ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 32ND OF 2016

And I find myself at Friday again - although unsure how that exactly happened if I'm honest.

Given that the week has been pretty much wall to wall work sigh - I thought I'd share a few things that we came across last week that I didn't share last Friday (in effect I'm still riding the euphoria of our week away).

I know Lisca likes to photograph doors as much as I do - I'm always intrigued as to where they lead - so here is one I photographed in Lacock Abbey - I love all the metal studs on the door! 

Lacock Abbey has quite a number of gargoyle/grotesques around the premises in various locations.  They know one day that these will deteriorate and need replacing, so they've already organised the replacements living them in the brew house for all to see - I loved being able to see these up close, although I'm struggling to choose a favourite!  Possibly the second one or the second to last one.

This was the doorway leaving the brewhouse - I loved the view out and how the greenery was growing around the doorway.

Outside this building we discovered this plant - it was the full height of the barn (which was two stories) and had the most amazing smell - I have never come across the flower which such a beautiful citrus like smell.  We asked the lady in the second hand bookshop if she knew what the plant was and she reliably told us it was magnolia grandiflora the flower was bigger than my hand - so you can imagine the scent!

This is the seed head after the flower dies off - how amazing is it - it looks like a peculiar take on a pineapple!

And here is one still in situ!

Another shot of the flower!

And the gateway into Lacock Abbey - another stunning piece of architecture - and yes blue skies always helps! 

Avebury Manor house provided the opportunity to play Lord and Lady of the house! 

And another gateway at Avebury Manor

Avebury was one of our favourites.  The Church (just outside the stone circle) was one of the most welcoming and inclusive churches I've been in for a while.  The heart tree was somewhere to put your prayers and I think it looks amazing. 

They also had a pebble pile that you could sit and hold and think about things and then once you'd done you placed it in a jug of water.  Both me and said 15 year old did just that and found it really calming.  

On the way out of the church there was also a large storage box that contained lots of items.  A note on the outside, for anyone camping, hiking or rough sleeping the items inside the box were there for people to utilise, there were sleeping bags and wetwipes etc - a really thoughtful and useful way of the church working with its visitors - it certainly raised a smile from us! 

The final day me and hubby headed to a pub where there was a large beer garden, the whole garden was surrounded by flowering lavender which smelt absolutely divine! 

So there you go me riding the crest of a wave with the holiday. 

There have been lots of little positives this week - I've just not got photos to document them as it were. 

Said 15 year old spending time getting on with a few jobs that I set him, he has just got on with them, no whinging or whining - which means the house runs a bit more efficiently and he isn't stuck to the Xbox for too many hours!

Whilst my scrapping mojo is still missing, I have managed to do some more artwork around the Sheffield herd.  I set to last weekend doing these little beasties.  I honestly was fighting with them, I got to a point where I didn't think I'd be able to recover them into something I actually liked and you have to remember that I'm not an artist!  But with the inspirations of the Hendo's Elephant from the herd I managed to make these. 

Other positives are chats with the WW girls.

Said 15 year old coming home and playing Wanted Dead or Alive on his acoustic guitar!

Me and hubby celebrating 26 years of meeting each other - it really doesn't seem that long at all! 

And this morning on our way back from our morning walk, finding not one or two but three families of swallows flying in and out of nests and clinging to the wall below! 

Absolutely fabulous stuff! 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 31ST OF 2016

Good afternoon lovely people - apologies for the delay in posting today but we have literally just landed back after a week away in the lovely county of Wiltshire.  

We were quite late booking this one but had a lovely cottage for the week, although the beds were a little on the firm side for my decidedly dodgy back if you know what I mean! 

However, apart from that we wanted for nothing, there was even a welcome basket with biscuits, crisps and wine in it as well as butter, milk and cheese in the fridge!

The village we stopped in was called Corsham (they filmed a lot of Poldark there apparently although we didn't watch the series ourselves).  It is not far from a the National Trust village of Lacock - famed for its filming as well including Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets and Half Blood Prince.  

Being National Trust members we got to walk around Lacock Abbey, this is one of those knocked down during the dissolution of the monasteries and then later sold to a private owner who used the remains to build a country retreat.  It was very lovely to have a walk around and the inventor of the photography lived there at some point in the dim and distant past.  

Inside the great hall were terracotta statues in the niches.  

And a display of costumes from the Hollow Crown series on the BBC in particular I liked the costume that Benedict Cumberbatch wore as Richard III. 

This corridor was used in Harry Potter!

As was this, we saw Professor Quirrell's classroom as well as the place where the Mirror of Erised was housed - I love me a Harry Potter film location it has to be said!  

We even managed a selfie in the cloisters. 

We wandered the gardens and had a thoroughly lovely day! 

Corsham is mighty pretty as you can see! 

With a lovely church that we wandered around

And found this rather strange gravestone

We jaunted over to Fleet Air Arm museum, said 15 year old checked out the life rafts!

We got to see the second Concorde (the first British one) used for experiments at a point when they were trying to find out if it would be possible to fly super sonic. 

The day after we had pre-booked tickets for Stonehenge, I will be honest and say I never actually thought I'd get to see this place.  Don't ask me why.  We had a fabulous few hours, walking around the stones, checking out the exhibition and enjoying the gift shop and cafe!

We were also visiting on a lovely blue sky day as you can see!

The day after and we headed to Avebury - the biggest stone circle in Britain complete with a pub and church within the circle apparently!  Now here we were able to get up close to the stones (something sadly that you can no longer do at Stonehenge). 

As you can see (I've no idea what I was doing but I didn't know hubby was taking the photo). 

The Manor house at Avebury is famous for a BBC TV series the Manor Reborn, where the BBC were given permission to do whatever they wanted to the house.  As a result all the rooms are interactive in that you climb on the beds, check out the chairs etc, because whilst the items might look old they are only about 5 years old!  

Even the exercise chair was fun to try out - for those wet days when you don't want to take the horses out but still want the exercise, said 15 year old said it was strange!

Me and hubby also managed a jaunt to Stourhead, unfortunately said 15 year old was not feeling a hundred percent and so he stayed put for the day and rested watching DVDs etc. 

Again we had another blue skies afternoon to explore!

And our final day (are you still with me) we went to Glastonbury.  Somewhere we all fancied going.  We loved the crystal shops of which there were numerous, thankfully my friend Sam had told us which was the best one to go to, so we headed there and we not disappointed! 

She also recommended a wander up to the Chalice Well just outside Glastonbury, it was just what we needed to recharge our batteries if I'm honest.  

And there we have it, grateful to be able to explore.  Grateful that we managed to have some fun family days out with blue skies.  Grateful for a lovely cottage and grateful for spending time together. 

We are home, utterly shattered but feeling very positive about our lovely week away! 

I hope yours has been grand, if you fancy joining pop a post together, mention that you are joining in Rocking Your World, pop back and link up and we can come and visit!