Thursday 29 January 2015

Spring is in the air...








It's 5am and I can hear the wind howling down the chimney. It makes a kind of squealing sound in the bedroom upstairs. It's the most wintery weather we've had so far, and yet the light is changing each day, and spring is in the wind...

The mechanical digger finally exited the garden on Saturday, and with it the beautiful topsoil that I loved to feel trickle through my fingers. We've been promised more, if we can just wait a little while. I explore the garden to see what's left behind and find that Hellebores have pushed their way through rubbish and stones, their twisted bodies a travelogue of their journey. The wild birds party with the worms. They stayed faithfully during building havoc and now fly to the eves, their beaks threaded with straw. 

Last week building-work on the house overwhelmed...Three steps forward and two steps back...Conservation Officers and miss-information...New decisions to make and sleepless nights. 

Then nice things...lots of them to calm me down. Lovely mail. The best of all, a Thank You card with daughter's warm words, phone calls from friends and family and books from online shops; nothing deep and meaningful, entertaining mysteries, a Scandinavian crime novel with a murder on a snowy bear hunt, another in a Canadian village. A kind complimentary email from lovely new neighbours, praising our renovation choices and offering to select eggs from their chickens specially for us. Comments from my nice blogger friends, and an amazing 1,758 pageloads on the blog in one day! I don't think that's ever happened before. 

Always trips to and through the villages and countryside are the chamomile that calms my soul (A & H, too). We made time to actually stop on route through Eardisland. The prettiest village with a shop in  a Georgian dovecote. We bought honey biscuits and vintage books.

Then to Leominster with lots of amazing antique shops and our favourite reclamation yard to source lampshades for the kitchen, and maybe do a deal. We found three vintage industrial lampshades in the same grey to match one we'd already sourced from here. We did the deal...a good one, and got one free... Then we found a treat for the birds and plants for the garden. Hoped for, blowsy gypsy grass : gypsophila, Baby's breath, sky blue Agapanthus and pretty pink echinacea purpurea.

We lunched at cosy Empire tearooms. Like stepping back in time for mum's home cooking. Home to catch 1940's black and white movies, and powdery snow fall again whilst pouring over patterns here and stocking up on toasty Icelandic yarn here...

...hope that you are keeping toasty and warm too...
debx

21 comments:

  1. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for sharing all these beautiful photos!!! Such eye candy! They make my desire to visit your beautiful country even stronger. Someday I will see those beautiful, quaint villages for myself. :)
    I'm glad you are able to get a break from the ongoing construction and visit such lovely little shops and have tea and soak in such British goodness.
    Congratulations on so many page downloads on your blog!!!

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  2. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for sharing all these beautiful photos!!! Such eye candy! They make my desire to visit your beautiful country even stronger. Someday I will see those beautiful, quaint villages for myself. :)
    I'm glad you are able to get a break from the ongoing construction and visit such lovely little shops and have tea and soak in such British goodness.
    Congratulations on so many page downloads on your blog!!!

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    1. Oh you are welcome Emily. Thank you...I sometimes think I may have overdone the pictures and you'll get bored with them. Looking back I think that I may have uploaded a couple of them twice! Hopefully you will see these villages for yourself one day.
      I know about the pages. I don't usually check my statcounter report, then I did one day last week and was so surprised. I even copied the page and saved it. I doubt it will happen again any time soon.
      Have an amazing weekend,
      debx

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  3. you find the BEST little hidden wonders!!! Love traveling with you!

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  4. Thanks Steph, we are very lucky that these gems are so close to home.
    Glad to have you along for the ride...
    Have a great weekend.
    debx

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  5. love when you show us where you live, so magical and spring is far away from me with the amount of snow we have. Glad that the renos are going well and progress is made. Sounds like your neighbors are kind and wonderful!! Have a good weekend :)

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    1. We keep having snow forecast Karen but so far we haven't really had anything apart from a few sprinkles. I know that you love winter weather and hope that you are having cosy, toasty knitting sessions.
      Debx

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  6. Such lovely places that you go to. I am visiting Leominster tomorrow and plan to pop into Bromyard and Hay on Wye. I have not been to them since I was a little girl when my Dad would take us fishing. Glad everything is going well with all the work you are having on your home, and don't stop taking all these wonderful photos, they are a wonderful sight for someone who wishes she could live in the country and look our over fields and mountains in the background instead of busy roads and shopping centres. You are truly blessed with a good life xx (by the way did you manage to see the post with your ? dressing in that I asked about last time). Lots of love Sharonx

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    1. Hi Sharon,
      Thanks for such a lovely long comment and I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to reply. I hope that you had a wonderful weekend. I wonder if you spent some time in Booth's when in Hay, it's may new favourite bookshop. We are very lucky to be living here now and I keep pinching myself that I'm not dreaming.

      I spent about half an hour checking through the blog Sharon to see if I could find the recipe you were looking for but couldn't. I will spend some more time and have another look for you.

      I'll try not to take so long. Thanks for your patience.
      love debx

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  7. This is real Escape to the Country stuff and I love it. Some great little places to visit there. Interested to see photos of your garden when you get it sorted. We are at the end of our agapantha's now - all long swords with dead flower heads have been chopped and carted away for green rubbish recycling and the hedge of stroppy green leaves are looking nice and neat again. I did manage to salvage a couple of big blue and one white flower head for a vase on the front verandah and they have lasted another week. Such a versatile plant and a wise choice for the garden as they need little maintenance. Have a good weekend.

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    1. Thanks magnolia. I can't wait to start gardening. It's a bit of a blank canvas at the moment. It's good to know that the agapanthus are easy to look after. I would appreciate any suggestions that you have for low maintenance plants that

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    2. Whoops...I'm writing this on a borrowed iPad and it keeps jumping!! Then published before I finished writing...my fault. I meant to say plants that are just as versatile and beautiful as the agapanthus. Happy day.
      Debx

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  8. Debby, I am sure that the problems will end and you'll have a beautiful home and a nice garden - While I love your posts.
    Happy weekend!

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    1. Thanks montes, I know that you have had similar experiences so appreciate your kind comments.
      Have a good day. Debx

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  9. Lovely photos Deb. It must be nice to be surrounded by so much beauty outside when inside things are probably a bit all over the place still. Still, the promise of Spring makes everything seem better doesn't it? I'm so glad you have chosen some blue agapanthus for your garden. They are very popular here in the older Melbourne suburbs and come out in full glory in the lead up to Christmas so I always associate them with happy times. Hopefully they'll bring happy times for you too.

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    1. Hi caz. When things overwhelm going outside just reminds us why we are there. I can't wait to explore properly and not just be driving through and actually take time to enjoy it more...hopefully soon.

      I'm so exciting to start work on the garden and now the agapanthus will make me think of Australian sunshine even on rainy days..
      Take care,
      Debx

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  10. Debbie, how beautiful. Good luck putting up with the gradual and uneven forward movement.

    And as spring arrives for you...winter has hit us in the northeast US! There's over 3 feet of snow and more coming next week. This was a little more than I had in mind when I said I wanted it!
    Erin

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    1. Oh how wonderful about the snow...I'll come over to your blog and read all about. I hope there are some nice Narnia-esque photos. I hope it wasn't too much for you.
      debx

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  11. Another wonderful post, Deb.. Enjoyed visiting all those places with you.. Take care and enjoy your Spring. I just can't imagine it, yet... smile. xo

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  12. Another wonderful post, Deb.. Enjoyed visiting all those places with you.. Take care and enjoy your Spring. I just can't imagine it, yet... smile. xo

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    1. Hi Faye, It's so good to have you along. I thinks it's with the birds picking up bits of straw to start building their nests, the snowdrops and green shoots and just that something in the air that tells you spring is just around the corner. I love each season in their own special ways.
      Keep warm,
      debx

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