A Spooky Treacle Market

 The Treacle Market in Macclesfield again - this time with a spooky feel. Plenty of pumpkins, mysterious stalls and one little grumpy boggart.  Much stomping of feet and despite the fun autumn atmosphere, this little sidekick of mine was not happy at all.....until he had a super duper burger from a stall. With relief we could then look around at the eclectic stalls from Gothic wares of skulls and Victorian photos to antlers and gas masks. Much inspiration. 

I could buy so much here, all these unusual items for my little museum I call home. With a few bits of Victoriana, some Halloween bits and pieces for Little Bird, broomstick tucked under arm and sugar skull mask hooked on my bag we listened to music, watched dancing and came away smiling. So mental note for you all - boggarts can be bought with cheese burgers and a bit of silliness.

The history girls

Back on a sunny October weekend in London with the history girls and for Richard III. Laugh -  never stopped all weekend with my best friends who inspire me so much. We had a quick look around Southwark Cathedral before having a couple of drinks by the Thames, waving at the boats going past. Yeah spot the country bumpkins, whooping and marvelling at everything.   The evening was to be spent meeting our London friends for a birthday party for Richard III, 563 years old and still winning the hearts of ladies. Well he is the best king in British history after all. Into the George Inn near Borough Market we went where we took over the top level, had a great meal, a Medieval quiz and a few glasses of wine raised  - To Richard, without whom we never would have met. We sound crackers don't we. As my friend Marion says - we are amiable lunatics. Nobody would eat Richard's face so it's probably tucked up somewhere by a bedside. 

I should add that this 17th century inn is spectacular and you must go if you are in London - the only galleried pub left in the city. Food is really nice and absolutely the whole experience is very atmospheric.
 The next day was the Societies' AGM where I purchased my own weight in books and we laughed some more. The talk was all about the arming of a knight complete with demonstration so just my thing. When you've found your tribe it just all fits together and the weirdness that makes your little heart soar is in good company. 

A rainy Dig the City - urban garden festival

 It was a very rainy day but I don't like to miss Manchester's Dig the City and have very much enjoyed the festival in previous years. Gardens amongst the city architecture and some great community gardens, perhaps a little scaled down this year but I still saw some fabulous creative ideas to share with you. 

Open day at the town allotment

The climbing of runner beans and flowering of dahlias tell me that it is time for the allotment open day in the next town. A chance to view the competition, admiring rows of onions inter-planted with rainbow chard and greenhouses filled with tomatoes and cucumbers.

West Kirby Marine Lake

 It was a sudden decision last weekend to head out to the Wirral Peninsula, another reasonably local destination that we have rarely explored yet there is so much to do there. We had a walk along the promenade, exploring the gardens and then went to take a look at the crabbers on the small jetties by the marine lake. Even the seagulls were joining in as we saw one gull quickly swoop down and in a few seconds guzzle a crab right down. 

Father's Day weekend

We had such a busy weekend from going to Peterborough Heritage Festival to visiting my Dad for whom not only was it Father's Day but it was also his birthday on the same day. Lucky Dad.

Scrapbooking #BostikBloggers

We have been a bit out of sorts on the crafting front for one reason or another. Little man can get quite determined in his likes and dislikes and crafting has been off the agenda for a little while. However, I decided to try again and bring out our Bostik Bloggers craft box, full of goodies, for our latest theme of scrap-booking.

To bring back some holiday memories, we printed off some images from our trip to Cornwall and set about making a little display for our home education area. We used:

Card

Bostik foam pads

Photos

Washi tape

Stickers
Foam shapes

Coloured paper
Cellophane

Rick Rack

Material scraps

Glue

Thread

We stuck our pictures onto the card using the Bostik Foam Pads to give a 3D effect and then started to decorate using our lovely box full of embellishments - Washi tape, stickers, foam shapes and some coloured paper to make labels. Toby found some blue cellophane that we glued on and with some material scraps we decided to make a little sailing boat. Some thread became the mast pole and some rick rack were the waves.

Finally, we stuck it onto the wall with our cute pink Bostik Blu Tack. Now we have a holiday remainder to talk about and cheer us up on these wet and windy days.

The craft box was provided to me by Bostik as part of the Tots100/Bostik Craft Bloggers Club

A bygone era of table jellies and servants

Back on Saint David's Day we headed over into north east Wales for a visit to the National Trust property Erddig near Wrexham. A grand 18th Century estate with beautiful gardens that I was keen to see but the weather changed its mind whilst we were on our way and turned into one of of heavy rain showers. After arriving we ran past the workshop area and into the main hall for shelter and took a look around the servants area which is downstairs - at the time, the rest of the house wasn't open.

A Medieval jaunt at Chirk Castle in North Wales

I still have our days out from over December to talk about. I know it is January and Christmas is probably boxed off in a compartment of your mind up in the loft until at least next November but I do love sharing when a place has inspired me..This was our trip to Chirk Castle in North Wales (we do love a trip to Wales!), owned by the National Trust and a fine example of a Medieval castle. Truly imagination inducing and in December is alive with lute playing, mulled wine and roast chestnuts. 

Canal boats and sweets

 In  a small town, past a white bear and through some iron gates decorated with bunting is a whole new world. A community of folk and boat with floating fudge and open hatches selling Pomfret cakes, barley sugar and tart pear drops. 
 A place of peace and camaraderie.  Waist coated men tend to flowers afloat in colourful pots and tubs, beside caged birds and dogs that sleep with one eye open for passers by. Roses, swirls, harlequins - a colourful life with many tales to be told.  Tough work, many locks to work through on the Trent & Mersey canal. A sleepy town with a big heart. Today was the floating market. I hear the Saturday was busier with a cheese and a home brew boat but today was quiet so we walked on along the canal. Past the dry dock and numerous overflow sluices with water gushing - quite scary really and I wouldn't like to totter past one after a visit to the many pubs with gardens that stretch towards this waterway.  Following pathways to summer folk festivals and little gardens with gates to peer through. Quieter in the autumn but people hard at work, repairing boats, building new ones - some brave novices attracting attention as they chug along at an angle. A well seasoned boat owner laughs from the side, watch out for the sandbank and covers his eyes.   Views through bridges lead to more bridges and pubs! Past hissing swans we quickly ran and past the man working on his boat with noisy tools that made LB hide his face in my coat.   Many signs tell us of the history of the canal and its local importance to our commodity - salt. Wich was used to denote salt production, hence why my local area has so many places ending in wich. Middlewich, Northwich, Nantwich....It's all about the salt in these parts of Cheshire.  Such a pretty spot and with new treasures found like a summer tea garden and a shop selling plants, we will be looking out for events here next year. Perfect too for a winter walk in the coming months and if we have snow, we will be here straight away to look at the beauty of this community under a dazzling white blanket - I wonder if the canal will freeze this winter?