Christmas at the Black Country Living Museum

A bit of a catch up post ... something we did a couple of weeks ago.

Back in May during this years mini holiday, we went to The Black Country Living Museum (see here), when we bought our tickets we converted them, free of charge, into a year long pass.  So when an email pinged into my box saying that the museum was celebrating Christmas through the ages it seemed like too good an opportunity not to go again and make good use of the ability to get in 'free'. 

Using our Christmas present money and an anniversary gift from Mum we booked a night in a Premier Inn close to the museum, and paid for the dogs to go into our the local kennels.

It was a lovely way to celebrate our tenth anniversary, a weekend to ourselves mooching about in lovely old houses. 

We got to see lovely old delivery vans, vehicles and buses.

Some brilliant houses. 

The outside of this one was my favourite, something about the roof to the extension slanting in the opposite direction to the main house and yet it still looking totally sturdy.  Every house had people in period costume making Christmas gifts or foods, and roaring open fires to keep them warm.

This larder was decidedly un-festive ....

... but some of the plates on the shelves gave a list of rations and recipes for wartime treats, which explained the lack of cheer.

Potato Shortbread anyone?

The facilities in all the houses were of the decidedly weather unfriendly type.  These days we simply can't imagine having to nip outside to use the loo in the cold and damp of Winter.

There were Christmas present ideas in the shops.

The rooms above the radio shop were decked out for the festive period ...

... and the table laid ready for dinner.

Paper chains and Christmas cards above the shop next door.

A lovely little vintage tree ... I would love one of those now :-)

We were wrapped up warm, but it was really a lovely day, with a chilly breeze but glorious Winter sunshine.  We were very lucky with our choice of weekend as the following Sunday the whole place was closed due to heavy snow.

New tin bath for Christmas anyone?

And here was the 'National Elf Service' building.

I loved the old enamel pots and pans in this kitchen, and I have just been lucky enough to buy a large pan, just like the one on the front left of the cooker, off EBay for a fraction of the price it would have cost me from an antique shop :-)

The old china and pots caught my eye in this shop window.

The interiors were wonderful with swathes of festive Christmas greenery.

Peeking through each doorway was a true step back in time.

Another kitchen/living room.  This one in one of the little 'back to back' houses.

And all too soon, as the chill of the late afternoon started to fill the air it was time to nip onto one of the old buses and make our way back to the entrance and the gift shop.  Where one or two  purchases might have been made  ;-)

It was a lovely way to spend time celebrating our anniversary and gave us lots of ideas for next years Challenge.

Sue xx

A Day Out to the Trelawnyd Flower Show

Saturday started early for us, feeding the animals and sorting out the chickens and making sure everything was loaded into the car safely for the forty minute drive to Trelawnyd.  Once there all my earlier preparation proved very worthwhile and everything was staged within twenty minutes.

It was nice to have a look around the hall at all the other exhibits while it was quiet and chat to some of the other exhibitors as they put their vegetables and bakery in place ready for the judging at 10am. 

There was an excellent turn out for every category.

As you can see the standard is exceptionally high.

The we got back into the car and drove into Prestatyn for a spot of breakfast, a mooch about the shops, a few necessary purchases, a coffee and cake at Marks and Spencer's and then back into the car to return to Trelawnyd, although we didn't go straight back to the show instead we called to Jackson's, the local garden centre first for a look around at all their goodies, after all it's not often we get up to that neck of the woods.

Returning to the Show at two o'clock we were just in time to hear John's introduction of the shows opener and listen to her speech, which is what I'm doing in the top picture, then we had a look round the hall to see how we'd done.  I was really pleased to get a Second for my Blueberries ....

...and another Second for my green Marrow  :-)

Then we decided as the queue for teas, coffees and cakes was so long to have a wander round the village.

We got as far as the village pub, where ciders were purchased and consumed before going back to the show to have our coffees and cake.

It was a lovely day out.  It's always nice when we get to go somewhere for a whole day together and get away from the normal day today of our place.  Highlights of the day were seeing John again, winning two Seconds with my fruit and vegetables and meeting a couple of lovely blog readers. 

Christine and Debbie it was great to meet you both and get to have a little chat with you, I hope you both had as good a day as we did in what is fondly known of in Blogland as 'John's Show'   :-)

Oh, and to round the day off nicely we also won a £10 prize in the raffle ... which is how Debbie deduced who we were  ;-)

The next local show that I'm showing produce at is the Llanrwst Show in two weeks.

Sue xx

The Royal Welsh Show

We've just got back from a few days away.

We went to somewhere we've wanted to go to ever since we moved into Wales ... the Royal Welsh Show.

It was as expected absolutely massive,  lots of stands,  lots of animals and lots of people, a heaving mass of humanity all on a ginormous, purpose built, permanent showground in Buìlth Wells, mid Wales.  We hadn't realised just how huge it was until we got there, really it would take two days to get to see everything and to be able to watch more of the animal competitions.

This time we focused on the pigs, as that is what we will probably show there in the future.  Pigs are nowhere near as common as sheep in Wales, but they are Alan's first love and what we always planned to put in our woodland.  We took the opportunity to join the Wales and Border Counties Pig Breeders Association and had a good chat with some of the committee members while we were there.

Now we're home, tired and foot weary but full of ideas.  The dogs have just been picked up from the kennels, the poly tunnel has been watered and four more chickens have just been purchased from our local chicken breeder as we lost three girls last week and numbers were down.

It's been a busy few days, so now it's time to catch our breath and get back to normal  ... or as normal as things can be with a chicken sat on the conservatory step shouting for my attention 😊

Sue xx

A Weekend Away

As you might have guessed from the rather large gap between posts we have been away for a long weekend.  Anyone from this country will immediately recognise where we headed to first thing on Saturday morning after a long day spent in the car on Friday.

It is of course The Eden Project, in Cornwall.

We went there when we first thought about this lifestyle change of ours way back in 2008, to try to pick up tips and ideas and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time on that visit too.  This time we were simply wanting a repeat visit whilst Lovely Hubby still has is digs down south, just so that I could drive to to pick him up and then he could take over the driving for the final five hours of the journey.

We didn't really pick up on any more tips or new ideas during this visit but we did have a lovely relaxing day.  Wandering around in the heat of the Rainforest and Mediterranean biomes whilst a heavy shower went on outside.  By the time we stepped outside again the sky had cleared and we could wander the grounds in comfort.

I had to get a snap of LH conversing with a chubby Blackbird (sat on the sign).

Afterwards before going back to the hotel we called to St Austell for a walk along the bay.

As you can see from the photos it was a beautiful evening.

High up the hill we stopped for a breather on a bench, once the view would have been amazing from there but Mother Nature was claiming back her ground leaving only gaps to peer through.

After a lovely meal out and a good sleep we spent most of Sunday travelling along to Romsey near Southampton to break our journey home on Monday.

Then to round off our weekend away we called in at two National Trust properties on our way home on Monday.  First we went to Mottisfont and had a good mooch about the house and garden, and then onto The Vynes, which is close to where LH lives during the week.  I love the walled vegetable garden here, in fact I love to visit any National Trust property that has a good vegetable plot .... even in preference to a manicured garden.

Although you can't see much in this photo there was lots of bee activity around the hives.

Dropping LH off at his digs I made my way through the horrendous Monday night weather to get home just in time for bed.

These sort of weekends recharge our batteries, fill us with new inspiration and occasionally reassure us that we are on the right track in doing what we are doing.  Seeing how food used to be produced, how lives used to be lived make us even surer in our minds that we need to be as far away from modern consumerism as we possibly can be and firmly on the road to self sufficiency in as many areas as possible.

It's good to be home.

Sue xx

The Llanbedr and Tal-y-Bont Open Gardens Day

After a lovely long doggie walk in the beautiful sunshine on Sunday morning we dropped the doggies back at home for a snooze and then set off to the other side of the valley to have a wander round the gardens that were open in the Llanbedr and Tal-y-Bont Open Gardens Day. 

 Arriving in the village we bought our map in the village hall along with a few raffle tickets, and first things first, sat down for a cup of coffee and slice of cake, then once we were suitably fuelled up we set off up the hill to the first garden.

It was just my sort of garden, full of trees, with nature just about under control and with something to see at every turn.

This tree trunk wood carving was amazing ....

... the detail truly lovely.

The rest of the tree was planked just like our old oak tree was a couple of years ago and the wood left drying in just the same way as ours.  Nothing wasted .... but they had artwork as well.  Hopefully our tree base will one day soon be a table top and we will be able to drink in the view of the valley from seats around it.

They had left little signs hanging all around the garden  :-)

But their scarecrow made me jump out of my skin!!

We climbed high up the hill to partake of a fantastic lunch at the Valley View Tea Rooms, which turned out to be someone's house completely thrown open to the public and bursting at the seams with happy diners.

In one of the gardens Lovely Hubby found a man shed that ticked all his boxes.

And in another there was a view like no other ...

... and a certain Donald Trump was to be found relaxing in a wheelbarrow.

We had a brilliant day out. 

We walked for miles, talked to lots of garden owners, including a lovely elderly couple that lived high on the hillside and gardened their very steep garden without any help at all.  Pinched lots of ideas and were struck by inspiration at almost every turn.

Then it was back to the village hall for more coffee and cake, and a few very necessary plant purchases before setting off for the bridge across the river and home.

If you're in this area in two years time be sure to lookout for the roadside signs that advertise this fantastic day.

Sue xx