AND THE WINNER IS ....................

' JACQUELINE '
Oh my goodness .................... I've won .........

.........I'm going to have to negotiate that staircase ..................

............... in my Alexander McQueen heels .............. I need some Dutch courage .........

............. if only I'd worn my bottle opener shoes , I could have had a quick slurp.... purely for medicinal reasons !!!!

............... and why did I wear this dress with the ghostly veil......... I can't see a thing.......

............ thank goodness , I've made it.........

....... GEORGE GIVES ME THE OSCAR ........

" Thank you so much George " ( Air kiss George's cheeks both sides a la Francais stylee )......

.........." I would like to thank ( sob sob ) my husband and children for supporting me and( sob sob ) to be in the company of such talented people who were up for this award, is so amazing
( sob sob sob )" .......................

Jackie wakes up................ Oh, it was all a dream, but when Jackie looks at her favourite blogs , she finds that one of her favourite blogging compatriots, Julie at Being Ruby , has given her a Blog Award !!!! Julies posts are some of the funniest and most enjoyable to read in blogland and she is one great blogger. Her photographs are inspiring and beautiful. Thank you so much , Julie , for my award, and for being a great, supportive friend.
Now, because I have been given an award , it falls upon me to bestow awards on others, so here goes :

JULIE at beingruby

SIMONE at thebottomoftheironingbasket

JANET at frenchblue

MILLIE at thelaurelhedge

CAROLE at maynardgreenhouse

LAURA at 52flea

ALICIA at delightfulanddelovelyDEB at dumbwittellher

RENEE at reneefinberg.blogspot.com
MIMI at designmyway
ViCKI at frenchessence

and last but definitely not least

MELISSA at reverie

Thanks so much, all of you for being so supportive through my blogging journey. I feel as if I have made so many new friends and look forward to reading all of your posts in the future. There are quite a few more of you that I would like to have given an award to, but I think that I have probably gone way over my quota of how many I'm meant to give awards to , but , I think that you all know who you are and I want to thank you all for your comments and hope you will continue to come over to HOME and visit often.( even though you didn't get an award !!!! )

......and finally....

................ this is a bit of a boasting Mother thing but, this is my son who works for the BBC and won a SONY RADIO ACADEMY AWARD , which is the Academy awards for Radio and very prestigious. The presentation dinner was held at The Grosvenor Hotel in Grosvenor Square , London, and he received his award from Chris Evans ( who won two awards himself ) Some of you might not have heard of him , but he is very famous here in the U.K. ....so well done Daniel....we are all very proud of you. ( he will hate me for putting this photograph on my blog. I think that a few bottles of beer and red wine had been consumed by the time he went up to collect his award, so he is looking a little worse for wear !!!! ) X

Jackie

MAKING an ENTRANCE .................

They say that your front door and the front of your house is the most important as it is the first thing that anyone sees , be it visitors or , if you are selling , potential buyers........ it's known as kerb appeal....... Here are some delightful frontages !!! and I do apologise that they are fairly similar but , I guess , these are the type of houses that I love.
I really love this one as it's not pretentious or expensive , it's just a lovely little old cottage with loads of charm.

You can't beat bay or box trees outside the front door.

More box trees........ don't they make this entrance ?

I think that the old wall really makes this cottage. The trouble nowadays is that many people would have knocked it down..... the people who live here must love preserving old features.

Another really old door , not really looked after but I love it like that!!!!

More bay trees........... I think that this front door wouldn't look half as good without them .

I love the way that this wooden door has taken on that lovely grey patina , don't you ? And I love the garland.

Sorry...... more trees...... but so lovely.

Another simple wreath ..............

Another simple cottage , nothing fancy , just an ordinary life going on , but so sweet.

So pretty.

............................................. and just one final thing....... congratulations to Millie at The Laurel Hedge who posted her 300th post the other day.......well done you...... what an achievement.......I'm only on my 20th something post ....... I've got a long way to go to reach those dizzy heights ........ XXXX

Jackie

SHUTTERED WINDOWS.......................

There are obviously lots of things that I love regarding interiors , and I'm sure that I will say this again many times , but my favourite ( at the moment !!!! ) are shutters. Upstairs, in our house, we have solid wooden shutters and downstairs, we have plantation shutters at the windows( Note to self : must take pictures of my shutters for posts !! ) but in the following pictures , you can see that shutters are not just reserved for windows.
Just propped up against a wall . Fabulous.

A slight indulgence , this one , as I think that this could be an old door but its such a great picture I've included it.

Isn't this gorgeous ? And not just the shutters...I love this grey / Zinc look.

Long gasp of delight.......this room ......OHhhhhh

Here they are , used in the traditional way on the outside of a house....... I don't know why but this doesn't seem to work here in the U.K.

Perhaps a bit more furniture would be a good idea here but the original shutters are wonderful.

More external shutters....these are in Tuscany.

Isn't this perfect ?

Sorry , this one is tiny but can't you imagine sitting here , warm sunshine , drink , friends....... heaven .

Ahhh......... Wisteria ......so beautiful and adds a certain something to the lovely shutters

I don't always like everything painted white and I think that the mellow finish to these shutters would have been ruined had they been painted whereas...................

.................. it works really well here . I hoped you liked that little look at shutters and , maybe if you see an old shutter looking lonely in a junk shop , don't buy it . It's mine !!!!!!!

Jackie

CUSHIONS and QUILTS...............................

Cushions and quilts are our cuddley , snuggerly friends that give us warmth and comfort.They make us feel better when we are not feeling good , they send us off to the land of nod or they are just somewhere to lay our head. Whatever they mean to you , here are just a few to feast your eyes on..............

I have this one. It is probably one of the reasons I started my blog , as I came upon the shop that it comes from when I first started looking at Scandinavian blogs.......which took me to other blogs..........which took me to Scandinavian shops......... Kerching , kerching.......spending loads of money 'cos Scandinavian shops are absolute heaven and to sell one of your own limbs for !!!!!..... which then lead to other blogs and then I was hooked !!

At the moment , these antique grain sack cushions are my favourite.These are from 3finegrains.com
and are sooooooo expensive , but I have bought some from Etsy, which are lovely, at a fraction of the price.

This is a sofa and cushions from Mulberry and I love the mellow tones.

Love this shabby-look daybed ...oops , I've digressed a bit.....back to cushions and quilts....
although , it has got cushions and a quilt ON it.......

Bright and colourful and what a lovely worn chest....I bet it's seen a thing or two in it's time !!

These cushions look really well loved with their faded look.

Isn't this the most inviting bed . I just want to get in there with a mug of hot chocolate , a good book and , hopefully , it would be raining outside....I'll just pull the quilt up and set the alarm...Oh and I'll have to change the letters to J & C !!

These are more throws than quilts , so we can just throw them over the bed in the summer.

I think that these are beautiful . They are all different textures and colours but don't they all sit well together ?..........oh , and don't you just love the wall behind ?

Isn't this picture great ? I love the teapot sitting precariously on the top . It says to me Japanese tea ceremony .........laying on all of those cushions ,while lovely ladies in beautiful ceremonial outfits pour me tea from that teapot into those sweet little cups. .......wonderful.

I'd love a cupboard like that , where I could just pile lots of beautiful quilts and linen , but all of mine are on the beds !!

Well this just says English country cottage , a bit Laura Ashley to me ( even though it's not !! ) ......chintzy fabrics and a Victorian tureen.......and all in that lovely soft green.

I think a little lay down with a feather filled cushion , a pretty quilt and a look at the back of my eyelids !!!!!

Jackie

SUNDAY LUNCH at ' THE COWPER ARMS ' and other stories..........

It was that great British tradition for us yesterday.........Sunday lunch up the pub. Lovely. The Cowper Arms dates back to 1616 and was named after Lord Cowper, a resident of the area, and is a typical, traditional British pub, set in a very small village about 15 minutes from where I live and next to a disused railway line with lovely walks, more of which later . Anyone getting fed up with a lesson on the history of the great British pub please note that there will be pretty pictures of dining rooms later, but I thought that some of you might find some of the stories of a few pubs interesting.
The interior ( sorry, couldn't find a bigger picture ) has been modernised , sympathetically , with a massive, central open fireplace , which has a roaring open fire on colder days , and candles burning every which way you turn , giving a wonderful atmosphere. With original wide boarded floorboards and pale wooden beams , it is the ideal excursion out on a Sunday afternoon for a nice meal and 'a drop of the hard stuff ' !!!!

It was roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for us ( sorry to all you vegetarians out there !! ) but they have a variety of dishes to choose from.


Dirty Dicks was established in 1745 and is situated in Bishopsgate, in the City of London and was named after Richard , some say Nathaniel , Bentley, a prosperous city merchant . It was said that he was the inspiration for Dickens Miss Haversham in Great Expectations. Bentley had been quite a 'dandy' in his youth but, following the death of his fiance , he refused to clear up or clean anything , including himself. For years , the pub paid homage to him by leaving cobwebs , dead cats and disgusting , unmentionable things in the cellar bar, but is now spotlessly clean, with a wonderful historic atmosphere and a great place for a drink if you are in London.


This is The Anchor , dating back to 1600, and is situated close to the Globe theatre. It is said that Samuel Pepys watched the Great Fire of London , in 1666 , from here. After the Great Fire , the pub was rebuilt in 1676.

The Prospect of Whitby dates back to 1543 but was rebuilt in the 18th century. It is situated in Wapping in London. It was the meeting place of smugglers and villain's and became known as 'Devils Tavern '. One notorious customer was Judge Jeffreys , the ' hanging judge '. A hangman's noose still swings over the river, a macabre reminder of those gruesome times.




Back to the Cowper Arms , and after lunch our good friends Lucy and Steve, who we are going to Italy with in a couple of weeks , decided that a walk along the disused railway line was in order !!! For those of you who haven't read earlier posts , Steve is the one who walks our legs off on holidays !! He cycles for miles , has just come back from France where he followed the Tour de France and has thighs of steel !!! Well , when one decides to go out for lunch , one wears a nice , pretty little dress and.......................................................

.............. my new boots !!!!!!!! I will say no more other than I think that I have managed to save them !!

Now , for everyone who is now completely fed up with this post , here are some lovely dining rooms in which I could safely wear my new boots without fear of them being ruined !!!!

Gorgeous and with lovely clean floorboards and no mud !!!!

Lovely for swishing into in pretty frock and NEW BOOTS.!!!

Beautiful CLEAN tiled floor with not a remote chance of a flick of mud or horse **** to soil my lovely new footwear.

A room for Jimmy Choos or Christian Louboutins

......................... and finally, a dining room fit for boots , ballet pumps , wedges , sandals or stiletto's !!!!! I'm off to find a wet cloth and some shoe polish !!

Jackie