ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 27TH OF 2021

 Good morning lovely people 'tis Friday time for 

Well for those that wander along and have a read, you will be aware that last weeks post of fairly devoid as I'd prepared in advance of us heading out for a break for a week, so this is going to definitely be a major catch up of that week.

We were staying just outside of Durham in a pretty cottage called Sheep Pen on a working farm, the cottage was lovely but as is often the case the mattresses were of the overly firm variety which meant a rather hard week when it came to sleep, nevertheless it was an absolute joy to get away and have a break. 

We drove up on the Saturday and said 20 year old headed up in his own car with his fiancée and so my first grateful is that on his first long trip driving (his fiancée has driven them to Cornwall and back twice already, but he has always been passenger) that we all arrived safe and sound.

We worked out some fun days out and a couple of days where we went our separate ways.  

On Sunday we ventured to one of the nearest beaches at Seaham, we enjoyed finding Tommy the WW1 statue that is on the sea front, a poignant reminder of the young lives lost.

Then we headed down onto the front in search of sea glass which we had been informed was available in abundance.  I had never found sea glass on a beach before (not big on sand if truth be told), but once I'd got an eye for it we had a merry old time finding a large supply for hubby to bring back and hopefully turn into so mighty fine jewellery.

Eventually a small driftwood bench became available and me and said 20 year old's fiancée sat and had a lovely natter whilst watching and listening to the sea and watching the other two like magpies in search of sea gems. 

Back up onto the front, we had been recommended to try out Lickity Split, a 1950's style ice cream parlour, so we headed in and got our fill before heading to a beach front bench to enjoy.  Hubby and I both had rum and raisin and Turkish delight and said 20 year old had chocolate and bubblegum his fiancée had some churros as the selection of lacto free products on the ice cream front had proved limited.

Monday and we headed to Durham a beautiful city with is relatively compact if you head to the older part.  We parked up and made our way up the hill to the Cathedral, we headed in and enjoyed a fabulous light based art installation in the Galilee gallery, then out into the cloisters where they filled some of the first Harry Potter films, then back into the church.  We visited St Bede's tomb and St Cuthbert's tomb and enjoyed the beautiful stained glass in the building.

Back outside we made our way down the hillside and popped into the university bookshop, where said 20 year old's fiancée found a book on the subject of her third year dissertation that she has recently submitted a proposal for, so it was definitely a worthwhile visit. 

Tuesday arrived and we headed to the Bowes Museum, a fabulous French style building built intentionally as a public gallery space.  We've been previously, but similar to Yorkshire Sculpture Park they do have a gallery with a changing exhibition and this time it was the North Country Quilts exhibition.  

Anyone that knows me knows I have a slight weakness for all things fabric particularly of the craft/art variety so me and said 20 year old's fiancée (who shares my passion) were in our element.  The exhibition documented a style of quilt that was popular in the northern counties, including Durham, Northumberland and surprisingly to me Yorkshire.  Originally a whole quilt design that was produced by hand, sometimes as a community effort and often as a key gift to a couple for their wedding.  The quilts changed with the invention of the sewing machine and became strippy quilts which could be made similarly but in strips so they could be easily constructed on the sewing machine.  I bought a book providing the history of the quilts and later in the week returned, to buy the other book and a cushion pattern created in the style of the northern county quilts. 

Wednesday  and me and hubby ventured out on our own, said 20 year and fiancée headed back to Seaham and then Durham but we headed to the Oriental museum in Durham, which is part of the university.  It was a fascinating exhibition with a wealth of artefacts dating back from thousands of years to current and contemporary.  

We were in there hours and then we headed to the Botanic Gardens which was a stones throw away to find some of their sculptures and enjoy some outside space. 

Finally we popped to Spennymoor art gallery and got to see some of the fantastic social history artwork of Norman Cornish including his studio set up that has been transferred there.  

As an accomplished artist but also a miner for 30 years he has captured a part of the local history in a way that reminds you of the history of the area.  There were also lots of other paintings in the gallery done by other artists which we admired immensely, our next favourite are two young artists (twins) who had a full exhibition on the second floor that the curator allowed us to have a sneak peak of. 

Thursday and only booked activity when we came away was Beamish, despite social restrictions still affecting the UK significantly we managed admirably around the site, although it was a shame the trams weren't running and there was in fact a bus replacement service (genuinely sometimes you couldn't make it up).

The day was incredibly warm and sunny (too warm for wandering a large site if truth be told), we enjoyed a portion of fish and chips from Davy's coal fired fish and chip shop and had a wonderful day.

Friday was our last full day of holiday and it was almost like it knew as we woke to continual rain, we'd booked for a walk around Raby castle which we've visited before, just me and hubby and whilst the castle was lovely and the guides were great the inclement weather meant that a walk around the gardens was simply impractical.  We therefore grabbed a coffee and a bite to eat before heading off on our final part of the holiday which was to see Susie, Susie and I have been friends for an absolute age, well above 10 years, she was one of the original Rockettes joining in with my regular posts, we almost met a few years ago when we were visiting Stratford but alas it was not to be, but given we were literally 20 minutes from her I arranged to pop and have a coffee.  To finally meet someone you've known for years in person can obviously be a little nerve wracking because I suppose personas can be different in person, but for me and Susie it was genuinely like we just had seen each other in a while we had a fabulous few hours, Susie providing a lovely cuppa, we got to meet Princess Peanut and all of Susie's beautiful cats as well as see her in her new home and I got to ooh and aah over her fantastic craft room, it really was the very best way to finish a holiday. 

So that my lovely people was my week and it was utterly joyous.  I won't bore you with the weekend washing catch up or the working week as it is nice to leave it on the holiday high. 

If you fancy joining in pop a post together come back and link up so we can come and visit.