Stratford-upon-Avon - #1 Anne Hathaway's Cottage

Hi there everyone 😀

As you may know, last Monday was our 9th wedding anniversary. We usually go away for a week’s cottage holiday somewhere to celebrate, but this year chose to do something a bit different and we are just back from a bit of a mini-break in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Last summer we spent a couple of really nice days out in Stratford, which we both really enjoyed. Whilst we did get chance to experience the delights of The Four Teas and have a wander around the theatre, we didn't really have time to do much else.

As neither of us have ever visited any of the Shakespeare properties we decided it would be good to go back and stay for a bit longer, giving us chance to immerse ourselves in Shakespeare's Stratford, and it was something I added to my list of 50 things to do before I’m 60.

We’d booked a couple of nights at the Premier Inn just outside of the town centre and bought two Full Story tickets, giving us greatly discounted access to Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Shakespeare’s New Place, Hall’s Croft, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and Mary Arden's Farm. As well as making huge savings by buying tickets in this way, they are valid for as many visits as you want to make to the properties for a full 12 months, so it’s definitely worth doing, rather than paying for individual entry to each property.

I must have been seriously excited as I was up at 6 o'clock on the day we were setting off, which is pretty unheard of for me, and by 9.15 we were all packed and on our way.

It was a glorious day and our first port of Call was Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, which was the property I was looking forward to the most. The cottage is the place where Shakespeare's wife grew up and lived for many years. This is where William and Anne's romance blossomed.

We called in at the cafe opposite for a quick breakfast in the sunshine for a lovely way to start off our visit.

Following very tasty al fresco sausage baps, and the first of a stack of holiday selfies ...

... we had a quick wander up the road to see what we could see before heading into the property.

Once inside the first thing that you see is the gift shop, which is housed in the most beautiful old cottage ...

We decided to explore the orchards and the sculpture trail first and wandered through the mown grass pathways under the blossom of the fruit trees.

We love outdoor sculpture and there were a few really striking pieces that looked stunning against the perfect background of a clear blue sky ...

... and some that seemed just a little odd ... apparently this is Titania and Bottom, from A Midsummer Night's Dream ...

There were plenty more to be seen ...

... all positioned around the outside of the Yew circle ...

We made our way back through the orchards ...

... passing the Musical note willow sculpture ...

... ending up at another willow sculpture and perfect viewing point of the cottage. This view has to be the highlight of our visit. It was beautiful and we got really lucky as there was hardly anyone else around and we managed to get plenty of people free photos without too much hanging around.

The cottage gardens were fairly small but choc full of planting ... we had clearly been spoiled by the tulips at Coughton the previous week.

We did look round the inside of the house, which didn't take very long at all. It's fair to say that our visit really was totally about the gardens and we couldn't resist a loll in a deckchair in the sunshine for a few minutes ...

before heading off to our next port of call ...

We loved our visit. We were very lucky as it had been fairly quiet and the weather was perfect, which made for an absolutely tranquil spot for a very relaxing wander. Anne Hathaway's Cottage totally lived up to out expectations 💜💜💜

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Joy in the Everyday Ordinary - May, Days 1-7

Hi there everyone 😀

So, here we are, in the midst of what feels like a bit of a heat-wave, for the first of my new series of Joy in the Everyday Ordinary posts.

I am going to be trying to capture a photograph each day which reflects something that either made me smile or brought me joy. Something that perhaps is just part of the everyday ordinary and isn't quite significant enough to make a post of its own, but is worth capturing for the memory, even if it was just a moment.

Depending on how I get on it could well become a regular feature so here we go with what I think captures our first seven days of May. I hope you like it ...

Day 1 - After a bit of a bleak week it was lovely to wake up to blue skies and sunshine for the start of a new month. I wandered round the garden in my dressing gown and captured this shot of the Morello cherry, which was looking amazing. It was a day of running errands and finishing off my lavender hearts for my first craft fair of the year later this month, and an evening out with old work friends for good food and an even better catch up

Day 2 - There was no sign of sunshine this morning, it was bleak, grey and very wet. Martin had a hospital appointment and we knew it would be pretty much an all day affair so we put dinner in the slow cooker, I packed a bag of books, crochet, magazines, snacks and a drink and we headed out. By the time we were not far up the road the sun came out and the rape fields looked pretty spectacular. We couldn't stop to take a photo but we did manage to on the way back ... it was a real vibrant shot of colour to the countryside

Day 3 - Rocky road ready for a 'crafty morning' I will be attending on Saturday. It's the first time I've been and I was really excited and just needed to decide what to take to work on. I certainly had plenty to choose from

Day 4 - We had a big day out at Coughton Court, NT, with our good friends Jackie & Phil, on a week day! It was a glorious day and there was lots to see. We will definitely be visiting again

Day 5 - What a day ... I spent the morning with a group of other crafty ladies just crafting and chatting the morning away, with sandwiches and cake thrown in. Then Martin and I made the most of the sunshine and spent the afternoon in the garden with a bit of gentle pottering

Day 6 - We woke up to another bright, bright, bright, bright sunshiny day. After a few days out and about the house was a complete tip, mainly down to me, craft stuff all over the place, pots all over the kitchen from last night's dinner and a big pile of ironing hanging around but tidying was not on the cards. We’d been waiting for the right weather for the chance to clear out the shed and today was it. It was with trepidation of what was to come ... but excitement at getting a job done that had been on the list for about two years ... as we opened the door

Day 7 - Nine years ago today, at the Inn on the Lake, in Glenridding in the Lake District, Martin & I got married. We had a wonderful day and have had lots of fabulous adventures since. I can not tell a lie ... we are very different and on occasion he can drive me crazy, but I do love him and our life together to bits, and am looking forward to lots more fun and adventures together. The photo is the anniversary present he got me, a kit to make my own wire sculpted fairy for the garden, a reminder of our trip to Trentham in the Autumn

A Big Day out - Coughton Court - NT

Hi there everyone 😀

It is feeling positively summery here at the moment. We have actually had sunshine for four or five days in a row and the forecast is looking good for the rest of the week 🌞🌞🌞

For the last few years we’ve started to steer away from exchanging birthday gifts with friends. Instead we've been drawn more to spending time doing something together by way of celebration. Sometimes it will be a curry at our favourite Indian restaurant, other times we might meet up for breakfast or an afternoon tea.

Last week we had a real treat and managed to spend a whole day out, on a week day no less, with our good friends Jackie and Phil.

We had a National Trust visit on the cards and were off to Coughton Court in Worcestershire. It was somewhere none of us had visited before and it looked like it would make for a good day out, with a nice pub close by for dinner on the way home.

It only took us about 45 minutes to get there and, as we were there before the gates were open, we just had time to pick up a few Geocaches nearby before we started our visit.

Having checked in at reception and booked timed tickets to explore the house at 2pm, our first stop was the restaurant. We'd all skipped breakfast as we thought it would be nice to have something here, ahead of calling at a pub for a meal later on in the day.

The weather was glorious, blue skies and warm sunshine, and we managed to take our refreshments outside sitting at a table in the stable yard, which was a real treat.

After a good look at the map we decided that we would head for the bluebell wood first as we were visiting just at the right time to see these in full bloom were hoping get some decent pictures.

I would say it's about a mile walk to and from the wood. There is a really interesting trail through the woodland telling the tale of the property’s involvement in the gunpowder plot. I guess it's aimed at children really, but we found it really interesting.

The bluebells were definitely worth the walk ...

And it wasn't all totally about the bluebells. There were plenty of other wild flowers to be seen too and the air was just filled with the scent of the wild garlic ...

There were also a few bits of wood sculpture ...

This one was the perfect selfie spot ...

From the woodland we took the gentleman’s walk along the back of the lake and the bog garden.

Now, I’m not normally that enamoured by a bog garden, but this was pretty impressive, there was some really interesting planting and still lots more to come later in the season.

From the bog garden we wandered past the vegetable garden which, sadly, wasn’t open on our visit but there were some good views of the church through the apple blossom.

We made our way round the back of the vegetable garden ...

... not knowing what to expect as we walked through into the orchard. It was a real delight, two rows of fruit trees, all in flower, with tulips and camassia growing in abundance below ...

Camassia is one of our favourite plants. We stayed in a holiday cottage in Pickering a number of years ago and it was our wedding anniversary. The cottage gardens were beautiful and we were admiring the camassia, not having seen it before or knowing what it was. The owners very kindly dug us up a clump to bring home and it is always in flower on our wedding anniversay. Up until last year we had it in a pot, but we have moved it into our new raised bed and it is looking good ...

There were also some striking sculpture ...

... some very protective new parents ...

... and more great views of the church ...

From the orchard we made out way into the walled garden. It was a bit early in the season for us to see much in flower, but I’m sure it will look amazing in another month or so ... we are definitely going to have to make another visit.

Coming out of the other side of the walled garden we were greeted by the most glorious display of tulips in front of the house.

It really took us by surprise, but we found this property very good for that. The gardens are laid out in such a way that you never really know what's coming and there is a treat round every corner.

We just had time for a quick detour round to one of the churches on the estate before it was time for our visit to the house ... but not before loitering around for a fair while, trying to get some people free photos of the tulips, which was pretty tricky.

I took lots of photos, the tulips were really stunning so apologies for photo overload but I have slimmed them down, I promise ...

I would say we spent about an hour in the house and if you know me well and follow my blog regularly you won’t be surprised to find that I have far more to say about the gardens of this kind of property than the property itself. We did enjoy our look around inside, there was plenty to see, but I think the best bit for me was the view from the roof, which was definitely worth the effort of the spiral staircase ...

... and the only photo I took from actually inside the house was looking at the tulips through the window ...

Coming back out into the sunshine we were starting to flag a bit, so we finished off our visit looking at the last bits of garden ... 

...   before heading back to the stable yard for a mooch in the gift shop, the book shop and the plant sales.

It was then back to the car and a short drive to the Throckmorton Arms for tea, before heading for home ... but not before a quick drive through the ford ... we just couldn’t resist.

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We had a fab day out and can't wait to go back at the end of  June when we are reliably informed that the walled garden will be a sight to behold. I'm looking forward to it already 🌷🌸🌹🌺🌻🌼

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Capturing the Everyday Ordinary

Hi there everyone 😀

I can't believe it's May already and the weather is still changeable to say the least. Yesterday we had bright sunshine, this morning it's back to grey skies and lots of rain.

In spite of the weather May is shaping up to be a very busy month jam packed full of exciting adventures.

We have a day out with friends planned in ... visiting Coughton Court, a National Trust property that none of us have been to before ...

We are then going away to Stratford-upon-Avon for a few days, where we are planning to visit all of the Shakespeare properties, something we have wanted do for ages.

We will also be spending another day out more locally, at the Statfold Barn Railway. Having worked for ‘the railway’ all of his life Martin is really interested in all things ‘railway’ and Statfold is an extensive two foot gauge private set up. It’s not technically open to the public but does hold a number of events each year which you can apply for an invitation for and I got Martin invitations to the annual Giant Miniature Weekend for his birthday.

It’s one of those intriguing places that we drive past regularly, but it’s set a fair way back from the road so there is nothing to see, though we have had a look on Google maps and the site does look huge. The event looks like it will be real good fun with lots of miniature steam engines to see, a carousel, unlimited steam engine rides and the chance to be a ‘driver for a fiver’. We are both really looking forward to it.

Add to all of that our 9th wedding anniversary ...

... attending our first craft fair of the year which I still have lots of things to make for ...

... other get togethers with friends, two bank holidays and it being one of our busiest times in the garden, there is not going to be a lot of time for much else ... there will, however, be lots to blog about.

For the month of May I’m going to have a go at doing something a bit different. As you will know I’ve been trying to find a way of capturing the ‘everyday ordinary’. The stuff that happens ‘in between’, that brings me joy and I really want to capture, but doesn’t really warrant a post of its own.

During May I'm going to try and capture one photo each day that sums up a moment or a thing that either made me smile or I am truly grateful for. We will see how it goes and maybe it will be something that becomes a bit of a regular weekly feature.

So, that’s us for May, I’m really looking forward to it and hoping for some more sunshine 🌞

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Is it a busy month for you too? Drop me a comment and let me know what you are up to, I’d love to hear from you 😃

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