Forest Magic

 

Come on a trip to The Spellbound Forest. 

I shan't interrupt too much, just follow the path and weave your own story........................

 

Listen to the sweet music as you pass by but look for all the clues to get you to the ball.

 

The fairies all have such pretty wellies these days. So much more practical than silk slippers.

Stopping for ice cream or coffee is an absolute necessity. 

 

Some people you may meet have been here in the forest for such a long time.

 

Weave a magic spell and wish for pretty things, perhaps a perfect bed to rest a while....

 

Pick your gown, which will it be? Lace, silk or the finest velvet and dance all night in the Spellbound Forest.

A little adventure we had with little bird.

This was actually last year but I loved it so much that I had to share.

It was organised by Wild Rumpus

elinens review - pretty flowers and cooling colours

I love my home and sprucing it up so I was a lucky Homebird to be sent a bedding set from elinens to review. I was delighted to receive the Catherine Lansfield Ilona Duck Egg Duvet Set as it fits in perfectly with my love of the floral country cottage look. It's a delicate mix of shades of blue and a restful colour for the bedroom. 

It's full of big blousy flowers and has freshened up our bedroom perfectly for summer. We keep our room quite basic with the walls painted in off-white so this set really brightens up a neutral room and maintains the airiness. There are several colours used on the bedding from darker blue to light blue and grey so it is easy to find other items to coordinate with like cushions and throws. I have a Venetian masquerade mask on the wall above and a Laura Ashley light switch cover that just happened to match the bedding very well. Our house is Victorian and still has the beautiful original fireplace in the bedroom and this Ilona set is my usual style of bedding that in my opinion suits the vintage elements in the room.

What I also love about this bedding is that it is reversible - stripy on the other side of the duvet cover and the pillows. This is great so we can change and have a different feel to the room - I'd say more contemporary. A fabulous idea as I sometimes feel like a bit of a change from my usual shabby chic roses look. 

In such a warm week, this bedding has felt lovely, crisp and cooling to lie in. I gave it a wash yesterday to see how well it laundered and after a line dry it only needed the very quickest of irons - that's DaddyBird's domain as chief ironer :) Back on the bed it was softer and had kept it's shape. The set is button fastening which although I hate doing up and DB always buttons the wrong way, I prefer as they don't tend to come undone. I found the set to be a very well made quality fabric with well constructed seams and button holes.

At £15.97 for a double duvet cover set it is excellent quality for a bargain price. elinens have a huge range of bedding and many other items for around the home. I have seen some cushions that I would like and some bathroom accessories. Little Bird liked the bedding too and couldn't resist a cheeky bounce around. Do your children always 'help' around the house too ;) ? 


elinens sent me a bedding set for the purpose of the review but it is my own honest opinions and all the words and pictures are completely my own.

Daddy Bird's Childhood Park

We had a stroll around Daddy Bird's childhood park. A typical Victorian park opened in 1894 with tree lined paths and a bandstand. A little quiet now compared to DB's memories. A little ghostly. He lived in adjacent flats, huge flats with hundreds of people living there. Now demolished and houses in their place. The park served as the play area for all the children in the flats of which DB was one. Child of the 70's and 80's, full days spent at the park, turning up back at home before dusk for your tea. How times change. 

Running across the bowling green as a dare so the park keeper (parky) would chase you. Tee hee he. Knock a door run on the poor old man 'Jobby' that lived in one of the bottom flats and would hobble out with his stick. DB is slightly ashamed of this.

Looking for red squirrels, no chance of that now - only a few places with them in the UK. Murders happening, DB remember the body bag being taken out. How awful.

Making dens in the shrubbery and conker heaven in the autumn. The silver birch that in order to be a 'proper' lad you had to climb. Football matches between the different flats that lasted all afternoon. One of DB's friends called in for his tea every night by his mum blowing a whistle.

We strolled to the bandstand, a bit dangerous at the moment with one side of railings missing. Tut tut council. Obviously a park enjoyed by dog walkers, shame they don't all pick up. Yuk. I think I preferred DB's nostalgia. *Scrape, scrape*

November bonfires in the 80's that got out of control every year, with the fire brigade having to turn up. An out of control dog knocking the firework display over so they all fizzled to nothing.

Full of daffodils and kicking footballs at the cherry tree so the blossom fell down like ticker tape. DB's sister sneakily smoking in the park and being caught.....Tennis tournaments, bike races and playing British Bulldog.

Lots of stories of sledging down Devils Bump on cardboard boxes or carrier bags. In summer shouting up to your mum and dad when the ice cream van turned up. 10p coins being thrown down from the windows and quickly grabbing them to get your '99' ice cream. Grass fights when the grass had just been freshly mown.

 A very young Daddy Bird found a 'twig' and took it home to his mum one day. A gift of a flower for her. She still has it, it grew into a shrub and is in her current garden. The tales that greenery can tell.

Daddy Bird's old school, now a private girl's school. 'Twagging it' off school by doing a bunk out of the top fence and onto the canal towpath. What a beautiful building, I would like to look around.

It was funny hearing all Daddy Bird's old memories but I don't think we will go back :( A little shabby and not much happening. I grew up opposite a park too and I'll show you that another time. Sadly it will be a similar story of  a nice park becoming a bit dull or perhaps that is just nostalgia. Do places always seem better in the past? Of course they are entwined with our childhood and our fun at that time ignores the standing in dog poop or the broken bandstand. Play just carries on. Did you have a childhood park? What games and adventures did you have there?

How does your garden grow? Dad's late spring garden

My father's garden this time of year is a hive of activity. He grows his own flowers, fruit and vegetables so the greenhouse is full of seedlings in pots and toilet rolls. Pumpkins, sweetcorn, sweetpeas, melons, runner beans..... In here he has made his own staging heaters so that the seeds germinate quicker - Dad is a bit of an engineer and can make ANYTHING out of bits of wood and leftover junk.

Beautiful Clematis montana. I must buy one of these for my garden - not sure about propagating from this one, I think it is quite tricky to do.

A huge grape vine branches across the greenhouse and the clematis has found its way over the roof creating some shade.

Mum has some little attempts at prettying up the working areas of the garden. I think she'd like a lawn and borders garden but over the years it has become home to piles of manure (for the allotment) and a chicken shed. I will try and find some pictures for another week of how the garden used to be - my dad used to love a stripy lawn and rows of marigolds. It's much more wild now with a foxes set under the back shed (not the chicken's shed!) and the trees have taken over and created a lot of shade along one side.

The old pond still remains under the wigwam, not quite what it used to be and home of frogs but no fish. In the old days we would go to Stapeley Water Gardens and buy beautiful goldfish. Sadly, long gone and now a housing estate. There was a huge tropical house, the Palms Tropical Oasis with a central Koi Carp pond and an aquarium.I used to love going and can still picture being sat on the edge of the ornamental pond in my grey elephant jumper. For nostalgia's sake I've just found this little montage video of the Palms - just love the music :)

The beauty of flowers up close - bluebells, geranium and ivy flowers. The latter are great in floral arrangements, I used to use them a lot in my floristry classes. I was made redundant whilst pregnant with Little Bird and we had a retraining fund given to us. I chose to go to our local agricultural college to study floristry. Perhaps one day I will pick it up again but it is hard work and florists work such long hours. I still have all my kit in the shed - wires, frogs, pot tape, Oasis foam....Each week we covered a different type of arrangement such as hand tied bouquets. So much fun with a lovely group of ladies, such a shame I didn't continue.


These geranium flowers close up look quite tropical with their swirly whirly bits and what gorgeous colours too with the sun shining through the petals.

Linking to 'How does your garden grow?' with Mammasaurus.