Last Week's Sun, Sea and Sundries ...

Well, I've had quite a jolly week, all things considered. Having bought a few things at Semley Auctions (on Dairy House's doorstep) a week last Saturday, Liz and I went over on a gloriously sunny Monday morning to collect it all and put it in DH. We then pootled off up the road a couple of miles to the Pythouse Walled Garden for lunch. Yummy lunch! Liz had a goats cheese (yuk) quiche with salad, and I had leeks wrapped in bacon in a mushroom sauce (with grated cheese on the top and baked in the oven) with salad.


We sat on the terrace and enjoyed these views of the garden ...





Thursday was another glorious day and I happened to have the day off from DH. Pauley and I went off to Exmouth to view an auction and then moved on to Budleigh Salterton where we had a leisurely walk along the prom! It was almost too hot for comfort, but we enjoyed an hour watching the world go by and generally doing nothing.

Budleigh Salterton doesn't do sand. It does wonderful pebbles and beach huts. For some reason I got home without having taken a photo of the huts. Don't know why, because I love them and would very much like one ... to keep ... for me ... so I can hide in it whenever I feel the need to run away from hectic-ness ...

Look, lucky Pauley is at the seaside and it's sunny! That makes a change, but you'll see he's still wearing a nice warm jumper!!

On Friday I went to the 3-day Shepton Antiques Fair as a buyer rather than as a seller. I thought I'd really miss the selling but although it felt a little strange initially, I was so pleased to be sitting at home on Sunday evening rather than loading up the car after 3 long days of standing around a lot!! I bought some super things, none of which I've photographed I'm afraid. I bought a child's sack barrow which stood about 18" high. Sadly I can't show you that because it's already sold at DH! I'll endeavour to take some photos of the other purchases later in the week. I'll probably keep some of them for the Vintage and Handmade Fair in November. It was another glorious day and I really feel as if I've made the most of our Indian Summer. And to think we all thought it wasn't going to happen!

Sunday saw us driving to Dairy House and as we drove towards this set of traffic lights (the black bit at the bottom of the photo) we could see hundreds, if not thousands, of birds circling high in the sky. The photo only shows a small proportion of them as the lights were just changing to green and I had started to move off as Pauley took the photo. We'd ascertained by then that they were seagulls. Now I know that seagulls always follow a plough, but I've only ever seen them when they've already landed in the field and are pecking away at whatever comes to the surface as the field is ploughed. Never have I seen them, as these were, waiting for the farmer to plough the first furrow. We caught sight of the tractor and plough in the furthest corner of the field, just about to start. So tell me ... how did they know he was about to plough this vast field? I just wish we'd been able to get a better photo. On our homeward journey 6 hours later they were still ploughing, and the seagulls were all on the ground, or hovering just behind the plough, waiting to swoop. Couldn't stop to get a photo sadly. Click to enlarge and you'll get a vague idea of what we saw.

Yesterday we went back to Exmouth to do a little auction bidding. We looked at the sea again (I could get used to this) and then came home with 2 bin bags and a very large carrier bag of linen - all sorts of table linen and doilies. I also bought an oak sewing box on a sort of trolley, with a drawer under the box (maybe a photo would have been easier to understand than the description) containing plenty of wooden Coats cotton reels and haberdashery bits and pieces. A couple of good buys I'm pleased to say. I haven't taken any piccies as I've had a day of paperwork today and no time to play.

Hope you're all got to enjoy the sun, too!