It does seem that rather than the every day adventures I have in the kitchen, or with wool and needles or hooks, I have rather been posting about my little jaunts out, recently. Well I am afraid you will have to expect more of it for now! For last Friday I had the most scrumptious day out; I am off to London tomorrow for the Cross Stitch and Craft Exhibition, and then again next Thursday for the Vitality Show! But after all that, or maybe in between, I will be posting more about my every day kind of adventures for a while.
But first let me tell you about Friday, which was a lovely warm spring day (and was followed by sleet and snow on Saturday! I love March for the unpredictable weather) and was just so much fun. I have a particularly lovely friend who I did A Level History with, and then we ended up working in the same building for a while. We email often, and although we don’t meet up quite as often, when we do we have so much fun and never stop talking! We both love vintage things (and because they are lovely, not because they are fashionable at the moment!) and she lives in the country with her lovely husband and adorable chickens. But let me start at the beginning- she has came and picked me up from home, and we went to Tiptree which is a little village that you may recognise as the place where Wilkin and Sons jam comes from (mmm, tiny tip raspberry on wholemeal toast!). To the untrained eye, you would not think you could have much of a day out there, but ohhh, we did! There is a craft shop which is a veritable Aladdin’s Cave, full of every kind of crafting treasure you can possibly imagine! We were quite a while in there, because there is so much to see.
Then she introduced me to another marvellous shop- a proper hardware shop just opposite. It smelt divine, and was so clever- as well as having wood and sprockets and hammers and all sorts of manly things, it had gorgeous china and kitchen things, as well as candles and gifts and…well…everything! I bought all sorts of knick-knacks- some extra long matches for Carl to light our candles with, a runner-bean slicer, two tiny ramekins to make mini crème-brulees in, two slightly larger ramekins to make mini chocolate mousse in, and two scallop-shell shaped little plates, that I shall put prawns on when I make prawn salad next.
Our next mission was to find some lunch, because really, shopping and hunting through so many treasures really gives you an appetite! So we drove to the Jam Factory, and had lunch in the tea-room garden. If you are ever in the area, I can really recommend it. It was so relaxing to sit in the sun and talk and talk and talk while sipping a pot of tea and eating a really yummy sandwich. Although there is a museum you can look round, we didn’t have time- there was the gift shop to think of, after all! I bought some mini jars of jam (I am going to have them as favours at my wedding, and needed some so I can work out how much fabric I will need to make them little flowery lids), some Cath Kidston handbag tissues, and a gorgeous Ryland Peters and Small notebook that I have been coveting for a while.
Oh dear, don’t I sound like a magpie spendthrift? But you see, what I do is not buy anything for ages, and then I can have a day of buying such pleasing trifles without feeling bad! So do not think too badly of me!
From here we popped to an equally lovely nursery to buy some plants, and then back to her lovely home to meet her chickens and look over our days treasures. Really the day seemed to be over before it began- and as we left she was absolutely lovely- she gave me a bag of Lush bath bombs, and some Dermalogica face products that she couldn’t use! So I am rather pampering myself at the moment! Thank you Anna- you are the loveliest friend, you know!
1 comment:
That certainly does sound like a fabulous Friday!
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