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At Catherine’s

December 23, 2012 By 3 Comments

It’s been a blustery night last night and the wind rattled my little bedroom window so much that I closed it in the middle of the night.

I wonder how similar the West Coast wind storms are to Oxfordshire wind storms. How one blows off the Pacific and slams into the mountains and the other howls across a gently rolling country.

Without a moon it’s so dark here in the country.

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Last Wednesday I was at Catherine’s cozy, warm cottage waiting for her to come home. The dark arrived too soon but the cottage is so warm and cozy and the fairy lights glow with most welcoming twinkle.

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I took a few photos so you can see how lovely and Bohemian her home is. It’s loveliest in these dark wintery days, I think.

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There are floppy pillows and lush fabrics and purring cats, hot tea and stones and crystals and a beautiful view onto fields and the chalk downs beyond.

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That was last week, and tomorrow is Christmas Eve. It all seems too soon!

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Today I had to say goodbye to England for a few months

September 11, 2012 By 7 Comments

But before I had to leave there was still time for one more photo.

Time for a walk to gather some treasures,

time to say goodbye to my friends,

time to bake one more crumble from the garden blackberries, apples and plums,

time for an open fire in the living room,

and time for one more Oxfordshire sunset.

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A day out of the ten miles…lunch at Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire.

September 6, 2012 By 4 Comments

You know how on a day out you sometimes say to yourself, “I’d like to go visit a castle…no…wait…maybe some historic ruins. Oh, but then I’d also like a nice place for lunch, some shopping and a museum would be great.” You know…like you do.

Well, I found the best place for you to visit. Sudeley Castle in the beautiful Cotswolds.

This place was home to Queen Katherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry the VIII. She actually walked the grounds, the halls, prayed in the church, and she’s buried there too. You know who else stayed there? Lady Jane Gray, Queen Elisabeth I, Kings Richard III, Charles I, George III…oh, what am I doing…this isn’t a history lesson. But now it’s the private home of Lord and Lady Ashcombe and family, who will let you tour their private apartments on three days/week.


About 3/4 of the castle is habitable and serves as the private rooms, museum and cafe.

The remaining 1/4 is so romantic. Beautiful, majestic ruins.

The cafe is in a part of the old stables. There’s a copy of the warrant of execution for King Charles I hanging on the walls. Apparently it was signed there.

I recommend the roast beef baguette. The chips are out of this world.

The view to the formal gardens from the museum part.

Wouldn’t you love a water feature like this in your garden?

Here is a small knot garden.

And a walled secret garden.

Between the formal garden and the secret garden is the church.

Inside is a marble tomb in which rests Queen Katherine Parr.

The most amazing place. Many more photos on my FB. Come see.

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Come see one of my most favorite places. The Burford Garden Centre

September 2, 2012 By 3 Comments

It’s a garden centre, a cafe with the yummiest lunches, a gourmet foods shop, a home decorating centre, a children’s fantasy shop, a speciality book store and an antiques shop all in one.
If you’re an avid plants woman/man, want a lovely place for lunch with friends, need that truffle oil from France for tonight’s risotto, want to buy a three tiered tutu in bright fuchsia for your little princess this is the greatest place to spend some time.
All the displays are so lovely to look at and dream about.

Look at this one.

These cast iron twine spools…I mean…you have to have twine in the garden, right?

This is a fruit store for all the apples from your orchard.

The roses are actually grown so you can see their habit before you decide on the perfect one.

How about this! A Gypsy caravan as a play house/place to nap/have tea.

Wow, locally grown and hand spun linen goods. Who does that these days? I want to spin and weave linens.

Loads of vintage plates/cups/jugs…anything you like, for a song. I love to mix and match, don’t you?

Can you believe the patina of this table and benches? This would be so wonderful in a breakfast room.

And, of course, a fair amount of that beautiful English Laura Ashley type layering. Very Shabby Chic.

Can’t wait to go back.

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Sunday rest? Oh…you know the drill :)The turbo mini and the Caterham 7 at the Blenheim Palace classic car show.

August 27, 2012 By 1 Comment

This is something I look forward to ever year.
Usually I take my beautiful rebuilt Austin 7 mini to this show but this summer my mini is off its MOT and so the turbo mini got a chance to go out again.
Blenheim palace, which is actually within my ten mile project, has huge green lawns, perfect for a car show.
Parked up the turbo mini next to Jason’s Caterham 7 and another Caterham 7…

and had a wander around.
Look at this beautiful MG Police car. Doesn’t it look like something out of Wind in the Willows? Can’t you just see it chasing Mr Toad?

Wow! Just Wow! Look at those rear lights. Can you imagine trying to park up a land barge like this one in a parking stall?

What is this? An Alvis? Apparently it was a private British company from 1919. Never heard of it…also never heard of Facel; a French type of car.

Now this…this I have heard of. Love Cobras. And the Ferrari isn’t too bad either ;)

This is just such a sexy piece of kit, isn’t it? I love Etype jags. In my next life I’ll get one.

Walked back to the cars and there was a third Caterham 7 parked up…boy, they sure multiply, don’t they?

Suddenly there was a lot of interest in the cars…and no wonder, such pretty cars.

All good.

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More ten mile project fun…Minster Lovell Hall

August 25, 2012 By 2 Comments

Just down from Burford, on the beautiful Windrush river, on the edge of Wychwood forest is this incredible 15th C relic.

I love it here.

It was a great, grand hall and the main residence of the Lovell family, (isn’t that a lovely name…Lovell). King Richard III was a family friend and stayed in the minster for visits.

The minster was a U shape, with a central great hall, enormous fireplaces, staircases, turrets and stone archways.


Here is R walking thru the main hall to show the scale.

This is the great hall. Can you just imagine tapestries, roaring fires, musicians, ladies in wimples, emboidered gowns and jewels. Actually, a beautiful jewel was found here and is on display at the Ashmolean in Oxford.

When it was investigated by archeologists, a skeleton was found in the basement!

The footprint is still here. So is the dovecote and the church.

Minster Lovell Hall…the best place to daydream.

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Within the ten miles…Burford!

August 24, 2012 By 4 Comments

You gotta love Burford, the ideal Cotswold town. Burh = fortified town and Ford = river crossing. Could there be any other town where Uther Pendragon, King Arthur’s father, gave a golden dragon as a standard? Bet it was a real dragon, bet it breathed fire.
In this lovely, lovely town 15th and 16thC buildings function as homes, shops, hotels and pubs.

So let’s go.
Let’s park up beside this warm stone wall.

Let’s follow the small road to the High street. It’s summer crazy with people.

The High street is full of lovely shops.


And little alleys with shops.

Look at this mix of 15th to 17thC buildings.

The shops give way to cottages and homes.

Many with large archway entrances for horses and carriages, now handy for cars.


The town ends, and we stop at the Windrush River. But now we get to go up the other side!

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Working on the ten mile project…St Mary’s chapel

August 17, 2012 By 14 Comments

I found it for you.
This lovely, lovely little chapel.

Driving the direct road you sometimes have to take a turn. You just have to, don’t you?
When a friend told me about a little chapel standing on its own in the middle of nowhere somewhere towards Chimney…or it could be Cote, but anyway…in that direction over there…isn’t that something you just have to find? I think so.

Apparently it has existed since the 12C in some form or another. Apparently it was endowed to the vicars of Bampton along with 2lb of wax/year for candles.

The chapel was granted burial rights in the 15C, baptism rights by the 16C.

It fell out of favour for some reason by 1772 and became derelict. But was repaired and renovated by 1785 and the medieval bell was rehung in the belfry.

On the way home, driving thru the village of Cote, I bought armloads of the most spectacular dahlias, fresh picked tomatoes, beans and onions.

Found Graham the village butcher and got some sausages from him.
Guess what’s for supper! All locally grown, made, sourced. I love that, don’t you?

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Now these are some proper late summer herbaceous borders!

August 9, 2012 By 6 Comments

My friend Elaine and I made a date for lunch today at Aston Pottery in the village of Aston. Last year the owners were busy planting some perennial borders and this year the borders are absolutely spectacular. We are both avid plants women; we were in heaven.

Walking down the path was just breathtaking. I know…they’re only flowers…but you should have seen the bees and bumblebees and butterflies on the bee balm and Echinacea.

The phlox! What can I say about the phlox? It’s magical here. Big bronze stems and bright fuchsia blooms.

Agapanthus, crane’s bill geranium, huge stargazer lilies, michaelmas daisies and astras, coreopsis and crocosmia.

Absolutely no room to move within the borders. This is fantastic because they hold each other up and choke out the weeds. What a brilliant treat to see.

On our way out we waved to owner Stephen Baughan. He was busy planting a huge border on a ten foot bank. Way to go Stephen, the gardens look lovely.

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Random…on a strange day

August 2, 2012 By 12 Comments

I should have known this morning it was going to be one of those days.

Some Canada geese fly over West Cottage each morning on their way to the Thames. This morning there were three flocks absolutely determined to wake me up by 5:30. It was the third flock what done it. A lovely acapella of 20 or more honks and then, a lone, tone-deaf goose bringing up the rear some distance behind the rest, honking/screeching pitifully. Do you ever have those mornings where you feel yourself slipping back into zombie-land and then some noise rolls the blinds up on your brain in that thunderous way where the blinds keeps on rolling after they’ve reached the top? Yeah, that was what happened.

Today was going to be the day to visit the scrap yard to see if I could find some interesting bits for sculpture. I was imagining Steampunk fish made with bits of found machinery…as you do…and I found the most wonderful poetry-under-glass light bulbs, some dragonfly bodies (AKA pipe holders), some old tags and a kind of metal cylinder which will most likely end up holding a poem. (Oh, I know, but it’s working in my head. I’ll show you very soon) Anyway, the sky darkened and within 2 minutes it started bucketing it down. Big, big fat rain. Good old English weather. Everything was beyond drenched in 30 seconds and I had to drive off.

So most of you probably know that gas (petrol) is really expensive in England. My mini is so great to drive but, across Oxfordshire, it’s best to drive the Astra. The Astra uses LPG, (Liquid Petroleum Gas), which is much more sensible, but there are only a few stations that dispense it. Eventually I had to go gas up.

Let me describe the process.
First take off the gas cap and put it on the driver’s seat. (Safety precaution. There have been way too many gas caps left behind on top of the pump.) Then take the nozzle out from its holder, align the bayonet fittings, twist the nozzle 45% clockwise and pull the handle till an airtight lock happens. Then lean against the big red button on the pump with your shoulder to dispense the LPG. Make sure your arms are crossed and you’re wearing your shades because if you got this far thru the ordeal you’re dead cool.

When the maximum amount of LGP has been delivered the pump will stop and now you need to summon all your strength. Look away, take a deep breath…hold it… and bravely push the handle to break the air lock. Instantly, a huge puff of stinky LPG will escape at high pressure freezing your hand and making a scary sound like…like…like that huge serpent on Harry Potter turned into a cobra spitting at full venom. Collect yourself and go pay for the LPG.

Sit on the gas cap. Swear.

There’s nothing for a day like this. Got fish and chips. I’m a sensible girl after all.

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