Rocking Your World Friday - 17th of 2018

Good afternoon (yes I'm late, sorry!) 

Time to find the silver linings, grateful moments and fun things that have occurred in the last 7 days because it is time for 

First up me and his lordship, we are both two mad crazy individuals and last weekend we were busy busy busy on the garden, I grabbed this atrocious, make up free, shattered after a day in the garden selfie and shared it on Instagram - you can see how tired we are!

Next up is spending time with said 17 year old arting, I did seem to do a lot of running around finding things, cleaning things and putting things away, so I felt compelled to do a little arting just for me.

Next up solar lights - I have a serious addiction to these and they keep me positive and upbeat.

Sunday we decided to head out and put the English Heritage cards through their paces, which meant a venture over to Conisbrough.  The rain caught us on the hop if I'm honest, so we made our way over to the main tower as at least we were dry once inside. 

First up the well 

We sat and watched the animations on each level, spending time with these two humans always makes me smile!

The detail in the chapel is quite well preserved and I enjoyed looking at the detail

It reminded me of Kilpeck Church that we visited down in the Wye Valley. 

It's amazing to see that it's survived

We were soon at the top and despite the sporadic rain showers we had a decent view off the top. 

You could see the surrounding walls and some of the earth works

I was sneaky and grabbed these two photos

As they enjoyed the view out of the window

They didn't mind enjoying the animations and learning the history of each room

Another view from the top you can see the viaduct in the distance, hubby thinks it is purely for walking over now but believes it was a train bridge originally

It was also quite windy at the top as you can tell from the flag

From a distance you can appreciate the tower, apparently inspiration for Ivanhoe

The visitors centre has changed since we last went, although disappointingly there still isn't a proper tea room.  I did like the window seat cushions

And hubby was naughty in the shop beating up the dragons with the puppet knight! 

On our way back down the hill you can see the expanse of the whole castle

Monday hubby had taken the day off, so we could share a late anniversary day out.  We decided to head to Chatsworth again, so we could enjoy the house when it was quieter and get time to enjoy the garden

The gardeners have done an amazing job of the planting and I love the colour combination

I managed to get photos of the two structures outside the house this time, we are assuming these are things left over from the renovations to the house.

Inside the house and we got to see the incense pot throwing out lots of incense smells (I think we must have been there later in the day last time). 

We were also allowed into the courtyard for the first time, the detail on the stonework is stunning

We also got a slightly different view of the painted hall on our way back from the chapel, the ceiling really is breathtaking

I found some new 'pebbles' in one of the bedrooms and admired the leather wallpaper!

The collection of crystals appears more extensive this year and this piece was stunning due to the double refraction

I was also delighted to find this Clarice Cliff teapot on display, I've never seen one in person

Near the end of the house tour is this little fellow, I've no idea of his history but I don't remember seeing him before

I noticed in the sculpture gallery the amount of dogs that were included in the marble sculptures

And this one is sweet

We stopped for a cuppa in Flora's temple when we got outside

And enjoyed further spring planting.

The view down the valley is always lovely and it is one of those that makes me happy to be alive (if that makes sense). 

We ventured up to the grotto garden

and found some of the rhododendron flowers still in tact

They seem to have pruned the maze a fair amount but the kids running around inside were having a fantastic time

I spotted this near me when we had stopped for a short spell to enjoy the views

And the doorway through to the stables was planted up beautifully

It was lovely to spend a whole day together and very much needed.  I think it is good to stop and take stock. 

The rest of the week has been a little quieter and the rain we've had hasn't helped matters although it appears to be doing the flowers in the garden an amazing service as the garden is looking lovely at the moment. 

and that my lovely people is that. 

I hope you've had a grand week, if you fancy joining in blog, link, comment and we can come and visit 

Rocking Your World Friday - 16th of 2018

Good Morning lovely people 'tis Friday time for 

I started out thinking that we had had a quiet weekend, but had completed forgotten about our jaunt out to a couple of galleries on Saturday!  

First up though a Friday catch up with my sister and Mum, I had dropped said 17 year old off at his girlfriend's house as they were off out to cinema and said niece was at college so that just left the 3 of us.  We normally meet in the local garden centre and put the world to rights. 

Next up, me and hubby try and normally break the working week one of our new places to do that is Ikea (I know dangerous on the wallet), we didn't really buy anything last time we went but I was oooooooooh so tempted with this limited edition glass piece - isn't he cute!

I bought an Easter cactus Easter weekend and it was covered in tiny flower buds, but it refused to bloom - it has just decided to show it's flowers - how gorgeous is this! 

We went to the 'Hope is Strong' exhibition, unfortunately you couldn't take photos, but we enjoyed the wander around all the same.  Me and hubby were really interested to read the time line to the miners' strikes back in the 80's, I vaguely remember it being on the news but I didn't really get the impact it had or the history that was happening at the time (too young). 

We had slightly more luck in taking photos in Graves Gallery, I liked this piece of art

This piece of art had to be seen to be believed, it almost looked out of focus and was all created through paint, I loved the element of light coming from the windows. 

I also liked this three dimensional piece done by a local artist Su Blackwell, her work in paper is amazing, I'm sure she was the artists that did the book sculptures at Chatsworth at Christmas last year.

There are a few statements on the staircase to the gallery, which is also the main library.  Said 17 year old helped fill in the missing 'L'

I also love the 'Bluebird' installation in the centre of the stairwell, created out of woven paper yarn

It was even more impressive from underneath!

We popped to Ikea on our way back so we could grab some lunch and bumped into my cousin and her partner who were buying for their new house, they both looked fabulous and it was lovely to see them! 

Fast forward back home and hubby perfected a cappuccino with his coffee machine on Saturday afternoon, it was lovely I was really impressed (so much so we had 2!)

And we made the most of the dry weather allowing us to get a bit of gardening done, we wanted to get the hedge on the left cut before it got any more out of control. 

And we'd got some trellis to fix to the back of the planters. 

Sunday evening and said 17 year old was catching up with Britain's Got Talent, here he is showing us an act (the one with the tablecloths - if you saw it you will know what I mean), he was doubled up again watching it, which I found more amusing than the show! 

Wednesday was our 20th wedding anniversary - time literally does fly, it really does not seem like 20 years since we got married - crazy! 

I always loved this photo of us, hubby staring intently at me, we had such a fabulous day.  You'll see I was rocking a red haired look at the time, I'm naturally a brunette but the grey is too much hassle so I'm now an all out blonde!

And another favourite, lil bro and hubby. 

We had a lovely meal on Wednesday evening (albeit late as hubby was on a late). 

We've also been enjoying the sunshine and the garden which has been good whilst I'm taking stock of life.

I hope you've all had a fabulous week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together, pop back, link up and we can come and visit.