A Week in Somerset #1 - A Trip to Wells

Hi there everyone 😀

Following my holiday cottage review of Courtyard Barn earlier this week, this is the first in a series of posts about the week we spent in Somerset back in November last year.

We awoke on our first full day to clear blue skies and bright sunshine so decided to make the most of the weather and head over to Wells. It was about a 20 minute drive from where we were staying and we got the best views ever of the cathedral and the Bishops Palace as we drove in, but sadly we couldn't find anywhere to pull in and capture it.

We did manage to find a sneaky little parking spot on the side of the road on the way in though, along side the walls to the grounds of the Bishops Palace Gardens.
We backtracked a little and found a footpath that took us around the back of the Palace and followed the walls and the moat ... which looked beautiful in the autumn sunshine ...

To the other side of us the views were pretty decent too ... looking out to open countryside with plenty of autumn leaves for kicking our way through ...
We rounded the corner of the moat for more spectacular views ...
... and plenty of local characters ...
Did I mention what a glorious day it was? Just look at that sky ...

The path took us round to the front entrance of The Bishops Palace, which was fairly busy and, whilst we had no plans to pay to visit, we did take a wander across the bridge and under the entrance arch, to be greeted by the sight of a huge swathe of bright red remembrance poppies ...

There was also a bit of a memorial exhibition in memory of those lost from the county on the
Somme ...

Before moving on from The Bishops Palace we did have a climb up onto the walls for some good views across the roofs of the town and across to the cathedral ...

... as well as being able to see plenty more of the local wildlife ...
The cathedral was our next port of call, but not before a visit to the cathedral cafe for lunch ...

Inside is pretty impressive with lots of beautiful features to admire ... the high vaulted roof ...

... stunning stained glass windows ...
... which, with the sunshine shining through, cast strange yet subtle colourful patterns across the stone walls ...
I think the bright sunshine outside definitely helped us to see the inside at its very best ...

It was beautiful from the outside too. We made our way around the sun dappled cloisters ...

... and into the peace and tranquility of the Camery Garden ...

Having thoroughly enjoyed exploring the cathedral we headed out into the main street to find a bustling traditional artisan market in full flow, against the backdrop of the Bishops Palace. It was a real treat ...

We wandered down the high street in search of the almshouses, which we found ...
It was time to start making our way back so we retraced our steps up the high street, not being able to resist a couple of stops for me along the way ...
We were heading for our last port of call ... and made our way back past the front of the cathedral and around the side to discover Vicars' Close. According to the cathedral guide it was completed in 1363 and is the only completely medieval street left in England.

It was designed as lodgings for the men of the cathedral choir, though I'm not sure who lives there now, and it is really striking, with a cobbled street and lots of identical looking cottages with uniform tall chimneys ...

It was time to make our way back to the car. We'd loved Wells, the weather had been fabulous and we'd walked our socks off.

We were chuffed that we'd put dinner in the slow cooker so headed back to Courtyard Barn for a nice relaxing evening before our big day out to Longleat the following day 😀

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Courtyard Barn - Horsington, Somerset

Hi there everyone 😀

I know it seems like an absolute age ago, but back in November last year we spent a week staying in a nice cosy barn conversion just outside Horsington, a tiny village just inside Somerset/Dorset border.

Our primary objective for our break was to visit the Longleat Festival of Light, which we did ... it was amazing, but more about that in another post. Courtyard Barn was the perfect location for exploring an area, which was pretty new to the both of us ...

When did we visit?
16-23 November 2018

How many does it sleep?
6 - There were two roomy doubles upstairs and a further double on the ground floor

How much was it?
£625.00

Who did we book with?
Lois Barns

First Impressions
Whilst only a short drive from the main A303, the barns are situated on Lois Farm, down a very quiet country lane and feel as though they are literally in the heart of the countryside.

We were greeted and welcomed by Tanya who showed us around our home for the next week and let us know where everything was and how everything worked.

The first room off the entrance hall that you see when entering the barn is the lounge and it was just lovely ...
... bright and light, with two big squishy sofas and a log burner that we just knew would be getting lit at some point during our stay.

There was also a nice comfy looking downstairs bedroom, with an en suite shower room ...
... and a spacious kitchen and dining area ...

There were French doors from the dining area out onto a small courtyard area, with views of the open countryside ...
... and a welcome pack with a few nice treats ...

Upstairs there were two roomy and very comfortable looking bedrooms, with low windows looking out over the fields ...
... as well as a family bathroom, though the ceilings are too low upstairs for there to be a shower.

There were flowers in every room ...
... and plenty of quirky and homely touches ...

Everywhere looked spotlessly clean and we couldn't wait to get unpacked and settled in.

Our likes over the course of our stay ...

• The barn was really comfortable with big squishy sofas and nice comfy beds.
• The kitchen was really well equipped. We managed to find everything we needed for cooking 'at home'.
• There was plenty of storage space throughout the barn, plenty of hanging space in the bedrooms and plenty of space for storing our own bits and pieces in the kitchen.
• The location was lovely ... very quiet, no passing traffic and fabulous views.
• There were a number of places that we wanted to visit during our stay and, whilst nowhere is really on the doorstep, everywhere we wanted to get to was within an easy 20-30 minute drive.

Anything that could have made it better ...

• As we used the upstairs bedrooms, rather than the downstairs en suite, it would have been nice to have had a shower upstairs, though I can totally see why this isn't possible.
• Whilst it was really easy to control the temperature in the barn, there were a few days when we got back early and it was quite chilly, as the timer is set for the temperature to get warmer at 4pm. It was easy enough to over ride it and it warmed up quite quickly, but it would have been nice for it to have felt warm when we got back.

Would we recommend this property to our friends and family?

Most definitely

Would we stay in this cottage again?

I think it maybe unlikely that we would visit this exact same spot again, but if we did we would certainly be happy to make Courtyard Barn our home again.

We did manage to get out and about a fair bit over the course of the week and I've plenty more to share, so hopefully I will see you back here again soon 😀

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January - Taking it slowly

Hi there everyone 😀

You may have noticed the absence of my 'Joy in the Everyday Ordinary' posts through January. It's not that there hasn't been lots to be joyful about or grateful for ... I've just been very, very lazy and I haven't been very good at all when it comes to taking photos.

I decided instead that, for January and maybe February too, I would just do a bit of a monthly round up of the bits and pieces we got up to that were worth capturing but not really enough to warrant a post of their own.

You may recall me mentioning that, whilst we weren't quite hibernating, we did decide to embrace the lethargy that January seems to bring for us personally and to enjoy just taking it slow ... hopefully building up a nice bank of energy and enthusiasm ready for unleashing once the days get a little bit longer and the temperature feels just a little bit warmer.

So we’ve spent plenty of time tucked up in the warm and there has been plenty of TV watching going on ... including the discovery and binge watching of all the series of Luther, which had somehow passed us by.

We’ve made the most of new series of old favourites including Cold Feet, Call the Midwife, The Good Doctor and Silent Witness and have enjoyed snuggling down to new dramas Manhunt and Cleaning Up.

We are currently spending cold afternoons working our way through all the series of Vera, which is a bit more gentle than Luther, to say the very least, but we are enjoying it none the less.

I’ve even managed to spend a few hours curled up on the sofa reading a couple of the free books that I bagged from the free bookshop in town ... one I read from start to finish in a day. Another new author to me ... Milly Johnson, another author that delivers a lovely easy read ...As you’d expect there’s been a little bit of crafting and my first craft group meeting of 2019. My first project was one I’d been wanting to have a go at for a long old time ... mosaic ... and I’m chuffed to bits with how it turned out.

I’ve just been to our second group and done a bit more. I got a little bit more ambitious with this one and actually had a go at cutting mosaic pieces from old tiles and, again it’s come out really well. Here it is pre-grouting ...

... and after ...

I already have something in mind for my next mosaic project which will be a bit more ambitious still.

I’ve not really made anything else but I have certainly bought plenty of fabric ... this Laura Ashley curtain fabric was a real bargain in their sale and is destined for peg bags for the craft stall ...

... and I found these pretty florals for £2 a metre on line and couldn't resist. I’m thinking bunting ...

I also couldn’t resist taking advantage of the latest Aldi special deals and treated myself to a stack of wool and fat quarters ... not sure what I will do with the wool, but the fat quarters are destined for beeswax wraps ...

Whilst I haven’t actually made anything else I have started to do a bit of preparation for a couple of other projects ... A blanket for a new baby in pretty blue pastels ...

And our first attempt at candle making from old candle ends ...

We have made a bit of an effort to get wrapped up warm and venture out a couple of times to blow the cobwebs away. We didn’t go far ... our first afternoon out was to Kingsbury Water Park, where we wanted to see what we could capture with the camera and have a go with our new lensball.

We parked outside of the park, by the church in the village and had a wander through the churchyard, where neither of us have ever seen so many squirrels in one spot, to the steps that lead down into the park ...

This is the first time we'd entered the park this way and neither of us were particularly looking forward to the climb back up on the way back.

We headed straight across the park, crossing little bridges and passing lakes on the way. It did all look a bit bleak and gloomy, but it was good to be out and about in the fresh air all the same ...

We headed over the railway ...

... and past the station, which was all quiet today ...

... and into the warmth of the cafe ...

... where we had our first real play with our new 'lensball' with our table decoration ...

This is the best shot that we managed to take

And this is it inverted

We definitely need lots more practice 😀

We headed back out into the cold, past the most colourful part of the park today ...

... and past the woodyard ...

We took a different route back past the model railway, which was looking a bit tired and unloved at the moment, though I am sure it will not be long before it starts to spring back into life ...

We passed a few more splashes of winter colour ...

... and took a breather on one of the trim trail apparatus, but put no more effort in than it did to take a quick selfie ...

It was time to head back so we made our way across the meadow, past the huge, beautiful, crumbling house on the hill ... which looks like it is being brought back to life ...

... before heading back up the steps to the church which were, as predicted, an absolute killer ...

Our second foray was to another local spot ... Rosliston Forestry Centre. We went with mum and dad and had another play with the lensball, with a bit more success, but we still need lots of practice.

We started with some catkins, which looked lovely through the ball, though I'm not sure the camera captures them that well ...

The reflections are frustrating, it's really hard to hold the ball still and getting the right depth of field is tricky.

We had another go with the monument to the old colliery, where we were able to stand the ball on a post, which did help. I have inverted these images as they didn't make much sense in their original state ...

We had one last go with a landscape ... I think this is the best one we got. To be fair the light wasn't brilliant so I'm sure we can do a lot better if we keep at it ...

I think this is my favourite photo of the day though ... with not a lensball in sight ...

We’ve had a couple of family birthday celebrations. We went to Prezzo for Alison’s 40th ...

... where the little man brought the smiles ...

... and dad certainly brought the sparkle ...

And we tried out an authentic American diner to celebrate Mark and Daniel's birthdays, where the little man really made an effort to look cool, but wasn't so into having his photo taken ...

Martin, on the other hand, had no such qualms ...

Martin has had a couple of weeks back at work and I managed to get back into a bit of a routine with housework and laundry, though he’s off now for three weeks. so that’s all gone back out of the window.

We’ve also booked a few holidays and trips ... including a three week break to the Isle of Wight later in the year ... we’ve never done a three week holiday before so that will be exciting ... and I have finally managed to get round to booking tickets for the Snowdon Mountain Railway ... so unless there is a total disaster of some sort, I will definitely be ticking that one off the 50 things to do before I’m 60 list.

We are now at the beginning of February and the light is already starting to last a bit longer. We’ve already seen our levels of enthusiasm and motivation slowly starting to spring back into life ...with a week’s worth of daily, be it short, walks and an effort to return to a bit more of a healthy diet.

We even braved last week's Arctic temperatures to have a couple of productive days out back starting to replace the last four fence panels, which have been sitting waiting to go in since the end of the autumn.

So, here we are ... early February and the well oiled machine is starting to creak back into gear after our winter breather 😀

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