ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 37TH OF 2026

 Good evening, I'm late today but we've just come back from a week away, so time to clock the positives from the last 7 days.  I'm going to split the week as I may not have much to share for the week ahead as it will be a catch up week. 

So last Thursday night we headed to the Crucible in Sheffield to watch King Lear, this was our first unabridged version of this play and it was mesmerising. 

Then on Friday we set off for the Durham area for a week's break. The journey up really wasn't much fun, an awful lot of traffic and people trying to get to their destination as fast as possible.  We were relieved once we had arrived.  

However, we had to be back out again in the evening to go to Kynren for their evening show.  It was the main reason we had gone to the area and is something we've said for a number of years that we would do but never managed it.  So finally we got to enjoy the show.  

We arrived early and had a wander

We enjoyed speaking to the people in the Viking Village. 

This horned sheep is an endangered breed, but I loved how quirky it looked. 

The woodwork was stunning

then in the evening we took our seat and were told the history of Britain (there or thereabouts, there were definitely mythical elements, but it was fun nonetheless)

and it finished with fireworks. 

As we had taken all our food for the week, we decided to have a chilled out day on Saturday, where we sat, book read, used the hot tub and generally relaxed and it was very much appreciated. 

Sunday had forecast a wet day, so we headed to Bowes museum to see a Vivienne Westwood exhibition on its final day. 

I loved the shoes

the jacket on the left was her take on some medieval armour

they deconstructed the pattern to show how many pieces it was made of. 

I was also amazed at this outfit cut on the bias. 

We also enjoyed a Norman Cornish exhibition.  He was an artist from Spennymoor who captured scenes of his local area, without realising at the time that he was capturing social history. 

This sketch was a chipshop van that trundled around the streets, it is parked up now in the Beamish open air museum, near the replica of his home that has been built. 

There are lots of people sketches, particularly in the pub

the way he caught the facial features was amazing. 

On Monday we headed out to Beamish as it was forecast for a nice day.  We've been to Beamish before on a couple of occasions, but we've never done the 1950s town which has only recently been built. 

The tram goes around the whole town, so we got off in the 1900s town as usual 

The 1950s town is a short walk away.  We were wandering around a terraced house with Norman Cornish artwork in it, when I realised it was a replica of his house from Spennymoor. 

There were some new built houses in the 1950s town, these kitchen wall cupboards reminded me of the home we lived in when I was young.

and this satchel was similar to a haversack my Dad used to use to go into town and get the week's fruit and vegetables each week. 

The fireplace below is very similar to the one we had in our home when I was little and the one my Grandma had in the pub. 

They've even build a cinema which we assume is a repurposed theatre.  The size of the cameras to play the films were huge. 

The outside of Norman Cornish's house. 

There were also buses running around the site as well. 

We had a lovely day, had some tasty chips cooked in dripping and the sun shone for most of the day definitely a win win. 

Tuesday and we fancied going somewhere new so we went to Wallington Hall.  The photos of the exterior really don't do this place justice if I'm honest. 

The house itself is an absolute gem, the paintings in the original internal courtyard are sublime. 

You can see how the paintings are situated in the courtyard. 

The rooms around it are beautiful as well and then we headed outside for a wander. 

First off these dragon heads which you can see as you approach the house and carpark. 

Selfie time

Then in the woods we found this tree that had obviously fallen during a storm, which had been ornately carved. 

On the side were more faces

so we grabbed another selfie.

We wandered the woodlands which was lovely and then went over to their second hand bookshop and found a few books before we headed back to our cottage. 

I'll cover Wednesday onwards in my post next week. 

If you've made it to here, well done and I hope you are having a good week. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 20TH OF 2025

 Morning all it's Friday time to clock the positive moments and silver linings as it is 

So this is a bit of a catch up post, as last week we were away in Rhodes for a 9 day holiday which was lovely.  We returned to the hotel we went to last September as it was lovely and as we know the island quite well there was no need to go racing around trying to see everything before we came home. 

We flew out on the Friday (2nd May) and arrived late evening and checked in without a hassle, the flight over was good.  The weather had looked potentially changeable but other than one cloudy morning the rest of the week was glorious, not too hot around the early to mid-twenties, perfect for me and hubby and with the glorious breeze off the Aegean sea an absolute winner if I'm honest. 

This was the view out of the plane window

This was the second evening but whilst there was evening cloud the day was glorious

A selfie whilst we had a drink before evening meal 

and the sunset the following night was spectacular 

I enjoyed a simple breakfast each morning, 5 small pancakes, fresh oranges that we saw growing on the trees around the island and occasionally the filo custard pastry which was naughty. 

The view from the sunbeds was always beautiful 

We went into Rhodes old town twice.

The first time we spent time walking around the harbour admiring the boats.  

This shows the entrance to the harbour where the Colossus of Rhodes allegedly once stood 

to the windmills which we've never walked to before

They really were stunning

Huge cruise liners visiting the town

The medieval walled town

Inside the gorgeous church in the harbour

Blogger is misbehaving and doing things out of order, hubby enjoyed stone stacking again

The evenings were lovely and as you can see I picked up some colour from the sun

The pirate ship enjoying the sunset

Which I'll be honest I couldn't blame them for (this was our hotel room view)

Beautiful Greek shots as we wandered the old town on the second occasion

The flowers on this plant were huge

I loved the colourful steps

Another selfie

The desserts always get me (sweet tooth) but honestly most of the time I was trying to work out what they were.

I enjoyed mocktails, hubby had asked the the lady behind the bar if she could make them more interesting for me, which was lovely of her. Mine is the sunset cooler on the left, hubby was enjoying an alcoholic mojito. 

We enjoyed reading (the kindles were an amazing addition to the holiday).  We loved chatting and generally just relaxing and I came back feeling so much better in myself (despite the weight gain, but as hubby pointed out I'd put it on quick and it seems to be disappearing as fast which is great). 

Thankfully my colleague at work had suggested I take an extra day of leave on Monday and I'm so glad I did as I was utterly shattered if I'm honest.  It also gave me chance to get top side of the washing, thankfully the weather was lovely when we got home and I was able to get it all done and dry on Monday with one final load on Tuesday which hubby sorted. 

I worked Tuesday and Wednesday which were a little heavy going after the relaxing week away, but I had a lot of work to catch up on. 

We had a thorough clean through on Wednesday night so we could enjoy our time off together.  

Then today I've enjoyed the day catching up with my sister we met in Ikea for a cuppa and then had a wander around, hubby was up to no good - apparently this is a Shakespeare quote

or

'To be or not to be' LOL

My sister was trying out all the baskets that she thought were 'witchy' and had us in hysterics and then we enjoyed a meal which was naughty, but has meant that we didn't need to come home and cook so a win win in my book. 

I hope you've had a lovely week and that you too have had some silver linings and positive moments to enjoy. 

Hugs