A trip away, Fabric and a castle.

I'm very behind with blog posts as I've been having a bit of a lazy time. Life had reached the point of being one long rush so I decided to put the fun back into it by having some down time and refocussing. I've got some photos to share of what we've been up to, both visits and sewing. I'll start with a trip away in May.

On the weekend of 21st May, John and I had arranged a short break for just the 2 of us. The break should have happened in early March to celebrate John's birthday but Covid got in the way. The UK was still in lockdown at that point and so we had a family celebration, (minus older daughter who doesn't live with at home). Now I am the only member of the family not to have experienced a lockdown birthday! Because of lockdown we moved our booking forward and the hotel was able to open the beginning of the week we travelled. We knew we didn't want to visit Bath as we have been there many times and have always found it crowded so we planned carefully. The journey was plagued by high winds and rain which made driving tiring but the roads were fairly quiet. There were no holdups except for a long queue for coffee when we stopped. We decided to forgo coffee as we had soft drinks and water in the car.

The hotel owners had spent lockdown updating and redecorating. When we last visited it was decorated to the tastes of the previous owners. The rooms now look more modern but are just as comfortable as always. I tried to find the picture from our last time we stayed in this room but I can't. I forgot to take the picture until we were leaving so not looking as fabulous as when we arrived.

I have some fabric to show you but I haven't taken the photo yet. We visited a ruined castle, Fairley Hungerford castle.

When we arrived at the castle the sky was overcast and there was a strong wind blowing, but over the next half an hour the sun came out and the rest of the day was beautiful. The castle had a steep sided deep moat which in places had stones lining the sides.

In places the moat was filled with wild garlic. I love garlic and the smell was amazing.

The church attached to the castle was old but in tact and had some murals on the plaster

Down in the crypt there were old lead coffins, which were used to preserve the bodies.

From the castle we visited Bradford on Avon where we enjoyed a cream tea and had a good wander around the town. We also took a walk along the river and came across an old tithe barn,

The barn was so big that I couldn't fit it all into the picture. There is a third door that is out of shot. I took a photo of John standing in front of one of the doors to be able to see the size. John is 6 foot 1inch.

On the Sunday of our trip we went bird watching and walking. I didn't take any photos as the weather was wet and windy and I left my camera in the boot of the car, safe and dry. Although it was wet we enjoyed our walk. The rain persisted on the drive home which meant there was less traffic on the road than usual so our journey was quicker. Although we had bad weather on the Sunday we enjoyed our time away and got home refreshed. 

I'll be back tomorrow for Slow Sunday stitching.

Take care

Lyndsey