7 Reasons to love where I live

The summer break has so far been spent within 10 miles of our front door.
We are very lucky in that we like where we live or this week could have been a bit of a drag!

Here are 7 reasons to love where we live:

Actually here are 100 reasons to love our manor this week. 100+ Aston Martins in the shadow of our favourite house in the county, Burghley House.

The Wee One out did himself by having a tantrum in the middle of the grand circle of astonishingly luxurious cars, shouting and screaming that he wanted to buy one. Explaining he only had £1.27 in his piggy bank did little to appease him. On sympathetic owner kindly explained that it had taken him 50 years to save up for his Aston Martin so if the Wee One kept saving his pocket money, maybe he could buy one by the time he is 50 too.

The stone that prevails through Stamford and the evocative doorways, hinting at a mysterious past.

You can be a champion cheerleader and gymnast in a small town where there aren't many cheerleaders or gymnasts! She did brilliantly even though the competition wasn't exactly hot.

That sky, that view and nothing but a hedge to spoil it.

We make our own sherry. No, we don't but the weather has been so perfect in our little micro climate that a chilled sherry as I was working one evening made perfect sense.

The county is pretty flat which makes learning to ride a bike that little bit easier. By the way, she taught herself to ride a bike on Friday in a friend's garden. She went from not even wanting to sit on a bike, to one lesson with Daddy with a reassuring grip on the saddle, to riding the full length of the garden unaided. Seriously, how does that even happen?

The town is so small that I have taken a photo of every single view, except this one. It was going to be a view of the sky, but the Wee One wanted a selfie and then I photobombed my own shot!

Next week is another week of being local tourists in between working. That is until Saturday when we will be Wales-bound. Cannot wait!

Now click along and visit The Boy and Me.

On my doorstep

You don't need to go far to have an adventure. It could be as close as your local park or as far as your imagination will take you.

We are very lucky to have chosen to live in Stamford, the Best Place in Britain (according to the Sunday Times earlier this year), not only for the town itself which is steeped in history, has some beautiful buildings and can cater for that retail itch, but also for the fact that it has on its doorstep so many wonderful places which make a great day out.

So far this holiday we have travelled no further than 10 miles from our front door (with one exception to visit friends) but we've seen beautiful scenery, had some great days out and enjoyed where we live.

First up Burghley.
The House, the Park, the Gardens. All of it. Beautiful. See.

Fineshade Woods
A wood, not surprisingly, perfect for family walks or cycle rides, with added tree house and park.

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Rutland Water
Sailing and kayaking should that float your boat (groan) or a simple walk or cycle along some of its 23 miles of coastline. And another play area.

The Spinney
More woods, more walking, more playing, and fortunately more sunshine.

You know, I should get a job with the Tourist information office ;-)

And later this week, to make up for a distinct lack of traveling this summer holiday, we are going to Scotland. I'm expecting little or no 3G signal where we are going so I'll see you anon.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Autumn, antlers and inspiration

A perfect autumn morning calls for a (slightly downsized) family walk. Obviously by 'downsized' I do not mean that I have cut off family members limbs. Rather the walk was without a couple of family members, who instead were at school a) re-building lego pyramids and b) earning their first class 'Star of the Week' having only been at school for 4 weeks (very proud mother).

At this point I should confess I had plans of sending the Mr, The Wee One and Misty Moo out by themselves so I could catch up on some blogging. However The Wee One was determined that I should not miss out on this glorious weather and I should get some exercise and push his pram up as many hills as we could find. I will thank him one day when my bum can fit into the mirror widthways.

Autumn is by far my favourite season. The colours, the smell of bonfires, conkers, snuggly jumpers and cosy socks, cold sunshine and sunglasses, drawing faces on dew covered car windows, collecting leaves, an extra fluffy layer of warmth, watching a leaf fall, and hot, hot drinks.

Today's walk had most of these things, with the addition of the 'if we won the lottery which house would you buy' game whilst walking firstly behind the biggest poshest houses in Stamford along a service road (sounds very sad but is actually a nice quiet road) and then in front of them. It is always important to get the full panoramic view of a property before imagining knocking on their door and asking how much for a quick sale. You could be totally taken by the house's front elevation only to discover an extension  at the back designed by an architect whose last erection was in the 1970's, and built by a distant relative whose building experience is limited to Jenga. In case you are wondering number 72 is our favourite and we'll be popping round Monday morning with our winnings.

After our fix of property porn it seemed only right to have a coffee in town and build further fantasies around cultivating a career in interior design for bars and restaurants. The venue of choice today was The Cosy Club which is known for it's quirky eclectic design and wild use of antlers, deer heads and dodgy lampshades, all in a good way you understand.

Amazing how fresh air, caffeine and soaking up a creative environment can spark an idea. But it did. The free wifi helped too. I am inspired. I feel a surge of motivation. I must now tether it to make sure it doesn't escape and harness it's potential.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

One photo, no words.
#silentsunday

Silent Sunday 18.12.11

Search #silentsunday on twitter for more photos that sum up the week.

Christmas Trees, or not?

As today is the 1st December I feel that I can officially start to think about Christmas.

I am probably a bit behind compared to some of you who have not only bought all your presents but wrapped them too! I have so far bought 3 advent calendars, made a Christmas Tree (more of that later) and cried real tears over our town's Christmas Tree. A little melodramatic you might think, but twinkly lights and the start of the season that says more about family than any other, gets me all sentimental. That is how it should be, but the tears that were shed (admittedly only figuratively speaking) were over this apology of a Christmas Tree in our town centre.

I would say it is lacking something, hold on a second, I'll put my finger on it in a minute, now what could it be missing... err, a TREE?

To me, a 'tree of lights', as it is described by our town council, should really glisten and sparkle even on the dreariest of days. This steel column and argos basic fairy lights just doesn't cut it. In fact it is already showing signs of wear thanks to some curious idiots who wondered if they could squeeze in between the light strings. Answer: Yes you can and pull a row of lights down in the process.

For the love of all things bling, even at night there is barely a glow about it.

I have even tried a little bit of picnik editing (as you know, I am a picnik-aholic) and it still looks... apologetic.

A canvas of opinion seems to suggest that I am not alone in my disappointment but it is too late now, unless there is a friendly sympathetic Christmas Tree farm who would like to donate a tree to this sad, depressed market town in South Lincolnshire. *looks around hopefully*

In the meantime I have been putting to good use some of those Christmas catalogues that fall on the doormat on a regular basis at this time of year.

I used this tutorial to produce this little tree to sit on our window sill and then adapted it slightly by cutting off a section of the pages to make the tree stump. I am thinking I could decorate it with a bit of glitter and perhaps a cut out star to add the finishing touch. But I also like how it looks au naturel.

Now if I could only find a big enough catalogue I could make a tree for our town.

Saturday is Caption Day

We went walking this week (well we go walking every day of every week which you kind of have to do if you own a dog) and as I was setting up a photograph of the Princess my back was turned. When I turned back this is what I found.

What witty-ness is out there this week?

Think up a caption and post it in the comments. Then head over to the Queen of Captions, Mammasaurus, to see the other photos queuing up for your captions.

Cosy Club Opens in Stamford

I love the concept of the Cosy Club, a small chain of restaurants that describe themselves as a "gentleman's club meets village hall meets cricket pavilion". So I was somewhat surprised to find that The Big One's class at school had been invited to a baking session at The Cosy Club as one of their opening events in Stamford, Lincolnshire.

In fact I am slightly narked that The Big One had been before I had the opportunity to! Says something about my social life doesn't it. *skulks off back to the kitchen*

Anyway, after minor sulking, I thought what a brilliant marketing event to have arranged. Get the kids in, give them a great afternoon, get the parents talking about The Cosy Club and get them to come too. I understand that the local press were invited to capture the event and I look forward to seeing the kids in their chefs hats and aprons on the front page (or possibly slightly further back in the paper).

Not wanting to be outdone, I popped in today to find a really warm, comfortable atmosphere in amongst the chesterfield sofas and quirky table lamps. The builders and designers had certainly gone to town converting the old delivery office of Stamford's Post Office There was a distinct hint of retro British in the interior design with dashes of Cath Kidston. The locals were getting stuck in to their lunches and the morning coffee crowd were still gossiping so I doubt whether it will be very long before I am amongst the diners or drinkers. The menu looks very tempting with everything from brunch to tapas to a broad selection of main dishes, and a dedicated children's menu to keep the smalls happy.

In the meantime we thoroughly enjoyed the Cosy Club Confectionery Cookie baked and brought home by the Big One. The sugar rush only lasted an hour! And he will be donning his complimentary chefs hat and apron next time any baking is to be done!