WHEN CUTHBERT MET MARTHA !

Today has been a very relaxed day, a very rare day as I had a day completely to my self, D has been away for the last week with work, Nat my teenager was at work all day.. and as it was my day off work today I decided to let the day just flow, so this morning after a lovely relaxing bath, no phone ringing , no hammering on door with requests of mum or Linda where is so and so etc, even locked furry babies out...peace , coffee and this months house mags....Ha... bliss... so feeling chilled and pampered I decided to head off to Barnard Castle ,a lovely old market town in Tees dale ,one of the next dales to us, Barnie as us locals call it as a amazing amount of great vintage and antique shops for such a rural place , as well as the beautiful Bowes museum , which houses an amazing collection of antiques and art, with some great exhibitions, a bit of culture amidst the a country side setting. I do enjoy a mooch, and I had a good one , plus a couple of Delicious cappachinos and a read of the newspaper , cover to cover, some thing UN heard of!! more of MY DAY latter but first I would like you to meet Martha....




Shes the little dogie I re homed from eBay, I know I have deviated from my fox terrier theme, but I couldn't resist her.. is,nt she cute? She is a 1950,s Triang dog, shes had a few knocks and scrapes but seeing she is nearly 60 not bad...



She just had to have a pretty vintage print bandanna..


I am not sure what breed she is meant to be, but thought she looked like a Martha..


She is quite shy and first gave my Barnard castle ted a ride before she was introduced to her boy friend


Cuthbert was so pleased to have a lady friend , they both wanted to look there best for there first meeting!




I think its the start of a fine romance!!!

Cuthbert with his Stanley bandanna, dashing.....




This is a picture I bought in St Ives , thought I would show you while on the dog theme, its by an artist called val Hillyard and I just fell in love with it , love the wings and gentle floral ,D ask what was with the dead dog! Apparently its her sisters very a live dog, and i just think it has such a Serene quality about it....
This is a bear i found in a vintage shop, sat forlornly on a shelf, such a rather sad little face and just had to come and live at my house! he is sat on a crochet blankie i bought from the car boot for a £1. snuggley for chillier evenings..




This was from same vintage shop... well do I need to say any thing?? £6 a bargain , and of course I am rather short of bags !!



and finally this lovely vintage shade for £2.. its for my up stairs landing . a little job for D when he gets back , its rather high and I'm not good on ladders..

any way after a very enjoyable couple of hours , I dropped in to work as I had been told a donkey foal had been born last night, ho it was so sweet a piebald , white and brown darling with the biggest ears , stupidly didn't take my camera ,so promise photo next post, enjoyed the last of the sunshine having my lunch in the garden , and then spent an illicit hour or two on phone to oldest friends catching up on news and gossip, earl grey and punnet of raspberries to ease chat... Nat came in from work and zoomed out to stay with friends over night, so after my lovely time spent " talking to my lovely blogy friends" i will enjoy a lovely supper a class of some thing chilled and curl up and watch mistresses, do any of you watch this? I am loving it, pure girlie indulgence, I think i identify with Trudie most and rather fancied her new fling interest, erm um , don't know what he is called , am I on my own here or is any body with me in enjoying this program??? who do you identify with?

IN THE PINK

Well another week has sped bye... some weeks I seem to have a grip on , but this last week just tore away at speed ... I still have not adjusted to working full time and its nearly six months since I started , will I ever? This morning when I was walking my furry babies I noticed a certain smell, that indescribable smell of Autumn, the horse chestnut tree in the middle of the village green looked like this with ripening conkers this morning and Fergal and Flora were helping them selves to ripe blackberries from the bushes, how can summer be slipping away ? We have not had enough sunny warm days , when I was younger I loved Autumn, I now feel quite melancholy at the thought of summer fading... and don't look forward to dark nights and cold, god I sound like my granny!!!
So trying to hang on to summer ...I thought I would show you what I bought in Cath Kisdstons in St Ives when I was there on hols,, I could not resist this little stanley dog ( stanley is caths real lake land terrier for those not in the know!), love his little felt collar and tag ,another fox terrier to add to my growing kennel! I have noticed some hand made ones on some of your blogs and might have a go at making one, is there a pattern available do you know?




I also treated my self to this lovely top, so pretty I think, I got it in the sale , so bargain, the doll was this week ends car boot find ,she is a 1950,s girlie , and I bought the brooch in Rick stiens gift shop in padstow, I have such a thing for brooches. I have one in nearly every colour ,but don't they cheer winter coats and jackets up?



This is my lovely dolly, i love her original vintage 50,s dress , the print is very Cath ! She was only £4 , the lady had owned her as a child, how could she part with her?? would you? Or am I too sentimental..



When we were on holiday we had a day trip to Fowey, ever since I was a teenager and read Rebbecca by Daphne De Maurier , i have had a romantic notions about Fowey! Daphne lived in Fowey and then just outside at a wonderful old house called Menabilly which was the house she based Manderlay the house in Rebbecca on, As a teenager I worked my way through all her novels and love French mans creek As well . we visited Fowey for the first time last year , ho how I love this place, I was not disappointed by it. We dropped the teenagers off in Newquay for the day so they were very happy and D and I headed off for some us time and a date for lunch at this place ... which we went too last year and couldn't wait to visit again...






Pinky Murphys .. how do I begin to describe it, its a cross between a surf shack and your granny front room if she decorated while under the influence of strong co coa!!! it is so colourful and eccentric, the service is so friendly and warm and the food is Divine! its a place you should put on your visit before you die list, honestly. they day we went it was pouring down and it did not matter as this place could cheer a corpse up!!!


Crochet blankies , surf stuff, vintage retro, its all here, great music , the beach boys were playing while we were there , there is also a basket of un finished knitting for any body too have a knit at!!



This was the view from our table through the door, can you just glimpses a cottage across the estuary?

This is a closer look...






don't you think it looks intriguing... so so romantic...
It looks like an old boat house and they only way too reach it is by boat across the Estuary, I would so love to visit this house , I have tyred Goggling it and can,nt find any thing about it, do you know any thing , its history, use etc?? Can you imagine living there and having Johnny Depp sail up and moor his boat, dressed as captain Jack, shiver my timbers please!!??





So lovely...


The shopping in Fowey is great as you would expect from a place were a three story terraced house can fetch two million pounds, guess i am not he only one to think its great there!! this was a lovely interiors shop, love the colours and the fishing floats..I was very restraint and only bought a DE maurier book , French mans creek to re read and dream... Ha well back to reality..

Thought this summed me up! this shop sold lovely things. I am Hoping to visit a couple of car boots at the week end talking of lovely things, hope to find some ,so will let you know if treasure hunting goes well , and i will show you what I went and bought from ebay, do you think the priory do rehab for Ebay addiction? book me in immediately... have a safe , happy and fun week end and thanks for all the lovely and interesting comments, I love hearing from you all.. bye for now ....

EVERY THINGS FINE AND DANDY

Hi every one, hope your all fine and dandy? I have been back at work over a week now its been hectic.. and my holiday is beginning to seem ages ago already, so I thought i would tell you a bit more about what little old me got up to in Cornwall , and give my self a warm glow that i feel evey time I think about Cornwall!! I have been following the lovely Shevies blog Paperdolly for a while as she loves the kind of things i do and she is just so so lucky to live on a beautiful island off the Cornish coast , how fab is that? Well a few weeks ago she realised a long held dream and open a fantastic shop called Fine and Dandy in Marazion just across the sea from Mount st Micheal on the main land . So on my in my mind list of things i wanted to do/visit was Shevies shop and meet the Lady in person...




When I went into the shop I introduced my self and i was delighted to meet her, she made me feel very welcome and i felt like I had known her for ages!! The shop has a lovely mix of vintage and hand made and unusual new things. heaven!



These were some lovelies on a shelf behind the counter, love the little doll, what do you fancy?
D and the teenagers went across to the island on a boat trip to explore a bit because i think they knew I would be a little while, Shevie filled me in on the car boot scene , and told me of one near Hale at a place called Rosudgeon held on Wednesdays at 10 in the morning, even the car boots are at a more civilised time in Cornwall...( I went and met Shevie there by accident, i spotted her a mile off as she was very stylish with Two Cath Kidston bags, hand and trolley type!) I did get a couple of things ,but my it was busy every body seemed to be looking for vintage!



This is Shevie putting her bargain basket out.. the cat is from up the road and had never try ed to get in her shop before , but the day I went he came in ( my animal magnetism drew him in!) and Shevie had to keep carrying him out as the little fellow kept spraying (not good) so he was like a yo yo springing back in , Shevie and I carried him out Numerous times!)cant remember his name ..





Here is the adorable rogue out side the shop when he finally got the hint!! I was tempted by lots of thing but finally settled on this sweet cloth like vintage doll, don't know what these kind of dolls are called , do you? I also bought a vintage like pink rose necklace. well a girl just has to have a little some think to remember the visit by , doesn't she?


Mine is the big red dolly, picture borrowed from Shevie hope she doesn't mind.




The beautiful Mount St Micheal. can you imagine living here, wouldn't that be a dream?



Don't know if you have done this... but i saw a lovely cottage in St Ives and just had to look through the windows, ho my it was so lovely , full of Cath kidston curtains and fabric and lovely vintage things and just looked so great , I think it was a full time home as they sold lovely bright fish and floats hanging decorations, from there door, it was just a bit further up the little cobbled street from our holiday cottage , and every time i passed by I wondered about the people who were lucky enough to live there and there lives and what it would be like to own it, have you ever done this, please say you have , and i am not the only nosey day dreamer!!!







If this is your cottage and you read this blog sorry for staring through your window its only because i loved it!!






D bought me one of these fishy floats as a surprise its hung in my back hall way looking bright and cheerful1


Don't you just love this door?


A couple of you asked which bag in the end went on holiday with me, da dar .. the new one, the girls in Cath kidston swooped on my bag and told me they had never seen this design and it must just have been made for the Japanese market, I will tell you next post what I purchased from the little emporium.. I was very, well fairy, not really restrained!! have a fab week end and ill drop by to see whats happening in your worlds ,ho I do enjoy doing that!!