Making an entrance

Do you remember when you were little and you drew a house with crayons? Square and symmetrical,  my houses were always finished off with a gate and a path that led to the front door. I'm still drawn to a house that makes a feature of the front path, bordered with a flower bed or scented lavender to welcome visitors. Here's some I've snapped on my travels around England.

Box gives a touch of formality to this house in Southwell in Nottinghamshire (a beautiful small Georgian town) ...

The lavender borders, that beautiful porch. How gorgeous is this Georgian house in Norwich?

A beautiful weathered brick path...

This cute little cottage in Ledbury just begs you to swing open the gate...

A grand, sweeping entrance in Southwell and such perfect symmetry...

This beauty could only be in Suffolk...

Back in Norwich...

An down in deepest Somerset...

This beautiful B&B is in Dunster...

The perfect cottage gate...

Weathered beauty

There's something quite beautiful in disintegration. Like these weathered fishing huts in Walberswick...

Or an abandoned hut...

...or boat on Dungeoness beach

A faded sign in Bradford-on-Avon...

A bench left to the elements...

...and a rescued fisherman's hut on Walberswick beach, still inhabited as a holiday home.

Afternoon tea at the Grove Hotel

My mother was a remarkable 90 years old last week so to mark the occasion I treated her and my son to tea at the Grove, the swankiest hotel outside London. The hotel has the most amazing gardens...

The England national football team were guests at the hotel - their rooms are somewhere behind the hedge (below)!

And here is the grand lady herself. My tiny Mum and very tall son...and yes, that is a giraffe behind them!

Odds and Suds

I've just booked to go on a soap making workshop next month http://www.oddsandsuds.com/ down in Tavistock in beautiful Devon. I'm soooo excited! It's something I've wanted to try for simply ages. It's all part of my future business plan when I can finally leave my day job and use my creative skills to start a small business. In the meantime they will make wonderful Xmas gifts. Here's some lovely soapy pictures from their website.....

So pretty...

Shame it's not scratch and sniff...

Sedums - autumn beauties

I love sedums and have them scattered through the garden. Lime green in spring turns to brilliant red in late autumn. Come September when everything else in the garden starts to wane sedums come into their own as they turn pink adding a beautiful glow in the soft autumn sun.

My new summerhouse

Autumn is upon us and I finally finish painting my lovely new summerhouse. Oh well - there's always next summer! It's painted in a creamy white - Farrow & Ball Joahs White. One day great novels will be written in here ... once I find a little table that is. I saw a lovely old French metal table in an antique store in Southwold last week. I had my debit card but the shop only took cash or cheques and the bank cash point was out of order! Unfortunately I went home empty handed - boo hoo!

A nice cup of tea and a sit down ... the view from inside the summerhouse back up the garden.