Summer Arrived eventually - for a day or two

Summer finally came well at least from Saturday afternoon onwards, and it was so nice on Saturday to meet a fellow blogger Lizzie from her lovely blog The Washerwoman at the Rag Fair in Honiton, where I found some pretty french fabrics. 

On our way home we stopped  at a  lovely village called Broadhembury so it was definitely time to get my camera out and take a few photos of the lovely cottages,

hope the owners don't mind!

in the evening we went on one of our favourite walks along the canal.

Sunday was beautiful, - don't we talk about the weather a lot in this lovely country of ours! maybe it is because I think we are all secret sun lovers, but how mad is that when we live in England, where the weather is so unpredictable! we had visitors for tea and it was lovely just sitting in the garden!  I would also like to show you a small piece of our garden that I really love, it has a glass roof so the sun can shine through!

 The heart was a very new acquisition that I bought on Monday when we visited Sherborne (sorry forgot to take photos!)

Sun going down on Sunday Evening

Today has seen me picking fruit and sorting out the vegetables, we have just dug up our first potatoes they are really scrumptious.  Well think that is all for now see you all soon, have a great week - mine hasn't started too bad as I have just won the give-away from Elaine from Ted & Bunny blog.

Sarah's Kitchen Party

Today I am joining Sarah at Modern Country Style for her Kitchen Party and I hope I have chosen the right dress!

 The idea was to post about your favourite item in the kitchen, or your kitchen, or maybe something you yearn for. Guess what I am going to be greedy and do 2 of these things.  My kitchen at the moment is new to me only lived here now for nearly 2 months, but it is quirky with nothing matching and not at all bespoke but I love it.  But in all my kitchens one of my favourite items is the lovely pottery that I have collected over the years from France, most of it comes from a village called St Quentin de la Poterie near Uzes in the Gard region, and as the name denotes it is a village with alot of Artists mostly potters.  Everytime I look at my pots it takes me make to hot summer days in this lovely area of the Provence, so now I will share it with you.

But of course I said I would share with you 2 things, the second (if ever I have LOADS of money) is to have a Plain English Kitchen or maybe just a small part of one of these kitchens - I just adore the simplicity of them and the craftmanship that is obviously involved in the design, they are just superb.

Sorry I am going to indulge again, but don't you just love flowers in your kitchen, and the perfume from these lovely sweet peas when I came down this morning was gorgeous.
See you all at Sarah's, have a lovely weekend

Where is our Summer!!!

Despite the weather we ventured out, I had read about a restaurant called 10 The Square 

 in a nearby village of Wiveliscombe,  it only opens Friday and Saturday so we decided to try it out, it was so lovely just as I like it very relaxed and served lovely food as there website says a taste of Tuscany, they also do one day cookery classes which I think I may go on! As you can see from the photos the sun did come out for a while.  We then ventured on to Cothay Manor where there was a plant sale, lovely stalls, and I came away with some pots and some new plants for the garden.

lovely cottages in the grounds

not many takers of this lovely ice-cream stall

It was such a shame that it rained and we spent most of our time in the marquee, (sipping a few glasses of Rose!) as the proceeds was going to the local hospice.

I don't know about you but I have a few on-line shops that I really love one of these is Cox and Cox and I have my eye on the following items,

love the lights they would look so nice in the garden on a lovely warm summers evening - I can dream you know! and the blackboard is just what I need for the kitchen.
See you all on Friday when I join the lovely blog Modern Country Style Kitchen Favourites link party, if you want to join in just follow the link opposite.

Celebrations!

We have a special celebration this year (well actually we have 2) and we have been deliberating what to do, shall we have a lunch time garden party, shall we go off for a romantic holiday, but the OH said no we should celebrate but without the work involved, so we have booked a lunch party at this most beautiful hotel in the Devon Countryside,Combe House Devon

 voted apparently the most Romantic hotel in England!!! (and we are staying the night!!)

 Really excited now with lots of things going on in my head mostly what shall I wear!! I found this lady who made me the most beautiful invites they arrived individually boxed and tied with red ribbon,

so if any of you are thinking of arranging an event I would so recommend her Debbie Jenkins is her name. (I know I could have made them, but I think it is sometimes nice to support other craft workers)

I have also been making a few purchases and loved this butterfly for the garden from Dee Puddy I think I may send for another one.

I have been indulging in my favorite past time flea markets, and picked up this lovely teapot for £5 8 plates for £7 and my OH found the candlestick at the local tip!!!! just needed some loving care.

Been busy cooking and had my  sister and her husband to stay. we had a lovely weekend although a bit of a wet one, when is summer coming, the rain is pouring and I have loads of fruit to pick!! Last week with the glut of strawberries I made ice-cream swopping some of the cream for devon clotted cream have to say it was delicious, if anyone wants the recipe I will print it for you, I don't have an icecream machine so have to stir it every 30 mins for the first few hours, but not really too time consuming.

I think I might have to make a gooseberry crumble or maybe a more healthier goosberry fool, only healthy if I use yoghurt and not cream.

This week I had an early birthday present from Marcus (my eldest) I know it is not everyones taste, but this was some show!! I went to see Take That in Cardiff and they were amazing, as well as the Pet Shop Boys. It was a great day, and Cardiff is a fabulous city with some really good shops including new John Lewis, and a lovely vintage shop called Vintage Affair,

 Marcus went and had coffee while I spent sometime in this shop. Of course we needed to lunch and the  restaurant Jamie's (Jamie Oliver's) beckoned and it would have been very rude to walk buy so we had a lovely lunch before the show!

A

 a really smasing day and all thanks to Marcus.