Chester Cathedral at Christmas

 A last snippet of Christmas before the New Year. Over the festive period we visited Chester again after the joy of the winter watch parade and stepped into the beautifully lit cloisters at Chester Cathedral for the Christmas Tree Festival. Forty trees decorated by local business and community groups from schools to restaurants. There were such wonderful decorations - angels, shiny red buses, bottle of Tabasco sauce (!) and ribbons, bees and animals. Here are some glorious snippets to end the Christmas period. 

My M&S Magical Dining Room

My M&S Magical Dining Room by happyhomebird 

Love Chic Living and The Treasure Hunter are hosting a wonderful blogger's competition to put together our dream dining room from Marks & Spencer. I have chosen items for a Spring Tea Party with pretty items with insects and animals on such as the bee wall art & vase with the Sketch Chicken mugs. A party isn't complete without fairy lights and these white and sets would be pretty hung over picture frames. 

Some floral pieces would make the table look very pretty so floral plates and a gorgeous red poppy in a  pot. All on a crisp white and blue table cloth. I'm picturing coffee and tea aplenty with cute cupcakes and a jugful of elderflower water. 

Red accents such as the Globe Glass Pendant would look striking as would the retro red clock. I love to mix and match and would team blue chairs with a white table and mix tableware for an eclectic feel.

Mind the buzzy bees and have a slice of cake xx

Here are all my items:

Great British Bake Off Cake Tin  £15

Great British Bake off 2 Tier Cake Stand  £19.50

Woven placemat £5

mini cupcakes £18

Red Heart LED Battery Lights £5

Sketch Chicken Jug  £25

10 White Heart Battery LED Lights  £19.50

Stripe tablecloth £50

Sketch Hen Side Plate £7.50

Floral dinnerware £7.50

Vintage Style Glass Jug £20

Indigo Serving Bowl £25

Butterfly Tray £20

Ladybug Frame Art £35

Bunny home decor £12

Slate Memo Board Plaque £20

Retro Dome Case Wall Clock £25

Vase £9.50

Small Heart Hanging Tealight Holder  £7.50

Extension dining table £359

Barnes Chair £103

Kids Corner Princess Bubbles  £2

Feather Print Jumbo Mug  £8

Sketch Chicken Mug  £8

Globe Glass Pendant £69

Stainless Steel Heart Cafetière  £20

Bees Wall Art  £25

Wild Poppy in Ceramic Vase £25

We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo........

// 1. Dear Zoo Blackboard wall sticker £14.99 // 2. Elephant Nursery Print £10 // 3. Penguin Beanbag £80 // 4. Giraffe coat hook £9.42 // 5. Giraffe & Zebra toy sacks £25 // 6.Vintage zoo print £14.95 // 7. Zoo escapees lamp shade £28 // 8. Elephant paper lights £9.66// 9. Zoo cushion £23 // 10. Zoo ceiling lights £63 // 11. Zoo dominoes £20 // 12. Zoology duvet set £19.50 // 13. Animal Alphabet Print £25 // 14. Elephant light £70 // 15. Lion chair £28 // 16. Personalised zoo print £15 //

Little Bird loves animals and would love these zoo themed items. I especially love the lampshade and I suspect he would love the little red lion chair. Spoilt for choice I was when choosing these items particularly when picking prints to brighten up the walls. I'm tempted to buy the giraffe coat hook for by the front door, I think he is fab. Which items do you like?

Joining in with Wednesday Wishlist at Mummy Alarm. 

The Snug Room

 What was once just a dining room has slowly evolved into a snug room where we spend most of our time. It is the warmest room in the house, especially since the addition of a wood burner and with a plentiful supply of logs from my father, the fire is always raging on the coldest days. The dogs of course like this room very much and toast their bellies on the rug or have a snooze on the sofa. My mum and nana knitted the throw, hour after hour of knitting squares and then sewing it all together to make what reminds me of Elmer elephant and a cheerful feel to the room.
I found this small church pew in a junk shop in town and painted it up. It has become Little Bird's book shelf and he happily selects his favourite books and brings them over to me to look through. There's just a few in the pictures but now it is crammed full! Underneath I store various bits and bobs in pretty boxes. The room has also become what I term my home school room. I created a small desk area with more shelving for LB's books that I rotate by season or topic. My once huge book shelf is now used like a cupboard for our crafting materials, games and activities. The curtains keep it all nicely hidden otherwise it would look so cluttered. It's great having the materials to hand and LB now likes to have a nosy in here to see what he fancies doing. Yesterday I caught him in the act of dragging a little stool in front of it to try and reach some flashcards. Eeek! Good thinking though. The printer's tray I picked up from the street market at Bridport, Dorset whilst on holiday there. It houses my tiny quirky items & I keep adding to it with things I find along the way. The best thing we have got for the house is the wood burner. I have perfected the art of starting a fire which at first I found quite tricky. I'm now experimenting with making our own fire-lighters using old candle wax, lint from the tumble drier, used teabags.... Oh how I love recycling.Now in an ideal world I would have hours to sit in here and read all my books and maybe write. The reality is that I'm usually surrounded by toys, books and games with a ball bouncing round and the dogs in and out every time they hear somebody get within metres of the house :) Sometimes at about 10pm I might get a little bit of time before I'm far too tired and it's lovely to wrap myself up in a blanket, light a candle and read a little of my history novels that I'm really into at the moment. Treasured moments.

Dig the City - Part 2

 

Back in Manchester again for the second part of the horticultural meets city tour. The first half is here if you haven't seen it. I was really tempted to buy another Hydrangea as the one in our garden didn't flower this year - no idea why? I think I'm going to get one in the spring to go in a big tub at the front door so I can manage the pH of the soil better. I'd like to blur the edges of our small driveway a little with some flowers.... so Hydrangea and Lavender will be a pretty combination. Think froth. 

 

Another idea I have is to put a mini pond together and the picture below has inspired me with Primulas and Astilbe as marginals.

 

Through the arcade into King Street where all the posh shops are. 

 

To a funny little alley with umbrellas above and interesting detail. Boardman's Entry it is called, found after a bit of internet searching. The inspiration for the brollies was the scientist John Dalton who apparently kept weather records of rainy Manchester. I found a great site by the way for finding amazing architectural delights in the city  - Skyliner

 

Gorgeous VW Campervan that I would love. Some care has gone into restoring this.

 

Vertical gardening ideas here reminding me to complete my pallet garden next year. I think this is so effective and will break up the fence at the bottom of our garden a bit. I'm thinking grasses and Day Lillies with some Heucheras .

 

Little Bird loved his buggy ride around Manchester. He has become very lazy recently and just will not walk anywhere. If we don't take the pushchair with us he runs around the front of us, arms up and if we don't pick him up there will be a full on knees tantrum. He's 2 stone and my arms are going to be stretched. 
What to do? 

 

John Rylands Library - a truly spectacular building. I've never been inside which is shocking and seek to remedy this soon. 

 

Next to such modernity. 

 

I fancy one of these huge red pots at the front door. Hmmm I may be on the lookout for one now and paint it up. 

 

Glass, glass, glass.

 

A city garden, very trendy with the orange chair. Must grow Dahlias next year.

 

More my style. Rustic and using whatever is available. Plenty of herbs.

 

I think this the back of The Palace Theatre. Reminds me of Alice in Wonderland with the colours.

Cupcake cafe! Box shrubs in shocking pink containers - yes please. Another idea.

 

That concludes my little tour around Manchester and I did get some inspiration for our front and back gardens. I'm doing nothing more than tidy up the garden now, no more spending aside from spring bulbs. It's always nice to make a few plans to get you through the winter's armchair gardening though.