Corinne & Gordon’s home on a beautiful spring afternoon with two of their dogs, Bella & Bruar

Bruar is the one with the stick, Bella standing at the side

With the nicer weather of course, comes the mowing of the grass!  Gordon on his ride on mower!

These guys live in the old sleepers which border the garden plants, he is out sunning himself. 

One of our visits was to Bordeaux, more wine!!!!  Very much a city compared to everywhere else we visited and having spent quite a few days in the countryside it was strange to be back in a bustling city.

Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux

The Cathedral was consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1096. Of the original Romanesque edifice, only a wall in the nave remains. The Royal Gate is from the early 13th century, while the rest of the construction is mostly from the 14th-15th Centuries. The building is a national monument of France.  In 1137 the 13-year-old Eleanor of Aquitaine married the future Louis VII, a few months before she became Queen.

The Church was ready for Easter

The Private Chapel at the rear of the Church was lit and open for prayers, while the rest of the Church was unadorned in readiness for Easter.

One of the many private chapels around the Church

The Lectern

The amazing stained glass at the back of the Church.

The Altar undressed for Easter.  Although all the flowers, cloths and candles were ready, but tucked out of sight waiting for Easter Sunday!

We had a lovely time seeing a new part of the World and visiting Corinne, Gordon and the doggies. 

This weekend I am going to make a big start on my Spring Cleaning and get some other things tidied and sorted out.  DH and Youngest are helping out with a disco on Saturday afternoon for twins who swim at the Club as they are nine on Sunday!

Hopefully the weather will be nice and warm, although I think they have forecast some April showers for Sunday 🙁

I hope you all have a lovely Weekend.

Hugs, Susie x

I still have a few pictures to show you from our break in France.  We all went one day to Saint Emilion which is smaller than I thought it would be, but every other shop was a wine shop of course!  As you can see from the above picture the weather was amazing and the cafe society was in full swing.

Everywhere the buildings were clean and tidy

The hotel overlooking the village

The village marching down the valley

Love the narrow streets

An old “Tudor” style home on the left.

All the signs were amazing and the lights were all old fashioned lanterns

My favourite street.

A narrow street leading to further up the valley

One of the many wine shops!

Saint Emilion’s history stretches back to Roman times, when the Roman ruler Decimus Magnus Ausonius founded a small property here in the 4th century, when the Romans controlled Gaul (France). The 1800s were a great time for Bordeaux’s winemakers, as their produce was finding favour across Europe bringing a new found era of prosperity for Saint Emilion’s many Chateaus which has continued into the 21st Century.  It became a UNESCO World Heritage site on December 2nd 1999 (Youngest’s Birthday!).

We all had a great day, made better because the weather was warm and sunny and very summery!!!!!

Today is house job day as tomorrow I have some errands to run.  Treacle is busy helping by getting all her toys out of her toy basket, the ones I have just tidied up!!!!!!

Hope you are all having a Thrilling Thursday

Hugs, Susie x

One of the days whilst we were away was cool and a bit showery so Corinne took me to this underground Church in Aubeterre, L’Eglise Monolithe de St Jean.  It was carved from solid rock in the 12th Century and is the largest subterranean church in Europe.  Its original purpose was to conserve religious artifacts in a series of pits, and in a Reliquary, inspired by the Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which was discovered during the First Crusade at the end of the 11th century.

The history of the church was very interesting but being inside it was quite spooky!

It was very deep and very high!

The Crypt

A Cross carved from the rocks where pilgrims prayed

The Reliquary

The full height of the church

The rock above the Church

The church itself, and its crypt, were hidden for centuries by a rock fall, and only rediscovered in the 1950′s. It was a great visit although I was glad to get back out into the warmth of the day even though it was showery.

DH is away today and tomorrow at an exhibition.  Eldest has managed to get a bug of some sort so has been off work for two days and Youngest is gearing up for exams!!!!!  Oh my!

Obviously there was no quilting done over the holidays but I did get the baby quilt sewn together beforehand, so I just now need to get it sandwiched and quilted.  There is one month to go, so I am going to be getting my skates on.  I can’t show you it though as the lovely lady it is for reads my blog!!!!!

On my other list of jobs to do is the Spring Cleaning!!!!!  I did do a little bit before we went away but now need to get the rest done and completed!

Tonight I have taken Youngest to have his braces tightened and fingers crossed they may be off at the next appointment in June.  Yeah, big cheers!!!!!!!!  However the Dentist has really tightened them up, so they are now hurting 🙁

I am off now to get dinner for he and I, something soft I think.  I hope you are having a Terrific Tuesday.

Hugs, Susie x

You know how you spend the week before you go away trying to get up to date with everything?  Well you spend the week after you get back trying to catch up on everything that’s happened over the two weeks you are away!!!!!!!  Saying which, it was worth it as we had a lovely two week break.  The above pictures are taken at our friends new home on the patio it was lovely and warm!!!!

The first place Corinne took us to was Brantome, which is a lovely rural French village not far from where they live.

This is the local Church and Monastery

The local bistro where we had lunch in the village square

The River running through Brantome with the houses.

The main shopping street and another home with wonderful balconies

More shops but they were still closed after the winter, they were slowly opening for the summer whilst we were there.

I will show you more pictures over the next few days of our various visits.  Last week I managed to catch up on all my work and Friday was a training day for the Senior School so Youngest was off for the day.  I got all my house jobs done and then on the Saturday I stood for six hours ironing!!!!!  It was all the holiday washing together with a week’s worth of clothes!!!!  I was sure glad to see the bottom of the basket.

Treacle got home on the Sunday after we got back and was pleased to see us all, although at the Kennels they said she had had a terrific time with all the other dogs!!!! 

I have not caught up on all the blogs I follow yet, I thought I had better get my work finished before I started reading what everyone else has been up to over Easter!

The weather here now is very Spring like, sunny and getting a little warmer, although it is still cold at night.  The garden is springing to life and DH wrestled with the mower and the lawn at the weekend for the first cut of the season.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter and a Marvelous Monday

Hugs, Susie x

New born Lambs at the farm in the village.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Easter Hugs from Susie, DH, Eldest, Youngest &

Treacle – The Easter Airedale!