Advent calendar 8

Dear readers,

Today I am straying a little from the DIY Christmas tips and taking you on a short stroll in one of our much treasured neighbouring villages. Yes, you have seen it featured many times before here on my blog, but I just can't help myself - it is a very bloggable village! (Remember - if you would like to view the images better, and not strangely cropped, click on them.)

I am of course talking about Lacock, where Christmas wreaths now adorn the already beautiful old doors and where I never tire of strolling up and down the old streets, breathing in the history of each building stone and every little corner of loveliness...

If you ever find yourself here in Lacock, you simply have to go for a Cream Tea at King John's Hunting Lodge, a k a "Tearoom & Garden" above, where part of the building stems from the days of King John, i e the 13th century! Indoor cosiness by the fire and with a typical English dresser full of blue and white china and yummy cakes, and in the summer, outdoor seating in the gorgeous English cottage garden.

Love the moss-clad little roof above the entrance to the bakery! 

The tiny village shop in Christmas costume too...

Wishing you all a lovely Saturday!

Tomorrow, I will be back with another small craft tip for the festive season.

Helena

Wet windows in Lacock...

The summer of 2012 was a funny one here in south west UK. More rain than we ever thought possible became a lingering, daily visitor, overstaying its welcome by far and resulting in a summer that perhaps was not to everyone's taste - unless you are a mermaid... 

On the other hand (yes, I am humming ' Always look on the bright side of life' here - will you join in with the whistling?) this meant everything grew like crazy at the beginning of the summer, and windows like the one above, drowning in a lush, green veil, offered wonderful hope of nature's growing power...

All the photos today are from our neighbour village Lacock earlier this summer...

(Click on the image to see the whole image.)

...with the last one below showing the view of (-the back of-) Lacock Abbey 

coming back from a walk across the fields behind the village.

I am, again, very invisible in the blog world at the moment, and I long to find the time to spend more time here. Last week was spent in Sweden on a work trip and this week one of the things on the agenda is to organise a birthday party for one of my sons. I do love organising parties, I have to confess, and the challenge for me is rather to not go completely wild and crazy with too many creative ideas... Just don't be alarmed if you happen to stumble across a new and rather frightening professor from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this weekend. It may very well be yours truly...

***

A huge thank you for your kind comments about my post from Paris. 

I see we are many who share the love of this wonderful city!

Wishing you a week full of light and happy moments!

Helena

It's tea o'clock...

... in lovely Lacock!

A few weeks ago, we decided to go for afternoon tea in Harry Potter territory again. Well, perhaps not exactly at Hogwarts (even if this is indeed Lacock village where Lacock Abbey was the setting for many Hogwarts scenes), but in a village so full of character, history and beauty that it is easy to believe that someone has put a prettifying spell on it...

An abundance of stunning old stone cottages line the streets of this gorgeous village, some with the classic Elizabethan wooden fronts (below), and all with several centuries' worth of stories to tell about the adventures and fates of their tenants...

The main part of King John's Hunting Lodge (below) dates back to the 13th century, and today hosts lovely tearooms with a roaring fire inside, adding both warmth and atmosphere during the colder months, and a cottage garden that in the summer is a dream of floral fabulousness...

With a selection of irresistible cakes, displayed temptingly 

on a classic old dresser, one is not likely to leave hungry....

A feast for the eyes and for the palate, it is perhaps no surprise that this is one of our favourite "hangouts", and only seven minutes by car from home, it is likely I will be back soon again!

If you have just found your way here through the feature in Country Homes & Interiors, welcome to my Swenglish corner of the blog universe. To all of you, old readers and new, thank you for stopping by and for leaving such lovely comments!

Next time, I will show you what the blue and white china in the tearooms inspired me to do at home...

All the best,

Helena

Ps. Nothing in this post was sponsored. I just happen to be very fond of Lacock village and these tearooms.

Side-tracking from the season...

The garden at King John's Hunting Lodge Tea Rooms in Lacock

Peering into a private garden in Lacock.

 Images 3 and 4 from the cemetery in Corsham (The manor Corsham Court in the background behind the wall in image 4).

Dear readers,

I had hoped to offer you a bit of floral entertainment and interior playfulness this week, 

but the time monster seems to have gobbled up this week's ration... again!

So, above are some photos from October that I have played around with a little in Picnik (free editing program online). I just enhanced the colours a little, but even without any computer "tricks", these flowers could still hold their own, even at this late date in the season. Now, as we approach the end of January, I can't help but yearn for the delight of spring flowers, and even if Mother Nature is not quite ready, I think I might just sneak a few shop bought petals into the house, when I return from a couple of work trips in a few weeks...

***

Meanwhile, should you happen to find yourself in the lovely town of Bradford-on-Avon, just outside Bath, and your tummy starts rumbling, here is a place to change the rumbling into satisfied sighs:

Eating like a queen...

Well, I don't exactly know that the queen has ever set foot here, but the burgers at the restaurant the Castle  are certainly fit for royalty. The menu offers other slightly more sophisticated dishes as well, and lovely, characterful décor. I fell in love with the fish wall paper! But no, perhaps not something that would work in the Swenglish Home... (This is not a sponsored blog post, the Castle do not even know I am writing this.)

I wish you all a fabulous end of January and an equally stunning start to February, 

and I hope to see you all again in a few weeks time!

Love, 

Helena

A moment of me-time...

For the first time in weeks, I managed to sneak away a little me-time today, and what better way to spend an hour than to go for a stroll in our neighbouring village, Lacock. I have shown photos from this picturesque little beauty before, but as there is such an abundance of character crammed into this small village, I thought I'd shower you with some more...

In one of the windows, there is a small display of vintage paraphernalia, which feels very fitting in this village so full of character and history. Seeing the photo here on the screen, I also noticed you can see a reflection in the window of the old buildings across the street.

The beauty of this village - so often featured in films and TV-series - is that it is a living village. As I was strolling down the high street, the school children started pouring out of the local school and parents and children did what parents and children do everywhere, had a giggle or a quarrel, stopped by at the local shop for a snack, and behaved perfectly normally despite being in the middle of a postcard environment, where a foreign tourist was once heard asking "So, when does this place close?"...

So, from one of my favourite "hangouts", 

and a girl who came back from her stroll smiling and refuelled, 

best wishes for a fabulous weekend!

Here's to you, Harry Potter...!

When I showed pictures from our picturesque neighbour village Castle Combe, one reader said she could just see Harry Potter appear in that environment... Today, I invite you on a small excursion to another neighbouring village, where seeing Harry Potter would, in fact, not raise many eyebrows at all.

Within comfortable walking distance, or a seven-minute drive, south of our little town, is a gorgeous gem of a village called Lacock. Lacock is, just like Castle Combe, pretty to the point of dizziness.

Lacock Abbey has got its own claim to fame. These days, the fact that the world's first photograph allegedly has its roots here and there is a renowned photography museum inside, is quite overshadowed by its other claim to fame. In several Harry Potter movies, Lacock Abbey starred as Hogwarts, the wizardry school where Harry learns all about his magic powers.

If you ask me, they have chosen just the right place for potion classes and broom control. At least I find myself appropriately spellbound when I stroll down the ancient streets of this magical village...

Oh, and did I mention the tearooms in a building dating back to the 13th century, the pottery, the annual outdoor performance of a Shakespeare play on the lawn outside the Abbey, and the small craft shops and restaurants?

I feel very lucky to be surrounded by all this stunning splendour and I do not let my senses take anything for granted as they soak up the atmosphere and breathe in the beauty over and over again. This is one neighbour I will never tire of...

Time for tea...

In a blog written by a foreigner in the UK, sooner or later the topic of tea must emerge. This is, after all, the tea nation of all tea nations. The fact that it took my partner a year and a half into our relationship to allow me to make him a cup of tea and another year to admit that I actually made a decent 'cuppa', despite being foreign - well that says it all, does it not?

Tea rooms are aplenty and this is one of my favourites, the Tea Rooms and Gardens in the neighbouring village of Lacock. Part of the building dates back to the 13th century, it hosts a classic huge dresser overflowing with floral-patterned china, and a garden that is the epitome of English cottage gardens.

Fancy a cup, anyone?

Pssst, these are not photos of a UK in bloom today, but taken last summer... We all need images of hope to take us through the cold and the wet... These are some of mine.