A few days away

Last week we were away from home celebrating a fiftieth birthday with our friends the Young and Fit. The weather was grey and cold but it didn't manage to dampen our spirits. We stopped off in Stow-in-the-Wold for a wander round the town where I coveted this angel in an antique shop and the birthday boy bought a very fine tweed jacket.

Mindful of a three course dinner to come we ate a light(ish) lunch at Huffkins.

Our overnight accommodation was Billesley Manor Hotel near Stratford-upon-Avon.

The manor was first mentioned in 705 AD in the Doomsday Book. During the Elizabethan period the estate was owned by the Lord Mayor of London, Robert Lee.

Imagine my pleasure when I opened our bedroom curtains and looked straight out into the one hundred year old topiary garden!

The Y&F were upstairs contemplating their four-poster bed

before a little ceremonial blowing out of candles.

After our evening meal we explored the topiary garden with the aid of a torch.

Magical!

After breakfast the following morning

we wrapped up well and went outside to take a proper look.

Not everyone was concentrating on the planting!

I can see ya!

We walked to the small church of All Saints. It serves no community, the former village having been abandoned in the fifteenth century due to plague, and the church is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

It was even more cold inside the building than it was outside and we didn't linger, we just stayed long enough to admire this beautiful stone carving.

In the afternoon 

we observed the custom of tea

before setting off for a pre-theatre meal in Stratford.

The restaurant had some interesting period features!

Click on Miss Cellany to read about the theatre visit.

We had a leisurely departure the following day after a swim, a sauna and a pilates class, fooling ourselves that these activities might mitigate the damage done by a great deal of eating. (I've since been shopping for a kettle bell!) We stopped for a browse in Chipping Campden on the way home where, you guessed it, we ate another meal!

Friday Skywatch

The early morning sun lights up vapour trails and a flock of birds.

I like crisp, clear days like these. The lake is partially frozen and the swans stand on the ice preening their feathers, looking as though they are walking on water. Sunrise and sunset are so transient, the sky changing from moment to moment.

You can see a few stones lying on the surface. Someone has been testing how thick the ice is, or perhaps skittering stones to make them whistle.

No one is fishing, I have the place to myself.

Just a few minutes and the show's over.

For Friday Skywatch.

Wallpaper

I've got the urge to decorate, although it's a little early for spring!

I've looked longingly on Coulda's blog at her fabric and wallpaper choices. Only one room in our home, our bedroom, is wallpapered.

Every other room has a matt surface of paint.

But I'm ready for a change in the dining room, currently painted a dark green, (a colour which the camera doesn't reproduce faithfully.) We came home from seeing the film, "Testament of Youth' this week, me thinking how much I liked that period of clothing, early 1900's, and Himself saying how nice the wallpaper was!

I know exactly what I would like, I can picture it exactly! 

The word 'would' is meaningful here because I have been searching on-line and realise that what I had in mind would cost an arm and a leg. On short stays at the Endsleigh Hotel and  Bovey Castle I had drooled over their Chinese wallpapers; birds and flowers and fabulous colours. Having now seen the process of hand-painting without a mention of price - choose your background colour, tell us what you would like, send measurements..... I know that such papers are out of the question.

             But there's nothing wrong in dreaming.

 Ooh, can I have a really singing yellow, please? 

Falling back down to earth, the fact is that we live in an old cottage with rustic features such as tongue and groove doors so I'll console myself with the thought that hand-painted wallpaper might be rather out of place. (But I'm still going to hunt and see if I can find something affordable.)

Of course the Bloomsbury bunch would have set too and painted the wallpaper themselves. I've seen their efforts at Charleston. Talk about shabby-chic!

I visited Charleston some years ago in high summer and absolutely loved it, the interior decor reminded me very much of the home I grew up in. My father was a demon for painting surfaces; walls, ceilings, furniture, you name it!

He would have fitted in very well with Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell!

Vanessa Bell at Charleston in 1930.

Vanessa painted by Duncan Grant c. 1916.

Vanessa painting.

What a creative and inspiring place it was for them.

The garden when I visited was a delight.

If you haven't visited then it has to go on your 'MUST SEE' list.

Duncan Grant, 'Lessons in the Garden.'

Take a look at Miss Cellany to see the Charleston interiors used as the backdrop to a fashion shoot for Harper's Bazaar.