Celebrating my birthday in the van!

Sixty years ago my birthday fell on coronation day and I can remember being so upset that there was no post on that day as I was looking forward to getting cards from the postman! Well fast forward to the Silver Jubilee celebrations and I just wanted to get away so we decided to take the van up to Colliford lake on Bodmin moor and have a relaxing break and celebrate my birthday! 

We left after work on the Friday evening and arrived in time for Graeme to cook dinner! A simple meal followed by a trip to the on site pub for a glass of something! Karaoke was the theme for the evening but fortunately we had been able to get comfy sofa seats and were able to just sit back and enjoy our drinks and comment on the activities! 

The next day we walked to St Neot's and I am really proud of the fact that I managed to do nearly ten miles round trip and still enjoy my birthday dinner in the evening! St Neot's is a lovely picturesque village with a lovely church. We had our picnic in the church yard and admired the gravestones! 

I also picked up several pieces of fleece along the road from the sheep in the fields. It is rather coarse but it will be interesting to see how it takes dye and felts. Graeme strode out ahead of me but we did manage to arrive together! 

I had a lovely birthday dinner. Graeme bought me a beautiful lacy jacket which went beautifully with the dress I'd taken! Plus a bottle of champagne which we celebrated with in the van! A very good night all round! 

The next day dawned misty and wet so we went to Lanhydrock which was a very good choice. I had been before but it was all new to Graeme. Here are a few pictures. 

There were several pieces of whitework on the surfaces of chests and tables. All beautifully done by hand!





This is the gate house and very impressive!
 

 In the nursery was this delightful small sewing machine. If the sample was to be believed it did a super stitch!

 Wall paper in his lordship's room. Very masculine!

Beautiful lace and white work in her ladyship's bedroom. 

Formal gardens. 

 Christening gown on the only patchwork I saw. A typical hexagon piece in rather boring fabrics but typical of the age when fabrics were limited.

 More white work!












A very relaxing weekend and now back to work. Well not quite as I'm on holiday tomorrow as well but there is lots to be done!