Cherie's Place

Filed under Anecdotes, Gardens, Out & About

Glansevern Hall Gardens

We had an extra day off courtesy of Her Majesty the Queen in honour of her birthday. The weather was perfect for a short excursion to enjoy the sunshine, whilst it lasted. I did some quick research to find somewhere nearby that we had never been before and we settled on Glansevern Hall Gardens.

Taking advantage of the weather, I pegged some washing on the line before we set off for the gardens, arriving just in time for lunch. The menu was interesting; with so many choices I had difficulty in deciding what to choose. I asked about a couple of the options and was apologetically informed that some things had sold out because they had been extremely busy on bank holiday Monday. I said it wasn’t a problem and I settled on a parma ham and sun-blushed tomato ciabatta. It was delicious.

When we finished lunch we enjoyed a walk around the gardens, which are lovely and peaceful. The garden wasn’t as colourful as we would have expected for this time of year. We found out later when chatting to the lady in the entrance kiosk that this was due to the cold winds we have been experiencing which has set the garden growth back by a month. After the gardens we took the scenic route home, stopping for a cup of tea along the way. Our first choice of venue was unexpectedly shut so we traveled on to Church Stretton where we knew of another nice tea shop. There was an embarrassing teapot moment, when the pot decided it didn’t want to pour straight and more tea ended up on the table than in the cup!

Suitably refreshed, we returned home in time to meet with the gentleman that is going to remove our disintegrating shed for us.

Tags: Cherie's Place, Garden, Glansevern Hall Gardens, Wales

12 Comments CherryPie on May 31st 2016

Filed under Anecdotes, Gardens

Making Progress…

The weather has been unusually kind to us for a bank holiday weekend. This meant a trip to a garden centre to obtain some plants to fill some of the vacant spaces in our garden borders. We spent this afternoon filling the new border and some pots on the patio. We sat outside for a while in the afternoon sunshine to enjoy the new transformation. As you can see the garden is still very much a work in progress. Tomorrow we have someone coming to look at the area where our shed is. Hopefully he will be able to do the work that needs doing to demolish the existing shed and replace it with a new one.

I will leave you with a photograph that at took in the early hours of the morning before I went to bed. I am not sure where the time had gone and why I was up so late/early. But I was rewarded with this beautiful sight before I drifted off to sleep listening the birds singing their morning chorus

Tags: Cherie's Place, Garden, Garden Project, Moon, Morning Chorus, Night

8 Comments CherryPie on May 30th 2016

Filed under Faith Foundations, Gardens

Cherie’s Place – Thought for the Week

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
The Buddha

Tags: Cherie's Place, Cherie's Place Thought, Garden, Light, Panasonic TZ60

10 Comments CherryPie on May 29th 2016

Filed under Anecdotes

There is a Wedding Coming Up

Later this year, in August my brother is getting married and my mum has been struggling to get just the right outfit. Mr C had offered a trip to Birmingham several times but she had resisted taking him up on the offer. After struggling in the local towns and with internet shopping mum eventually accepted his offer. So today we headed off to Birmingham, timed to arrive for lunch before an afternoon of shopping.

When we arrived at our usual car park we made our way to the top level, which leads straight to the shopping area. We could see a couple of young men returning to their car, so we waited and drove into their space after they left. As Mr C got out of the car he noticed a wallet on the floor which contained a credit card and a recently purchased car park exit ticket. We waited a little while, and as expected the two young men eventually drove back to where they had parked their car and the driver was very much relieved to be reunited with his wallet.

We then headed into town for lunch, it was then that Mr C informed us that the Gay Pride March was taking place. As we walked into High Street we passed the Muslim stall, situated in its usual place, with the Gay Pride Parade lined up behind the stall and along High Street ready to process through the streets. Some of the antics that were going on made my 83 year old mother’s eyes roll…

Due to the crowds and a momentary doubt that the sandwich shop that Mr C had in mind might be closed, he suggested we eat in the Pavilions food court instead. I was not keen on the idea and reminded him of the alternative options that were near to the sandwich shop of choice. We made our way past the crowds (including a Christian Evangelist shouting at passers by) into a quiet area of Birmingham where we enjoyed a sandwich made to order in Tuckers, which despite Mr C’s momentary doubt, was very much open.

This set us up for an afternoon of shopping. After some deliberation… mum got a wedding outfit then found a hat and a bag to accompany it. Now all she needs is a jacket.

A couple of months ago without even looking I came across the perfect (for me) dress for a wedding. I ordered it off the internet to be delivered to my local store to try on for size and I liked. Then whilst out shopping with Mr C for clothes for him, the perfect handbag (for me) was just there on display as I walked past. I searched on the internet and found the perfect hat to match the dress and bag. I was able to try it on today and found it met my expectations After so many gifts without trying, the shoes were a bit more difficult to locate. I found a suitable pair eventually!

By this time we were all shopped out so we returned home. Mr C chose the scenic route to avoid the congested (holiday) motorway traffic.

We concluded our day by dining on the patio in the warm evening air as the sun went down

Tags: Birmingham, Cherie's Place, Dinner, Patio, Shopping, SmartPoints, Sun, Wedding, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers

Comments Off CherryPie on May 28th 2016

Filed under Anecdotes, This & That

Zesty Trout with Warm Broad Beans and Butter Beans

Tags: Cherie's Place, Dinner for Two, SmartPoints, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers

10 Comments CherryPie on May 26th 2016

Filed under Anecdotes, Holidays, Malmesbury 2009

Malmesbury – Day Four

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel where we payed the release fee so that the room bear could come home with us. He was named after the room we stayed in (Henry Hanks). We then made our way to the market town, Stow-on-the-Wold where we had a quiet hour mooching around the shops.

When we had finished we continued on our journey, stopping at Hanbury Hall for lunch and the gardens. The lunch was delicious and the gardens were challenging. The recent heavy rain falls had made some of the routes impossible and some creative thinking to navigate our way around the garden.

9th June 2009

Tags: Hanbury Hall, Henry, Malmesbury, National Trust, The Old Bell, Weekend away

12 Comments CherryPie on May 24th 2016

Filed under Anecdotes, Holidays, Malmesbury 2009

Malmesbury – Day Three

As Mr C and I were leaving the hotel after breakfast we passed the gentleman I had been chatting to the evening before . We exchanged pleasantries and wished each other well for for the remainder of our respective travels. After the conversation Mr C and I made our way to Bowood House, taking the scenic route due to faulty navigating

The house is home to the Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne and has been open to the public since 1975. Whilst developing the house and gardens they have tried to provide something of interest for all ages whilst maintaining its historical distinction. I certainly enjoyed the visit.

The house has many interesting exhibits, paintings and artifacts. One of the ante-rooms to the library used to be a laboratory. This was where Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen gas on 1st August 1774. Subsequently the laboratory was used by Dr Jan Ingenhousz who discovered photosynthesis in plants and worked on inoculation against smallpox.

Of course I especially loved the gardens with their many styles and tiers. At one end of the garden are some ornamental steps which originally had a statue of a river god above them. This has been replaced by a striking female nude, which was commissioned by Lansdowne in 1978.

The house is surrounded by parkland which was designed by Capability Brown. It was lovely to walk down to the lake where there was a lovely view of the Doric temple. Tucked out of view just around the corner at the end of the lake is a water cascade and a hermits cave. There was even an arboretum which made up for the rained off visit to Westonbirt.

After the nice relaxing visit to Bowood there was a bit of time to spare before dinner so a trip to see the white horse at Westbury seemed like a good idea. That was until the slow trog through Devizes. Firstly there was a lot of traffic and also there seemed to be some sort of police emergency going on with sirens all over the place. I had to do emergency stops on two occasions to let speeding police vehicles get by.

Well the hill at Westbury was as cold as ever, the horse as big as ever, and the view as spectacular as ever if you ignore the cement factory which sort of spoils the landscape a bit.

In the evening we dined looking out over the market square watching ‘Johnny Hot Rod’ zooming around in his fiat.

8th June 2009

Tags: Bowood House, Malmesbury, There's Always One, Westbury, White Horse, Wiltshire

4 Comments CherryPie on May 23rd 2016

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