It has been chaos at our home over the last few weeks! SO the Halloween decorations only got put up today! Still better late than never!
It is not raining here which is a good thing and it is the children’s Half Term Holiday so we are hoping for some Trick or Treat Visitors! Youngest & Girlfriend are on door duty, Coco is in her crate watching the door and Blaze is tucked up in bed! I am busy making Lasagna, salad and chips for dinner!!!!
I hope you have a wonderful spooky Halloween. I will be tucked up later watching some horror movies! Happy Halloween you lovely lot.
One of the events which is always very popular is “Christmas at Chatsworth” where the house is dressed for Christmas. It began after the terrible incident of foot & mouth disease we had in the UK from February to September 2001. The late Duke of Devonshire decided to open the House in the run up to Christmas to help out as it had been closed during the above months. DH & I took the Boys and that first year it was very simple with Christmas tress in every room and it was lit my candles.
It was such a hit that they decided to run the event the following year but with a theme and has been happening ever since. The Theme for this year is the book “Henry and the Lion’s Christmas Feast” by Joseph Coelho OBE who is a multi-award winning playwright and Author of over 45 books.
DH and I don’t go every year but have been several times and love it. Unfortunately I cannot go this year but Youngest & Girlfriend are going to go. The House also run, during November, a Christmas Market which is just outside the gates of Chatsworth and when they are booked in to go the market is also on. Both events are very popular and it is best to book as soon as possible. Hopefully they will get some photographs I can show you.
We are very lucky to live in Derbyshire and have Chatsworth on our doorstep to be able to visit during the year. When the Boys were little and had broken up from school for Christmas we used to take them and the dog up to the Grounds on December 23rd for a long walk and we have been there when it was like the picture above with snow and one year it was thick fog. The Boys loved it and it was great to spend a few hours outside in the fresh air before all the festivities.
My Favourite year was 2017 when the theme was based on Charles Dicken’s Books. Here are some galleries of pictures of the tour.
The Entrance to The House
The Hallway
A “Tree” of Books
Closer view
“Windows” showing what is for sale this is fabric!
Cottons & Other Sewing goods
The Christmas Tree in the Private Chapel
The Christmas Tree in the Painted Hall
The Christmas Tree in one of the Bedrooms.
The Library, my favourite room in the whole house.
The Christmas Tree in the Anti-Library
A pocket watch on the tree.
One of the Christmas Trees with Sewing things on it.
The Dining Room was based upon Miss Havisham’s room from “Great Expectations”.
The Final Christmas Tree in The Sculpture Gallery with Scrooge’s reformed words from “A Christmas Carol”
The Saturday we went which was December 9th we had snow in the morning. The above is the view from the car park outside Chatsworth House.
After we left it began to snow again and this was the countryside on our way home.
Our garden when we got home!
I am hoping that DH & I will be able to go next year.
I hope you lovely lot are having a good week and enjoying the last days of October. Halloween tomorrow and then we have Bonfire Night next week, although a lot of the formal events are taking place this weekend. At the moment the weather is due to be cloudy but no rain. Half way through the week!
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
Our Wonderful Treacle with her Santa Hat on! Coco is not keen on hats at the moment!
Mom says I need a Spa Day! I think it is a good idea. She is going for her Spa Day this week so I definitely think I should have one too! She also needs to sort it out before all the appointments are booked before Christmas!
Now you all know we have a little lodger in the home, Blaze and we get along very well but I am not so sure about sharing pictures with him.
Here he is lying in my place but I managed to get my Quilt and lay on that whilst he was in my place!
Ha, Ha though I got him back because here I am on Youngest & Girlfriend’s bed and he was relegated to the floor!!
It is turning cold here and the leaves have been falling quite fast and I love running through them to see if I can find anything hiding. I saw the Squirrel the other day hopping about at the top of the garden and just watched him for a while but he was very busy digging in the lawn. Mom says he is busy burying nuts and things for winter! Grr in my garden!
Mom says Blaze is a very pretty cat but I am still very pretty and definitely her Baby!!! I will take that.
I started writing this post at lunch and it is now 7.30pm!!! I don’t honestly know where the days and weeks are flying to!
I used to start looking and booking things when our Boys went back to School in September but this year all the Christmas activities have been out way before that so I have already booked the visit to see Santa at Christmas with Eldest, Partner & The Children. This was last year above. Can’t wait to go this year and of course we have Little Man as well. I have also booked for Youngest, Partner, DH & I to go back a week later to have dinner on the Steam Train for his Birthday (don’t tell anyone but he is 25 this year!)
Of course that started me looking at the Christmas pictures! I don’t know if I showed these to you last year but our National Newspaper “The Telegraph” had done an article about The Savoy in London decorating for Christmas and asked Readers to send pictures of their decorations. I did and these are the ones who appeared and mine was at the head of the article!
This little Santa Claus was in fact my Mother’s and I think is it made of ceulloid. He is very delicate and I think it is coming up to being 100 years old. I carefully wrap him each year when we take the decorations down in acid free tissue paper and hope he is okay the following year.
The above ornament was made by Eldest when he was at Playschool! He comes out every year although he is losing a bit of his glitter but he is twenty six years old now!
Eldest & Youngest with the same Christmas Jumpers!!!
Little Miss Coco who had had a Haircut in time for Christmas.
I am starting to feel very Christmasy! If this year is anything to go by It is not too early to start spreading some Christmas cheer!!!
Happy Monday you lovely lot and I hope you have a good week.
I am here, I haven’t fallen off the edge of the Earth (for all those Flat Earthers!). DH and I have been dealing with family things which I will not disclose here. We are all okay and life is moving on, but as I have said before, even though your children are grown up they come with grown up problems and we are lucky to be here to help them through it. However it has been a very challenging few weeks and I am hoping that between now and Christmas will be a little calmer.
Speaking of Christmas:
Because things have been so up in the air, I have been playing Christmas music in my car when I have been travelling around! It just lifts my spirits, but I do get moaned at by The Boys as they think it is far too soon for all this! I can say that I have almost finished my Christmas shopping, only a few things left to get and my sewing room now looks like half of Santa’s Workshop! I am debating with myself as to whether to get wrapping now or leave it a little bit? I have managed to get all the pets their treats and toys for Christmas and had to put them definitely out of the way of Coco and Blaze!
This weekend is one of my favourties, in that we get an hour back, as the clocks go back one hour on Saturday night.
Yesterday would have been my Mom’s 95th Birthday. Here she is on her wedding day in 1949 aged 19. Sadly she died one week before her 55th Birthday so this time of year is quite poignant.
Our weather is defintely in Autumn mode now, although we have had a couple of frosts it has not been too cold. However that has meant that it has been quite misty in the mornings and on Wednesday the above picture was at 5.00am as the fog rolled in. Usually we don’t get foggy days until November, but it was quite thick on Wednesday and lasted quite a while.
The trees in our garden have almost lost their leaves and DH and I have the job of collecting them this weekend.
Here is the big tree at the top of our garden and the platform where the Den used to be.
So as it is Autumn I got our winter bedding out and I love it as it feels all cosy and warm, especailly as I also got our winter duvet out too. Someone is also loving it:
This is cuddle mode. She hops up on the bed, once DH has got out to shower, for morning snuggles and then in the evening, especially if I am in bed first! The other morning she actually stayed on the bed asleep after I had come downstairs!
Little Man is now sitting up on his own and has in fact begun to crawl, so nothing is safe now! Watch out World he is on the move!
Honey and Star are now finding high places to sleep as he is moving 🙂
This was Blaze the other evening, so I think my Halloween decorations are sorted, pumpkin and black cat! Now if only I can get Blaze to sit still for a few hours on Halloween!!!
I subscribe to Country Life magazine which is every week and I love it. There are so many articles in it regarding country things as well as art and life in general. Anyway this week’s issue came through the door on Wednesday and look who is on the cover! Anyone who has followed me for a while knows I absolutely love Snoppy. This one I will be keeping.
I have still been doing bits of decluttering here and there in my aim (which began on January 1st) to get rid of things we really don’t need or use. A lot of things we give to the Charity shop and obviously some I keep and some get tossed! When we went to the charity shop last weekend they said they are no longer accepting books due to hygiene concerns. I don’t get rid of many of my books as I try very hard to only buy books that I know I will read and re-read and keep, but there is always a few and I did get rid of some. So now we have a problem of what to do with them? We do have a book stall at Carnival each year and there is the Book Exchange in the Village so they will be going to one or other of them. However what on earth are people going to do if we don’t keep our books? Can you imagine if they had had the same attitude hundreds of years ago, we would not have the books we have now which are in museums!
I did spend last Saturday doing some quilting, which I cannot show you because they are Christmas presents! It was great to sit down and get some quilting done again. DH is out all day Sunday this weekend at another swimming event, so I will be in the sewing room again.
Next week the children here are on Half Term Holiday for a week and although our Boys are all grown up I still stick to my routines that I used to do when they were young. One of which is next week I will be making our Christmas Cake and putting it in the tin and will “feed” it until I need to put the marzipan and icing on it just before the Big Day. We are out tonight to some very good friends their home for dinner, which I am looking forward to. I have made a blackberry and apple crumble to take with us, a very Autumn dessert. Last night I managed to get all the ironing done and the washing is up to date and today I am cleaning our home. Tomorrow DH is home and is going to help me with some of the bigs jobs, where I need furniture moving etc. I also need to get two jobs done in the garden and then it will be all ready for Winter. Grocery shopping will also be tomorrow too. I need to sort the downstairs freezer out, I did our upstairs one last week, and then they will be ready for the Christmas build up.
Anyway after this very long catchup post, I hope you lovely lot have been faring well. I am still suffering from things left over from the virus I had in August on holiday and was at the Doctors on Monday and have to go back next Monday having had to take more tablets. I really hope they are going to work and it will all be sorted, if not I will be taking a trip to the Hospital, which I would really like to avoid!
Have an absolutely wonderful weekend, it is almost November and only 61 days to Christmas!!!!
It has been one of those weeks, well two actually, since my last post on October 1st! How are we in Week 3 of October already? The weeks are flying at the moment. I am finally getting over my various illnesses and the tablets are starting to help which is one good thing. Still have a few things to get sorted but hoping it will soon be gone. I have warned everyone in the family that if they start with the sniffles to stay away from me!!!
When you have children you think how difficult it is when they are babies because they can’t tell you what they want or what their problem is. Then as Toddlers that brings a whole other set of issues and don’t get me started when they become Teenagers. However when they are officially “grown up” ie eighteen and over their problems become big, adult problems but you as Mom and Dad are expected to be able to sort it all out like you used to when they were little. I will say though that sorting these problems out takes a whole lot out of you! We are all fine, which I am very thankful for, but it has been a hard two weeks!
Anyway I missed Book Club Friday so thought I would do it today before another week has gone by!
I have just started to read this. It is not a long book but I liked the write up it had and I have not read one of Joanne Harris’s books in ages, the last one being “Chocolat”.
Tom is a photographer living and working in London at a little camera shop of which he lives above. He loves taking photographs of things which everyone else would normally ignore, like the homeless man with his possessions in a cart. However it is when he develops his films that he starts to realise that there is a hidden, magical world just out of reach but it is beautiful, dangerous and definitely menacing! Tom realises he needs to find The Moonlight Market hidden in the secret Heart of London where you can buy anything and where you may also find love. Tom knows that something is missing and The Moonlight Market just might be where he finds it.
If you like fantasy books with Faeries, kings and queens then you will love this book. I have only just started to read it but so far it is promising.
This was one of the books I had taken away with me in August for our vacation and started it. It was one of those books which I started, then put down for a bit, then picked it up again. However I did not finish it. I found the writing to be too “flowery” without actually telling the story or as has been coined recently; there was too much “word salad” in it! It has now moved to my donate pile!
Yesterday I had to go up to Eldest’s garage to sort out a parcel and some other jobs as he had been out on a fire call since early in the morning. This of course threw my day out so today I am catching up. Yesterday morning when I was at my desk Coco was in her basket which is next to it. She has a habit of making a mess of her quilt which is in her basket and ends up sleeping on top of it. I did not see that she had her head out of her basket and I moved my chair and trapped her head! She yelped and got out of her basket but at least she was okay. I went over her to make sure she had no cuts or anything and she didn’t, SO I am now straightening her bed every time she gets out of it to make sure it does not happen again. The above picture is after I had sorted her quilt out and as you can see she is now all in her basket snuggled.
Today I am catching up with all the jobs I should have done yesterday and have a whole weeks worth of ironing to get done too! Over the weekend we did get our garden and home jobs done. I bought some “everything friendly” liquid to clean the patio and stop it going green. After all the rain we had last winter the patio was green instead of cream! I won’t know for a couple of days if it has worked or not. If it doesn’t I will have to find something stronger!
Saturday and Sunday evening it was the swimming club’s in-house championships where the swimmers compete for the Club Trophies which are then presented just before Christmas. We had some great swims, a few Championship records smashed and nothing went wrong during the two events! Next weekend DH has two swimming events, one on Friday evening and one on Saturday evening but we have Sunday freen. Our weather has been very Autumnal over the last couple of the weeks but at the end of this week it is going to be mild again! I prefer at this time of year for it to be cold which then hopefully kills off all the bugs we catch!
I hope you have had a good two weeks and I will try and keep up with my posts. Happy Tuesday you lovely lot.
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
Coco’s new toy which Eldest & Partner bought her. She loves it and it is big enough to double up as a pillow!!!
Well September flew by before I knew it! Being ill for some of it did not help and having Doctors appointments, blood tests and things I am quite glad it has left! Hopefully October is going to be a little kinder, but I am not counting my chickens yet.
For everyone who likes to hide their heads in the sand about Christmas, I hate to tell you this but there are 85 days left before the Big Day! It you like to look at it this way, it is twelve weeks to go, so some would say it is three months yet but as we know the weeks really do fly by so before we know it, Christmas will be here. As you, who follow me regularly, know I love Christmas. Especially the build up to it and I have noticed that my Instagram feed has been getting a lot more Christmas posts. As the last few weeks have been not good I have even, much to the horror of our Boys, started playing Christmas music in my car. Eldest moaned the other day when he had to move my car and it was playing “Merry Christmas Everybody”!!!! 🙂
If you remember last Christmas I ended up with Shingles. I was ill over our summer holiday so I am absolutely determined I am not going to be ill this Christmas. Hence my planning, sorting out and generally getting organised this year so that by the time December arrives, everything is sorted and I can actually sit back, relax and enjoy the holidays and not be ill!!! SO I am probably going to annoy a lot of you now, but I have almost finished my Christmas shopping! I have planned the Christmas baking and am in the process of sorting out our freezers so that I can make things and put them in the freezer ready for December. Obviously we don’t know yet who is going where for Christmas Day but I have two plans incorporating different numbers so I can just pick whichever list I need.
There will be a few Christmas visits seeing family and friends and some other fun things to do which I will hopefully have pictures to show you. It would be lovely if it snowed this year, especially when we don’t have to get about but I am not sure that it will co-operate. It has been heavy rain here for the last two days and we are getting some local flooding again so I suspect this will be it for the rest of the year. Our leaves are coming off the trees quite a bit now but are of course very wet so quite hard to pick up. I am hoping at the weekend, which we have off, we will get a day when it is dry to try and get the leaves up.
October I am planning on getting quite a bit done and also some more de-cluttering and tidying as well as a bit of Autumn cleaning (like Spring Cleaning but not everything!) before we decorate for Halloween, Bonfire Night and then Christmas.
Friday DH and I will be going to Goose Fair, always the start of Autumn events for us and then home jobs over the weekend and at the moment the weather is due to be good so we can get some garden jobs done too and also home jobs.
I hope your September went well and October is going to be kind.
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
Coco in snuggle mode on our bed.
Blaze on his platform where he can look out of the window and be nosey!
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here:
Our Cookie Policy
