In January, Steve and I were very lucky to go on a dream trip to Antarctica via the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. It has been my dream to make this trip for a long time and it was everything I could have wished for. Here are some pictures from the first part of the journey – we tried to visit Ernest Shackleton’s grave in Grytviken, South Georgia but we couldn’t get close due to the presence of numerous and possibly aggressive Elephant seals (bit like scaffolding on a National Trust property). I hiked part of the route Shackleton took across the mountains in SG to reach safety in Stromness and we also saw King, Gentoo and Rockhopper penguins as well as Black Browed Albatrosses and their chicks. As you can see in the first photo, taken in Punto Arenas, Chile, London is 13,000 miles away and we were exploring a wonderful new place!
You can just see Shackleton’s graveKing PenguinsHiking the Shackleton TrailGentoo PenguinAdorable Rockhoppers
We needed a break from a couple of busy part-time jobs and decided to take a week off to visit some National Trust properties as well as seeing family and friends. Coincidentally, I also had a Royal School of Needlework class, a quilting class with Megan Manwaring and a visit to some new picture framers to add in as well.
We also stopped at Aston Pottery where I picked up four new plates to coordinate with the set I bought 24 years ago when we first moved to the UK – still going strong and haven’t lost their colour even after all the dishwashing.
Here’s a few photos of our lovely week away touring familiar places as well as new houses and gardens to explore.
Mottisfont House, Hampshire which featured a display by artist Pauline Baynes who illustrated the original Narnia books by C. S. Lewis. I loved the sepia photo of the lady with her dog as the wee chap looks exactly like our Norwich Terrier Hamish.
Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire – magnificent archways, a stunning library and tile floors worthy of a quilt. The estate was owned by Rudyard Kipling’s daughter.
Lovely dahlias at Aston Pottery in Oxfordshire. Well, I think dahlias are lovely but my friend hates them because she says they look too plastic and she remembers the earwigs that used to invade them in her parents’ garden when she was a child.
Nuffield House in Oxfordshire was the home of William Morris the founder of the Morris Motor Company (not the artist). He made so much money in business that in his lifetime he gave away £11.1 billion in today’s money, but known as Viscount Nuffield he lived a simple life in this relatively small house. In fact, all the Nuffield Trust medical facilities in the UK are a result of his generosity. I loved the blue glassware in the dining room and Lady Nuffield’s sewing box.
I have always wanted to see puffins in the wild but, since they spend a great deal of their life at sea or at the other side of the world when they migrate, the chances are limited. My husband and I had a great time seeing the puffins in Wales last weekend. On Sunday afternoon we took the boat out to Skomer Island where we were told we would see a veritable blizzard of puffins. There were thousands of them alright but I wasn’t prepared for how small they are and how fast they fly. I gave up on trying to take pictures and just enjoyed watching their crazy antics. However, I did manage to get a couple of shots that have been enlarged by my telephoto lens and the cropping tool on my computer.
Interesting fact – the multi coloured bills of the puffins only exist during the breeding season. Both male and female puffins lose their coloured bills once they head out to sea. Amazingly, there have been records of puffins from Skomer Island arriving in Argentina fourteen days later!!
This is a bit of a cheat – I haven’t had the time to post lately as I have been busy working in the vaccination programme here in Somerset and Devon. I have also been concentrating on my RSN Whitework unit which will very soon be finished. So to cover the last four months I thought I would post a selection of photos that, in themselves, make no sense but which bring me great pleasure reliving the moments.
Photos include a full rainbow at Blue Anchor beach; Hamish cosy on my snowflake quilt; Dunster Castle; our house as seen from the train into London; The Painted Room in Greenwich; Patrick on his first birthday trip to the Aquarium; my newly painted red wall in my sewing room; a completed Petra Prins quilt top; Family walk at Blue Anchor beach; Hamish hugging his teddy; Felix’s first birthday candles; on board the actual ship at the Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway; Selworthy village and the little library at A La Ronde in Exmouth, Devon.
What’s not to like about living in Somerset and being able to walk along the Grand Western Canal in nearby Devon? As well as taking these pictures, I also saw my first Kingfisher yesterday. They are such beautiful birds – bright turquoise and orange – but too fast and small to get any good pictures on my iPhone.
Had a great visit to Forde Abbey in Chard, Dorset yesterday. A former Cistercian Monastery, Forde is home to the Mortlake Tapestries (which I especially admired) and had a display of embroidery pieces featuring samplers, petit point and the smallest bead work I have ever seen (no pictures allowed). Outside the beautiful floral borders featured chrysanthemums of various hues and a fountain which is reported to be the second highest in the UK.
It wasn’t a patch (pardon the pun) on the usual Festival of Quilts held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, UK every summer. First of all, there were no international visitors, vendors or competition quilts (bar a few who were most likely mailed in for exhibition). One organiser told me that they had 400 quilts in the judged competition a far cry from their usual 1,000+ entries. UK attendees were also down and the show seemed sparse because the displays were spread out further than usual because of social distancing. But credit should be given to the show organisers who put on the first show at the NEC since lockdown and, while the revenues may not have been worth it, the fact that the Festival of Quilts was limping back undeterred was really exciting! Have a look at some of the entries – there were still some wonderful creations in the various quilting categories.
Inspiration is everywhere but in this case you have to look up! Unbeknownst to the National Trust when they took over the Knightshayes property in Devon, were the exquisite decorated wooden ceilings that had been covered over by the owners because the dark ostentatious designs weren’t to their taste. I’m not sure I’d want such heavy ceilings in my home but don’t you just think of future quilt designs when you see these beauties!
During lockdown, which feels interminable this time, my husband and I have explored more of the Great Western Canal as well as getting to know some areas closer to our new house.
Narrow boats waiting for the Summer boating season and the Waytown Limekilns where the lime was extracted from the rock in huge furnaces and then shipped by barge down the Great Western Canal.
Culmstock Beacon – in 1588 this stone hut was built to enclose a pole beacon on the the edge of the Blackdown Hills in Devon. The beacon was one of many used to warn of the approaching Armada – the stone hut still stands today and commands the most amazing views!
Wellington Park in Somerset was created in 1910 to commemorate the coronation of Edward VII. The gardens are very well tended and include tulip and hyacinth displays as well a stunning magnolia tree and cherry blossoms.
Just loved this walk amidst the yellow forest flowers! This path is in a section of the Grand Western Canal that was never built and is just across a couple of farmer’s fields from our house. Lucky us!
My husband and I have discovered the Grand Western Canal, running a few miles from our home, starting from Tiverton, Devon. The canal was proposed as early as 1796 to link the Bristol Channel to the English Channel to bypass Lands End. However, the proposed canal was never completed because the railway removed the need for its existence.
The eleven-mile section in Devon that had been finished remains open, despite many threats over the years, and is now a designated country park and local nature reserve. We have chosen to walk sections of the canal, from car park to car park, with the idea to eventually walk the entire thing if we feel fit enough one day. The park is very well maintained and the majority of the paths are hard packed and not muddy which is a benefit for walking around here!
Here’s a few of the magnificent views that can be seen along the first five miles of the canal from Tiverton to Sampford Peverell in Devon.
