July Highlights

Another month is almost over and what a month it has been.  Filled with happy times spent with friends and family.

Country drives.

Birthday celebrations.

A visit to Kew Gardens.

Country walks.

And rain, 

The months really seem to be flying by this year, I can't believe we are over half way through 2015 already.  I'm looking forward to see what the last five months have in store for us.

~ Gem x

A Night At The Circus

Every year the circus comes to the village where I live.

Although I never actually go inside the tent to watch the show, I love it once it arrives on the village green.

I just find it so magical, especially once darkness has fallen.

It reminds me of the book the Night Circus by  Erin Morgernsten, it's an incredible book and if you've not read it I urge you to do so.

I just couldn't help myself admiring the big top and snapping away with my phone.

My favourite part is the ticket booth, covered in twinkly lights.  

Maybe next year I will actually buy tickets so I can admire the inside too.

~ Gem x

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things ~ Flowers

Flowers, I just love them. But it doesn't end there, oh no. I love pretty much anything with flowers on, as is very much reflected in my home. 

There are flowers on all of the curtains. 

The sofa covers. 

The bedding. 

In both bedrooms.

In the bathroom.

Even the tissue boxes, because you can't just buy any box of tissues, they have to look pretty. 

The kitchen.

And of course the china in the dresser.

The thing is, this isn't even all of it.  There is more.....

There isn't a room in the house that hasn't been flower bombed in some way or another.  It would appear that I am obsessed with all things floral.

~ Gem x

A Country Stroll

On Sunday we decided to make the most of the good weather, threw on our walking boots and set out for a stroll.

We really don't do this as often as we should.  

I'm to blame for this though.  

I tend to get a little bored after a while.

So long as I have things to look at along the way I'm fine.

I quite fancied bringing one of these beauties home with us, especially one of the ones with the speckled faces.

Instead we just kept walking, discovering the delights of a new footpath, another one to cross off the list.

~ Gem x

My Very Own Top 5 Blog Posts

I always find it really interesting seeing what directs people here to my little space in the world that is blogging, but what I find most intriguing are the posts that receive the most views.  It always makes me wonder why these particular posts but none the less here are my top 5 viewed blog posts in reverse order.

5. Sweet Sewing. Ah the day James bought me my beautiful Wertheim Superba sewing machine for the bargain price of £15.  Posted back in March 2012.  It now takes pride of place on our dresser and was even used as part of one of our wedding reception displays.  I'm still as in love with it today as I was the day he bought it. 

4. Twas The Week Before Christmas - Guest Post Day 1.  I ran a little series of guest posts on my blog on the run up to Christmas in December 2011.  This particular takeover was by Gemma over at Musings of a Gem who I'm pleased to say I am still good friends with to this day.  We chat regularly although we don't get to meet up half as much as we would like to.  Gemma still blogs so pop on over and say hello.

Image provided by Gemma for the purpose of her blog post.

3.  Poppies at the Tower of London.  I'm so glad I took the time to go and see this installation in September 2014.  It was absolutely remarkable.  It was so touching to see such an effort had been made to pay tribute and respect to all of those who gave up their lives to fight for us and our country.

2. The Cherry On Top.  A review of a local tea room back in April 2012, which has now become a Dunkin Dounuts.  I can't say I'm too surprised it didn't last as a tea room. 

And my most viewed blog post in at number one.................

1. Stained Glass Heart.   A review of a stained glass heart workshop in March 2012, at what unbeknown to me was to be my wedding venue.

So there you have it, my all time top 5 blog posts.

~ Gem x

A List of My Favourite Blogs

We all enjoy reading blogs, isn't that why we are here? I thought I'd do something a little different today and share with you all a list of some of my favourite blogs. I've kept it to just 5 of my favourites, although I read so many so there are still more, but I thought I could save those for another day.  They are not in any particular order and the links to each of the blogs can be found by clicking on the blog name.

Country Rabbit.  A beautiful little treasure of a blog sharing stunning photos taken on long countryside and coastal walks and proves that you don't always need many words to make that perfect blog post, sometimes images say all there is to say.

Lucky Number 13. I just love Amy's honest approach to sharing her feelings and life as a mum with 2 kids.  Seriously there is no beating around the bush with this fun loving American gal, she tells it as it is and I have nothing but respect for her for this.

Coco Rose Diaries.  Take a look around the pastel shades and corners of Vanessa's beautiful home.  The colours in this blog are just beautiful and her crochet masterpieces make me wish that I knew how to crochet myself, I NEED just one of her blankets for those chilly winter evenings to snuggle under.

  

Cherry Menlove. I have followed Cherry's blog for many years and felt quite star struck when I met her last year at the Country Living Christmas Fair.  Her blog has changed a lot over the years but she still remains to be a blogger I look up to for all that she has achieved.

Madelief.  If you like gardens then this is a blog for you.  Madelief's allotment garden is just out of this world.  How I would love to attend one of her wonderful garden tea parties, to drink tea from one of her gorgeous china teacups whilst admiring the many beautiful flowers around the garden.

Madelief

So there you have it.  Five of my favourite blogs.  Please pop over and say hello, I'm sure you won't leave disappointed.

~ Gem x

Kew Gardens

In Friday's Birthday blog post I'd mentioned our plans for a day out at London's Kew Gardens.  It is somewhere I have always wanted to visit, so I was really pleased when mum suggested we go.  The weather was perfect, we couldn't have asked for better, the sun shone all day.

The place is huge, quite possibly too big.  We didn't actually manage to see it all, then again I'm not sure that could even be possible, not in one day anyway.  

We focussed our time on the main attractions within the garden, it may have meant that we missed some treasures but it seemed the most sensible thing to do given the time we had to squeeze it all in.

We started off at the Xstrata Treetop Walkway.  It made a change to walk around above the trees as opposed to beneath them and size wise in terms of how long it took to walk around the walkway was just perfect.

We then made our way across to the Japanese Gateway and Pagoda passing the Temperate House that was unfortunately closed for restoration. 

After having a sit down at the base of the Pagoda we walked across to the lake along Cedar Vista wandering past the Woodland Glad, Redwood Grove and the Waterlilly Pond.  

As we then headed for lunch we admired the Sackler Crossing bridge as we walked along the edge of the lake.

I will be honest up till this point we were all feeling rather disappointed.  There had been barely many flowers and not much to see apart from trees.  It is more like a park than a garden. 

Things improved after lunch as we entered the iconic palm house.

I fell in love with the spiral staircases and balcony, they were beautiful.

But still barely any flowers.  From up on the balcony we looked out the the rose garden but even that didn't look up to much so we decided to call it a day and head on back home in an attempt to miss the Friday traffic (we failed haha).

Maybe we were just really unlucky or maybe we were looking in all the wrong places but I was gutted.  For somewhere I've always wanted to visit it really seemed like a wasted journey.  I guess it's true when they say, you win some, you lose some.  We still had a lovely day though, so not all was lost.

~ Gem x