Sherborne Castle, Dorset

It's Sunday evening and Oliver is coming to stay again tomorrow until Thursday so thought I had better write a post today so...

Looking back to our Summer holiday - it feels so long ago!

We are visiting Sherborne Castle here and in my next post we will go to the town of Sherborne

Sherborne Castle was built by Sir Walter Rayleigh in 1594 and it has been the stately home of the Digby family since 1617

The Digbys added the four distinctive wings in the 1620's and a Georgian extension of 1787 provided more accommodation and improved living standards.

Prince William of Orange was entertained here in 1688 and King George III visited in 1789.

First we visit the tearooms on the left for some lunch

Photographs not allowed in the house

but I did manage to get a couple of shots of Walter Raleigh's kitchen

We walk out into the gardens

where there is a good view of Sherborne Old Castle

These are the ruins of a 12th century castle built for the Bishops of Salisbury and destroyed in 16 days by Oliver Cromwell in the Civil War.

Looking back at the castle

We have now reached the boundary of the ruined castle

and once we have walked back we will spend the rest of the day walking around the town

A Much Needed Break in a Delightful B & B

I must begin by thanking everyone for their love and support and prayers as a result of our house break-in and car theft

It meant so much to us

And to those who have E-mailed asking if we are Ok

yes we are thank you

I have been away from posting and visiting as there has been so much paper work and phone calls as a result and as you will see from this post we have also been away

Rifleman Cottage

We had been due to stay here 2 days after the break-in and I am glad to say that a courtesy car was arranged and initial business dealt with in time for us to continue with our plans

I have to say that this was the best B & B we have ever stayed in 

Why? you may ask

Well we did not just have a bedroom but rather a little cottage to ourselves, the only difference being that because we were catered for we did not need to have a kitchen

It was also only an hour from  home so no travel hassle 

The accommodation was only a part of the delight

This cottage was owned by Pomona and her husband from Little Cottage Comforts. A couple who really know how to look after their guests and make them feel at home.

It was also fun to meet another blogger

The food which was all home cooked and mostly home grown was delicious and there was plenty of it

(Alan seen here tucking into an evening meal)

Not to mention delicious flap jacks for afternoon tea

It was a first to have breakfast apple juice pressed straight from the orchard, bacon and sausage from their own pigs, eggs from their chickens, home grown tomatoes and home made bread, not forgetting several home made jams  

Hard work cultivating and taking care of six and a half acres plus the live stock

We visited, castles and gardens so there will be many photos but not for a while as I have our main holiday photos to continue with, plus another day in London  and several day trips

Go visit Pomona's cottage web page 

www.riflemancottage.co.uk 

and see just what is on offer

Looking forward to visiting and catching up with all my blogging buddies a.s.a.p

While We Were Sleeping

Good to smell the roses today

Am feeling rather tired having been up since 2.20 am when we were woken by the screech of tyres from our new car that was being stolen.

That was up-setting enough until we realised that in order to get the keys the thieves had broken into our home while we were sleeping and on their way through our dining room decided that our mobile phones were worth taking too.

How blessed we are to have house church neighbours who care.

One lady opposite who saw the escape came and sat with us until the police left at 5.30 am

Since then so many others have visited to offer support and pray.

We cannot praise the police enough who came quickly, were supportive, friendly, caring and offered all the help we needed.

They also complimented us greatly by saying it was a pleasure to be dealing with such nice people when so many they dealt with were difficult and abusive. Said it distressed them to see such nice people violated and hurt.

When lying quietly later I could only pray for those people who drove our car away, that the Spirit of God that was sustaining us would touch them through having been in a spirit filled home, driving a spirit filled car with phones full of the phone numbers of spirit filled people.

We are now trusting that the courtesy car will arrive on time on Monday so that we can continue with our holiday plans.

We pray too that our car will be found quickly and be returned undamaged after the forensic team have given it a once over.

Do join me.

Two Weeks in August

Holiday and London postings will continue but for now:
It has been Soul-in-the-City time again - my small part here was to find old or disabled people in the neighbourhood who were unable to manage their gardens

and to help surround the local park in prayer and be available to pray with and/or talk with people while the young people organised family fun stuff and BBQ (all free)

The young people from around the borough were accommodated and cared for at our school where they spent the mornings in praise, worship, prayer and Bible study while working in the community in the afternoons and organising family fun in the evenings

Having said in my last post that I found August a boring time in the garden I remedied this by digging out the 11 Lavender bushes that were past their best in this part of the garden (correction  - I cut back and Alan dug)

My plan is to fill this border with this beautiful new rose (Strawberry Hill by David Austin) that I have at the front(seen below) and also replace the climbing (seen above) with a climbing version of this same rose. An eye catching mass of pink should result

While in this mood I dug out a number of other Lavenders around the garden and have begun another Lavender plot at the bottom. I often find it hard to get into garden tasks but once I do I am

'on a roll'

Managed to slip in the making of a birthday card for a friend where we will be helping her to celebrate her 60th tomorrow

Because I knew that once Oliver arrived for his first holiday with Grandma and Grand Dad  that my time would be given to him

We did many fun things during the week and record just a few here

The bit I was not too keen on was being woken a lot earlier than usual with " Come on Grandma get up, there is a little bit of blue sky outside" 

Visiting the chickens and sheep while collecting pine cones at Pilgrims Hall before joining the adults at an evening social gathering with the team from Israel who had just finished teaching at the Torah Summer School 

Getting with Grand Dad to play with lego

Flying a kite for the first time

And getting it stuck in the top of a tree

Took Grand Dad 20 minutes to get it down

Then it was time for a simple picnic

Before picking Blackberries

and enjoying the outdoor gym

Helping with the crossword

It was fun splashing around in the sea but far too windy to swim

We abandoned erecting the beach tent when it almost blew away

We walked along the longest pleasure pier in the world

One and one third miles

and rode the pier train back after visiting the life boat station followed by tea for us and ice-cream for Oliver

To see what this pier is like click on this link from a much earlier post

http://ramblingsfromanenglishgarden.blogspot.com/search/label/Essex?updated-max=2007-08-20T21%3A08%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=20

Yes, I was tired by we came to take him home last night but it was an enjoyable and fun time which we will be repeating at the end of the month

Before that though we are having a little holiday from next Monday till Thursday which will of course add to my mountain of photos waiting to be posted!

and on a more serious note

Lo*ndon's Bu*rning - not quite

but this was smoke from one of the fires in North London quite some miles away

Will finish this long post on a less serious note

On the day Oliver arrived 2 years and 4 months old Rebekah was with us for the day. She made her presence known by dismantling the vacuum cleaner and emptying the cylinder over the floor.

This paled in comparison when she climbed to the top of the

 'big guys' climbing frame in the park. I did not have my camera but would have been too busy anyhow watching her every move. 

The Town Mill Bakeries, Lyme Regis & Sherborne

As promised in the last post, a look into this unusual eating place

One walks into what appears to be a large kitchen where cooks are busy preparing delicious food

We walk in and help ourselves and I try not to think about the ones who may not have washed their hands!

Delicious Italian bread smothered in goats cheese, olives, tomatoes and herbs and several other variations

Home-made soups and vegetarian casseroles, not to mention the salads and breads straight out of the oven

or the jugs of freshly made apple juice 

Alan and I choose Carrot and Coriander soup and the bread outlined above. The bowls were large, the soup was thick and I have to say it was the best I have ever tasted

Everyone sits communally at long tables and in no time we were chatting to people we had never met before 

No napkins but enormous kitchen roll freely available

and large dishes of butter and jam (jelly)

Breakfasts are served until 11.0 am (you make your own toast) and then lunch from 11.30 am until 2.0 pm (menu changes daily) followed by afternoon tea with delicious home made cakes straight from the oven. One pays on leaving and is trusted to say what they have eaten.

IT WAS FUN

The next day we visited Sherborne where they had a small franchise

There was just time to sample a late afternoon tea before leaving 

It was closing time but the owner said he would stay open as long as there was a customer in the 'house'

Here the bakery was on the ground floor with the eating space upstairs

Alan had one of his favourites - fruit scones and I had 

Lime Polenta (corn meal) cake

I make a lemon version of this at home and the texture of the ground almonds and polenta instead of flour is yummy

http://www.townmillbakery.com/

Looking through the photo album on  the above site is a treat