Perfect Pumpkins

A few weeks ago I went over to Wimpole Hall with my friend for a day out on the farm.  We were so lucky to catch one of the last warm sunny days where we could wander or just sit without seizing up with the cold!

On the way back from the farm I stopped off at the walled garden for a quick nose to see what my veggie patches should be looking like!

I found the greenhouse full off these magnificent pumpkins and squashes.

So many different sizes and shapes and the colours are so beautiful.

I doubt many of these would pass the supermarket perfection in looks test but don't they just look fab and I'd be more than happy to do my pumpkin shopping here!

In actual fact maybe supermarkets should be making their displays like this! 

So this is what my garden should look like! 

Popping up in the veggie beds were various scarecrows all made by different local groups.

And this is the Wimpole cat, the very one who raided my catnip in the Mysterious Incident at Wimpole at the Christmas Fair last year!  For such a handsome fella, he is rather camera shy!

I'm off to get ready for Harvest Crafts later today, take care all

Sarah x

Shameless self promotion

Oooo busy morning getting pics online on website and general maintenance and updating!

Always surprises me how long things take to do like this, I'm sure I spend less and less time making stock!



This is one of the pictures we took in Devon earlier this year when we got snowed in on holiday!

And then on our return home this is the local church at the top of our lane.  It is such a picturesque builiding I could probably make a calender of the church through the seasons......actually, maybe not a bad idea!!

I have turned these pictures along with some others into greetings cards (can be found on website, sorry for shameless plug) 

These are my new lavender hearts.

I have used some beautiful antique-y fabric in a dusky blue colour which seems to be very popular at present (also available on the website!)

Just trying to think of better names for them but my head is being over-ruled by hunger right now so am going to have to go and hunt and gather some lunch!

Apologies for the self promoting post today but it is what I have been up to!

Take care all

Sarah x

And this picture snuk in at the end - insulated pot holders, guess what - they are available on the website!!

Time travel

Wouldn't time travel be great?  Right now I'd go back to when my cup of tea was hot and I'd drink it then and enjoy it rather than taking a big slurp of tepid yukkiness that I have just done!

Also I could go back to the last post and put this post in the following day rather than spread a story out over the course of a few weeks, this is not a cliff hanger of a tv series, just my musing and mumblings of day to day life, if doesn't need to drawn out for dramatic effect!!

So, the wellie washing - why did they need washing?  It was the result of a lovely walk in the Norfolk countryside that we took whilst at the seaside the other week.

We set off down the track, clearly marked on the map and by the roadside as there were some building works which did mean that there was a diversion in place!!  Even on foot, we are diverted!

I don't even remember there being that much rain!  It doesn't hang around so much at the beach does it, easier to drain away somewhere I guess!

We splattered and sploshed, slipped and slid through this delightful mess.  I did think at the time that I wasn't too keen on going on this way, it was more because I had a picture in my head as to how lovely this walk was going to be down by the broads watching the boats go by, and it wasn't quite like that at this point with the mud and the diversion! Having said that, it was a lot of fun really!

We found a very conveniently placed bird hide right at the point of the walk which fell about lunch time.  Perfect place to pull up a bench and break open the sarnies.  What a beautiful view and it was a glorious day too.

I love how it looks so different when you take a step back and look at the view through the hide window.  We did see some birds, which we had to wait until they moved as we weren't too sure if they were bits of wood or in fact creatures!  Plus we had no binoculars so I cannot tell you what they were, but they were a brownish grey colour! 

The water at the edge of the broad was wonderfully calm and still

Unlike George who was having a lovely time!

Ready for my close up!

I'm going to turn around now and get back to the sewing machine, plenty of things to do here today.  Take care all, til next time

Sarah x

Wellie Washing

Last week, no it was the week before now, time has gone so quickly yet again!

So the week before last (as you can tell I am very up to date with the news and life in general at present!) we went off to Norfolk for a week.  We were lucky enough to be staying right on the beach so only a quick jog up and down the sand dunes and we were out there on the edge of the country.  I love the seaside, beach, ocean whatever you want to call it depending upon where you are.

Hubby and I are just big kids when on the beach, if we are not playing a game of pebble pertank (that is not the correct spelling but then we make up our own rules so it is probably a completely different game!) we are drawing pictures in the sand!

This is Hubby's idea of cocktails on the beach!

I decided that there had been a large canine visitor to the beach that day!  Possibly something to do with the fact that I am reading the Twilight books - warewolves and vampires on the brain!!  Saying that though, a couple of days later we were walking down the same part of the beach and saw some 'normal' human footprints which were so deep the maker of such prints must have either been running with a very heavy load or was incredibly heavy footed, we couldn't reproduce the prints at all no matter what we tried!

This is October and it was not a hot day on this occasion but I can't visit the sea and not paddle!  So in with the wellies I went.  The wellies did need a good wash anyway, will tell you about that another time.

Not bad, starting to see the original wellie from under all the dirt emerging.

Oooo oooo ooo noooo, that was a bit bigger wave than I was expecting, I am not wearing waders here!

Oh dear, ooops (that isn't actually what I said, this is the edited version)

Its all gone in my wellies!!!

Clean wellies, inside and out!

Soggy socks and rather damp trousers too.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend

Take care til tomorrow

Sarah x



What a tangled web we weave

Or not so tangled in this case



This morning was perfect for spider web spotting.  The dew glistened like silver thread making these clever creations stand out against the morning light across the fields.

 Some just looked like the maker and inhabitant just wanted to make a warm place to curl up in rather than a beautiful lunch catching lair!

 It doesn't really show up so well in the photograph but as I looked across the side of the field I could see hundreds of webs spun across the grass and hedgerow.

Off to market again tomorrow, Welwyn Garden City if you are in the area come and see us

Take care and have a lovely weekend

Sarah x

The Smell of Dirt

These pictures were taken out across the fields late in the afternoon a few days ago.

The tractors had been out all day turning the soil ready for the next crop and the smell was fantastic - good earthy (literally) smell!

I did try to get a picture of the setting sun but the phone camera was having none of it and just had a bright blob in the middle of the screen instead!

Its busy here in the Land of Cuckoo getting ready for this weekends markets.  I am off to Ruislip on Sunday to the Duck Pond Market for the first time, will let you know how that goes next week.  Added to that are the preparations for Handmade at Home which I am holding here next Friday so will be posting flyers and making stock for that too!

Best get back to it, had my break by going up the road and playing badminton which I have been planning on doing for the past 4 years!  Have a strong suspicion that I will not be able to walk tomorrow after such foreign exercise!

Take care all

Sarah x

My trousers are too short

and that means I have cold ankles

Could go and change them but then my legs would be cold because these are my thick trousers.

Could put the heater on but am planning to hold out until November, no reason why, just set the target in my head and now I have to try to stick to it!

Could wrap up in a blanket or an unfinished quilt but I'd roll over it on my wheely chair.

Could type faster and hope the heat transfers to my opposite limbs.

Could get longer socks on, but I like my pink Union Jack ones.

Will go and get a cup of tea and keep working then I'll forget all about it!

Take care all, til tomorrow (I have no excuse not to be here tomorrow as I am back from mini hols, not temping for the rest of this week and shall be holed up in the workshop preparing for Handmade at Home next week and this weekend markets)

Sarah x