ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 33RD POST OF 2016

Good Morning lovely people t'is Friday which means only one thing in this house

The first grateful is said 15 year old.  We've been talking for a while about sorting out our front garden, it is very steep and is deceptive as it looks quite small - but is actually a fair size.  Being at such a difficult angle it has always been difficult to mow and keep in check and over the years we've just kept it mowed.  However due to the extension on the house done prior to us moving in, we have to carry the mower through the house - impractical is an understatement. 

So last Friday said 15 year old and myself decided to expand the border at the bottom of the garden, taking the flower bed back up to what we think was the original line. 

I unfortunately had a rather painful back on the day so said 15 year old worked solidly digging it out and turning it over.  Whilst I tried to separate the soil (wanted) from the grass (unwanted).  

This is the garden at the end of the day - he worked solidly on the garden for about 6 hours!

Given the success of Friday rather than doing a house job on Saturday we all headed out into the garden.  My back had improved so we decided to extend the path at the bottom of the garden. 

Can you see that little green shrub, well that little green shrub has been in situ since we moved in and we've kept it trimmed down year on year, this time we had to dig it out - but the roots and the base were now enormous - that little green shrub set us back hours, but with lots of perseverance we managed to get it flat enough to allow the path to be extended!  

This was the garden at the end of the day - another solid day of working on the garden, but well worth it.  We are now considering terracing the rest of the garden and doing away with the grass altogether! 

As we finished off the garden and put the last of the slate on the path, said 15 year old proved that despite being almost 6 feet tall, he could still fit in my tiny boot! 

I was also giddy that I had two Rockettes from the past join in last Fridays post, it was lovely to read their posts - hopefully they will be venturing along more frequent! 

Sunday was officially a day off following 2 very busy gardening days.  We treated ourselves and went to see something that hubby had been desperate to see as can be seen from his favourite movie magazine! 

Suicide Squad was brilliant, thoroughly enjoyable, quirky, humorous and all round great entertainment! 

I also forgot to share anniversary present from hubby, not that I've had chance to read it yet! 

When we got back from the cinema we stopped at my Mum's for a cuppa and a natter and sat out in her garden, she has this huge fuschia plant in the garden and it is covered in these little beauties, that always look like dancing girls with pretty skirts on! 

Monday night saw said 15 year old making tea, this has become something of a norm and so it was lovely for him to make a gorgeous spag bol tea.  I almost forgot to get a picture of it! 

Wednesday evening we had tickets to go and see The Lord Chamberlain's Men at Chatsworth performing Much Ado about Nothing.  An all male cast that we've seen before on numerous occasions in numerous venues. 

Unfortunately the forecast dry evening, started to look less promising as the evening drew near and low and behold we had drizzle as we journeyed through Sheffield. 

It did however, stay dry enough before the play for us to have a picnic and enjoy the company.

As you can see Chatsworth is undergoing some rather extensive building works at the moment! 

Unfortunately, the weather did deteriorate as the evening progressed.  Thankfully we all had rain jackets and warm hiking boots and socks.  We also had a stack of blankets to keep us warm.  By the middle of the second half we were under a fairly consistent bout of drizzle so we had other waterproof items with us, my Mum for instance had brought her jubilee rain mac from when she went to see the Queen - it was down to her feet and kept her both warm and dry! Thankfully, we just about got away with it and we had a lovely evening.  Glad to get back in the car and in the dry we were able to reflect on a fabulous evening out! 

So there we go the week in view, some work, some play, some fun and some family time - you can't say better than that! 

If you fancy joining in, pop a post together, mention Rocking Your World and we shall come and visit! 

VIEW

Morning all, oh its a bit surreal sharing these layouts at the minutes as they are from this time last year, sigh - oh for a sea view this morning. 

We stayed at Seahouses in Northumberland last year and were close enough to walk to the beach every evening.  We were treated to a fabulous week weather wise and loved the evening sunsets, due to the coastline we did actually see it setting over the sea, which seemed weird given we were on the east coast of England! 

TREE HOUSE

Morning all, well this time last year we were enjoying the beautiful coastline in Northumberland, one of these trips was to Alnwick and they have the most amazing tree house to explore (its also a restaurant) - it is such a magical place to visit and explore!  

Hope you are having a great Sunday! 

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! 

BAMBURGH

Morning all and I find us at Wednesday morning already - where does the time go. 

I have had a busy old week up to now, mainly due to being back at work, being up at 6am to do a one and half mile walk and being utterly shattered of an evening, the crafting table is still being sadly neglected - sigh! 

However, I still have some layouts to share, this one was taken from the beach at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland.  

The Castle can be seen for miles along the coastline, on this particular day - hubby decided to head down a dead-end street - which I thought was a dangerous move given how busy the road was with cars.  At the end we found a car park and meandered along the beach to get numerous photos of this imposing castle. 

I first heard of Bamburgh through scrapbook magazines, Jane Dean who was a regularly contributor and one of my favourite scrapbook designers who appeared to to holiday in the area and this Castle appeared on a good few of her layouts. 

I miss those magazines and I miss learning about the things other people did in their lives as it prompted us to do something different. 

Bamburgh is privately owned and still lived in and you can visit it, so win win.  It was recently the filming location of Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender!

Layouts wise it was simply a mix of blues and greens and 'using up' some of the papers I had lurking on my desk using my hexagon die!

I hope you are having an awesome day and thank you for popping by! 

BEING HAGRID

Morning all, this layout documents the raised embankment by the walkway up to Alnwick Castle, this is where they placed Robbie Coltrane when filming Harry Potter to give the giant perspective of Hagrid.  When we visited last year I explained this to my sister, who insisted that we are stand and try 'being Hagrid' 

A fun family day out in a great location! 

Hope you have a splendiferous day! 

DETAIL

Morning all - well it is the 1st August 2016 - anyone else wondering where the year is going! 

A photo of some of the amazing detail at Alnwick Castle to share with you this morning, apparently the lamp on the right was one of the reasons they chose Alnwick Castle to film Harry Potter! 

I love the verdigris finish on these, many years ago I used to work in a bed factory and they made verdigris beds using a two colour paint effect, first powder coating the bed in bronze and then splattering the powder over it with a pale green - its amazing what memories come to light when you think about it! 

I hope you have a grand day!