Going away for July...

Today I drive the 330 miles to Glasgow for my friend's 40th Party tomorrow. It will be a fun night. I get to spend a few days with my mum and then I move to the west coast of Scotland where I spend July looking after some holiday cottages. This sea view is the one that will greet me every morning while I am staying there and this wonderful house is where I get to live while I'm working there.

The ferry boats pass the house several times a day and are fantastic to watch as they cruise off to the islands.

The nearest shop is 7 miles away so you have to be a little organised. Last year I had to deal with 2 bats in the house which wasn't so pleasant but apart from that it is a wonderful experience. I get to cook on an Aga which I adore and the local people invite you round for cups of tea and "a wee scone" Perfect. In the evenings I climb the hill at the back of the house to get views across to the peninsula on the other side of the loch.

Mike will come and join me there for a week. Last year we took a trip to Colonsay which was great. Over 3 hours sailing time and then you feel like you are in another world - it's so remote. The hotel there is fab and whilst we didn't have time for a meal, having walked to the beach and back in time to get the boat home, we had a drink and I had a look at the menu which was great and of course there was a Kiwi working behind the bar which amused me in such a faraway place.

It really is an idyllic area and far away from the hassles of airports and motorways.

Wolverhampton & The Queen of Sweden

I had to visit Wolverhampton twice this week for business. I really dislike going there. I get lost every time, my sat-nav doesn't have any of the roads listed even though they were constructed over 3 years ago. The traffic is always terrible, queuing on slip roads, queuing on the motorway, going in circles on the ring roads. And it is always raining.
While I was in the area though I did treat myself to a trip to David Austin on Wednesday. It was fabulous. I didn't even get to the tea-shop such was my all-consuming need to touch and smell every rose they stock.
Much as I would have loved to really go crazy in the shop I restricted myself to one purchase. Buying plants right now is not a good idea since we are on the move so all I brought home with me was the Queen of Sweden and she is gorgeous.

Family BBQ

We had a family BBQ in the garden and enjoyed watching our niece demolish a mini-Magnum!

The next day we enjoyed watching the cat who visits us looking to see if there was anything left for him!

Shipston on Stour

Last week Mikey D and I went to visit our friend Ray in Shipston on Stour. We had a lovely time, wandered round the village and had dinner with him. He made fresh salad, some from the garden, to go with lasagne and we took Italian trifle for dessert. He also gave us a tour of the house and garden where he is staying - wonderful and backing on to the river. As we were leaving he very kindly gave us some cold pressed oil which is made locally in the Cotswolds from rapeseed. He wanted to know what we thought of it. It says a "nutty flavour" in the description but for me it smells of freshly dug potatoes. I'm enjoying using it in my cooking.

Imagini

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This was fun. Sometimes there were quite a few options that would have been my choice. At the end you get a blurb on your personality and it was pretty accurate I have to say!

This room is no more. I have stripped the hydrangea border off (that took hours, the adhesive was so glue-y) and am now painting over the heather and blue with "natural wicker" Very tame but it's what all tenants seem to want - lots of neutrals. I remember decorating this room after having the fireplace installed and I just loved the colours but it's time for an update I guess. We had a fire going in the grate last night when we popped in and it was lovely. I sat watching the firelight making dancing shadows against the half-painted pale walls.
The next pic is the back of the house which needs a little work and perhaps a garden seat placed there for taking morning coffee.
The last picture is the shed at the bottom of the garden which needs a good paint and those tumbling roses tamed a little! I bought that rose in 1999 at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall.

My Pension

We have a rental house nearby which is the house that I lived in when I first came to Warwickshire. It needs some proper TLC now having faced more comings and goings in the last 5 years than most houses. I love this house and never really meant to leave it ( a long story...) So, along with the possibility of moving/packing/cleaning at our own house we are also working here. It's a possibility that we will move in there for a while which would be lovely as it would mean a slightly slower and less stressful move rather than a load of craziness on one day. I've been there this week doing some painting and pottering about (more pottering than painting really...) The garden needs a good prune and some care taken but there are still lots of lovely things blooming right now.

Coffee and amaretti...

The offer came through for our house yesterday so today I have consoled myself with Illy coffee and amaretti (the amaretti are for a trifle for tonight....oops) I'm like a bee buzzing about but not settling on anything for very long. Orders are waiting to be posted, emails to be replied to, Canada plans to be booked, paperwork to be done and a couple of projects sitting in limbo.

Much Loved House for Sale

Well, our first viewers came this morning. A lovely couple. They said they just want to go home and pack up right away and move here! They are going to phone the agent when they get home (2 hours drive away) The woman was nearly in tears at leaving to go home. I feel a bit startled! So, we shall see what happens but we need to prepare ourselves. We will both be very sad to leave here, such a calm little oasis. I've only been living here for 7 months but Mike has been here 7 years. We have more viewers this afternoon. I just want to sit and look at the garden and soak it all up, I'm feeling much too distracted to get any work done... at least that's my excuse.

I'm in Recovery!

Had a fantastic trip north but it was totally exhausting. Not a lot of sleep and 1300 business miles in a week. Drymen show was nice if a little showery.
The weather wasn't great so my plans of sitting in the sun didn't materialise but I did have a very nice trip to Dunoon, hadn't been there for years. Dunoon is where Dunoon pottery is originally from. Sadly I asked in the shop where the pottery was as I couldn't find it and it has moved fown to Staffordshire which is a real shame as it provided lots of local jobs and I feel it should have stayed where it started out but of course rising costs and economies of scale....
Enroute to Dunoon we stopped at Benmore, part of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. We had a look down the Sequoia Avenue but didn't have time for a proper visit.
Also had a nice week of socialising fitted around my work commitments. Saw Ros, Hazel, Abi and two German friends that I hadn't seen for 8 and 13 years!!! Also caught up with Ann and talked to Cath on the phone.
Had time to plan a little more of the Canada trip and the possibility of the Rocky Mountaineer trip. This would save a lot of driving and looks like an ideal way to see the Icefields and Maligne Lake. We will see....
Mike got on fantastically with the patio. We need to give the slabs another power-wash and get them cemented more firmly into place. Pretty good for recycled slabs though! I am looking forward to getting some plants in this weekend and getting pebbles or slate placed around the patio.
Today is painting the lounge (natural wicker) at the other house. It took me all day and Mike part of the evening just to scrape the border off the wall - so glad the whole wall wasn't papered. It means I am a little behind schedule though!