Birdies, beasties and hedgerow bounty!

First big day trip of the hols and we made for one of our favourite birding places (Cley Marshes and Visitor Centre - worth a visit just to play with their remote control camera!) to see something special...
Off along the boardwalk to the hides... my goodness things have changed since I began coming here as a teenager - a quarter century and now you can get close to the birds with not a spec of mud touching your boots!
But the views are as stunning as ever and we feel so lucky that the beautiful boy is as happy as us to quietly sit and watch what nature has to offer.
I caught this flight of geese but completely failed to photograph a large group of Spoonbill! The largest group to visit the marsh since 1940, and there's a fine picture here. The boy was distinctly underwhelmed! He prefers the Egyptian Geese.
Off around the coast to where daddy spent many of his schoolboy summers. Rockpool dancing at West Runton, one of those activities where, love 'em or hate 'em, Crocs are the best footwear for the job!
And today a fantastic day of frisbee, ball games and dodging showers back at Castle Acre and some bug hunting and plant shopping at the beautiful West Acre gardens.

and a wonderful hedgerow discovery... nothing exciting here?
Oh yes there was! 1.5 kilos of beautiful sweet Wild Gooseberries! Lucky day! Chutney or Curd? Curd or Chutney? Oh such tricky decisions to look forward to later this week!
I've even had time for a little owl play. I finally finished a couple of Rosys. One is in my store but I'm also building up my stock ready for the Little Vintage Lover fair at Heydon on August 2nd! I'm really looking forward to a lovely day out!
And I've been playing with our new owl designs... but too late at night to get any good pictures!
Another day out tomorrow - more birds, more beasts... and no doubt more picnics in the rain! Don't you just love British Summertime! t.x

Freedom!

Busy little fingers signal the end of year gift-making for a lovely, lovely teacher we shall all miss very much!
I love the concentration of a child creating....
and my what a beautiful gift this term... this one really was hard to give away! But we already have plans for many more!
(Lovely teacher is also 'Brown Owl' for her local Brownies.)
In keeping with tradition the end of year pizza treat was speedily followed by the compulsory Toffee Fudge Glory!
The beautiful boy is delighted that he has 8 weeks free from scritchy woollen socks....
and we are all delighted that for a couple of months there will be less running around, chasing deadlines and clubs ... and much much more of this...
Happy holidays everyone! I'll post less often than usual for a bit but I shall be around to say hello from time to time! t.x

Going Green!

No I'm not talking ecology! I just seem to have a lot of green in my photos today! The View From Here is at it's greenest in June and I have just uploaded this picture to my Flickr set. This is the view from our kitschen window. I love to look at a slideshow of the changing seasons and it has been a lovely project to take the same picture every month for over a year now.
I bought some beautiful green plastic this week. I love this green. I have a few bits in exactly the same green from my gran's picnic set and for me it is a happy colour.
What's not to smile about here....
I also bought new pieces of Green Dawn showing the backstamp so this picture has been added to the Utility China group.
And I was delighted to be able to add two new backstamps to the collection this week. We now have 13 backstamps recorded - if you have any different ones we'd love to see them added to the group resource!
A very green sports day in glorious sunshine with just enough of a breeze to keep the children cool!
The beautiful boy won a medal for his speedy running and his House won the athletics trophy so we scooted off to our favourite Norwich coffee house for a glass of milk and Lemon Dribble treat (I know, it's not really interesting but allow me a moment to glow with motherly pride!)
Thank-you!
The window onto Elm Hill was looking beautiful as ever with this impossibly huge jug of cornflowers.
and as we left we were able to witness the horror of a fire on a timber framed street as 5 fire tenders squeezed into the narrow cobbled street. We walked around to the river side of the buildings and watched as events unfolded.
It didn't go well and I suspect the whole roof will be replaced. As we left the tiles were being smashed off and gallons of water was being hosed into the attic to quell the still smoking roof timbers.
And back home in the workroom... back to the green theme... two lovely green eyes....
I hope you are all enjoying a sunny weekend - a bit cooler over here thankfully. t.xx

A bit of this and that

Bit of a catch-up today! I have been tagged by a few bloggy friends. I am sorry to be so hopeless. I find tags impossibly complicated so I'm going to cheat and cherry pick my questions and muddle them all together!
First up Dulwich Mum and the eightsome tag! No blank spaces here DM, just missing questions!
1. Things you are looking forward to
i)The school holidays!! Only 9 more school run days to go and we're all free for 8 weeks! Hurrah!
ii) The next Little Vintage Lover Fair on August 2nd- this time at Heydon village hall which is a lovely venue and we are looking forward to a really fun day!
iii) Seeing what seeds come up in the garden - we threw them around a bit late this year so it's been fun seeing which flowers have been the most forgiving!
2) Things you did yesterday - should I remember??? Did I show you this scrummy little glass vase I bought? So perfect now that the sweet peas need to be cut every day.
And also thank-you to Bluebell and Rosie, I've cherry-picked a few from your tag too.
1. Coffee or Tea - well, morning coffee and afternoon tea of course!
2. What are you listening to right now - as I'm in the workroom it's usually an Audio book. I get the huge packs of CD's from the library - I love the luxury of an unabridged audio book - they sometimes just take over and follow me from the workroom to the kitschen to the car... this week's listening is Gallow's Thief by Bernard Cornwell. I am a HUGE fan of Bernard Cornwell but particularly when I can listen to one of his books being read by Richard Armitage - I think that would be my desert Island luxury. Sadly this book is not a Richard Armitage reading but still excellent nonetheless!
A bit of rip-roaring boys own stuff! Love it.
Love these book jackets too. More finds with their dust jackets intact. Beautiful pictures all, oddly, with a nautical theme. Must have been that kind of a day!
I found this recently too. It was full of old pennies and the container was incidental to the sale...
at least it was for the seller and the beautiful boy who has snaffled all the pennies... but I'm very happy with the container!
OOps! Meandered a bit there! Last tag question then....
3) Do you collect anything? ....Hmmmm. I should edit this one really to 'Is there anything you don't collect?" which might be a shorter answer! Instead I have had a big tidy-up over on my Flickr pages. I've sorted all my old pics into much more helpful sets; baking, china and glass, the kitschen etc..
This is a little mosaic from my Vintage Haberdashery set. I know, there are a few vintage beads in there, but I didn't know where else to put them so, as they live in glass jars with my buttons, they ended up in haberdashery!
1.Button play., 2. Blues, 3. Good button hunting!, 4. Vintage needles, 5. Useful bits and bobs, 6. The lovely glass hearts, 7. All tidy, 8. Buttons tin, 9. Button storage

And last but by no means least, a 'One Lovely Blog' award from Buttons and Flowers. Thank-you kindly!
That's all for today. I'm off to meet Mrs Bobobun again today at a lovely tea shop in the city. Lots of exciting things going on which we'll be able to tell you all about soon! t.x

A very English Day.

Well what a treat we enjoyed today! Our neighbours invited us to join them and their Vintage Cycle Club friends for a ride to our local fete. But first we were all treated to a preview of their latest renovation! Their home is a complex of 1940's air force buildings which were built during World War II and comprised the dorms and hospital for Shipdham Airfield.
Their latest renovation is a most exciting project. All being completed in authentic 1940's style ready to be used for Garden and Horticultural Skills Workshops! Mr Doubleday, our friend, has worked as a professional grower and gardener for over 50 years and so the likes of us will be sure to gain an extreme step forward from even one days workshop!
But as if that were not enough, on completion of a course you gain access to the beautiful club room for on-going inspiration and support. Hubby is already keen to book himself onto the first workshops!
The site alone is an inspiration. Many buildings remain preserved but un-renovated. It is redolent of the history wrapped up in this area.
All covered over with beautiful English roses.
This is where Mr and Mrs Doubleday live. The first building to be renovated.
You can imagine I LoVE that ice-cream blue paintwork and the garden is, as you might expect, an English haven...
Delphniums, Hollyhocks, Lavender and Roses, just as you would want around a cottage window.
And inside the nostalgia continues... a quick peek? I thought you might want one..
I am in love with that armchair!
Now, did I mention bikes? Well, there were some very beautiful bikes too. All lovingly restored and maintained...
Although this family rode on a combination of 41 gears between us and our relatively new bikes were probably the tattiest ones there!
and at the fete the sun was shining on a perfect afternoon. Do you spy the Beryl tea-cups used in the village hall? Ah bliss!
Life doesn't get much better than this....
For me the Hardingham Fete is always one of my favourites of the year, not least because of their Flower and Produce Show. These events are a huge love of mine, A garden on a saucer...
Butterfly cakes....
Did you ever see such a fine butterfly cake??
Ripe and luscious fruits picked at their prime and proudly displayed...
Three roses one variety.....
And of course there was a plant stall presenting logistical problems for the long ride home!
And to top it all off, in true English summer style, half way home the heavens opened and we were soaked ....
Well, that's an English summer's day for you. Where would we be if we couldn't talk about the weather!
I hope you have all enjoyed a lovely weekend wherever you are in the world. t.xx

If you would like to know more about the Garden and Horticultural Skills Workshops at Doubleday Nursery which begin in late July this year, you can contact Mr Doubleday on 01362 820007 or email him adoubleday@doubledayandco.co.uk
Another neighbour is about to open her beautiful farmhouse as a Wolsey Lodge, so first class accomodation will be just down the road!
See you in the clubhouse!

Chasing my tail!

Well of course there has been time for some field sale rummaging! I'm never too busy to make time for that! A good haul of Dean classics - many with the original tatty dust jackets I love. Some lovely tins and boxes, and just a few of the linens I've gathered this week. Some of these are already being used!Two lovely pieces of fabric which I shall use for boy projects. We do quite a lot of vintage for boys around here. I don't want a mutiny over the florals!
Another lucite brooch for my collection - this one was 70p which I thought was ok but still not as good as 10p...
A very lovely old pram - I bought this with a friend in mind and so it is already on it's way to a new home where it will be made to look just incredible I am sure - I shall let my friend post about it when she has worked her magic one day!
You remember the garden set we only just got around to renovating having bought it at auction a couple of years ago?
Well somehow another beautiful old bench has found it's way up the garden and this one needs quite a bit more work! But meanwhile I think it looks just gorgeously elegant the way it is!
And I thought I'd share with you a few irresistable pictures of the home of the Bobobuns!
What a treasure trove! I had a lovely time looking around...
and that chocolate cake was scrummy too!! Have a lovely weekend everyone! t.x

Open all hours!

Friends have been to lunch for a long overdue catch up!
And they bought me flowers and you know how much I love to be brought flowers!
These luscious lilies finally opened today and there are 9 buds still to come! The scent is intoxicating.
Oh and I've been playing with buttons! Mainly I have been playing with lovely colourful plastic buttons because, lucky lucky me, my new friend came to my rescue and sorted all the tricksy techie stuff which had me beat so that I could have fun with the pretties!!
I have wanted for some time to gain an extra column over there on the right...and to put something pretty in the background for you.
You know what it's like? I go to the html and there's just a sea of incomprehension. I think of this when I am reading with the beautiful boy. Is that how big words look to him?
So, a HUGE thank-you Craig! I am tickled pink with my new playground and I am still having fun decorating!
Oh and I've been busy with my new little shop too! It is finally open for business and it would be lovely if you wanted to pop in for a browse!
Do let me know if you find any hiccups! I can't test for a PC at home and I have done a bit of website re-decorating and Flickr organising too so it's been busy busy here and I might have missed a few things... You will tell me won't you?!
And if you too would like to have an extra column, or to add your very own pretty background then I can vouch for Craig who has the patience of a saint! You can contact him by email;
info@fadedsplendour.com
I have exciting things lined up for the rest of this week; lots of creative busyness, lunch with mums tomorrow (mine and Niki's!) and cake for breakfast with Mrs Bobo Bun! I'm being spoiled! Back soon! t.xxx
P.S. I'm still not sure that I would say that I have seen 'The Sound of Music' .... but I have seen a version which was quite unforgettable! There is something inherently funny about a school made up mainly of boys, performing a play in which the parts are mainly female - many of them Nuns! We had a rip-roaring time! The mountain goat was especially wonderful .... who me? Biased? Never!!