Victorious Vintage

Well haven't we had a lovely day out. With our friends S&J we hopped on the train to Portsmouth, our destination the Historic Dockyard for the Victorious Vintage event which is being held on both days this weekend.

As our arrival happened to coincide with lunchtime it was only right that the first thing we did was find somewhere to eat our picnic. The perfect spot was found just inside these gates

and past this very camp looking golden Roman Emperor

in the Porter's garden.

Where along with the normal picnic fare I had made sure we had some of these Great British Fancies.

I really liked these pinecones stuck on top on the plant supports. May have to use that idea in our garden.

These sweet peas look so pretty and smelt like summer.

The view to the left of the garden was the Spinnaker tower

and just over the hedge to the right was a ice cream van in a lovely ice cream shade of pink.

Once fed and watered we went off exploring.  I couldn't resist having my photo taken with this larger than life model of Henry V111. 

There were a few vintage vehicles on show including this VW camper advertising a beach buggin event in August down in Southsea

There were quite a few vintage stalls offering homewares and crafts. I really like this idea using a Scrabble board and tiles to record a special event.

There was also a lot of vintage clothes, just how tiny is the waist on this dress?!


It was whilst we were mooching around the stalls I spotted a fellow blogger looking extremely gorgeous in her vintage outfit. I did feel a bit silly going up and saying 'Excuse me but you are Land Girl aren't you?' We had a quick chat and even though I had a camera in my hand I completely forgot to ask someone to record our chance meeting, duh, but it was lovely bumping into you both, we hope you enjoyed the day as much as we all did.

One of the craft stalls was selling an array of wooden signs, this one caught my eye as is perfect for the long weekend's celebrations for the Jubilee

T on the other hand felt the 'Do not start with me you will not win' sign was more his kind of thing!

Being at the Dockyard it was of course necessary to take advantage of a jolly sailor photo opportunity. Thankfully T was happy on this occasion to humour me

as was G.

And here we have the complete J&J family looking very happy and patriotic in front of a huge Union Jack flag.

May Scavenger Hunt

The end of the month already? It can only mean one thing, another scavenger hunt post is due.

One of the items to snap this month was 'nine'. This one I failed at. And the reason is silly. You see we live at number 9 and all month I kept thinking I'll just pop outside and photograph the number of the wall. All month I have failed to do so, so we are nine-less.

Here are the rest.

Good things- a stretch out on the bed with an added treat of a tickle is high on the list of good things for Melvin Cat.

Small packages- this wee wee package was originally stuck onto a Christmas tree decoration which broke. It now lives on the dresser.

Fragrance- I bought some flowers from Sainsbury's last week. The bouquet contained a flag and was named 'A Little bit of Chelsea'. The fragrance was gorgeous.

Station- the local train station we travelled from last weekend. Lovely old building.

 Nose- This was the first photo I took for this month's hunt whilst at Homebase. Love these little doggies sat nose to nose.

Front page- the front page of a newspaper from 1924 which we discovered in an old wardrobe and I blogged about here.

Beverage- bit of a cheat as I took this photo last month, but like the box so much and seeing it's Jubilee weekend on the way thought I would use it again.

Currency- One of my favourite purses. The address is so sweet and contains Pennies.

Historic- at Salisbury station I picked up a free copy of the Wiltshire View magazine. Inside was a fascinating article about a group of incredibly brave men who gathered information about the beaches in France right under the noses of German soldiers. Fundraising is in place to erect a memorial to these men. You can read more about them here.

Yellow- this chap was from the Friends of the Earth and was manning, or should that be beeing?, a stall at the Spring fayre we went to. 

Can you see what I see?- I was a bit stuck on this, but I hope this one fits the category ok. A little splash of red and black in amongst all that green is easy to spot. No pun intended!

Big thanks as ever to Kathy for organising us such a great list. I always enjoy seeing what everyone else has found.

Bunting for School

S's school is having a special Jubilee day on Friday, all very exciting stuff! Last week the children were sent home a sheet of card with two bunting triangles drawn out on it. They were asked to decorate them however they wanted. All triangles will all be strung up together to make bunting for decorating the classrooms.

We took inspiration from the bunting we have strung up in our dining room at the moment, £2.oo from Sainsbury's in case you wanted the info,

and went with glittery blue (and silver) crowns teamed with white stars so we had the red, white and blue colour scheme.

S told me very confidently that hers are the best as most of the others did flags and ours look good!

Playing Catch

If when playing catch with your dad you concentrate on the ball as it comes towards you, sticking your tongue is optional,

 you keep your eyes wide open

and when picking up the dropped ball from the floor you are careful of rogue thorns from recent pruning, ouchy,

you will be successful in the end and make that catch

and have a great laugh too!

Salisbury to Old Sarum

We took the longer scenic route to get to meet up with G's mum and dad yesterday.

A ten minute walk from the station took us to the start of the Avon Valley Nature Reserve and what a welcoming sight it was. Who could not resist being beckoned in when greeted with such a sight of lushness. Frothing cow parsley abundance lining the boardwalk on either side as it twisted and turned tempting you in to discover 

a walk by the gently rippling river. There were very few people around. Just a few dog walkers on the path and the dogs in the walk cooling off in the shallow water.

At a fork in the path there was a beautiful bench which had been designed and made by local school children. Click on the picture to enlarge and you can see the design of swimming fish, but for all it's loveliness it couldn't really be used as it had huge stinging nettles growing all around it.

Turning to look back there was a great view across the meadows to the Cathedral.

Part of the walk included the path G would take to his primary school, what a treat to see sights like this from the little bridge.

And this is his old school, much changed since his day, well it was 34 years ago that he left!

Lining the road are the most selection of cottages and houses. A history of Stratford-sub-Castle and some of the houses, including this whitewashed cottage, can be found here.

G told us that this is the House where his Grandad worked as a gardener for many years right up until the day he died. It looks from the signs up there is some restoration work being done.

Across the road is St. Lawrence's Church.

From here it was a fairly steep walk up to the Old Castle. We paused once for a swig of water and once to snap another view of the Cathedral in the distance.

The remains of the Castle are owned by English Heritage and the website shows a fantastic aerial view of it all. We haven't visited it with the children yet, we keep saying we'll go when they have one of their special event days. 

Unlike the website photo the grass isn't currently all green as it is awash with yellow buttercups and the children obligingly laid down amongst them for me to take, what in my opinion, is one of the very best photos of them I have ever taken.

Spring Fayre

Are we all enjoying this very welcome weather?

It's been so lovely that we have been outside as much as possible and so the decorating has ground to a halt, the house in general is looking a bit neglected and I have hardly been near the computer.

Plus we have all been a little distracted as my sister's dog is very poorly and she is taking the news extremely badly.

So as we are edging ever closer to a new weekend I thought I should get myself sorted and get a post done about our little trip out on Saturday to a Spring Fayre held at a local nature reserve.

Things to see and do included being able to hold this beautiful barn owl

 listen to a marching bagpipe band

watch craftsmen at work

and have your face painted, a must do when you are 7

and you can be a blue and pink lion.

We walked home past the pond where unfortunately recently there have been issues with people poaching fish and the ducks.

It was such a treat seeing so much green lushness along the way.