MERRY CHRISTMAS from MY HOME to YOURS ..........

{ a photograph of me outside Dennis Severs house on Tuesday in another coat !! ... I'll tell you all about it after Christmas }

Wishing all of my blogging friends the merriest of Christmases.

Thank you all for your continued blogging friendship, the laughs and for the lovely comments that you leave me... it is very much appreciated.

Here's to more of the same in the coming year.

This is how excited we are !!!

XXXX

HERE WE ARE AGAIN .......

It only seems five minutes ago that I was putting the Christmas decorations away and now, here we are again and it's that dreaded time of buying the tree !!! Around mid-December, a deadly hush descends on the 'Home' household.

... a bit of background :  

Many Italians arrived in Hertfordshire in the late 1950's and it was small market towns like the one I live in where they chose to settle. 

From small acorns grow big trees and when a local farmer sold off some of his land, a few Sicilian families bought it and started their own market gardens. Along with fruit and vegetables came plant and flower nurseries and joining the Italians came many Dutch families, and so the area became rich in garden centres.

Usually, I have every tree out for inspection, hum and haw over this one and that one, change my mind back and forth before choosing 'the' tree but, in the last few years it seems to have got easier ... don't ask me why !!

... a look at the carousel ...

... and a mulled wine or hot chocolate watching the skaters and the tree is bought for another year .....

..... and, I'm happy to report that not a tear was shed nor cross word uttered between us !!!

Putting it in the stand was another matter altogether and nearly resulted in divorce proceedings !!!

XXXX

image 1: via zsa zsa bellagio, images 2, 3, 4, 5,& 7: via me, image 6: via van hage

LONDON, OH LONDON ..........

I LOVE London ....... I've lived on the outskirts all of my life ... we now live in the Hertfordshire countryside, but we are still only twenty minutes from the City of London.

Apart from all of the iconic London landmarks, there is a multitude of wonderful spots to visit and, I have seen a lot of it in my 65 years but I have only touched the surface and will never see everything it has to offer. Here are a few places that you might like to visit if you find yourself in Londinium !!

Sir Christopher Wren's Temple Bar is the only surviving gateway to the City of London and stood at the junction where The Strand meets Fleet Street for 200 years. But, because the road needed widening, it had to be removed.

On January 2nd 1878 it was dismantled. 

Ten years later, it caught the eye of Lady Meux, a banjo playing barmaid who had married into a very wealthy family of London brewers. Forever trying to convince Victorian high society of her respectability, she decided to rebuild the impressive Temple Bar to grace her Hertfordshire Estate at Theobalds Park. My Dad remembered it well as it was only a cycle ride away and he remembered climbing up and looking inside the upper chamber and seeing a dining table, candlesticks and paintings. Lady Meux regularly entertained the likes of Edward v11, the Prince of Wales and Winston Churchill 

Temple Bar then started to fall into disrepair ..... I also remember it well as my husband and I used to park up there for a bit of ' how's your Father !! '  

Temple Bar has now been restored and rebuilt at Paternoster Square and is back in it's rightful place.

One of my favourite places to visit is Dennis Severs House ..... The house is both a breathtaking and an intimate portrait of the lives of a family of Huguenot silk-weavers from 1724 to the dawn of the 20th century. We are going again in December when they dress the house for Christmas.

Wilton's Music Hall is one of very few surviving music halls and retains many original features. 

Sir John Soane's museum, housing his unusual collection, preserved exactly as it would have been at the time of his death in 1837

Neal's Yard in Covent Garden.

St Dunstan-in-the-East ... originally built in 1100, severely damaged in the Great Fire of London in 1666, damaged again in the Blitz in 1941 after which it was decided not to rebuild. In 1970 it was opened as a public garden ... a beautiful secluded gem.

Dinner at Les Trois Garcon's ..... an unusual dining experience !!

Strolling along the Thames at dusk, you might just catch the end of Sand Art on the Thames. 

You can even have a Cockney experience when taking money out of the hole in the wall !!

Just a few more experiences of London ... it is never-ending.

XXXX

images 1, 10 & 12: via me, image 2: via architecture, image 3: via open buildings, image 4: via wordpress, images 5 & 7: via buzzfeed, image 6: via hidden london, image 8: via album of random, image 9: via time out, image 11: via hand luggage 

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REMEMBER ..........

image 1: via daily mail, video via youtube

A MOTLEY COLLECTION !!! ..........

There's not much happening in my neck of the woods at the moment .....

For the past six weeks, I've been going to the chiropractor as I've got a trapped nerve in my neck ..... getting old is not fun !!!

Apart from manipulating, cracking my bones and generally attacking me from all sides, he uses the above instrument of torture .... it's like having someone attack your neck with a hammer and chisel !!! ..... and, I pay for the privilege !!!

The leaves are finally fluttering off of the trees ..... look at the state of the front of our house ..... and that's just the beginning. I am no Hyacinth Bouquet { for overseas readers, she was a snobby character in a sitcom who was obsessed with everything being ' just so ' !! } but we do end up with tons and tons of leaves in the garden, but then I guess everyone does !

We had a frost this morning BUT .....

....look at my St Swithun rose ..... it starts flowering in early May when it is covered in hundreds of beautiful, fragrant, old English blooms but goes on and on ..... I took this photograph this morning and there are still many buds to open.

My thoughts are now turning to Christmas .....

I always by at least one new Christmas ornament every year ...... the above is this years.

I just saw the above on Pinterest ..... fig, apricot and pistachio Christmas cake ..... I've left it too late for this Christmas ... it needs to be made at least 3 months ahead !! Maybe next year !!!

Have you started to think about Christmas yet ?

XXXX

image 1: via facebook, image 2: via waistcoats kinesiology, image 3: via winchell chiropractice, images 4,5,6 & 7: via me, image 8: via crush cul de sac, image 9: via the flower studio shop, image 10: via sainsbury, image 11: via home, image 12: via present and correct

NUPTIALS in NORFOLK ..........

Last weekend we went to a wedding in Norfolk ..... it was held at the beautiful venue of Langley Abbey ..... Langley Abbey was founded as a house of Premonstratensian canons in 1195 by Sir Robert FitzRoger. It's origins were principally religious and it was a monastery of sorts but canons were not monks and typically fulfilled the role of parish priest for many of the churches and parishes.

Considering Langley Abbey was probably one of the largest Premonstratensian houses in England, very little of the church remains. Excavations were undertaken in the 1920's and give us a general idea of it's shape and size but very little detail of the church itself. 

The Abbey boasts many features that one would expect of a monastery ..... cloisters, Almonry, infirmary and barns..

Very little is reported of life at the Abbey until 1475 ..... sadly, Langley Abbey had a poor reputation for being disorderly !!!

The 1500's were obviously a seminal period for the Abbey and Langley Abbey's dissolution took place in 1536, which meant that it's assets were seized. Twelve years later, the site was primarily seen as a quarry for stone and a reclamation yard for other materials and reports from the time suggest that the destruction of the church was very thorough.

OK ..... end of history lesson ..... 

 ..... the wedding was wonderful from the stunning venue, the food { prawns, medallions of beef and an assiette of desserts , lemon posset, chocolate torte and raspberry sorbet .... or, you could have sticky toffee pudding !!! }

to the dancing in the cloisters .....

I danced for around five hours in the above shoes ..... my feet are still recovering !!

Each wedding that I go to seems to take it's toll just a little bit more !! ..... after jumping around to Nelly the Elephant at midnight, I was done for, but, I held my own !!!

XXXX

image 1: via langley abbey, images 2 & 3: via wedding venues, images 4 & 5: via me, image 6: via wikiwand, image 7: via geography.org, image 8: via scorpian shoes