An August Round Up.

The first weekend in August saw us going for a couple of walks one quite late on Saturday because we had had a very lazy day at home. I took a picture of these collared doves because they are birds I love. 

We had a pair nest in the garden of our previous house every year and I loved the way they were always cosied up together. 

It seems our old landlord had every tree, bush and all the ivy cut down which must have been such a shock to all the resident birds, he also had all the flowerbeds dug out and then grassed everything over. If I had known that I would have taken more with me when I left. It absolutely broke my heart to see it.

 

Sunday’s walk was a blissful amble between a couple of nearby villages. There were loads of blackberries out already so I was telling himself how my Mum used to make bramble jelly every year which he had never had. 

In the evening he was off to the cinema as they had started something called Star Wars Sunday, basically they are showing all the Star wars films in order over 10 weeks, and yes he’s going to them all.

 

On Monday I had the day off to meet up with Charlotte for some belated birthday fun. I caught the bus over to Charlbury where she met me at the station in her car and we drove over to Burford for the day. We parked at Burford Garden Centre where we had a mooch and bought a couple of bits which we popped into the car before walking into Burford itself. I loved that they have all these old pieces dotted around, the sign on this coach did make me laugh. I can so relate. 

We went for lunch at Huffkins before a wander around the town and into any shops that took our fancy. 

We headed back to the garden centre late afternoon for a cup of tea and piece of cake. Charlotte then dropped me off at the train station in Charlbury where I had another train journey complete with an unwieldy plant! It does seem such a good idea at the time when I buy these things, I really need to start thinking about how I get them home!

 

Saturday the 10th we got up and went blackberry picking, something I haven’t really done since I was a kid because whilst I love the flavour of blackberries I hate all the pips so never eat them now. After seeing so many rip ones last week I had messaged my Mum to ask if she still had all her jam making stuff and if so, did she fancy making some bramble jelly! She answered in the affirmative and I knew I was going to see her on the 11th at my brother’s. 

I don’t know whether it was all the rain this year but the fruits were huge and before we knew it we had picked 2 bags of blackberries and some bonus wild plums. We walked home via Sainsburys to buy some jam making sugar. Weighing our booty when we got in we discovered we had picked 6 kilos of berries!

 

Later that afternoon we went out for another walk as Himself had discovered a new to us footpath. It went through a new housing estate and next to them were some fields. We were surprised to see them full of grape vines. 

We could have been in the South of France not the outskirts of a (constantly growing) urban town.  

 

On Sunday we headed over to my brother’s early afternoon for a family catch up and to test out the new barbeque he had treated himself too. 

It was a lovely afternoon sitting out on their new decking, enjoying the sun and admiring their finally finished garden. We got home that evening and Himself headed off to the cinema so I sat out to watch the Perseids meteor shower. 

As the 12th was meant to be when the shower was at its peak, we both lay out in the garden loungers for a couple of hours watching in awe. 

Even with the amount of light pollution here it was an amazing show with an incredible mixture of slow moving and fast streaking meteors lighting up the sky. Of course we both then had to discuss the 1970’s TV series Day of the Triffids

luckily we both woke up the next day able to see and not overrun by giant walking plants!

 

My Mum messaged me to send me pictures of jam in progress 

and to tell me my cousin’s daughter Chiara had called to ask if she could come and stay the next day for a very last-minute flying visit. 

It was so last minute I think she ended up going with Mum to all her various clubs and activities as Mum hadn’t had time to cancel them. Seriously my Mum is busier now than she ever was when she worked, I swear she is literally never at home! 

I can only hope I get to enjoy the same lifestyle when (if ever) I finally get to retire.  

The pair of them also popped in here on the Wednesday afternoon for a cup of tea as I was working from home that day. It was lovely to see Chiara again and catch up on all the news. It turned out she had had a crazy journey to get here from Heathrow, accidentally ending up on the Elizabeth line to London. This meant then getting a train back out of London to Oxford and bus from there to Mum’s village. Whilst they were here we looked up the airline coach timetable which got her back to Heathrow the next day in a third of the time.

 

The 16th spelled boiler dramas, and quite scary ones at that. It started with a guy coming out to do the annual gas safety inspection. Randomly the boiler in this house is in a cupboard in the living room because that is where the original teeny tiny kitchen was. We actually went to see one of these houses that hadn't had a kitchen extension and the kitchen's were so small you could literally touch the walls whichever way you stood!

 

So I was sitting in the kitchen working as the gas engineer did the needful. The minute he took the cover off the boiler his equipment went crazy at the same time as our carbon monoxide alarm also went crazy! To cut to the chase he had to isolate the boiler as it was dangerous. 

Thankfully the rental agency were able to get an engineer from Worcester (the company that makes the boiler) out within a week. That engineer arrived and attached some sort of meter to the boiler which also went crazy as soon as he switched it on again, in fact he said afterwards that it gave off the highest reading he had ever seen! He asked what had made us call him  out so I said it just happened to be a gas safety inspection and he said in that case we were incredibly lucky it happened when it did.Which was pretty damn scary frankly. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer after all.  

I'm pleased to say everything is now fixed.

That same week Himself had announced that he was planning to go out to Avebury at the weekend because the podcast he and his friends have reviewing vintage tv shows, was planning to do an episode about the 1970’s children’s television programme The Children Of The Stones. 

I had heard of it (mostly because Charlotte is a big fan) but can’t recall if I watched it back in the day. Apparently, the show was filmed at Avebury so Himself was going to see if it would be suitable for him to record his part of the podcast live there, or at the very least record a few trailers for the show.

As it has been at least 20 years (and probably more like 30) since I last visited Avebury, I invited myself along.

 

We duly got up bright and early on Saturday and caught a train to Swindon. From there we caught a bus out to Avebury which took about 30 minutes. Thankfully it didn’t take long to go from the outskirts of Swindon, which look like the Armageddon has happened, to sweeping countryside and rolling hills.

We weren’t quite sure where to get off but another passenger told us she was heading there too and gave us the nod when it was the right stop. 

It was a gorgeous day, and still the school holidays, but I think we were both somewhat taken aback by the sheer volume of people everywhere

This was me trying to take a picture without too many people in it!

We did a leisurely circuit of the stones, waiting for quite considerable time at some points for it to be clear enough for Himself to get the shots he wanted and to be able to record a couple of bits. 

We had a look in a couple of the very expensive crystal/pagan/witchcraft shops and went into the little general store where we bought some local eggs and beer.  Finally I checked out the National Trust shop. 

We decamped to the ridiculously busy pub where I managed to snag a table outside whilst Himself queued for about 20 minutes waiting to be served. As our table was literally 2 feet away from the bus stop and facing the road, we saw the bus coming in the distance so were able to finish the last of our drinks and step across to the bus stop just as it arrived. Loads of people piled on, I’m guessing taking advantage of the £2 bus fare scheme that is currently still running. All in all a lovely day out.   

 

The following weekend was the August Bank Holiday which means only one thing, Stonor Park Craft Fair! As usual Mum and I went on the Friday and luckily for us we chose the one day with decent weather. Soo was meant to be coming with us but sadly had to cancel so Mum asked at her knitting/craft group and one of the ladies there, randomly also called Sue was able to come.

It seemed slightly bigger this year and back to it's best. We all thoroughly enjoyed our day and bought something.

I got some cards and a couple of presents for friends, I also bought Himself some artisan coffee. My best purchase was a new everyday handbag to replace my current one which is falling to bits. 

It's sustainable and made from recycled plastic bottles. It's a tad smalled than my previous bag but overall I am very pleased with it. When we had shopped and browsed our fill we headed to a pub near Mum's village that does amazing pizzas which made a delicious end to a fun day out.

On the Saturday we walked to the nearby village of Upton to try the newly reopened pub, now just called The George instead of The George and Dragon, I am intrigued why so many feel the need to drop the dragon bit, but I digress. The pub itself was still being refurbished but the bar in the garden was open so we had a coupe of pints. 

August ended as it started with a lovely walk out.

This time to Blewbury via Upton where we happened upon an ice cream van. The lady driving stayed in the drivers seat and her son came back to serve us what were the biggest ice creams I have ever seen in my life. So big in fact I could juggle both it and my camera! The moral of the tale don't let a bored child loose in an ice cream van. They were absolutely delicious.

We had a pub pitstop at the Red Lion and another on the way back at our favourite pub The Fleur, what could be better than the glorious countryside and a pint.

I do realise with these monthly round ups I have been slack on showing any purchases, you must think I have finally cured my shopping habits.....if only. 

The problem is I often can't remember what I purchased when but trust me there have most certainly been several brooch purchases and one or two dresses along the way!

The only thing I haven't really been adding too this year is the handbag collection but let me show you a couple of new editions.

Another Corde bag to add to my collection, and a gorgeous little 1920's mesh bag in almost perfect condition.

I know I definitely bought this dress

I also got a new pair of trainers, just don't look too closely at the back of right one where you can see the result of where it was rubbing my heel, bah, I need to wear them in a bit more. 

I will be back soon (I hope) with September, which includes Bournemouth, Kelmscott and so, so, so much rain.

 

July Part Two

 I should stop saying I'm on a roll getting posts up, life clearly takes that as a challenge!

Anyway here is part two of July - Finally...

On Friday the 19th, the hottest day of the year so far Himself and I headed into Oxford to meet with Soo and Gav to go and see a band called Wayward Sons at the O2 Academy on Cowley Road. Himself had some sort of offer through for £5 tickets so we thought we would give them a go. The band were formed in 2017 by former Little Angels front man Toby Jepson but this was the first either of us had heard of them. Iam so out of touch with music these days.

We went over on the train and walked from the station to the James Street Tavern on the Cowley Road where we had arranged to meet. I was already melting by the time we got there, and the O2 (or The Zodiac as it will always be to those of us of a certain age!) is notorious for being hot at the best of times. It's one of those venues where thw walls literally sweat and I wasn’t looking forward to entering the sweat box.

Soo and Gav were already at the pub and had found a shady table in the garden. I ended up drinking cider AGAIN because there was no decent beer AGAIN.

SIGH.

I cannot wait for this trend of IPA being the in beer to be over, I loathe the stuff. Give me a decent pint of ale/bitter please!

It was still well over 30 degrees at 8pm. Soo had a bottle of water with her which she was expecting to have to hand over to security when she went in, but the guy said whilst ordinarily he would have taken it, due to the extreme weather she could take it in with her. He also pointed out to us where they had opened the small, bar near the entrance downstairs for anyone who needed to get free water or was just feeling the effects of the heat and needed to sit somewhere with ventilation to cool off. I don’t know whether the age of the building restricts air con being added, but I’m glad they were actually trying to do something.

 

Himself loved the band as did Gav. They were very good at what they did and put on one hell of a show but it was not really my thing. Probably a good job as it was way too hot to want to be dancing about anyway.

Fair play to them for giving it their all given the temperature, as you can see from a picture at the start fo the gig

to one part way through they were getting pretty red faced,

I did think I saw someone I recognised in the crowd and sure enough when the lights came up and I could see properly I realised it was the drummer from my brother’s first band who I haven’t seen in years.

It was so lovely to have a quick catch up, sadly quick because Himself and I had to head off for the train, we did exchange details though and have been chatting on messenger since. 

Very randomly my brother had gone to see Nephew Number One’s band play a gig in Oxford earlier in the month and the first person he saw on walking into the pub where they were playing was one of the guitarists from his old band (my brother played bass.) They had already arranged to get together for a drink and reminisce, so he was thrilled to be reconnected with his old drummer too. Himself was joking they will be reforming the band at this rate!

 

The 25th was my Mum’s birthday and she had decided on the weekend after she wanted us to go up Watlington Hill where we scattered Dad’s ashes. The Sunday worked best for everyone so my brother picked Himself and I up late morning and we drove over for Sunday lunch in one of the pubs in Mum’s village. Rather than a traditional roast I went with the fish of the day which was a delicious piece of plaice.

Nephew Number One arrived shortly after we have finished lunch and we all squeezed into my brother's car to head to Watlington.

The weather was glorious, and the hill was alive with wild flowers which in their turn were full of bees and other insects. It was the first time we had been since scattering Dad's ashes and als the first time the nephew had been at all. He was really taken with what a wonderful place it is with it's panoramic views across Oxfordshire.

We all took our time seperating and joining together in different groups to remember Dad, until it got too hot and we decamped down the hill to the Spire and Spoke pub for a refeshing drink.

From there we went back to Mum's and sat out on the patio chatting until it was time to head home. Even Bobby deigned to grace us with his presence!   

So that was July. I will endeavour to get August and September together before the end of the year...  

July Part One.

As I seem to be on a role I’m going to dive straight on into July. 

On Saturday the 6th I was up early and on a train to Birmingham to meet up with my friends Charlotte and Alex and finally get to see the Victorian Radicals exhibition. 

I arrived there first so got to have a lovely browse around the Monsoon sale before first Charlotte and finally Alex arrived. We headed straight to 200 Degrees coffee shop as they both love the coffee there. I had a decaf tea and an amazing cinnamon bun which are a great weakness of mine. 

Whilst there we discovered I had actually booked the wrong entry time and was meant to be going in an hour before them, and had in fact already missed my entry, what a muppet.

We decided to take a punt on the museum letting me in later or worse case scenario I would just re-book. We headed across to the museum and luckily for me the museum gods were smiling on me, as there was a small queue when we arrived.

 As we approached the queue, a large and loud American lady and her colourfully clad companion tried to barge past everyone and go in. A short but animated discussion took place between them and the young man scanning people’s tickets as he firmly pointed them to the back of the queue which we then joined behind them, they still complaining and fussing. 

It was only once they had reached the front of the queue that they started to hunt for their tickets on their phone, and whilst they did more people arrived behind us. They finally found their tickets but were still going on about something or another and by this I think the lad on the door was thoroughly fed-up with them. Charlotte was next and showed her ticket, Alex and I both had our phones ready in our hands, he asked rather abruptly if we were together with the other ladies, Charlotte replied in the negative but said we 3 were together, so thankfully he waved us through without checking my ticket too closely.   

As usual we all went round at our own pace and in different directions, coming together and parting again. One of the reasons I love going to exhibitions with these two is because we can do exactly that without worrying about keeping up with each other or holding each other back. 

I enjoyed studying the Pre-Raphaelites at college though I’m the first to admit I wasn’t a fan of them all, and I definitely liked the second wave better, in particular Edward Burne-Jones. 

So for me it is always a joy to be able to get up close and personal with his work, meaning I particularly enjoyed the second half of the exhibition.

I will admit I am in awe of the sheer level of detail in the style of painting even if I don’t always actually like the picture in question, I never have been and never will be a fan of William Holman Hunt for one. 

Or to use one of the pictures in the exhibition as an example, The Long Engagement by Arthur Hughes is a picture I have always disliked but I could marvel at the detail of the scenery right down to this little squirrel depicted in the tree. 

I was having to dredge my memory when the others asked me questions (I’m not going to say exactly how many years ago it was that I was an art student!) but I think I was mostly able to answer correctly. I really enjoyed seeing pieces of furniture, clothing and jewellery as well as the paintings and drawings.

I will confess I have more of an appreciation for Rossetti and his drawing skills now as well. 

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition and I’m glad I was able to finally get there.    

 

Once we had browsed the shop, we decided it was time for lunch. As Charlotte and I had been waxing lyrical about the Sunshine Shake at Damascena we decided to go there for lunch. It took a while to get seated, but it was well worth the wait. 

We all ordered the delicious mango milkshake, and just like the last time the waitress taking our order said what a good choice and that it was her favourite. So much so she told us on her first day working there she had one in the morning, and one in the afternoon! 

You can’t really get a better endorsement than that and it was as good as we remembered.

By the time we finished lunch the weather had turned and it was pouring with rain, so we decamped to the pub next door The Old Joint Stock. 

The building used to be an old bank and all the old fixtures and fittings have pretty much been kept, with an ornate and much in keeping bar added in the middle. 

We all had a pint but sadly all too soon it was time to head back to the station. 

Alex and I from New Street and Charlotte from Moor Street. Alex left first and as Charlotte and I had some time we had a browse in a couple of shops and bought a drink for the journey before she headed across to the other station. 

As ever my train home was absolutely packed full and standing. Yet again I was grateful I went in person to the ticket office instead of buying online, because not only did the staff there get me a ticket £20 cheaper than I could find online for exactly the same trains they also pre-booked me a seat.

 

According to my work diary I had Monday the 8th July off but I have absolutely no recollection of why, or what I did! I think I need to take a leaf out of Ann at Polyester Princess book and keep some notes.

On Friday I was in the office and came home from work around the same time as Himself, glancing out of the kitchen window I spotted an unusual looking bird so had a closer look and was delighted to see it was a green woodpecker busily eating ants who were getting ready to fly.

 

We decided to book ourselves dinner at our favourite pub on Saturday 13th, Our table was booked for 8pm so about 7pm we left home and walked the countryside route which is over an old disused railway line. Of course, on the one time I didn’t take my camera, not only did we saw a buzzard right next to us, whilst pausing on one of the old railway bridges we saw a young fox come trotting down the road! 

He saw us about the same time we saw him, so he stood still for a bit before heading into a nearby field of long grass, then absolutely delighting me by bouncing across it in that thoroughly carefree, series of running jumps foxes do and I have only ever seen in pictures or on TV.

We got to the pub a little early but our table was free, so they seated us straight away. I had lamb shank and Himself had the homemade chilli. 

Full of good food we wandered home and spent the evening listening to vinyl and being slightly horrified/hysterical at how bad some of it was. I swear there were albums there I haven’t played for at least 30 years. It’s probably time to have another sort through…         

On Sunday we took ourselves out for a walk, there had been a couple of rain showers so there were some very dramatic skies. 

 

The following week I had Tuesday and Wednesday off because Wednesday was my birthday and since turning 40 I have made it my rule to never work on my birthday.  

On the Tuesday I was meeting Soo for a day out at two wonderful gardens Hidcote and Kiftsgate. They are literally opposite each other so you can park at one, go round that and then walk to the other. We started out at Hidcote which has been looked after by the National Trust since 1947. 

The garden is the work of Lawrence Johnston who moved to the manor in 1907 with his mother, and quickly decided to turn the surrounding farmland into a garden. The garden was designed in the style of garden rooms which are separated by hedges or walls. 

Our enjoyment wasn’t dimmed by the rather chippy lady of a certain age selling the entry tickets, who refused my Gardener’s World 2 for 1 voucher because apparently it was the wrong time of year, which I would know if I had read the small print, (I had read the small print thoroughly, and did again afterwards and it said no such thing!) She then argued with me over why I should buy a National Trust membership, I pointed out as I don’t have a car and as this was the first property I had visited this year it was hardly value for money in my case! Next she proceeded to tell us several times the garden was Arts and Crafts style and not a formal layout and continued to mention this even after we had said that was what we liked. 

I conclude she had clearly got out of bed on the wrong side that day, and perhaps was not a fan of the less formal style of planting!

 

The gardens were surprisingly busy with a couple of coach trips worth of German and Italian tourists, the later were quite rude when I accidentally walked into shot of a view they were busy snapping pictures of.

To go off on a tangent for a moment, I have to say in a most heartfelt way, dear god please don’t let me turn into one of these nasty natured old people with their anoraks, sensible shoes and sour faces. Whilst walking round we encountered a couple of people who were very rude about the fact there were so many German visitors, I wish I had thought to reply with a German phrase! Then another extremely loud couple from Yorkshire in the café who shared their negative thoughts on everything for all to hear. I got glowered at when I sat down at a table stopping the man in question swapping the chair and then very deliberately ate some of my soup, going ‘Mmmmm delicious’ whilst staring at his wife who had just said she hadn’t picked it because she thought it looked thin and badly made. At least she had the grace to look embarrassed and say oh sorry.

 

Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed the not formal gardens, and walked every last inch of them. At one point having to take shelter from a sudden downpour under a tree with some thankfully delightful other visitors.

We arrived back where we started and realised it was lunchtime so decided to see what the café had to offer, knowing we could always check out the one down the road at Kiftsgate if nothing took our fancy. As it happened they had homemade pea and mint soup which is one of my favourites so I was happy to eat there, for a £1 extra I got to have a huge cheese scone with it instead of bread so that was also a no brainer.     

 

We timed it well because there was another short but torrential downpour whilst we were eating lunch. After lunch we checked out the plant shop where I bought my brother a reduced fern and had a lovely chat with the lady working there, and the main gift shop where I bought a couple of little bits for my Mum. We also asked the ladies there about the footpath to Kiftsgate and they were so lovely and super helpful showing us on one of the maps they have for sale. After popping the plant in Soo’s car we headed out on the short journey to Kiftsgate which took us alongside the road into Hidcote and across a field of sheep who couldn’t have cared less about us.  I’m delighted to say they were accepting my 2 for 1 Gardener’s World voucher and the lady selling tickets was charming so that was a good start. It was slightly quieter though we were amused to see the coach party of German tourists were also there.

Kiftsgare Court Gardens are the result of the work of three keen women gardeners, and I’m sorry Lawrence but we both preferred them!

The original formal gardens began to be changed in the 1920’s by Heather Muir who was a close friend and confidant of Lawrence Johnston at Hidcote. Unlike his gardens, she did not want them to be formally planned, but just let them sort of evolve which I think is why I liked it more.  

Diany Binney her eldest daughter took over the garden adding the huge pool and various sculptures and was the first to open it to the public, it is now maintained by Anne Chambers and her family who added another pond where the tennis court used to be and more sculptures. 

It was such a joy to wander around, and we literally covered every inch before retiring to the café for a much-needed cup of tea. 

They also had a plant sale at the entrance where I was able to get my Mum a plant she has wanted for several years now, which I was thrilled about. I should maybe have given that a bit more thought as the journey home from Oxford on the train was interesting given the plants size, and the fact the train was full and standing!

So that's the first half of July. More anon.