A birthday trip away, a castle, birdwatching and a fabric shop.

Friday was John's birthday and so we headed for our favourite hotel in Somerset to celebrate. We left earlier than usual because we wanted to visit Nunney Castle which is near Frome. The journey from home was wet and therefore tiring. We needed windscreen wipers on and after a while the noise of their motor starts to give me a headache. Once we had turned off the motorway the rain started to ease and by the time we reached the castle it had stopped.

Nunney castle is a medieval castle at Nunney and was built in the late 14th century by Sir John Delamare. It is a moated castle and it's design may have been influenced by the design of French castles. It was remodelled in the 16th Century but was besieged and damaged by the parliamentarians in 1645. The castle is now a ruin maintained by English Heritage and is a tourist attraction. Whilst we visited the castle the sun decided to shine and the sky was blue.

We started our visit by walking all round the outside of the moat. There was a Little Egret that moved as we got close to it plus several mallards who kept their heads tucked in and carried on snoozing. As we walked round we saw this old barn.

We crossed the moat by the wooden drawbridge which is firmly fixed.

The keep is now badly damaged but inside you can get a good idea of the design of the castle. All 4 towers are still standing with the damage being to the walls. The castle originally had several floors but none of them remain but you can see where the floors would have been.

John stood in the main doorway while I took the photo from the drawbridge. It isn't a very imposing entrance to the castle. There has been a lot of rain recently and there was plenty of mud and puddles

From one of the windows you could see the local village church so we decided to visit.

We crossed a wooden bridge over Nunney Brook to get to the church.

The church is a listed building dating from the 12th century.  In the porch there was this pretty metal flower display.

The inside of the church was quite plain. This stained glass window was a memorial to people of the parish who lost their lives in the South African war 1899 to 1902 (2nd Boer War.) .

I liked the altar frontal  

especially the appliqued and embroidered fritillary.

We were rather thirsty by this time so stopped at the village pub for a drink before completing the rest of our journey. We had enjoyed the visit to the castle, church and the walk around the village but it was starting to rain again so we headed for our hotel. Fortunately the rain wasn't too heavy for the rest of the journey.

We had a good days bird watching on Saturday when we visited Ham Walls RSPB reserve and also Shapwick heath. The heavy rain held off for the day but at times it went quite grey and drizzled a bit. When that happened the day seemed quite bleak but we had a good time and saw 30 plus species of birds. I didn't have my big lens with me so didn't even attempt to get bird photos.

This flower was growing in a pot near the little shop area. I can't remember what it is but it was very pretty.

There were also a lot of daffodils and primroses along the banks of the channels. All of the water channels were very full. This area has had a lot of flooding recently.

Today we visited my favourite quilt shop, Midsomer Quilting in Chilcompton. I wanted to buy the fabric for my double wedding ring quilt. I knew it would take some time to make decisions about the fabric so we decided we wouldn't plan any other visit today. As always there was a lot going on. One lady had bought her hexagon quilt to be quilted on the long arm. I was able to take a couple of photos. Some of the blocks had embroidered flowers and butterflies.

Her friend was making me laugh as she was telling that not only had this lady embroidered these beautiful blocks but she also kept all her embroidery threads very neat and tidy unlike herself, whose threads strongly resembled a birds nest. She then showed me two of her own quilts tops she had bought for quilting. These are made using wool.

It's always fun when you get into conversation with other quilters. Their enthusiasm for their craft is infectious. Having chatted to these ladies I went back to choosing fabrics. I kept circling the shop as I slowly made my choices. My pattern is from Today's Quilter.

This is only the second time I have bought all the fabric for a quilt at the beginning. The last time was for the Mariners Compass quilt I made through 2017 into 2018. I renamed my quilt The compass home as making the quilt helped to keep me sane whilst I went through treatment for breast cancer. The pattern was a Quilters Guild pattern and I used their fabric choices.

This time I studied the pattern carefully and decided the colours I wanted to use and where i would use them. Here are my fabric choices.

I also wanted this fat quarter because it is so cute

John had placed bids on two of the 12 inch minis in the auction for Dorothy House ( a hospice) and he had won both of them. When he paid for them he said we would pick them up on our next visit so they have come home today. The first one is by Jane Blackmore and is titled 'Can't see the wood for the trees'

The second one is by Debbie Halfhide and is called ' Mad March hares.

The theme last year was phrases or sayings. This year the theme is Bucket list. I haven't taken part yet but I have a couple of ideas for the theme and so I hope to submit at least one mini. Most of the minis are auctioned to help raise funds for the hospice.

Tonight my slow stitching will be working on my countryside scene. I want this finished as I have other embroidery to work on. I didn't take it with me this weekend, instead I took my knitting and managed to get quite a few rows of pattern completed.

I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching link up. I need to catch up with my blog reading as I haven't visited any since Thursday. I love seeing what everyone is making.

Take Care

Lyndsey