Thursday, September 22, 2011

the west country

It seems like ages ago (but it was actually the weekend before last!) that we had a few days in the UK. Mr Yardage had business meetings in London (shopping, playing and eating for Little Mister and I!) before we set off for a weekend in the west country. Before I get all touristy on you, how lovely is this bunting across the street ...


First stop was Bristol. I have been wanting to visit Bristol for years as Mr Yardage used to come here all the time for work and at once stage we thought of actually moving here. It's a lovely city - understated, on a steep hill and was once the engineering hub of Britain. This is the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge designed by Brunel ...


Next we drove to nearby Malmesbury to visit friends. Malmesbury must be the quintessential english villiage ~ ancient, beautiful streets, lovely people. I could live here. Seriously.


It is possible that I am addicted to these beautiful hanging baskets of flowers ...


The next day we went to Bath. We've been to Bath before (many years ago) so didn't feel the need to do too many touristy things. Instead we checked in here ...


... Downton Abbey. Just kidding (though that would have been nice too!) ~ this is the Bath Spa Hotel and it is lovely! Set on huge, landscaped grounds high above the town, it was so relaxing. This is the view of the town from the steps ...


Anyway, back to something a bit craftier! While in Bath I managed a visit to The Makery ~ a gorgeous sewing/handmade shop in the centre of Bath. I was thrilled to find a stash of great crafty mags to stock up on as well as chat to the lovely ladies behind the counter. I didn't have my camera, but here are some instagram pics of this lovely shop ...


Inside ~ a table of haberdashery "candy" ~ buttons and beads and spindles and other odds and ends!


I promise that this is not going to become a travel blog. We have just moved to Madrid and my sewing machine (and everything else) arrives today, so that should result in a bit of creativity soon ... fingers crossed!

Have a lovely day!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, these pictures are so pretty! I cannot wait to get there myself next week and jumped from excitement when I saw your post!!! Thank you for sharing:)
I put The Makery on my list of the craft shops to visit. I noticed from my research that most of the craft shops are in Bath?!

Naturally Carol said...

I love those big baskets of flowers too..they just grow so well over there. I guess with all the rain and not having as much heat as here through summer they don't dry out as much.

Anonymous said...

oh, now I'm missing England ! Love that bunting....

gb80 said...

I am so utterly jealous. I would love nothing more than live in a gorgeous country town. Think Midsomer with out the murders LOL. Glad to hear your having a lovely time. How long do you think you will be OS for?

Liesl said...

Oooh ... what a nice weekend that would have been! I used to travel to Bristol for work quite a bit and adored visiting Bath. I'm sure that The Makery was the proverbial candy store!

Tania said...

Lucky you! What an amazing weekend. The bunting is so eye catching and there is just a beautiful sense of green-ness and history in England. I quite enjoyed Downton Abbey too.