Category: travel

London Life Part Two – history and architecture!

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As regular readers will know I love taking pics of architecture (particularly pretty doors and iron work to the bewilderment of my children!) and I had plenty of opportunity in London. We arrived at St Pancras  station which is an incredible building, one day would love to depart from here on the Eurostar or the Orient Express as I love train travel and it is a wonderful station, very modern on the inside with lots of shops and cafes (including a champagne bar!) but the outside is the best bit.The web site has a nice little bit on the history of the station with more pics if you are interested.

Edited to add – According to my Google banner today 13th July is the architect, Sir George Gilbert Scott’s 200th birthday – well done Sir for a fine building!

London 1 - St Pancras

No pretty pics of the British Library which we went to that day – lovely gardens and it is nice inside but too much of a brick block for me. We did see some very lovely things in the Treasures collection including old maps and illuminated manuscripts and they have a very good feature on their website that lets you look at some of these in more detail called ‘Treasures in Full’ and an online gallery called ‘Turning the Pages’.

 However the following day was heaven as we went to Hampton Court ! I didn’t realise that the Flower Show was on that week which meant it was very crowded coming home on the train so we stayed and had tea there and caught a later one. Hen House  has wonderful post all about the Flower Show – she went a couple of days after us so I didn’t get the chance to bump into her which is probably a good things as the children would have been very embarrassed by me trying to introduce myself to one of my ‘imaginary friends’!

I have wanted to visit for a long, long time because of my fascination with the Tudors, particularly Catherine of Aragon who has always interested me not just for her love of embroidery and allegedly introducing blackwork to England but also because of her story which is such a powerful one and the outcome of it changed so much about English religious culture which again is one of my interests. I have just started re-watching the Tudors from series one and am going to treat myself to series four as I missed most of that when it was shown live (on far too late at night!).

The place did not disappoint and I was also very pleased to find that there was the newer palace of William and Mary from the 18th century behind the Tudor one which I had not realised. I prefer Tudor architecture and decor to Baroque but the gardens and apartments were lovely.Below pics show the outside of their palace and one of the beautiful symmetrical gardens.

London - Hampton palace

London - Hampton garden 2

This was the really exciting bit though.The pics below show the Clock Court, Tudor Gardens and window in the Great Hall, the ceiling of  the Watching Chamber and Henry’s kitchens which fed 1200 people a day when he was there with his retinue.

London - Hampton clock

London - Hampton garden 1

London - Hampton window

London - Hampton ceiling

London - Hampton kitchen

I think that gold ceiling would make a marvellous inspiration for a goldwork piece!

And there was even more excitement with a very good exhibition about Henry’s early life which we looked at after the main house including paintings of two people you might recognise.

London - Hampton Catherine

The lovely Catherine of Aragon and her rival Anne Boleyn.

London - Hampton Anne

There was a very poignant part of the exhibition detailing all the stillbirths and deaths of Catherine’s children and both her and Anne suffered because of their failure to produce a male heir. It really does make you appreciate what women went through in childbirth and how the status of women has changed thankfully.

We also met the great man Henry the 8th himself with his last wife Kathryn Parr – during the day they had a series of short re-enactments with some actors recreating part of their story and I was lucky enough to get some lovely pics of the in the courtyard.

London 2 - Hampton King

Fab costume , I do fancy doing Tudor re-enactment myself but would only ever opt to be a lower staus role. I will leave the really fancy stuff to my very talented friend Kat , who by the way has just had her second baby girl – big congrats and welcome! I am sure the baby will be as beautifully dressed for re-enactment as the whole family are. Her Tudor section is here if you want to have a look at the wonderful things she makes.

We later went to the Natural History Museum  which Jake loves and they had a dinosaur exhibition which was very good (the sort with the moving ones in!) This building was designed to look like a cathedral to honour of all God’s creations and it is an amazing building . I bought a book on the history of the building and it is made of terracotta not carved stone as I had originally thought and was created by Alfred Waterhouse. More pics and history on this site  if you are interested.

London - NH Museum 1

London - NH Museum 2

There was a bit of modern architecture appreciation as we stayed in Docklands so took another trip to Canary Wharf where we marvelled yet again at how tall the buildings are.

London - Canary Wharf

We are having a quiet couple of weeks here now doing some house and garden fettling. I am finding my Makower farm fabric quilt a challenge as I am designing it myself so no pics yet just a lot of moving fabric around and trying not to cut it out wrongly but hopefully I will have some progress on that by the end of the week.

Well this has been a very long post – time for a cup of tea I think!

Hope you all have a lovely week and thanks for visiting.

London Life Part One – the bit where we see famous people!

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We have just got back from a very lovely, very busy trip to London and I have so many pictures of beautiful places to show you I have had a hard job editing them down to a few to post.

We visited the British Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the British Library and Hampton Court as well as Canary Wharf and Leicester Square on the evening of the Harry Potter premiere.I will post the historical venues later on in the week but meanwhile here’s what we got up to at the premiere.

We knew we had very little chance of getting near to see anything much as we only arrived on the afternoon and there were people who had been camping out for days. Here is a pic of the kids at one of the blocked off sections of the square by the publicity hording.

Ellie and Jake HP Premiere 2

However we were lucky enough to get to the back where the stars were arriving in their cars (the largest collection of silver Bentleys with blacked out windows in the world!) and peek through the hoardings surrounding the square to be able to see lots of red carpet activity.It was very amusing trying to work out who we might be seeing – we realised the next day when we saw pics in the paper that we had seen Helena Bonham Carter (recognised the hat!) We worked out we probably saw everyone arrive but since they were all behind their blacked out windows can’t really saw we saw them!

Sadly we did not see the main stars but we did meet a lot of very lovely people who were very excited, like us, just to be there and Ellie and Jake got interviewed and broadcast live on BBC Radio London which was fab! The pic below shows them with the reporters.

Ellie and Jake HP Premiere 3

I can’t find the live interview but here is a link to the earlier interview the reporter did with them that went up on Twitter and the pic from the Twitter site.You can just see one of the fans peeking over the top trying to see who had arrived!

http://audioboo.fm/boos/406900-harry-potter-fans-gather-at-trafalgar-square-for-the-final-premiere-of-the-series

Ellie and Jake HP Premiere

Later on in the week we went to Comicon – a Sci – fi film and magazine convention where we did see lots of very famous people from TV and movies close up, there were stars from films such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter and TV series like Buck Rogers, Doctor Who, Firefly as well as loads of fans dressed up.

We saw some very nice Storm Troopers, a Charles Xavier (Professor X from X Men – we have just been to see the new movie which was brilliant), Wolverines, a Klingon, a few R2D2s, some Disney princesses and too many Dr Whos to keep track of – more Matt Smiths than David Tennants and only a couple of the older Doctors – sadly no John Pertwees who was always my favourite doctor (probably because most of the people at the convention were not born when he was the Doctor!) Anyway it was a really fun day and the kids were very excited – the same as I was at Hampton Court. I have started watching all the Tudor series again tonight in homage.

As it was London and we were living the glamorous city life we had some very nice meals out and had a special picnic on the train on the way back from Marks and Spencers including this very lovely little glass of wine, you may remember that last year I posted about portable wine containers in my post on Glamping. This plastic glass full of Chardonnay came from the chiller cabinet with a peel off lid! Very useful.

Portable wine

I made good progress with my fabric Xmas ornies before I went away – I now have about 20 in various stages of completion – here are some pics of the crazy patchwork ‘sheet’,  the cutting out and one of my newest finished batch in case you want to use this method to make your own.By careful placing of the heart I managed to get 8 cut out of this sheet. The final pic shows the backing fabric I have used as well. I added a small Xmas tree button to this set from the packs I bought at the Malvern Quilt Show a while ago.

fabric xmas heart 1

fabric xmas heart 2

fabric xmas heart 3

I appear to have solved the problem with the fabric pics on my posts being wavy lined, I thought it was my old camera but realised that when I looked at them in slide show preview that wasn’t happening , it seems it was my photo editor software, am using another one now and pics are a lot clearer!

I spent part of this afternoon working on the Makower farm animal quilt which needs to finished in a couple of weeks for a family birthday present. Am making up my own pattern so it is very challenging – think I know what I am doing but am being very careful cutting out!

Don’t forget to post a comment on my giveaway post  if you would like to win an ornie. Thanks for visiting.

The right tools for the job

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Hello there hope that you are having a nice weekend. I am despite the pouring rain! I am nice and snug and warm – have been having boiler fettling again today due to a radiator issue and a broken fan but all is well now (fingers crossed!) so I have been enjoying being inside doing a little bit of crafting. Only a little bit as most of this weekend has been taken up with work but that is ok as it has been fun stuff.

Just after Xmas I treated myself to some proper cutting tools for quilting. I had already bought a rotary cutter which is fab but now have a large A2 cutting mat and two rulers, an 18 inch long one and a 6 inch square which make life a lot easier. I have been cutting out the pieces for this project –

Bunny quilt
A cute little cot quilt

Sorry the pic is a bit pale – that is a photo of the pattern, I have had it in my file for long time and actually bought the fabric last year but I am only just getting around to it now.It is called Bunny Hugs and I got it as a freebie download from the Free Quilting website .

I am making it with a selection of lovely paisley fabrics in pink and turquoise. The pattern has lots of different sized pieces so I have come up with a nifty idea to keep check of what I am cutting out. I have made a list and as I cut each one I tick it off and label it on the reverse with a little peel off sticker.

Bunny quilt 1
My new tools and lovely fabrics!

 

Bunny Quilt 2
My labelling idea

It will be a while till I get chance to sew it all together as I have another packed week and then I am off to sunny Spain but I am pleased with the cutting out so far – the proper rulers make all the difference and mean I don’t risk cutting my hands!

I had a very lovely evening yesterday – we were invited to go and watch a presentation by the Project Nepal 2 team who went to do their build last Oct. You may be aware that I went to Nepal two years ago to do a similar thing – check out my pages on Project Nepal and My Time in Nepal if you want more details of my adventures.

It was lovely to meet up with old freinds – many who went out to Nepal again this trip and they had a very interesting time. It made me really nostalgic for the time I spent there, I absolutely loved it and really want to go again (just checked out prices for flights and it’s not that expensive – but can’t go for a few years yet!)

The pictures they showed of the mountains were again amazing – they went after the build in the village to stay at Pokhara in a beautiful hotel on an island – check out these views.

fishtail lodge gardens
The view from Fishtail Lodge gardens
View from Fishtail Lodge Pohkara
The view of Machapuchare - Fishtail Mountain - from Pokhara

Heaven, heaven, heaven. I think Pokhara is one of the most beautiful places on earth and I am very priviliged to have been there. A wonderful evening and it made me quite emotional.

Anyway on to other very, very exciting news! Fingers crossed and all being well I am going to teach in China later on this year! I am really thrilled as I have wanted to go out to work in China for a long time – the University runs lots of joint courses with a Polytechnic there and there are always offers of work but they have always been longer term and I have not been able to go. Well this is for just over 2 weeks and I will be going in September and hopefully then again in March 2012. We are going to be doing workshops on teaching creatively with groups of Chinese teacher trainers and using a translator as most of them don’t speak English so that will be a very interesting experience for me.

The place I will be going to is called Guangzhou and it looks incredible – it is the third largest city in China and I got some pics from Google to show you what it looks like.

guangzhou 1
The city was host to the 16th Asian games last year
guangzhou 2
Guangzhou
guangzhou 3
I really want to go and visit this tower

Incredible isn’t it – I am very lucky! We will get about 5 days off while we are there so time for a bit of sightseeing, and there may well be textiles! I wonder what the luggage allowance is and whether I can persuade any of my colleagues to share their space with me?

I do hope you have all had a lovely week – I will not be posting next week as will not be in the country so shall update you all on my return. Am planning a black hat finish and at least one Xmas ornie completion while in Spain – just wish they would let me stitch on the plane!

Thanks again for visiting.

Lake Garda

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Lake Garda was as stunning as I hoped it would be – my pics do not do justice to the gorgeous mountains all around – it was very hazy as it was so hot but one night it rained and in the early morning they looked amazing – all rolling back in shades of blue. 

Garda 7 - lake beach
Our beach on the lake

 I was looking on Flickr for some good pics of Lake Garda and found an amazing set of pics of Italy – check this link .

We spent a lot of time on the lake hiring pedalos and swimming – here are the kids trying to not to show how cold the water was! 

Garda 3 - Ellie Pedalo 

Garda 4 - Jake pedalo 

The camp site also had 5 very nice swimming pools with added aquarobics that  Ellie and I enjoyed (Jake tried it once but was not keen!) and they made good use of their water guns. 

Garda 1 - kids pool 

It was too hot to do much sightseeing but one evening we went into the nearby town of Peschiera Del Garda for a wander round and a meal (I tried some of the local Grappa liqueur – very strong, Ellie was not keen!). It is a very pretty little town most of which is built on a walled fort so there are moats everywhere. 

Garda 6 - Peschiera
The view of the moat from the restaurant in Peschiera

I also went on the ferry up the lake to the town of Sirmione which had a lovely church with frescos on the walls dated 1508 which were stunning and a very lovely and heavily fortified castle in the middle of town. 

Garda 8 - Sirmione church
This is my favourite pic from the whole holiday - picture postcard beautiful from outside the church
Garda 9 - Sirmione castle
Sirmione Castle

I also did get a bit of knitting done – it was very lovely lounging outside the tent with the lake views and I also took it to the pool once – just to embarrass the kids of course! I have cast on for another baby cardigan in the same pattern that I have just finished (now I know what to do with the border it should be a quicker finish!). Same wool as well – the Sublime – this time in a beautiful turquoise colour – this will be an Xmas pressie for another family member. 

We are off to our biggest event this weekend – the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival  – I can’t wait – I love this show best of all – the smell of the gunpowder, the flags and the biggest medieval market. If you are in the area it is well worth a visit (in Gloucestershire just off the M5) . Will take some pics of all the nice things for you. 

Thanks for visiting.

Venice and Venetian Lace

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I took so many pics of all the beautiful buildings that I had a hard time choosing which to put up here. We only had one day in Venice plus our lovely first evening so just had time for a trip up and back on the Grand Canal which was just fab – I have always loved Caneletto’s paintings of Venice and to be there was amazing. 

We spent the rest of the day in St Mark’s Square visiting the Doge’s Palace ( that has been on my ‘must see’  list for so long) and the Basilica which has to be the most amazing church I have visited (and I have been in a few)  – sadly no pics of inside allowed but the whole of the ceilings are covered in the most wonderful mosaics. The slide show below shows a couple of the palaces along the grand canal, the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica in St Mark’s Square.

I also found a lovely lace shop in St Mark’s Square called Fabris – Venetian lace is made on one of the outer islands called Burano – one day I will go back for a visit and see that and also take more than a  peek at this little museum/shop that the kids preferred going for ice cream to entering! 

Venice lace 3
Just off St Mark's Square lies this pretty little place....
Venice lace 5
With a couple of tantalising display cases ....
venice lace 4
Pretty, pretty things ....
Venice lace 1
The handkerchiefs in Fabris

I did get a quick trip into the Fabris shop and bought some gifts – they had the most gorgeous table cloth and napkin sets – will go back and get some to go with my cake stand one day then we can have proper afternoon tea! 

venice lace 2
Lace and embroidery in the Fabris shop

Will post further pics from the Lake Garda section of the trip soon – am just sitting watching the good old Yorkshire rain now – trying to remember how hot I was on Sunday! 

Thanks for visiting.

La Via Italia

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Italy 1 - wine
Thanks to my lovely hand model Ellie - a bottle of the local Bardolino red in authentic raffia with the view of Lake Garda behind it.

 

We have just returned from a very hot and very lovely week in Italy so I thought I would share some pics with you. 

We flew to Venice so took the opportunity for another once in a lifetime experience and stayed overnight there in a 16th century palazzo on the Grand Canal (well it was my birthday while we were away!) then on to our Lake Garda camp site where the above pic was taken. 

From the airport we took the waterbus so that we could get our first glimpse of Venice from the lagoon. 

Italy 2- venice approach
Venice at dusk

Due to the fact that the waterbus was going the long way round into Venice and that it was getting late we decided to get off the other side from where we were staying so we had a little adventure getting all the suitcases over the little bridges and not getting lost down the little winding streets (thanks to Ellen’s excellent map reading skills!) and finally arrived at our hotel. 

Italy 3 - hotel sign
A welcome sight late at night down the tiny little side streets!

 

I found this as a late deal on the web through Expedia and it was very cheap considering it is a four star hotel and right on the Grand Canal. It was very, very lovely inside and made a very glamorous start to the holiday. 

Italy 13 - hotel front
The hotel taken from the vaparetto water bus the next day

 

Ours was the room right at the top at the front so we had amazing views and also sat on the other two terraces during our stay – the lower one being the bar where I met a very nice Canadian lady travelling on her own who reminded me a lot of Crazy Aunt Purl. She travels a great deal and gave me some useful tips about planning out trip to the US next year. 

The little slide show below shows you the glamour! 

We had a fab day in Venice – will post some pics of that later – it was amazing as you can expect and the kids were very tolerant of me and all the old buildings that we saw. Also found some lovely textiles in a little Venetian lace shop on St Mark’s Square. 

Then it was off on a little adventure on an Italian train – very comfortable and efficient to our not quite so 4 star (more budget!) accommodation at the Bella Italia campsite right on the shore of Lake Garda. 

Italy 14 - tent
Our little Eurocamp tent

 

Mind you it was very glamorous considering the sort of camping we usually do in a field with portaloos. There was a little kitchen, electric lights and a plug socket and a water point right next to the tent (saving Jake a trek!), a gazebo, BBQ and loungers and a fab shower block . Luxury! 

And I think we got a better deal than the more expensive mobile homes and chalets as our pitches and the camping to rent pitches were right next to the lake so I had the most fantastic views. 

Italy 17 - inside tent
My camping luxury - a real cooker, fridge (ahh cold beer!) and cupboards!

 

Italy 16 - tent view
The view from our tent down to the lake and mountains - without the wine bottle!

 

Will post more pics later – now off to Knitting group! 

Thanks for visiting. 

Lovely weekend and Morrocan textiles

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Hello there 

I hope that you have been enjoying yourselves this weekend. I have had a really lovely time with lots of socialising. This is quite unusual as I do tend to hole up a bit over Winter and not do much except sit and knit or stitch with all my candles lit but I have been very busy. 

It started on Friday night with a visit to my friend Cheryl’s house for a Jamie at home party  (bit like a Tupperware party but for Jamie Oliver’s cooking stuff!). We had a  very lovely time – Cheryl has recently moved to a gorgeous house built in 1907 with so many beautiful original features showcasing the best of the Arts and Crafts movement including some wonderful stained glass and plaster work. Pity I didn’t have my camera! 

Cheryl is a friend from work and there were quite a few other work colleagues there with their partners so it was lovely to be able to socialise – we are so busy at work we don’t get a chance to do that much. 

I also bought some very nice things – a set of terracotta tapas bowls, some storage jars and something I have been wanting for a long time – a mortar and pestle for grinding herbs and spices to add to my stock of lovely kitchen items so I am eagerly waiting for them all to arrive. 

Saturday should have been a whole day in the garden but torrential rain stopped play – I did manage a trip to the garden centre to stock up on compost and bought some pretty Primulas and new herbs as all my old ones died out during the snow. 

I used the thyme and rosemary today as we had friends round for a late lunch – I experimented with a new salad of  butternut squash, puy lentils and pickled lemon that I got from my Sainsbury’s magazine which was very nice. Am trying to do at least one new recipe a week – Jake did not try the salad but the others liked it! 

I realised that I did not post any pics of the textiles from our recent visit to Marrakesh (how remiss!) so here goes – these pics were taken in a museum behind glass so apologies for the quality. The first one used what appeared to be cross stitch on linen. 

Marrakesh Embroidery 1
Three different pieces based on tile motifs
Marrakesh Embroidery 2
Bright flower motifs on a patterned ground

This one was embroidered in silk over a patterned background but the pattern was not used for the motifs which I thought was interesting. 

Marrakesh Embroidery 3
Very fine cross stitch in mono colour on linen

This last picture looks very much like a lot of Middle Eastern and Eastern European embroidery that I have seen over the years. The standard of work was very good with exceptionally fine stitching. 

Just up from where we stayed in the lovely Riad was an Aladdin’s Cave of  textiles, ceramics etc in a government-run Artisan’s warehouse – could have quite cheerfully bought the entire store but limited myself to  a beaded mat from this wonderful selection …. 

Marrakesh Shopping 3
So many pretty things.. so little time

….. a wonderful patchwork hanging for Ellie with lots of goldwork and sequins from this selection… 

Marrakesh Shopping 1
Patchwork - Marrakesh style

We also went to the souks (several times and got lost several times as you do and got out again in the end!). We found a fabulous lamp shop where I bought another lantern for the lounge – just look at all this stuff! 

Marrakesh Shopping 6
Pretty, pretty things!
Marrakesh Shopping 5
How much hand luggage are we allowed? Maybe I can just squeeze this one in!

So one lamp, several beaded items, one hanging, two tagines, one kaftan, one set of kebab skewers, lots of candles later …… really Marrakesh is shopper’s paradise – if you go take at least one empty case with you – we had three empty hand luggage cases but it was a tight squeeze on the way back! 

I hope you have had a very nice weekend as well.Things are going to be a little quieter here thankfully for the next couple of weeks as we have finished teaching for Easter – I have a huge pile of marking to do but am looking forward to a holiday in a week or so when we are off to Spain. 

Thanks for visiting.

Marrakesh – wonderful Islamic Art!

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Apologies if  you are bored of the Marrakesh pics – if so skip this post. This one is devoted to the amazing places we visited. I was lucky enough to visit the Alhambra in Granada a  few years ago which is the most amazing place if you like Islamic art and architecture so it was wonderful to go to Morocco to see more. 

We visited the Saadian Tombs on our first day which date from the 1600s I think – members of the Saadian ruling family and their staff are buried here in wonderfully decorated chambers and gardens – full of cats sunning themselves! 

Marrakesh Tomb 3
The hall of twelve pillars
Marrakesh Tomb 2
Amazing carved ceiling and plasterwork arch

Marrakesh Tomb 1
The buildings in Marrakesh are mainly terracotta coloured which contrasts so well with the blue sky
Marrakesh Saadian minaret
The minaret of the mosque next to the tomb - this was a good orientation point as it was very near our hotel - helped us not get lost in the Kasbah!

On the second day we went out to La Menara which is a man-made lake with a summer palace and olive grove gardens – the best place to view the Atlas mountains and we had a great view of them as it had been raining the day before so all the dust had settled. 

Marrakesh Menara
Look at that for a view - beautiful snow capped Atlas mountains!

We then walked all the way back to the main square past the Koutoubia mosque – another good marker to let us know where we were and a beautiful building. 

Marrakesh koutoubia
The minaret of the Koutoubia mosque

Later in the week we visited the Madrassa Ben Youssef. This is an old Islamic college which was extended in the 1600s – it reminded me so much of the Alhambra palace. The wealth of detail and the standard of the workmanship are amazing – all the more so when you think that it has survived the last 400 years. Awe inspiring! 

We are off to Worcester this weekend to see my sister whose birthday it was last weekend – Happy Birthday Jacky – and to see Ellie.It has been a very busy week here but a very nice one – there has been sunshine (yes in Yorkshire!) and I even managed to get out in the garden and do a bit of clearing up and pruning for a couple of hours on Tuesday – a miracle.

I am making good progress with the wardrobe for the little bear I have made – am half way through the third dress for her so will hopefully be able to post those finishes soon – meant to take pics of what I had done so far today but forgot before it got dark!

I am also starting on a new stitching project on Monday – seems ages since I did any stitching but was inspired by a fabric purchase at the weekend to buy this chart that I have had my eye on for some time. JBW Designs  do some lovely charts and I am thinking of treating myself to their Christmas pudding one to stitch for my tree for this Xmas.

JBW - Rooster
JBW Designs Roooster

Will be back next week – thank you for visiting.

Marrakesh!

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As expected we had a wonderful time in Marrakesh – it was warm and sunny most of the time (which made the return to Yorkshire snow all the more surprising) , exciting and interesting as well as (according to Jake) a bit terrifying – he accorded that label to a couple of bits such as getting lost in the Souks (well you have to don’t you!) and the menu prices at one of the posh hotels we visited whilst sampling the glamorous side of the city.

I wanted to stay somewhere which would give us a real flavour of Marrakesh rather than one of the impersonal big hotels and found this bargain though Hotelopia. It cost us £28 per double room including bed and breakfast which was brilliant value considering the luxury we got. The place is called Riad Schanez – from the outside in the little street at the bottom of the Kasbah it looks nothing special .

Marrakesh Hotel
The street where we stayed ‘Derb Tadla’

But inside was wonderful – this impressed Jake no end! It was a textile lovers’ paradise and me and Mum spent lots of time taking pics of the furnishings  like sad tourists!

Will update again later with more pics – no time now as have to get tea done!

Thanks for visiting!