Wednesday 15 August 2012

Another Jaunt

         For no other reason than it looked great and tasted even better! Luxury bread and butter pud.

Yesterday was what I can only describe as a "PerfickDay". From start to finish. Well, actually it started off by raining in our neck of the woods, but by the time I had driven as far as Dereham - about halfway to my friend Sue's in Wymondham, the rain stopped. By the time I got to her's the sun was shining and it just continued improving all day!

Sue has a lovely garden - though she'd say it was getting overgrown and ...mutter...mutter...but really it is so pretty.


I love raised beds.........


Even in decay there is beauty..love-in-a-mist


...and giant allium...I have some to take home and disperse...


We had planned our day well, Sue and I. First we had a trip to Hobbycraft as Sue's daughter wanted some dyes...a throwback to the 60's Alice was about to tie-dye a dress. Sue and I picked up one or two odds and ends. No, no photos, and I'm leaving it to your imaginations what I came home with. Suffice to say black marker pens of several descriptions comes into it!

Then we drove across to Trowse, which now is just a district of Norwich but I suspect was once a pretty little village - I wish I'd taken more photos. We lunched, not here...


....it looked so attractive I had to show you........but here, right across the road....


I couldn't get a proper photo of the outside, but inside was very fresh and cool, just what we needed.


And here is one of its most discerning diners. Sue can always find a good veggie restaurant.We had:


and very god it was too. Then we headed back to Wymondham to the Arts Centre. We 'd popped in there a couple of weeks ago and noticed an upcoming exhibition which included a friend of Sues, Kerry Buck.


I love Kerry's work, and did come away with a beautiful print...though I was spoiled for choice. The light was poor this morning when I photographed it but you can see how lovely it is.What's that you say? ROOKS????? But you loathe and despise them, Lynne! Yes I do, but I love seeing the cordivae family expressed in paint...or fabric, come to that.


And the text is just perfect, as I spent years getting my husband to admit the noisy creatures at the bottom of our garden were rooks, not crows!


Just to rub it in! Not yet decided where it's to go, but it will settle in to the cottage very nicely indeed.
And coincidentally, I was chatting to Kerry and she knows Yvonne (of S&B fame) and has exhibited with her in the past. Expect a call soon, Yvonne! What a small world it is.

But that's not all! Feeling quite warm and in need of a restorative cuppa, we set off a  little way to visit the Egg Shed. Now this is a newish enterprise run by a young woman called Annabel Barber, who lives at Cavick House Farm. A fine arts graduate, Annabel works part time at the Sainsbury Centre,  but has Big Plans for developing arts/crafts and sociability on the farm site. (You can tell how much I was drawn to this, can't you? I must take the Stitch & Bitch girls, they'll love it.)

We found Annabel and her lovely mum Julie tending the front garden, and I do mean getting down to it with lawn mower and weeding bucket. The farm supports several breeds of sheep, pigs, and free-ranging hens. The ambience of the place is wonderful...helped of course by the brilliant weather we had yesterday.


The whole thing works on an honesty principle, and it works. While we were there several people drove, walked and cycled up to pick up their boxes of eggs, look aren't they magnificent, love the boxes!
So Annabel decided that people might just be needing a cuppa when they've popped in so she opened the Tea Shed. Sue and I checked it out and quenched our thirst in the shade with a generous couple of Earl Greys!

         The wonderful metal rooster looks as if he's creeping up on the thirsty chook! Love it!

Annabel has future plans for a barn which she'd love to present as an arts and crafts cafe. BLISS! and throw in some live music I said...... Anyway, check out their website www.annabelseggshed.co.uk

Second coincidence of the day, Sue's friend Max is a garden photgrapher -  see her article coming out in October's Country Living - and has asked Sue to model with her new Pashley bike (it's a little cutie, basket and all) actually at the egg shed - would you believe it?

Time to get back to Sues, then off I set for my melodeon lesson...love it! Nick's friend Edda was visiting from Sweden, along with another Nick. Together the three of them form Triette making the most fab music on fiddle, guitar, mandolin and melodeon. And at the end of my lesson Nick asked if I'd like to play a number with them all so we did the CEG which is a Swedish Polska. Fynn joined in on cello. Oh I could have cried, it was so lovely to be playing such a beautiful tune with such great musos. My day couldn't have got any better.

Gentle drive back home in the sunshine, little traffic on the roads. Back to regale Jim with the splendours of my day, bliss! Catch you soon, hope you had a brilliant Tuesday too.

34 comments:

  1. Looks like a great day out. I love the blue egg trays in the blue shed! I do so hope that nobody does steal the money though. We used to go to a farm shop where you helped yourself to the veggies and fruit weighed them and wrote down in a book what you'd had and how much it cost and put the money in the tin. Miles from a main road or anything and yet one day the tin was emptied and their faith in human nature spoiled. It ought to be possible to trust people but sadly not always!

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    1. We did wonder ourselves...but apparently they have had nice folks visiting so far, just hope it continues. She is such a nice lass.

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  2. What a fabulous day out Lynne! I love that tea shed, what a lovely idea! Ooh and all those beautiful eggs!
    Victoria xx

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    1. It was a visual feast, it really was, pure eye candy. And we love our eye candy, don't we??

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  3. I just relived the whole glorious day, I actually co ordinate quite well with the egg shed in my blue blouse! Had to smile at the photo of the huge buddleia in my garden, as from today it is no more Peter nearly gave himself another hernia digging it out but I have some longed for space and more planting opportunities! Maybe the next outing should be to the wonderful walnut tree nursery after all!
    Lots of love and see you soon xxxx

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  4. You look lovely, cherub! Poor old Peter, he's in the wars isn't he? Did you get my message re the water-colour book? Lx.

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  5. I love finding new places to visit from your blog! I might need to visit the Cafe very soon!
    Claire

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    1. Claire, it was lovely, you must go. Pick a nice day and really make the most of it.

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  6. HI Lynne, you had an amazing day out- but what I most envy is your music session- sounds absolutely brilliant! I dont play but if I could I would love to play the fiddle or mandolin- bluegrass is my mostfavourite music of all time, followed by cajun and country...... but to play an instrument must be soooooo rewarding!
    I have had a very non blogging time recently but will catch up soon!
    Heatherx

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  7. Heather, the music in my life is very important to me. I don't play particularly well, just very enthusiastically! I love it. Don't ever be put off learning; I first picked up a fiddle at 55 and only tried the melodeon this time last year.

    We all have days when blogging comes easily - or we have the time to do it, and times when....we don't! Be 'seeing ' you soon!
    Lx

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  8. Should you wake up one morning and discover you've been burgled but only the rook/crow print and the remains of a bread pudding have been stolen, you'll know who it was ;D

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  9. Ah, you'd be one of them ole stealth yarn-bombers too, I expects!

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  10. What a great day you had Lynne! Those sheds are brilliant what a clever idea! I've got some great friends, spent time today with 2 of them, not much shopping but loads of tea guzzling! We could of squeezed quite happily into that shed! Ada :)

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    1. Days spent with good friends are really special, aren't they? You'd have loved the sheds, Ada, the whole thing was just so pretty and.....lovely!
      Lx

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  11. What a great post!
    I loved the journey.
    The egg shed is so cute and the tea shed!
    Your pudding looks great too
    Raining here in Tasmania.
    Chris
    Australia

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    1. Hi Chris, sorry about your rain...but it IS winter over there! We really basked in the beautiful sunshine on Tuesday...and would you beleive it but it is shining again as I type this morning! (Mind you, it poured down most of yesterday..it's why we are so weather-obsessed here in the UK!)

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  12. Well, those sheds are a brilliant idea aren't they? The imagination of some people never ceases to amaze me.
    How weird the weather is, how changeable it can be just a few miles apart. We are not far from each other, yet you set out in rain yet it wasn't raining here!
    Have emailed re journal pages, thank you.

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  13. Hi Maggie - yep, saw your email and have responded.
    Norfolk weather is really weird. I always swear there is something magnetic around Dereham...the rain is ALWAYS worse there, no matter how mild it is elsewhere. I have had to stop the car on many occasion whilst driving past Dereham in the rain...then as soon as you are past it...it all calms down again!

    I really hope Annabel's vision succeeds, she has some great ideas, just needs time, and funds, I guess, also.

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  14. Oh, my oh my! what a lovely browse through your perfick day.I just felt I was there and certainly wished I had been. Good job I'd had such a good week in Germany or I'd have felt a wave of envy!
    Love Jo x

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    1. now you really can't complain, Jo - you were having a super time!

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  15. Ooo can I come round to yours for pudding? Bread and butter is one of my favs but the worst nightmare of much of my household so not something I have ever made. Eleanor x

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    1. You'd be more than welcome, Eleanor! I'd make one for your very own self anyway, if I were you, and I bet they'd be very jealous when you ate it in front of them!

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  16. What a great day and thanks for suggesting some lovely places to suss out. Hello Sue!! I have seen Kerry's work around and it IS divine - not surprised you came away with something! Am in love with that little quilt at the bottom of your last post - tell us more! xCathy

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    1. Hi Cathy, gosh it really is a small world, isn't it? Re Kerry, have recently found out she is also a fiddler, and lo and behold, the folk club I've been invited to just happens to be the one Kerry plays at!

      That 'little quilt', Cathy, is just the middle section of what should -ahem - turn out to be a full size double! I saw a photo i an Ozzie quilt mag some years ago, of an old English medallion quilt ie, central panel surrounded by rows of borders. I loved it, and so did lots of other pople. Someone created a pattern and stitched up a copy and it was presented in the mag. I have the 6 issues and cut out all the applique but got bored doing the borders. One day, perhaps!

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  17. There was an item on The One Show earlier this week about honesty boxes...they did an experiment with hidden cameras to see how honest people really are. There were a number of thefts. And then, by placing a photograph of human eyes next to the honesty box, thereby implying you were being watched, the honesty levels increased. Interesting, huh. :)

    You had a lovely day out - I could so do with a girly day like that.

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    1. Sometimes it just happens, we had sort of planned what we intended doing, but never guessed it would all turn out so beautifully!

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  18. Looks like you had a lovely trip !
    Send me an e-mail Lynn, so I can tell you what hangs on our wall ;-)

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  19. OMG, your pictures make me shiver, I feel JUST like I am in England!!
    I LOVE that Egg Shed!! And the veggie restaurant looked so inviting! Those flowers at the White Horse were gorgeous. I just loved this post.
    ~~Dorothy~~

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    1. Hi Dorothy - yep, just to prove we DO get sunshine here, sometimes! It was great.

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  20. I love that egg shed! Oh, and the self serve tea and coffee place. Cute and so inviting!

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  21. Thanks for such a great write up about The Egg Shed and The Tea Shed Lynne! What lovely comments from everyone too. Delightful to meet you both and hopefully see you again soon for the next instalment.
    FYI - honesty does work!

    Annabel

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