My OperaWednesday May 19: Our last day, how sad!!!
Saturday, June 19, 2010 9:17:52 PM
Our last day, how sad!!! It has been a wonderful trip and far exceeded my expectations. An excellent itinerary; delightful choice of gardens and historic places of interest to visit; fabulous workshops with knowledgeable and generous instructors; supurb accommodation; delicious meals; numerous quirky yarn shops; good company and all round good fun. Way to go Jean and Philip. I will recommend your tours to everyone and hopefully may do another one myself sometime.
Enough of that! Today started with an unusual but interesting workshop by Jacqui Carey. Jacqui had us all going around the twist as we learnt the tricks of braiding. As well as the techniques of braiding Jacqui showed us just how versatile the finished product is and how we can incorporate braids into our knitting. Top workshop Jacqui.
Sharp at noon we boarded our steed (the coach) for our final outing to Frome. Frome is a quaint wee village filled with the ubiquitous hills.
I know this does not look like a very steep hill in this pic but trust me the hills were very steep hills indeed!! I am constatntly amazed at how the elderly manage to shop in these villages.
Anyway we struggled, and I really do mean struggled, up one very quaint hill filled with even quainter shops to find the Marmalade Yarns store, almost at the top of the hill
Fortunately for us poor, yarn deprived souls (joking)the store was open
How cute is this 'Open' sign.
It was a great shop brimming with unusual yarns and managed by the cheeriest woman imaginable. She had us in fits of laughter and, being in such a happy mood, we all bought way too much yarn. Probably a clever sales strategy on her part. Who cares, we were having fun on our last day.
It was down hill from here as we browsed the other vintage clothing and textils shops on our way to lunch.
After lunch it was back on the coach to go and visit the medieval village of Lacock. Lacock Village is managed by the National Trust and is a great base from which to visit the Cotswolds, one of my facourite parts of England.
A delightful, leisurely afternoon spent wandering through the Tudor Abbey and King John's Hunting Lodge with its exceptionally pretty gardens and tea rooms. Today, the Lodge is a Romantic 13th Century Guest House with Tudor Tea Rooms/Restaurant so different to 900 years ago when King John frequently indulged his passion for hunting in the surrounding area and made regular visits to his hunting lodge.
All this wandering through history worked up an appetite so it was time for a spot of R&R, in other words afternoon tea and a spot of knitting.
I am in love with this ritual of afternoon tea in beautiful gardens with my knitting. I am going to miss this so much when I return to my other life. Maybe I could start such a ritual at home .... ummm, a little short on history maybe!!!
Our last dinner was at The Sign of the Angel Inn.
The original Inn was built in the 15th century; added to in the 16th century and in the 17th century became a wood merchant's house. today the 'angel' has been returned to its origins as an Inn with wonderful english home cooking and snug bedrooms should one fancy a sleep over.
You can check it all out at www.lacock.co.uk
I could quite happily do a weekend or two, or three here, no problems at all. Dream on girl, dream on!!
Back to our farewell dinner and talk of how we will squeeze that last ball of wool into our luggage.
Enough of that! Today started with an unusual but interesting workshop by Jacqui Carey. Jacqui had us all going around the twist as we learnt the tricks of braiding. As well as the techniques of braiding Jacqui showed us just how versatile the finished product is and how we can incorporate braids into our knitting. Top workshop Jacqui.
Sharp at noon we boarded our steed (the coach) for our final outing to Frome. Frome is a quaint wee village filled with the ubiquitous hills.
I know this does not look like a very steep hill in this pic but trust me the hills were very steep hills indeed!! I am constatntly amazed at how the elderly manage to shop in these villages.
Anyway we struggled, and I really do mean struggled, up one very quaint hill filled with even quainter shops to find the Marmalade Yarns store, almost at the top of the hill
Fortunately for us poor, yarn deprived souls (joking)the store was open
How cute is this 'Open' sign.
It was a great shop brimming with unusual yarns and managed by the cheeriest woman imaginable. She had us in fits of laughter and, being in such a happy mood, we all bought way too much yarn. Probably a clever sales strategy on her part. Who cares, we were having fun on our last day.
It was down hill from here as we browsed the other vintage clothing and textils shops on our way to lunch.
After lunch it was back on the coach to go and visit the medieval village of Lacock. Lacock Village is managed by the National Trust and is a great base from which to visit the Cotswolds, one of my facourite parts of England.
A delightful, leisurely afternoon spent wandering through the Tudor Abbey and King John's Hunting Lodge with its exceptionally pretty gardens and tea rooms. Today, the Lodge is a Romantic 13th Century Guest House with Tudor Tea Rooms/Restaurant so different to 900 years ago when King John frequently indulged his passion for hunting in the surrounding area and made regular visits to his hunting lodge.
All this wandering through history worked up an appetite so it was time for a spot of R&R, in other words afternoon tea and a spot of knitting.
I am in love with this ritual of afternoon tea in beautiful gardens with my knitting. I am going to miss this so much when I return to my other life. Maybe I could start such a ritual at home .... ummm, a little short on history maybe!!!
Our last dinner was at The Sign of the Angel Inn.
The original Inn was built in the 15th century; added to in the 16th century and in the 17th century became a wood merchant's house. today the 'angel' has been returned to its origins as an Inn with wonderful english home cooking and snug bedrooms should one fancy a sleep over. You can check it all out at www.lacock.co.uk
I could quite happily do a weekend or two, or three here, no problems at all. Dream on girl, dream on!!
Back to our farewell dinner and talk of how we will squeeze that last ball of wool into our luggage.
Gael de Jongegaeldejonge # Sunday, June 20, 2010 1:00:04 AM
Cheers, Gael
Maggiecyclingknitter # Wednesday, June 23, 2010 3:46:06 PM