ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 38TH OF 2026

     Evening all, apologies for my lateness time to clock the positives of the last 7 days

As you will recall I was midway through my week away last week so I will finish off our week away

We had a day out at Cragside, a little bit further afield but somewhere we've visited before and always a joy to go. 

We got pictures in the garden, the whole site is on a hillside so lots of walking up and down the hillside

The valley at the bottom had a distinct feel of Puzzlewood with all its moss. 

We found another fallen tree piece of art which we assume is the same artist. 

Wandered up to the clock tower near the formal garden. 

Spotted creatures in trees, can you see its face and arms and antlers?  

Glorious views of the building, currently undergoing work on the roof so it has a lot of scaffold around it, but we still managed a reasonable shot of the place. 

Inside the 14 tonnes Italian marble fireplace really is a sight to behold. 

The final full day we decide to stay relatively close, we managed to go to Dilston Physic Garden, a garden full of medicinal plants, sculptures and a place to enjoy a beautiful garden. 

We spotted this fabulous tree

Sculptures amongst the plants

Ratty and Moley from the Wind in the Willows

Celtic Knotwork

This beautiful dragon

Who was just as impressive behind. 

This person in the hedge

The rain started just was we were getting a hot drink from the cabin, but there was a covered seating area to enjoy so we headed there.  

After we had finished at the garden we decided to go to Corbridge Roman Town 

and then into Corbridge where we bought a very expensive slice of carrot cake to share in the evening.  

Overall it was a lovely week away, a mix of relaxing time, reading and enjoying the hot tub as well as day trips out and on the last evening we were treated to this beautiful sky.  

We came home on Friday, got everything away and washing sorted.  Picked food up in readiness for birthday celebrations on the Sunday. 

Sunday came around and my wonderful daughter in law had gone to town with her baking. 

I can confirm that they were all utterly delicious the main cake was lemon flavoured and so very pretty in its autumnal colours. 

My grandson looking very pleased with himself. 

Monday arrived and our son's 26th birthday, however with it being a Monday we were all working, thankfully we'd celebrated on the Sunday. 

Tuesday, said 26 year old, his lovely wife and our Grandson all came for tea, so that was a nice catch up.  Our Grandson is now officially crawling and it has become very apparent that our home is definitely not designed for a toddler.  He'd been to nursery so was rather tired so they headed home around 8 o'clock. 

Wednesday I was in the office, I'd had a very busy working week as I'd been away and no one picks my work up when I'm off but it meant the working week whizzed by. 

Thursday and we had a very busy day, I deep cleaned the utility room, hubby popped the fans and some things into the loft.  We then sorted the freezers out updating the list and sorting the contents out so I knew what was where.  In the afternoon we went out and picked up some items we needed.

Thursday evening we went to the local theatre to watch Hound of the Baskervilles but nothing like I expected and it was laugh out loud funny which I doubt was the original intention when the book was written.

And that my lovely people is my week (and a bit).  I hope you've all had a good week, the autumn 'switch' seems to have occurred this week, not sure if it is the same where you are. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 44TH OF 2020

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

So as you will know from last week's post we were away last week, so this week you get the enjoyment of seeing what we got up to (as this week has been wall to wall work and trying to get back into the grove) 

So first up a trip to Brinkburn Priory, it surprised us as the church was intact despite Henry VIII dissolution of the monasteries, reading up afterwards it appears it was repaired in the Victorian era as it wasn't completely ruinous unlike some of the abbeys and monasteries around the country

The inside was beautiful and the stained glass absolutely gorgeous

The rear of the church and you can see the church on the left and the manor house built with some of the outbuildings on the left, although they used the original monastery footprint for the cellars.  The house is in ruins inside as they had a significant dry rot problem and I'll be honest, the church building and the half remaining cloisters were far prettier. 

then we toddled off to Newbiggin by the sea, to see their sea sculpture

The maquette to the statue is on the sea front, so we found that too

And managed to get a photo of the maquette and the statue in the shot, the artist is Sean Henry who did the man on the hill at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The following day we went to Belsay Hall Castle and gardens, it was a lovely day, very peaceful walking through the quarry garden and we loved the smell of the candyfloss tree that is grown quite prolifically here and smells at this time of year of burnt sugar

The hall and castle are always a beautiful sight I love the warmth of the stone.  We couldn't climb the tower due to the times we live in, but we did enjoy the solace, the fresh air and time with each other. 

Tuesday saw us visiting Alnwick Castle, always a favourite as it was used for filming Harry Potter in the first two films.  This particular wall is the one the Ford Anglia flies over in the second film for anyone interested. 

We also went in search of Professor McGonagall's room as we wandered, not sure which one it is.  

Alnwick has also been used in the last transformers film as well as a key filming location for Downton Abbey and it is still lived in by the family that own it. 

Wednesday and we headed to Bamburgh Castle, despite the fact that it is one of the most iconic castles in the country we didn't actually get a photo of the exterior.  Again still lived in by its current owner, I must admit to admiring this amazing ceiling inside. 

We also were due to visit Dunstanburgh castle but as you can see the rain was pouring, we got half way along the path to it (as that's the only way to get there) and had to admit defeat and turn back, so this is as close as we got! 

Thursday was our penultimate trip out and we'd opted for the beautiful National Trust house of Cragside with its surrounding gardens, built during the Victorian era by an Industrialist, it is always such a delight, originally this was moorland which he planted out its hard to believe that it hasn't always been woods. 

Final day back to Alnwick but this time the gardens, designed and built in the year 2000 they really are amazing, we spotted this lego sculpture of the gardens on our way in

And here is the grand cascade in all its glory

Absolutely beautiful day just missing some blue skies but we managed to dodge the raindrops

So as you can see we had a lovely holiday away, thankfully it was last week and not this week, because had it been this week we'd have had to cancel as our local area is now in a local tier 3 lockdown, which means no moving in and out of the area amongst other things. 

We arrived home bright and early on Saturday, said 20 year old had been home alone all week working on his university stuff, so he was grateful for some company and it was fabulous to catch up. 

The rest of the week has been washing, drying, work etc but I'm definitely grateful for the break last week, it was very much needed! 

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