A Sharp Intake....

If you stay to the end of this post you may need a cup of tea or coffee!

April saw us travelling to distant lands.

Visiting  a National Trust Property.

Doing a Village Fair.

A Wedding.

Trips to London and

Trips to the Garden Centre...

Coolings, where I always am inspired.

Potting up tub's, box's and baskets. 

Wondering when it is safe to put them in garden.

The weather is true to how Spring used to be when i was small.

Sun, rain and wind, altogether!

This year I am going for White & dark Blue in my baskets.

I always love a little Black too.

And a Daisy here and there to add cheer.

We have done our first Village Fair of the year with more planned.

And that list has found it's way onto the kitchen counter for him to look at!

The lounge is in desperate need of a lick of paint to the walls.

Now is is the fire's fault or the candles ?

 Our 'free' days have seen me and my better half visiting villages around Kent and Sussex.

This is Faversham in Kent and what a delightful little town it is.

With much history, lovely houses and cobbled streets.

There a few nice Vintage Shops and Kent Real Ales brewed locally.

So both hubby and I were very happy.

I could not resit snapping this pretty little cottage in the high street.

 The Old Market in the village square.

I love these old structures.

If only the wood could speak, what tales it could tell!

The mish mash of styles look perfect together.

Yet when i see this in a modern suburbia I hate it!

This is the plaque on the cottage shown above.

Poor man.

He must have loved his retirement!

A trip with youngest girl to St Thomas Hospital meant...

Shopping !!! All Day !! and Lunch !

Yum.

Gorgeous Shops for Girly Girls.

Without researching this....if Mr Boris is responsible for doing this new road in Covent Garden...

I love You Boris...

&

I Hate Tarmac !

But

Love Cobbles....

Saw this staircase in one of the Covent Garden Shops.

I had to snap it.

I Love this too.

And ooh...love this dress...

but it seems to only come in two sizes.

XXS and XS

Onto the Tube at Covent Garden and onto Nottiing Hill....

and Portabello Road....to a very special Vintage Shop.

Where I was only supposed to be looking....

But I find that hard....

I love Coco Channel...

I will show you what I bought soon...

Once I have broken the bad news to Hubby!

At long last we made a trip to

The Red House.

Art's & Crafts.

And William Morris.

Hmmm...

Love to see well pruned plants growing around windows.

Well I have to say I didn't Love It!

I thought I would as I do love Art's & Craft's.

But, I found it well...not pleasing to the eye.

Maybe I am more of a Georgian Loving Gal after all.

And Spring Weddings.

My eldest daughter and her little men.

My friend Loraine.
The dancing queens !

The flowers were simply gorgeous.

And so was the Bride and her little Flower Girl.

Talking of gorgeous.

We took took our family on their first Cruise.

To the Caribbean.

It was everything and more that we had wished for.

Just so you know who is talking to you!

A rare sight is me in front of the camera as I am normally the one taking the photo's.

And Katie to the left and Johanna to the right.

The dressing up was fun.

Katie & Paul.

And Johanna & Steve.

Fin, the little terror!

with Jude sitting by the pool.

Hardly saw Jude, all he wanted to do was go the

 Kid's Club.

It was very special for Hubby and me to have our family with us.

A very special time for us all.

A nice quiet moment. 

Our meeting place for a pre dinner drink.

Well that was a bit of a mixed bag.

And as you can now see, I certainly pack it in.

I hope you enjoyed our little chat.

Back soon.

Lots of Love

Carol

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F is for Family Finds Fashion and Flopping with Friends!

Starting with Family...

Mum is in Farnborough Hospital with a Fractured spine.

I cannot talk about all the problems we are going through.

So will move swiftly on to Family again.

This little Fellow is not alone!!!

His Family is growing.

Finds!

This was a bargain beyond belief.

A beautiful glazed display cabinet.

I have found a great little barn near West Malling in Kent which is full of antiques, bits and bobs of all sorts and all so reasonably priced, which makes a change!

Next day it arrived at my house. It was smelly and needing some tlc.

After much washing and polishing, I filled it with some clutter as Mr N would call it.

My Kate Forman Heart was so at home hanging here.

The paint finish is crackle glaze and distressed, a little like me in the mornings!

Fashion.

I bought this pretty blouse last year.

I have not worn it yet because I found it hard to match well with anything due to the big frill around the bottom.

So I cut off the frill and have sewn it onto an old petticoat.

To wear under this skirt.

I do love the layered look.

The clothes that are in the shops this winter are gorgeous.

I was always a Biba fan and remember 'only just' her shop with its black decor and dramatic displays.

I loved all her clothes and make-up.

Black nail varnish and dark eye shadows.

Friends.

Something that I had booked many weeks ago.

A Fab weekend away with special Friends.

Time for us all to Flop then Feel re-Freshed!

We arrived at The Grove Farm in Suffolk and was taken by the lovely Stephanie to our cottage.

Orchard Cottage.

Leaving the car we entered this outbuilding.

We walked through this farm building where washing machines were kept, cycle helmets and jars of Honey for sale.

And out the other end and into the garden.

We were shown into our cottage which is the door on the left.

Wasting no time at all, I lit the fire and put the kettle on while Mr N brought all our bags in.

No point in renting a beautiful cottage like this and then going out to eat.

I had prepared two meals at home and brought them along with drinks, nibbles and lots of candles!

We planned to go our during the day and spend our evenings by the fire.

So it was a good old English Chicken Casserole for us on Friday evening and Mexican Hot Chilli on Saturday evening followed by probably too much wine but lots of fun and laughter.

Cooking on this Vintage Cooker was great.

I want one! do you think I could fit one in a vintage caravan?

What is this fascination with Fires!

Here I am, Fopped by the Fire,

sorry for the slightly Fuzzy image.

That's better.

Mr N doing what he never gets to do at home all thanks to Carol's on-going DIY!

Up the stairs we go.

To one of the two delightful bedrooms.

This is the other end of the room, so room for one more.

Roomy shower room with a view of both the garden and into our bedroom!

Our bedroom.

Our bedroom looking onto the landing and the little window which looks into the shower room.

I did draw the curtains!

Here she is.

Vintage cooker, like me, small and strong and gets the job done!

Us.

Thanks to the camera timer a group photo.

Moi, Detective Superintendent Pil, who was our Hero this weekend.

He got a text on Sunday morning to say his team had caught

The Night Stalker!

His beautiful Wife Chris, Super Teacher of our year and Mr N

Always My Special Hero whatever he does!

So it's Goodbye From Us.

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend too and well ahead with Christmas Lists!

Unlike me.

C

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