By Alice | Published:
February 18, 2010
We went to Waterperry Gardens near Oxford at the weekend, it looks pretty bleak at this time of year but we both liked the dramatic atmosphere of the long hedges and secret gardens. I didn’t take any pictures of it but the food is good and it’s all handmade on the site. It’s served canteen style and there are great cakes and a nice selection of loose leaf tea as well as more main course type dishes. In the shop you can buy their many varieties of apple juice and plants, so many tempting things, but I resisted and stuck to buying seeds which is what I needed. I look forward to going back in summer when the flowers are in full bloom.
By Alice | Published:
December 23, 2009
More birthday pictures :) As I was turning 3-0 I wanted to do something a teeny bit crazy. After much thought and investigations we found this castle and got a nice pre-Christmas deal. It was wonderful, very castle-y, and the food was great. Part of it is still a ruin. I admit that when I woke up in the night I kept my eyes shut tight in case I started imagining I was seeing ghosts in our room. The garden was really pretty in the morning.
The local town.
Also posted in Travel & Places |
By Alice | Published:
September 27, 2009
It is such lovely weather at the moment, crisp and cold but very sunny. Yesterday we went for a drive around in the Cotswolds for a little adventure. We stopped by the Daylesford Organic Farmshop who were having their harvest festival, I am familiar with their goods from the London shops so I was curious to see the out-of-town location. Very posh. We bought a honey cake, great flavour and not too sweet. We stopped for lunch in Broadway, it is a nice place but rather touristy. As Simon said we are very spoiled by living surrounded by so many pretty villages, you get fussy when you have so much choice. On a whim on our way home we followed signs for Broadway Tower, it is the highest point in the Cotswolds with beautiful views out. Very peaceful laying on the grass looking at old bi-planes puttering by. Recommended.
Also posted in Travel & Places |
By Alice | Published:
July 27, 2009
We just got back from Supersonic Festival 2009. We love going to this festival! It is held in the Custard Factory which is an arts and media centre in a former custard factory in Birmingham. We only ever go for the Sunday even though it runs all weekend, maybe next year we will think about going for the whole thing. Our Sunday only strategy is mainly to keep our costs down and it means we aren't too exhausted come the headliner on the Sunday. The main reason we like this festival is the music, it is our kind of thing, however I also really appreciate the general atmosphere of friendliness – even the security guards were reasonably friendly. I also think that the dark clothes + beards + tattoos type people who attend this festival are nicer to be around than a lot of festival crowds.
Also posted in Travel & Places |
By Alice | Published:
June 8, 2009
At the weekend it was the annual village fair at which my friend (and former housemate) used to run a skittle alley. I say 'used to' as the skittle alley got crushed by a falling barn since last year. Here is last year's post. It threatened to rain the whole time but we were lucky. I had lunch of a piece of fruit cake, these country ladies make the BEST cakes :)
Some of the activities on offer were:
- egg throwing (two people throwing an egg back and forth at increasingly large distances until it breaks)
- ferret roulette (they put a ferret in a box and you have to guess which hole it will come out of)
- yard of ale competition (who can drink a yard of ale the quickest)
- Punch and Judy show
- pony rides
- raffle
- Morris dancing
- watching the blacksmith making horse shoes
- tea and cake tent
- local Old Father Thames ale and Pimm's
- dog show
- archery
- pet the goats
and many more.
Being in prime retired-rock-star territory, as most of Oxfordshire and Berkshire seems to be, there were raffle donations from Simply Red and Pink Floyd. However the actual pop stars that I saw in residence were these chickens which had apparently been in a Kasabian video the week before.
