuesday to Friday so all we had to pay was a parking charge of £4.

Driving in we just didn’t know where to look … there are sculptures literally everywhere. Some of them are absolutely huge and all are made from recycled materials. With Martin still taking it easy following his op we weren’t sure how much exploring we would do but we certainly wanted to give it a go.

We decided to start off with lunch and inside is just as fabulous as outside …

To get to the cafe we made our way through the shop, which was crammed full of beautiful things …

… and plenty of sculpture …

There is even sculpture in the facilities. This lady didn’t half make me jump as I opened the door …

… and just look at this mirror …

Apparently there is a chimp sat on the loo reading the paper in the gents.

The cafe was also crammed full of sculpture …

The food was great … and easy to order via an app …

The portions were very generous and I was gutted that we had no room for cake … which all looked very tempting …

… and the afternoon teas looked amazing 

Back outside and we just had a bit of a wander … having a bit of a closer look at some of the sculptures we had seen on our way in …

I don’t know if you can see on the above photo but all of the centipede’s legs are actually golf clubs. 

It’s definitely somewhere we need to visit again … when the weather is maybe a bit brighter and Martin is feeling a bit more mobile.

We did pull over on the way out to capture these two guys which were absolutely huge …

… before carrying on with our journey.

We will most definitely be back 😀

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A Different Kind of September

Hi there everyone 😀

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post, which is unusual for me … but then this September was quite different to normal for us in lots of ways. 

For the first time in as far back as I can remember we spent the whole of September at home. Normally … as soon as the schools are back … we are off somewhere exploring. Not this year … we didn’t even manage a sneaky lodge visit.

Saying that … it’s not been uneventful.

Martin has a new knee and … so far … things are looking very promising. We are currently at the lodge and have been doing a bit of walking and Martin is finding a noticeable difference, in a good way, when testing it out on a few gentle walks …

I’m noticing a lot less grumbling and we’ve actually managed to walk at the same pace … and I’d forgotten how nice that can be.

Martin was in hospital for four days and all in all it was a pretty good experience for him. We even managed to have tea together when I was visiting on one occasion …

Since coming out there has been plenty of resting, exercising, ice packs and hospital visits …

I had my first visit and snuggles with this little man …

… and we did manage to fit a few outings in. Our first trip out was an impromptu Friday night meal out with Jo and Steve at one of our favourite spots …

There was also a special celebration for Jackie and Phil’s 40th wedding anniversary which was just the loveliest afternoon spent with their nearest and dearest enjoying good food and plenty of chat …

… and a lunch for me out with my fellow foodbank volunteers …

It was actually quite nice spending such a good chunk of time at home, with not too much on the agenda.

Whilst I was quite busy, with Martin spending time resting his new knee, it was good to be able to make use of all the batch cooking we’d done just before he had his operation … with a really easy roast lamb dinner …

… and some of the shredded lamb going down particularly well …

October started with a full family meal out, followed swiftly by a very nice afternoon tea with mum and my sister, Sarah, to celebrate mum’s birthday. It’s not that often that the three of us spend quality time together and it was a really lovely afternoon … the afternoon tea was a real treat too … we will definitely be visiting there again …

It will be my 60th birthday next month and it’s looking very busy, with lots going on, so we decided to sneak this week in at the lodge … while there was a bit of a gap on the calendar.

It has been lovely so far. The weather has been great and we’ve managed to get out and about a fair bit … but I will tell you more about that next time.

Bye for now 😀

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