Punt racing at Will's

The gorgeous William Fairbank , (here seen with son Sam) had a big punt racing day at the Centre for World Peace at Bridgham on Sunday. It was a huge success & William's family team won yet again. (All those children have been honed to a sharp point of competitiveness over the years). You can see my Richard in the back of the boat that came 2nd, encouraging his team of Vicars, boat mechanics, carpenters & 1 spunky girl for good measure.
William is one hell of a bloke, inspiring in the extreme.
He's built this lovely little structure that looks like a leaf & drips water off it's tip when it rains. When you sit in it you are right over the river and can see the reeds under the water swaying as the current goes by. Truly peaceful.
We had our wedding reception here in the most beautiful 3 acres of land going down to the river you could ever wish for, and as you can see it's still a magical place for us.
A magical place for others too, where you don't have to 18 to be able to drive.

Tessie's hen weekend

Well. It finally happened. Tessie's hen weekend...
And I've finally made it. Someone's Special friend at last. (Well special along with 14 other SPECIAL women).....Once upon a time, girls who were getting married went for a night out. It usually involved a stripper & large amounts of alchohol. These days it seems to involve 3 days away in an idyllic retreat, eating amazing food, doing yoga & bonding in a big way. Yes, large amounts of alchohol were consumed but no tacky stripper (was that good or bad?)......It started with some seriously girly nail painting & some bunting application, and then went on through an amazing array of great food including fresh aparagus with Aiolli mayonaise, goats cheese tarts with fresh thyme, Margeuritas, some disgusting cocktail that tasted like Ticksylix cough mixture but got better & better as it went along, a picnic on the beach with chocolate dipped strawberries & loads of champagne (although it was freezing on the bloody English sea front at West Runton, thus my mexican garb, thanks to Clarissa!!!!)
And who could forget the sticky chocolate pudding with the not-quite-set-ice-cream that we all waited so long for.
I had my first Pimms no. 1 cup, in a lovely country pub garden, a welcome repast as we'd almost got lost trying to find it.
An incredible group of gorgeous women who I consider myself very lucky to have found.
Thank you Tessie for bringing us all together and thanks Emily,Hannah, Kerry,Amieeeeeeee, Lucybelle, Gwenaelle, Clarissa, Rachel, Christina, Emma, Vero, Robyn, Gabrielle & Mia. Marvelous bunch of creative, inspiring, joyous women. I love you all.

Iris's garden & lunch

Today we went to Iris's for lunch. (Hi Iris). She lives in a lovely thatched cottage quite near us.
She had gone to such trouble for us, her daughter Lucy & grandaughter Molly. We had the most spectacular lunch of home grown asparagus gratin, steamed baby new potatoes, garlic & sesame baked mushrooms & gala melon. For afters there was a peach pie with thick cream....WOW.
Molly had made place names for us all. It felt so special.
For some reason when we go to Iris's I end up getting helpless with laughter.Today it was some joke about how your wee smells when you eat asparagus, and why she lets some go in the bed!!!!! (Maybe you had to be there).
Iris has the most amazing garden you could ever wish for...here are lots of photos of it...none of which really do it justice.
When we got married in July, 3 years ago she said I could come & pick any flowers I liked, so I had the most amazing bouquet of sweet peas & incredibly scented clary sage in the church (which Iris reckons smells like handsome men's underarms).
After lunch we went for a walk & spotted an amazing butterfly which Iris knew was called the cinnabar moth. An amazing colour against all the green grass in the meadow.
I think Iris is my heroine............

Wash Lane

A couple of years ago, we used to live in the "Love shack" at Robyn & Robs. (An affectionate term for the caravan that Robyns Dad stays in every summer when he makes his way to the UK from South Africa). It was pretty spartan & damp but we loved it because Robyn & Rob were so nice.
They lived at the end of a muddy track that went down to the river Thet. In Spring & summer it was absolutely beautiful & we walked to the river almost every evening. Today we went down to the same river with Robyn. We didn't see the heron that usually lives there though. The tyre swing is opposite their house next to the most beautiful field of wheat. Green to the horizon.

Birthday fun with Ricky & Joey

Yay.. we went out on a big beautiful birthday fun day yesterday. It started with lunch at the Rose & Crown Hotel complete with blackcurrant sorbet, and honeycomb & raspberry meringue ice cream, and went on to one of Her Majesty's most beautiful properties, Sandringham . It was pouring with rain as you will see if you can view the video but nevertheless great fun. Here you can see the pleached Lime walk....with lovely little patches of grass & wildflowers left under the trees.

Here too are pictures of Richard in his gay TV presenter mode and me looking a lot like Little bo peep. The gardens were incredible with one of the biggest chestnut trees I've ever seen, in bloom. A huge planter filled with pale blue pansies. I guess if you're the Queen you just have to think of it & it's done. Plus having an army of gardeners and a property that's been there for a few hundred years.
There were even sheep with lambs to highten the Bo-Peep effect. The Rhodedendrons were amazing, in every colour imaginable. The wisteria smelled like heaven. There were 60 acres of this heaven in fact.
You weren't allowed to take photos inside the house but it was just as amazing as the gardens, with huge tapestries & silk wall paper from SUDBURY. Chinoiserie lamps to die for.

Big beautiful birthday day out

Cushion of the week. Dah dah!!!!!

Once more we have a cushion of the week. (Now that my head has gone down).
It's for a gift shop in North Walsham in North Norfolk UK.
I'm calling it "Summer garden". What do you think? The applique leaves are in velvet & silk on a background of natural Belgian linen. If you want one you can get yourself one for a mere £35.00 (plus postage & packing) from me (yes that's the wholesale price).

Why am I telling you about this fabulous property??

"Built in the 1740s for Sir William Harbord, Gunton Hall is an 18th century palace, the kind that the seriously rich built themselves near the Norfolk coast, in the middle of a large deer park, with a fishing lake and coverts for pheasant shooting.
The Harbord family had owned the estate since the 1670s, and there was an earlier house of which no trace remains.

The house & estate thrived in the 19th century, until one night in 1882 when the hall was completely gutted by fire. It then lay derelict for a century, before the shell was filled in with apartments. It is done really well - you would never know about the fire." (This is from the Norfolk churches site).
I'm telling you about this place because I went there yesterday to measure up for a whole lot of work, for the lovely owners. The octagonal bedroom is 4 times as big as our loungeroom, it has a ceiling painted with clouds in the sky, it must be 20 feet high. It used to be double this and be the ceiling of the huge kitchens. I am to make curtains & window seats & a hanging for the corona over the bed & a bedspread & everything. Hooray at last work has taken off.
Check out one of the owner's studio, overlooking the 30 acre lake and the archway entrance.

Happy happy joy joy

Well it's not something that I usually blog about... maybe it's spring....... or maybe it's because I just finished a wonderful book............... or maybe it's because I'm ovulating.... or maybe it's the high you get after being so low after your Dad dies..
But... I guess I've just realised that I'm really, really happy.
I guess when I lived in St kilda in Melbourne with a cute cat and a callous & extremely unhappy flatmate, I thought that once you got to 42 & weren't happy, then maybe you couldn't expect that it would ever come. How wrong can you be. You can hate me if you wish but.. I have such a lovely life now, with an autoharp being fixed on the kitchen table & a music corner in the loungeroom and really good friends. I just found the cache of love notes that I keep from my Richard in the kitchen cupboard. The house is full of laughter & good cooking. There is 'bunting' being cut all over the floor.
I haven't really got a picture that encapsulates this.. but I do have a picture of the man who made it all possible.

Working with Heather

Today I worked with my buddy Heather at her sweet house in North Norfolk UK. It was the most beautiful spring day. We chatted & sewed & chatted & chatted....so much so that I fucked up a curtain completely by taking my mind off the job at hand, while telling her some juicy gossip.
Her partner Pete is a sensational musician. He'd made her a recording of him playing piano that completely knocked my socks off. We've got to get him to join us in our next concert endevour.
Heather had bought him a set of books by Brian Rust he was so pleased, he came out the back where Heather & I were strolling in her beautiful cottage garden, to read us a paragraph that was particularly beautifully written, then said he was going back into the laundry to weep.