Sunshine And Showers

This weekend has been such a mixture of bright sunshine and wind and rain. Fortunately yesterday was sunny and Deb and I had a stall at Bay Tree Cottage open day over in Farthingstone. We had a lovely day and enjoyed chatting to people and indulging in delicious home made cake.

we tried to group our things in little colour themed arrangements.

The hall was lovely and bright and airy, and beautifully decorated with bunting.

Deb brought along her lovely old wooden tea trolley she found at the local tip. She gave it a lick of paint and it is great for display.

The cakes were truly scrumptious, between us we sampled lavender cake, chocolate cake, lemon drizzle and black currant, orange and poppy seed, tropical banana and Brooklyn Blackout Cake. Not just between the two of us you understand ! Mr C and Debbie's husband were also on hand to taste test.

Outside were old drawers and chairs used as planting containers for herbs and vegetables.

I took a walk around the village and enjoyed the sunshine.

The chimneys on the pub....

The lovely landscape and so peaceful not a sound except the birds singing. I guess for lots of you that is the norm but living in a town you appreciate the silence when you get out in to the countryside.

On Saturday morning the postman had brought me this lovely cup and saucer to add to my collection of utility wear. This one is American so had traveled a long way. I love the pink cup and yellow saucer,they are by Lu-Ray Pastels USA.

I found the sample cards of buttons and buckles at a flea market this morning. These will find their way in to my Etsy shop.

Yesterday I didn't come away empty handed either, the 1950s aprons and cottage tin are also destined for my Etsy shop.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the bank holiday weekend , hopefully the sun will make an appearance again tomorrow.

Easter Weekend And A Trip To Bay Tree Cottage

As promised here are a few more scraps from my recently acquired 1930s scrapbook.

Unfortunately the weather at the weekend wasn't really suitable for this .......

..... but I saw quite a few of these , we even had hail one day !

I stayed at home quite a bit and caught up on a few jobs around the house

I did a bit more baking with my lovely girl. We seem to be working our way through The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. The marshmallow cakes were very pretty but much too sweet for me. The chocolate cupcakes made with Green and Blacks cocoa were much more to my taste.

On Saturday Mr C and I took advantage of slightly dryer weather and headed out in to the lovely Northamptonshire countryside. Farthingstone is a very pretty village which was once the home of my ancestors. Our destination was the village hall and Bay Tree Cottage right next door. Bay Tree Cottage is the home of Jenny who along with Annalitta run Bay Tree Cottage Country living Workshops . They put on a range of country craft workshops throughout the year using the cottage and the hall. On the first Saturday of the month they have open days. At the back of the cottage is a plant nursery as well as assorted chickens and cuddly black sheep. The views are wonderful and the setting of the little hall was just perfect for a range of country craft sellers as well as a lovely tea room. Hopefully Debbie and I may be taking part in a future open day and selling some of our vintage treasures. We enjoyed tea and the most delicious range of home made cakes. Mr C was very happy , most trips out seem to be judged by the quality of the cake he has sampled !

The inside of the hall was lovely and light and airy and it had these beautiful stained glass windows.

Bay Tree cottage is on the left and has a wonderful extension on the back overlooking open countryside. Amazingly this little row of cottages was also the home to some of my relatives many generations ago. Originally the cottages were tiny farm labourers cottages but they were very unusual.

If you look closely you will see that the whole of the front is covered in broken china including large pieces of tea cups and dinner plates.

Just down the road is the village pub, very inviting with pretty painted benches outside. To the left of the pub on the site of the car park used to stand Pear Tree Cottage. This was where my great great grandparents lived, and where my grandad spent many of his summers as a child.

This amazing construction is 'The Bug House' at the back of Bay Tree Cottage .

Hope you all had a lovely Easter Weekend.