Dolly's Dreamings

Beautiful day out

We enjoyed a wonderful day out today at Hinton Ampner then a late lunch in Winchester and a wonderful dessert in the New Forest.

 

Sorry - photo heavy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and I also have a new release to share too

 

Credits

Enjoy the now Collection by Bellisae

 

 

Today I am so thankful for

• wonderful day out
• National Trust membership
• being together
• flowers and bumble bees

 

 

Loving Autumn

It's no secret that Autumn is my favourite season and the last couple of days have been exactly the sort of Autumn days I love. Crisp cold and bright with blue skies and sunshine.

 

Yesterday Nigel had a job near Weymouth so we went for a lovely walk along Weymouth front then over to Portland because I have a thing for lighthouses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we hit our local beach which was having sand work to keep the sand from overflowing onto the promenade. Fascinating to watch and beautiful in its own way

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also have some new scrapping to share from our visit to Wakehurst

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this from the exhibition last week

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• autumn
• cool crisp days
• healing
• the beach
• enjoying all of the above with my best friend and soul mate x

 

 

Fabulous day out

We are fortunate int hat we go our, somewhere, most days, but very local. Today was not local. we headed off on a two plus hour trip to two National Trust properties (we do like to get bang for our buck on our NT membership)

We started off at Wakehurst which is part of Kew Gardens and also hosts the Millennium Seed bank which was really interesting.

The grounds at Wakehurst were gorgeous and we had blue skies and sunshine and there was some gorgeous Autumn colour too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then headed off to Standen House and Gardens which is a gorgeous Arts and Crafts house with pretty much all original Morris and Co fittings and furniture. It was gorgeous. We had a lovely lunch courtesy of a NT voucher gift from Sean and Viv  (and also bought some plants for the garden with the same voucher) and then listened to a very good talk and wandered around the house. I took lots of pictures of the inside - I am a big William Morris fan. You will be pleased I am only posting a few photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only downside of the day was it was the first time we have left the boys for a whole day - they still have a lunchtime feed. We left them a timer opening cat feeder for lunch not sure what they would make of it, if they would even realise and go and eat when it opened at 1. Well they clearly found it, long before 1. They chased it round the room and it ended up upside down which meant, of course, it didn't open. So poor babies went from 7 am with no more food until tea time. They were pretty hungry and we were full of guilt!

 

I don't expect they will fade away!

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely day out
• knowledgeable volunteers who know so much
• The National Trust preserving our heritage
• Great things like te seed bank safeguarding the plants of the world
• safe travels and being back home

 

 

 

Some gorgeous weather

Down here on the coast we were one of the few parts of the country that seemed not to have snow. I love snow and it would have been nice, but we have had some gorgeous sunny weather and some beautiful walks.  Beach walks

 

 

 

 

 

and woodland walks

 

 

 

 

 

 

So cold but beautiful

Talking of beautiful - today's loveliness is this ...

Little Indy and Mummy playing with her iPhone

 

 

 

Barb I am so pleased that maybe now you can look forward to a more settled period in the US. I hope a steadying hand not he tiller instead of a lunatic will be so good for you nd for the country.

Today we have been yet again kitten proofing areas of the house.  Nigel has built a brilliant infill for behind the TV to stop the babies destroying wires.

 

And some new painting to share - I have no idea why I wanted to paint a kingfisher (picture was taken from Wikipedia) 

 

And finally some scrapping

A digital page of a photo from Friday at the beach

 

 

This box he is in is tiny (so is he) but I have no idea how he gets in  and then turns round inside it

 

 

 

and finally this one made today with no bought embellishments or patterned paper just watercolour flowers I painted and a watercolour border.

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a very supportive husband and best friend. I am truly truly blessed
• beautiful crisp clear weather
• daily exercise
• hobbies

 

 

 

There was a strange light in the sky!

The weather has been grim lately and so today was a real joy. I had seen the forecast was

We headed out early to call in and get yet more food for Kira. I haven't updated on her recently but it has all been a bit of battle of late. The thyroid is under control but we were struggling to get her to eat. She seems unable to chew anymore - and we have had her teeth, tongue, throat etc all checked. So we have had to find a range of soft pate foods she will eat. That has been a challenge and she will eat something one day then not touch it the next. Add very spoilt to her list of conditions I think! We seem now to have a formula that works and she has anti-nausea meds as the kidney disease can make them nauseous too. In addition, she had dementia and I think she is having little fits too. She is often very disorientated and looks confused. It all sounds awful but she looks the picture of health, still purrs and plays and cuddles and so we think she is as good as she can be. We don't want any more treatment other than her routine meds. We just want her to be as happy as possible for as long as possible.

We then went for a lovely walk at Kingston Lacey in the sunshine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was beautiful and a lovely long walk.

Yesterday I painted a picture to make some Christmas cards

Card 1

Card 2

 

Today I am thankful for

• a wonderful reassuring vet
• every day we have with Kira
• a beautiful walk

 

Marvellous Mottisfont

I have to say I am loving the pre-book system for National Trist properties. We headed to Mottisfont today and it was wonderfully quiet and very pretty. The house wasn't open, of course, but we did give the cameras a good work out.

WARNING

Photo heavy post

We did the lovely river walk first

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was my photo of the day I think

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Queit as anything and a lovely picnic too.

Today I am thankful for

• The National Trust
• Beautiful gardens
• the history of our country
• cameras - and actually phones

 

 

 

sad yet uplifiting

Yesterday saw us travel for three hours each way on the hottest day of the year - but it was so important. My cousin's youngest son was cremated yesterday - he was just 24 years old and it was such a tragic loss. However the service was uplifting, there was so much love for him and I cannot say how proud I was of my wonderful cousin who managed to stand up and deliver a eulogy about her son. Such a brave and dignified lady. I was proud to call her family.

 

The last few days have been unbroken sunshine and so hot. What a summer we are having so far.

We are spendinga  lot of time - in the shade now we have the parasol up there - on the balcony.

 

I have some new scrapping to share

This was made for the weekly challenge on UKS and features a photo from Friday's trip to Barrington Court 

 

 

 

 

And this was made for another challenge - a picture of my beloved parents dancing

 

 

 

 

Gloria I have e mailed you about a pet portrait

 

Today I am thankful for

• being there for my cousin yesterday and being so proud of her and so happy there was so much love for her son
• sunshine - makes everything feel so much better
• scrapping time

 

And today's bizarre offering ... desserts that are by Chef Ben Churchill that represent different things. Very very clever ... they are all dessert - though they don't look like it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making the most of our membership

We have been National Trust members for a long long time but this year we haven't been to many properties - just local ones. It was a glorious day yesterday so we headed out to make the most of our membership in Somerset.

 

We had never been to Barrington Court before so that was first stop and I can highly recommend it - it is stunning.

 

 

 

 

The gardens were fabulous.  I loved all of the walls and secret doors leading to yet another garden - just fabulous

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like all properties, it was sow ell presented and cared for. I loved the radio in the kitchen garden where you could sit and listen to the history of the garden. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved seeing the next generation of National Trust members at their own mini-sized tables

 

 

 

 

The house itself was amazing. It was empty but that made the work that had gone into it all the more amazing. Bought by Colonel Lyle in the early 1900's as a derelict wreck, he restored it with original panelling from all over the world, true to the period of the building. Seeing the panelled rooms with so much carving and inlaid work, linen folds and detail, you couldn't believe it wasn't always there. Even the magnificent staircase was brought in, from a Scottish castle. It was incredible and very beautiful

 

We enjoyed a lovely picnic and ice cream then went for visits to Tintinghull Gardens, where we had been before.

 

It was a riot of lavender but was very busy as an Austrian coach tour were there

 

 

We met this little chap - just a baby, and we waited for ages until he gained his confidence to move off the path so we could pass

 

 

 

Finally we went to Montacute, again where we have visited before, and again the gardens were beautiful and of course, the perfect weather helped too

 

 

Montacute is over 40% glass - amazing

 

 

 

 

 

 

A glorious very English day out.

 

I have new scrapping to share today made with a new collection by Dawn Inskip called Footprint in the sand which is awesome

 

 

This is the final of three pages of our trip to Bamburgh

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• sunshine
• National Trust membership
• beautiful gardens
• days out together

 

 

 

 

 

and the sun shone on

 

Happy Palm Sunday

 

The weather has been gorgeous. we were busy yesterday doing things round the house but found time to sit outside on the balcony and enjoy the sun. It affords us great views of land we don't have to maintain. How cool is that!

We also had friends round for dinner and it was a lovely evening. It was a privilege to spend time with not only one of Nigel's oldest friends but his three exceptional children - they really are lovely young people and a credit to him.

Today has also seen unbroken sunshine and so we headed out to the country again. Dorset is an exceptionally beautiful county and we discover new things all the time. We planned to go to Swanage but the traffic was heavy and so we changed plans. For years we have meant to visit Cloud's Hill, the home of T.S.Lawrence and just never got round to it. Today we did.

The cottage was small and humble, much like the man himself, and there was an overwhelming sense of peace inside - quite exceptional. It may well be one of the Trust's smallest properties but we loved it.

 

 

 

From there we headed to Moreton as we then wanted to see the church as we had read about the wonderful windows there.

The picture at the top is also from St Nicholas' church

 

 

 

 

 

Wonderful indeed. They were very unusual, being etched glass and the clarity against the clear sky and the trees in full spring growth was stunning. The pictures do not capture it well.

 

 

We had never been to Moreton before and didn't even know they had walled gardens. They were lovely to amble round and quite extensive. The sun was hot and so we sat on a bench to eat our picnic next to a wonderfully fragrant white flowered shrub. I have spent a while on garden sites and cannot find out what it is but it smelt beautiful.

 

 

They had lots of different ferns and they have always been one of my favourites this time of year as I love the way they unfurl like little pincurls

 

 

 

 

 

Another delightful Dorset day.

And so it seems apt to share this page made this week about another delightful Dorset village

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• Dorset with all of its wonders
• simple days that are beautiful
• friends and fellowship

 

A work day

I am not sure if I can really cal l hat I have been doing today work, as it was so much fun, but work it was. I went to another preparation session for my volunteer job at our local National Trust property. I am working as part of the education team and they are a lovely group and we have made real headway into the new plans for the coming year and I am just thrilled to be a part of it all.

We also had a private tour of the house to hone our knowledge which was a great privilege. I am so looking forward to it all.

As I have been out all day I haven't done any scrapping but still have plenty of new, un-shared stuff to share.

 

I am working through an album showing all of the Disney rides - it is going to take me a while as I have only covered about 8 attractions so far. This was one I made last week of the Peoplemover. If you have never done it I urge you to so so. There is never a wait, it is a nice sit down and has some lovely views of the park and Space Mountain. It is one we really enjoy. 

 

 

I used lots of ink on this and then I added the stars and to me it turned it into a pair of Converse!

Hey ho.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely day meeting people and sharing ideas
• new challenges
• looking at new furniture - our suite is 14 years old and a bit tatty so we have been exploring options.