Rocking Your World Friday - 39th of 2020

Good morning lovely people

tis Friday so time to take stock and look back on the last 14 days (as I was absent last week) and count the positive grateful moments in those days as it is time for 

So first up the weather that we had, it was such a joy to actually not have to spend the week dodging raindrops so that is definitely right up there on the list of gratefuls, I captured this shot on our first jaunt out in Herefordshire before we headed into Clearwell Caves

Next up Clearwell Caves, the first time we visited is when we honeymooned in Symonds Yat in a beautiful barn conversion back in 1998, hubby got excited as they asked if he fancied going pot-holing one night whilst we were there - the idea of confined spaces and water and dark deep underground caves is not my idea of fun, but hubby would have definitely done it, had we not been on honeymoon!

There was a display before we headed in and this one caught my eye, lots of clay sculptures, this one capturing Sunday tea - I love anything like this, the level of detail is brilliant!

The actual caves themselves are beautiful and relatively colourful as they still mine ochres in there, yellow, red, brown and purple

Said 20 year old (yep it was his birthday whilst we were away so he has moved up a bracket) and his GF were with us for a few days before they carried on down to Cornwall to catch up with his GF's family who were holidaying down there.  Here he is with is light changing face mask!

There was a digital art display on the walls and water near the end which was mesmering showing the creatures that would have been there millions of years ago when it was still an ocean on the equator

So this was a brilliant first jaunt out, we then headed a whole three minutes down the road to Puzzlewood.

Puzzlewood is other worldly it has been used for films and TV shows over the years and definitely has a middle-earth feel to it. Originally a set of cave systems, the ice age (if memory serves me right) literally took the top off and well Mother nature took back what was hers

Making memories with these three, is one of my favourite things to do

All the green detail is simply amazing and they'd managed a one way system around the site. 

It is unlike anywhere else I've ever been

Just so very peaceful and very very beautiful

So it was great fun to visit again 

On our second day we headed to Eastnor Castle, it was the first time we had visited and had a lovely trip out, wander around the castle and then lakeside walks admiring the view and it was my birthday so I had a lovely family day.

The inside of the castle was stunning, I don't think there is anything finer than a bit of Victorian Gothic

And blue skies outside - always a happy grateful moment

Me and hubby grabbed a selfie

And I adored the view of the Castle from across the water. 

 The following day was said 20 year old's birthday and the last full day they were with us.  

Here he is laughing and joking over his giant birthday cookie 

We headed into Hereford on his birthday as a lot of the tourist attractions shut on a Monday.  We headed to the Cathedral which is stunning to enjoy the interior and then have a walk around the Mappa Mundi exhibtion and the chained libary. 

This was my favourite stained glass window on the day

I loved the light reflection on the pillars inside 

I also loved the tiny chapel, how beautiful is this? 

The mappa mundi exhibition was really interesting and I loved this modern day version with the pyrograpy frame. 

Outside the cathedral we had beautiful blue skies again

Before heading to Ledbury and having a wander around the independent shops, I love this building on stilts. 

We had booked a table at a nearby pub to celebrate our two birthdays and had a lovely evening, however I forgot to take photos! 

Tuesday saw said 20 year old and his GF head off and we had a trip out to Berkeley Castle, a little further afield from where we were staying, but one of those we've promised to visit for years. 

We knew it was the place where the deposed Edward II was murdered, but we also learnt of its links with Shakespeare and you all know how much I love Shakespeare.  In that the family had a wedding happening and asked Shakespeare to write them a play to be performed as part of the celebrations and rumour has it he wrote them A Midsummer Night's Dream, which as regular readers will know is one of my favourite Shakespearean play. 

I also loved the wire sculptures to bring his historical story to life 

The castle itself is rather impressive

Queen Elizabeth I

Gorgeous rooms and tapestries

Outside there was a stunning walk around the terraced gardens

We grabbed a selfie

It's amazing to think the same family has lived here for almost 900 years.  Think of all that history tied into those walls 

Wednesday was our penultimate full day 

We headed to the ruinous castle called Raglan over the Welsh border, unusual for this country due to the shape which followed the French style 

Again more blue skies, we had a lovely wander

And explored most of the grounds (the towers were closed for obvious reasons, but that meant we went a little further afield, which we might not have done had the towers been opened). 

Then we headed off to Kilpeck Church, a firm favourite of ours in the area and absolutely stunning, the exterior decoration really is a beautiful and rather unusual

The doorway into the chapel

Up close you can see what I mean by the detail

At the top there is a dragon and a Basilisk 

And the character in the middle of this is known as the Rainbow man, apparently he does appear quite regularly on these sorts of old churches but this is the first one I've seen, although very apt given the year we are having. 

Now as my lovely followers will know we've been waiting on some results for my Mum, whilst she has lived over several years with breast cancer in her spine her most recent scan showed a concern on her lungs, so she had to have a ECG to check her heart and blood tests to check for blood traces that could be potential cancer in her lungs.  Despite the Doctors saying they would contact within a day or so, they sent her a letter making her wait in excess of two weeks, it was a very long two weeks. 

So you can imagine my joy when the call from the oncologist said that no new traces were found, only the breast cancer one which was to be expected.   So thank you for all your thoughts, good vibes and prayers, they were and are very much appreciated!

We celebrated the good news, by heading to another local landmark Abbey Dore, which is the only Abbey in the land still used as a parish church and I spent time in quiet reflection and prayer being grateful for the news we'd just had. 

Our final day and we headed off to the Forest of Dean and their sculpture trail, not quite on par with Yorkshire Sculpture Park and it was definitely more of a hike than a walk in places, but we had a lovely blue skies, fresh air day to finish our holiday surrounding by beautiful trees

It's a huge forest area and made me miss Center Parcs of all places

Some of the sculpture left something to be desired but others were OK

I loved the train track one, they carved into each sleeper with a different picture and it definitely felt like autumn was on its way with the leaf fall

Selfie time

My favourite art piece and the last one on the trail was the cathedral window - utterly breathtaking!

So that was our fabulous week away, the very first week this year and boy did we need it. 

Grateful and positive moments this week, blue skies and breeze for drying the holiday washing. 

Coming home to a tidy and clean house (I'd had a good fettle before we went away). 

Family chat time on Facebook 

Enjoying my job despite how hectic and mad it can get. 

Having a family get together on sunday whilst still abiding by the rule of six meant that there were only a few of us at our birthday gathering - me, hubby, said 20 year old and his GF, my Mum and sister.  My mum had baked a lemon drizzle cake, a coffee and walnut cake and a chocolate ganache cake which were all beautiful but obviously way too much for 6 of us, so people went home with lots of cake. 

And that my lovely people are my silver linings positive moments for the last couple of weeks, I hope you have had a grand time and that you are all well. 

I will pop Mr Linky below so you can pop a post together, come back link up and we can come and visit.