Jenny Wren Crafts - Blog

Holiday to Weymouth

11/1/2018

Arrived on Saturday 27th October 2018. Staying in an apartment about a 10 minute walk from the town and the beach. Mark, Michelle and the children also have an apartment and Michelle's mom and dad and her nephews and niece have another apartment. Have walked through the town, along the harbour and across the beach most evenings. Weather was chilly to start but has got warmer and only had a drop of rain one night.

Monday

Kingston Lacy and Poole. See Mark's photos as well at www.Romanais.co.uk.

Tuesday

Corfe Castle, Swanage and Clouds Hill. See Mark's photos as well at www.Romanais.co.uk.

Wednesday

Dorchester, Thomas Hardy's Cottage and Thomas Hardy's house Max Gate then home for tea and cinema to watch Bohemian Rhapsody - brilliant! Again Mark has extra photos at www.Romanais.co.uk.

Thursday

Portland and Chesil Beach.

Montacute House

11/1/2018

On my way down to Weymouth for a week's holiday I stopped off at Montacute House nr. Yeovil where I met up with Mark, Michelle and the children who were also on their way to Weymouth. The property has featured in a lot of period dramas including Sense and Sensibility, Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies.

Road Trip Scarf in Cabaret

11/1/2018

Remember the two balls of Cabaret that I bought in the summer? Well I have finally completed another road trip scarf. The photos don't do the colours justice, they are very autumnal with green, brown, orange, red, plum and purple.

Theatre

11/1/2018

I had a couple of trips to the theatre during October to see The Wipers Times and The Messiah, both at the Rep in Birmingham. The Wipers Times is about a newspaper that was published in the trenches in the first World War. It is co-written by Ian Hislop and was very good. The Messiah was also very good about a group of three travelling players who were Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered), John Marquez (PC Penhale in Doc Martin) and Lesley Garrett.

The caravan show

10/31/2018

Every year I get offered discounted tickets to the Caravan and Motorhome show at the NEC and I never go so this year I thought I would take a look and see what it's all about. I used my travel pass to get there for free on the the train and all I can say is IT'S HUGE! 11 Halls to be precise. I think I got about half way round but when you've seen all the Swift caravan range from one dealer and then another and another it gets a bit monotonous. I did see a couple of vans that could be OK for the future and some other interesting exhibits but I don't think I'll be doing it again.

Trip to Northern Ireland

10/31/2018

In the middle of October I needed to go to Northern Ireland as I had some meetings for work. As the meetings were Monday and Tuesday I thought it would be nice to go for the weekend and visit the Giants Causeway. I stayed the first night in Bushmills, just a few hundred yards from the visitor centre. Unfortunately it rained all day so all the photos are taken from under the umbrella except for the last two which were taken next morning from the guest house where I stayed.

The next morning the weather was beautiful so I booked a ticket to the Titanic museum in Belfast. It tells the story of shipbuilding in the city and the building of the Titanic. Belfast has a long history of shipbuilding and Harland and Wolfe built many luxury liners as well as warships. Two of the large gantry cranes are still there, nicknamed Samson and Goliath. The view taken from the window looks down on the two docks where Titanic and her sister ship Olympic were built. It gives an idea of the size of the ships.

I was also able to go aboard Nomadic which was built as a tender for Titanic and other vessels and is the last remaining White Star Line ship.

My meeting on the Monday was at Cafre College, Geenmount Campus which is an agricultural college and has lovely grounds.

I stayed in a really nice guest house not far from Belfast International airport.

Holiday to Derbyshire

10/28/2018

At the end of September my sister Scarlett came to stay for the weekend. It was a beautiful day on the Saturday so we went to Tewkesbury for the day.

On the Monday I took the caravan to Poolsbrook Country Park just outside Chesterfield in Derbyshire. (Famous for the crooked green church spire). I used my new bus pass to take the bus into Chesterfield and have a look around (giving my age away here). It is a nice market town which has a really good flea market on Thursday mornings so I went back again on the Thursday, with the car this time as I intended to go to Hardwick Hall afterwards. I bought a couple of things but can't share them as they are presents!

On Wednesday I went to Mr Straws House, National Trust, in Worksop. It was quite fascinating as it is frozen in time in the 1920s.

Visit to Hardwick Hall.

Built by Bess of Hardwick who was the richest woman in England after Queen Elizabeth I. She gained her wealth though her marriages and owned several other houses as well including Chatsworth (not the current building but the previous one). She had her initials built into the brickwork at the front of the house for everyone to see, ES for Elizabeth Shrewsbury.

I also visited Bakewell which is a pretty little town on the side of a river.

My birthday!

10/28/2018

It was my birthday in September and I had lots of lovely cards and presents, and some beautiful flowers. Thank you everyone.

Instead of buying cake to take to work I decided to bake some. Now I haven't baked a cake for years so I was not quite sure how they would turn out but I was actually quite pleased, they were yummy!. I did an apple crumble cake, a blueberry lime drizzle and a batch of sultana scones.

New lampshades

7/16/2018

Finally got around to making some new lampshades for the dining room. They are made from a pretty quilt cover that I picked up from a charity shop for £1.

Scotland

7/9/2018

A couple of weeks ago I had some meetings in Scotland for work so I thought I would combine them with a short break in Edinburgh. After the first couple of meetings which were in Perth and the outskirts of Edinburgh I took the hire car back to the airport and took the tram into the city. I stayed in student accommodation which is good as you get the use of a kitchen so don't have to keep eating out.

On the Saturday I walked up the Royal Mile to the castle where they were setting up for the Edinburgh Tattoo. Edinburgh is made up of the 'old town' (very old) and the 'new town' (Victorian) roughly separated by Waverley station. The old town runs down from the castle on a sort of ridge so the ground on either side falls away quite steeply and the main road through the old town is the Royal Mile. Off the mile are lots of little closes. I did a tour of the real Mary King's Close which is actually underneath the Royal Exchange. Rather than demolish the existing buildings they just took the tops off and used them as foundations. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. I then walked down the mile to Holyrood Park, Holyrood Palace and the government buildings at the bottom. Unfortunately it was a bit drizzly that day so a lot of the pictures are taken from under the umbrella.

On Sunday the weather was better so I walked down to Leith to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia which was fascinating.

On Monday I checked out and went back to the airport to pick up a hire car again to get to my next meeting in Cumbernauld. On my way there I stopped off at Linlithgow Palace (where Mary Queen of Scots was born), The Kelpies and The Falkirk Wheel.

Author

I am Jenny (when I was little my dad always called me Jenny Wren) and I enjoy making hand crafted things. Watch this space to see what I am working on.
I have two sons - Mark, married to Michelle with children Anais 16 and Roman 11, and Richard - married to Debbie with children Brendyn 12 and Olivia 8.

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