The Colour of Heaven

I  read a while ago that scientists had decided that pale turquoise was the colour of heaven.  This cheered me enormously because it is a great favourite of mine and I have used it all over my house.  In fact when I come to choosing a new colour scheme, which I am doing at the moment, I am teased - is it to be the colour of heaven?  Well yes it is actually and here are a few already in place -

 These are of my living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom and I haven't included my garden room or my new shower room which is one of the reasons I haven't posted for ages.  It was supposed to take two to three weeks but I think we are into the seventh week and the builder has gone on holiday!

The sting in this tale is that a few days later, those same scientists said that they had got it wrong and that BEIGE was actually the colour of heaven!  Ugh!
 

Little squares in Welsh Blankets

Welsh blankets are "in" at the moment and this spectacular one has just been sold by Jen Jones.

 

At first glance I thought it was a quilt,  which is probably why I am drawn to this pattern of blanket.  I first saw one at the cottage of my friends the Havards and then again the Prince of Wales has one in his Welsh farm house and Jen of course has them in her collection.

Here are some images -

Christine and Philip have chosen to decorate their sofa.

In the reception area of the farm house of the Prince of Wales.  He has another on a table covering the TV - he hates seeing TV sets apparently!

The tress decorating Westminster Abbey at the Royal Wedding are now planted in front of the farmstead.

Decorating the Study Room at the Jen Jones Quilt Centre

When I first saw these blankets I was inspired to make a quilt with little nine patch black and white squares and made quite a few before running out of steam.  I then had a rethink and put them together in a slightly different way.  At the moment this little quilt is at the quilting stage and so is not very photogenic.  When I finish it, soon I hope, I will show you!

Mary Keen's Garden

Yesterday was a warm and sunny day, just right for visiting gardens and one of my  favourite gardens happened to have an open day in aid of charity.  It is in a magical valley in the Cotswolds in the tiny village of  Dundisbourne Rouse not far from Cirencester.

This is the Old Rectory- it doesn't lean it's my photography!

Lady Mary Keen is a garden guru of long standing. She has written many books, one of which describes how she designed this particular garden after buying the house and clearing the site.

It couldn't have been an easy process because the garden slopes quite steeply in places but it has the most wonderful atmosphere and though it looks artless, it has strongly designed bones supporting the abundant colourful planting.

St Michael's Church which dates from 11th or early 12th century, adjoins the garden of the Rectory

Inside the little School  House which once belonged to the Church.  This is now a  Garden Room with facilities for garden visitors to make a cup of tea and enjoy reading about the garden - it is a delight!

A view of the former School House across the Olympic Flower Meadow

This wild flower meadow was planted with a mix of Sarah Raven's flower meadow seeds which
are planted at the Olympic Park.

Another view of the School House

You can see from the green lushness in these pictures that we have had a tremendous amount of rain but at last the sun is shining so hopefully there will be more flowering and less foliage.

Do hope that these pictures give you a flavour of a wonderful English garden.  I came away inspired and replete with scones and cream served at the lovely old kitchen table facing a very interesting china filled dresser.  I would have loved to have taken a picture but I felt that it would have been an invasion of privacy.

EB Collectors

Ee by gum - trouble at mill - er I mean pottery!

The Emma Bridgewater Collectors' Open Days last Thursday, Friday and Saturday didn't meet with whole hearted praise.  There are lots of complaints on Facebook about over pricing, pushing, poor catering, lack of organisation and the non appearance of Emma herself, among other things.

I live it vicariously by enjoying the pictures posted online and perhaps that's the best way?

Here are some images -

They just can't wait to check things out!

Shall I buy it? I wonder if she did?

Lovely jug but not sure about the lettering?

Emma was there, maybe she wasn't recognised because of the specs!  Check out the spotted Aga!

Matthew and Emma picked up honorary degrees on Friday for their work supporting the potteries - so they had a good week!

Apologies to those not interested in EB pottery but I will talk about quilting eventually and show you more houses and gardens as promised.

Visiting East Anglia

I have just returned from a week in Suffolk, occasionally straying into Essex and Norfolk.

We rented a former coach house, which was wonderfully comfortable and well equipped, right in the centre of  Lavenham, a very beautiful and historic village full of  medieval buildings.

This house was just opposite our temporary home -

 

Doesn't it look like a fairytale house? Not a straight line to be seen!

Unlike the rest of the UK we had fine weather with no rain during the day, just at night.  Perfect for us and the gardens! Our biggest problem was dodging the Olympic Torch and all the traffic chaos surrounding its progress, but we managed!

Here are images of just some of the lovely houses and gardens we visited -

This is the view of the village of Kersey taken from the gate of the Church which is set on a hill overlooking the valley.   Sorry we visited on bin day, they and the cars do spoil the picture!

The River House, one of the grandest houses in Kersey, built in 1490 and set beside the ford which divides the main street.  There's no avoiding it!

The main door of River House can't be used much?

This is Otley Hall, a wonderful moated medieval house with some views of its garden -

My very favourite garden at Paycocks, a National Trust property in Coggershall, Essex.  This garden was designed and is maintained entirely by volunteers who spend one day a week tending it.  I loved it!

I have more - watch this space!