My favourite little person

Had such a wonderful day yesterday and caught up with my sister - so good to see her again and of course her daughter - my mini niece - photo of her with me above..... Enjoyed every precious moment ....

And one lovely thing about being away is collecting 'ptf's' = "Presents to Follow" !!

This lovely cushion above by Jan Constantine was given to me yesterday - a joint pressie from my dear sisters for my last birthday.... It is absolutely gorgeous. For more info. about Jan Constantine products click HERE - you won't be disappointed.

Dear Janet from The Gardeners Cottage blog has asked me whether I am over here at the moment on a holiday or exactly what I am up to!! Sorry, I should have explained in an earlier post. I am over here for 3 weeks (halfway through now) and whilst it is a holiday from my job in Australia I am here primarily to help prepare and take dearest daughter up to University at the end of this week. We will be driving her to the North of UK where she begins a degree at Durham University soon..... I am also very pleased to be here whilst my parents are moving which has coincided with my visit.

In the cottage garden

Photographs from the Semi Expat's little English garden on a sunny Saturday morning.

The last rose - smells so sweet.

The garden has held up well over the last 6 months or so with a little help from Hamish who lives up the lane.

Below - Autumn flowering sedum.

The rosemary is extremely healthy.

And the dear terracotta chickens - none the worse for the bad weather last winter - still pecking away!

A happy weekend to one and all.

September day in the English countryside

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my previous post about my parents' move.


They were very touched....... All is progressing well and whilst I did not come back to UK from Oz specifically for their move - (am here to settle dearest daughter into University in a week's time) I am extremely glad to be here whilst their move is happening. Contracts were exchanged yesterday and it will all happen in six days. In fact I am writing this post from their house after another day helping out. Mr SE has turned his hand to disconnecting dishwashers, washing machines etc. and taking down shelves too. However, Mr SE leaves early tomorrow morning back to Australia (via the Grand Prix in Singapore)..... Phew! On to our day yesterday in the sunshine. Mr SE's mother came to visit and we went out for lunch to a lovely pub in the countryside - photo above.

The food arrived on boards. Mine photographed below and the MIL's above... however, the MIL did not like the fact that it arrived "on a bread board" and declared it to be unhygienic. We told her it was known as "presentation".

Mine were freshly grilled sardines on toast with a green olive tapenade.

Photos above and below of the garden at the pub.

Afterwards we went for a walk alongside the canal.

The canal climbs a steep gradient and a series of locks were completed in 1810. An AMAZING engineering feat which fascinated Mr SE no end.

Each lock is numbered.... love the old fashioned numbering.

Looking back at the at the 21 locks up the hill....

Gorgeous old brick bridge over the canal....

We saw this barge (or narrow boat as they are sometimes called) navigate through a lock....

At the end of the day the MIL returned on the train. All in all a lovely day in the sunshine.

Back again in UK

Well, it's good to be back.
I flew into Heathrow airport and have spent the first 36 hours or so with my parents at their house - they are in a little turmoil - well, the house is actually as they are busy packing up as they are moving in a couple of weeks or so. Pictures and photographs are down from walls and I have tried to help a little, jet lag permitting.... I could not resist taking a photograph of these - one of their photographs ready for packing - it was taken just after they were married in the 1950's.... Look at how handsome my father is in his Royal Air Force Uniform as a young Flying Officer - and my mother looks like Audrey Hepburn I think - so glam.

It is a little sad to see empty shelves .....

And boxes all packed up. There has been a lot of sorting to do and 'culling' of belongings as they are "downsizing" and moving to a smaller house in the same area. They have been in the house over 20 years so you can imagine the job is no mean feat.

Everything has been labelled - my mother is very efficient.

And talking of labels these are rather lovely... This is their home made chutney ....

And lots of jam too ....

All in rows in the "Preserves Cupboard". They will be packed up next week. I love that they still make jam and chutney each year.


Am now back in our cottage in the West Country (about 45 mins from Bath)... More photographs etc. from here in the next few days.

Here we go round the Mulberry Bush

This post has been inspired by two of my favourite blogs and their recent posts to do with handbags. The first is METSCAN over in Finland who talked recently about a handbag that she had given her daughter - lucky daughter - see HERE. And the second blog is Thats Not My Age who had the absolute pleasure of meeting, (yes, you heard right MEETING) the actress Jane Birkin and she even took a photograph of her handbag. Click HERE to read all about that. So to the bag in my post... This bag belongs to my daughter - and she has kindly lent it to me for a while - she left it here when she returned to the UK for me to use as we both love it. A classic Mulberry Bayswater handbag in a chocolate bronzey colour which seems to go with everything. Rather bashed about and loved but it seems to get better as it ages (rather like Jane Birkin's Birkin from TNMA's post I like to think).....

Daughter and I purchased this bag together. She had saved up and had some money for birthdays and some money for good exam results and we set off to visit the Mulberry Factory Shop in Somerset. We managed to secure it for a Very Good Price. Not only was it nearly half price but the nice sales assistant gave us another 50 pounds OFF as there was a v. small scratch on it.

If you are in Somerset in England and fancy a lovely day out go to the factory shop - you never know what you might find and there is a little tea room there too. All details below :

Tucked away in the heart of the beautiful Somerset countryside, the Mulberry Factory shop presides in an old school building located on the main A37 Bristol to Yeovil Road. It carries a wide selection of Mulberry accessories and ready to wear, styles varying from classical vintage to trendy, contemporary pieces and all at substantially discounted prices. So, whether it is an idea for a gift, or simply self-indulgence, you are sure to find something suitable at the Mulberry Factory Shop.

New Collection In store with up to 50% off the original RRP. MULBERRY FACTORY SHOP The Old School House - Shepton Mallet- BA4 5NF Telephone : 01749 340 583

I hope to visit soon as tomorrow I am back off to the UK again for a very fleeting visit - all of 3 weeks. Next post will be from England.

Postcard from Adelaide

A couple of weekends back - well, to be precise, the weekend before last, Mr SE and I went away to Adelaide. He has been there many times on business but has seen precisely all of the airport, the hotel and where his meetings were held and never the city or the surrounding beautiful areas.... and I had never been to Adelaide before.

Well, we weren't disappointed - a very pretty city with some gorgeous architecture and green parks and some lovely shopping areas too...Adelaide is not far from Melbourne as you can see from the map above - a mere hop, skip and a jump in a Qantas plane and we were there. We stayed a night in the city of Adelaide and then the next day went touring up in the hills - although the sun shone it was pretty windy - hence impression of "shaggy Shetland pony hair" in the above photo!

Gorgeous views from the hills looking down to the city in the distance.

Pretty streets....

And what really fascinated me were the grape vines growing along the streets - to remind perhaps that this is after all a wonderful wine growing region....

So pretty weaving their way along the intricate iron 'lacework' balustrade outside the stores...


And, apologies - unless you live in Australia you won't know who on earth the person is in the photograph below but I could not resist sneaking a very grainy image of him.....!! Yes, it's Adam, the worthy winner of Masterchef Australia just trying to catch up with some work whilst waiting for his flight in the Qantas lounge in Adelaide. Just about rounded off a very enjoyable weekend altogether.....

And a happy weekend to one and all wherever you are in the world and whatever you may be doing...

Art for Art's Sake

Melbourne is famed for amazing and eye catching 'Street Art' in the many small laneways and arcades in the city and whether you love it or hate it you have to admit that it is colourful and different. The dear, darling daughter LOVES it and so, before she went back, we went for a special visit to the city in order that she could take a few photographs. These she has decided she will enlarge and use to decorate her room at University when she goes in late September. Here are a small sample of the many photographs she took:

After all that we decided to go to a wonderful, hidden away little Chinese place recommended for their fantastic and tasty dumplings filled with soup and pork... Shoa-long Bao - they even have special instructions for the correct way of enjoying and eating them.....!

Above photograph - the cooks hard at work making hundreds of wonderful dumplings for lunchtime diners.

And here above are the finished article......................mmmmmm!!

They were really delicious.... Luckily I am going back there again next Friday - I have made a plan to meet my friend Shelly for lunch there - she is a dumpling 'officiando' and I am sure she will LOVE them as much as we did.

Vineyard Visit on a Sunday

Yesterday was one of those glorious, crisp and sunny Winter's days that makes you feel happy to be alive and also promises that Spring is not too far away. So, in order to celebrate this Mr SE and I struck out of the City of Melbourne into the countryside on a mini road trip. We drove for around an hour and a half or so towards the Bunyip State Park and early afternoon I spied a sign saying turn off next left for Vineyard! We bumped down a track for around 8 kms and then came to this very welcoming and promising notice! Wine - tick. Wood fired pizza - tick. Art gallery - tick.

This was were we had come. Jinks Creek Winery. Seems to me that we had stumbled across quite a find. The car park (such as it was - just a rather rough field) was full and when we opened the door to the rustic barn in the photo below it was

loud; packed full of people either standing up chatting or sitting down together in large parties laughing and drinking and eating and having fun! What a find..... Only problem seemed would they be able to fit us in - I am sure they are booked up well in advance... Whilst we were waiting I had a quick look in the Art gallery just off the main room/dining room.

A gorgeous room full of light with dark wooden floors and white walls.

This was the view behind the counter - love all those stacked plates in subtle, muted colours. Perfection.

A view of the busy dining room.... It is difficult to describe just how much I LOVED this place. It was slightly chaotic, unpretentious and the furniture was worn and painted - all my kind of favourite things. I am still smiling to myself as I am writing this remembering yesterday. I think the man in the blue shirt standing in the middle of the photo is the owner.

See what I mean? Just look at this lovely table. The cutlery was kept in the boxes on the table.

Open fires....
And this was where they found a little spot to put us. On a squishy leather sofa next to the fire sitting at a low table. We did not mind and quickly ordered. A glass of Pinot Noir for me and water for us both (sorry, Mr SE you were the designated driver!).

Our delicious food. Simple but fantastic. Woodfired Margarita pizza and a salad of rocket and toasted pine nuts.... Yummy.

Afterwards we went for a stroll around the outside. See all the vines behind Mr SE - looking rather bare at the moment (the vines not him!) - not long before Spring though.

Then I can imagine coming back to this place and sitting outside on the deck and having lunch at this GORGEOUS, scrumptious table. What a view.

It was hard to leave the Vineyard but we went on through the Bunyip State Park seeing views like the one below at every corner we turned.

Through the forest....

And then a quick look at the reservoir which serves the City of Melbourne. Thank goodness water levels have risen over the last 6 months. At one point Melbourne's water supply was dwindling fast such was the lack of rain in the state.

Then home again. I did have a little sleep on the way back I have to admit. Must have been that glass of red !

A perfect day!

P.S. More excitement. I have just checked the website (see the link above) and they also do Bed and Breakfast - now how wonderful would that be ? We are DEFINITELY going back.