Rolling back the years....

Last week I was fortunate enough to purchase this charming 1960's doll's pram made by Silver Cross which evoked memories of my own childhood Silver Cross doll's pram.

My parents bought a full sized Silver Cross pram to use when I was born & then 3 years later when my sister came along they bought me a matching doll's pram so I could be just like Mum.
I spent many happy hours playing with my dolls & pram until the inevitable happened & I "outgrew" it.
It was then passed on to my sister & then a friend so I no longer have it, so it was with a real sense of nostalgia that I bought this one home.

A little research revealed that this model is the "Valerie" with painted roses on the side. Unfortunately the "apron" or cover is missing, otherwise it's in lovely condition so I just need to pretty it up with "blankies", sheets & pillows.
I will post an update when it's done!

Our Daily Bread

I had a lovely day on Sunday! An entire day dedicated to learning how to make a good loaf of bread.
I have made bread before & the results have been fine - especially when baked in the Aga, but I've always wanted to learn more & to try something more adventurous than a plain loaf.
So, early on Sunday morning I headed off to Nailsworth to do a full day's bread making course at the well known Hobb's House Bakery.

There were just seven of us plus Claire from Hobbs House HQ & we had the entire place to ourselves. My fellow bread making enthusiasts were from far & wide - I was the only local one!

We were met by our tutor for the day - the very enthusiastic baker Tom & were then whisked upstairs to the cafe area to meet everyone & to enjoy coffee & a delicious breakfast made by their talented chef, Anthony.

It would take ages to tell you everything we were taught but the highlight was of course when we were able to see the finished results - we made sour dough, soda bread, white bread, bread rolls, focaccia, pita bread & cholla. They all turned out beautifully & made us feel like quite the artisan bakers!
In between we had elevenses & a delicious lunch once again made by Anthony, coffee, teas & juices.




It was a thoroughly enjoyable day & I would recommend it to anyone. We eventually bade fond farewells at about 6pm & toddled off laden with bread, recipes & a tub of "Monster" - Hobb's 55 year old sour dough which we have to keep alive & kicking for our own baking.



You may recognise Tom from "Mary, Queen of Shops", he is also co-presenting "The High Street" which is currently being filmed in Shepton Mallet.

Here we are at the end of a busy day in front of the fabulous wood burning oven where all the bread was baked.

The Eden Project

This is going to be a very picture heavy post as it's really difficult to choose the best ones to show you - there are so many interesting & varied things to see.
I was pleased that it was a cooler & overcast day as inside the rainforest biome was sweltering!

My favourite bits were the allotments, complete with garden shed, lady scarecrow & bunting & the driftwood horse sculpture.

Hope you enjoy the photos!

A Weekend Away

Last weekend Mr C & I had a long weekend away - the first in many a year - now that the children are older we can actually do this & it was very enjoyable.
So, where did we go? Italy? Morocco? The South of France?


Although the photos above might lead you to think that we jetted away for the weekend you might be surprised to know that it was a mere 2 hour's drive from home in sunny Devon!


We managed to pack a lot into 3 days & have lots of photos but I'll spare you reams of them & just give you a flavour.

The harbour shots were taken in Torquay........






On Saturday we went to Totnes which is a delightful town with a really long, narrow, winding high street with lots of interesting & independent shops which is very refreshing.
We popped in to see Lesley at This 'n That & saw Amanda (ShabbyChick) & her mum Barbara on the Friday market where I bought a lovely handmade quilt for Tamzin for looking after The Boy & all the animals (you can see it on her blog)

We also had the pleasure of meeting up with Sal & Terry (Sal's Snippets) & while sipping coffees & munching on cake Sal & I were able to catch up on all things vintage while from the other side of the table we caught snatches of conversation including words such as "notepad", "netbook", "ipad", "iphone" etc so you can guess what they were talking about! Somehow it seems that them acquiring new ipads would benefit Sal & I tremendously!


After wishing them a fond farewell we headed off to the "grockle trap" which is Cockington, but as it is just so pretty it is a must visit - even if just to sit in the garden of the tea room at Rose Cottage eating scones with jam & clotted cream & listening to the pianist in the garden gazebo.



As you can see, this chap succumbed to the sun & the music & nodded off for a while!



On Saturday we headed off to the Eden project....more about that in another post!