These days, The George Hotel at Buckden is fast becoming one of our go-to Restaurants (that and Hitchen’s Barn in Oakham) for a guaranteed quality meal and excellent service. Today, we met up with Steve & Helen for a catch-up and to hear all the news about their recent house move. We were last all …
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Category:House and Garden
First Visit: The Chester House Estate
Off for a ‘day out’ (just the two of us) to the Chester House Estate in nearby Irchester, Wellingborough. Bought originally by North Northamptonshire Council in 2004 as Chester Farm. Re-branded and then re-opened in 2016 as Chester House Estate, it opens from 10-4 and is free to get in with free parking too! 😀👍 …
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Glorious Kelmarsh!
Thought I knew nearby Kelmarsh Hall very well, having got married there in 2011 and partied there for our 10th Anniversary last year! Apparently not! I saw parts of it today, that I’d never seen before! The House They’ve opened up parts that were inaccessible before, and it was all very well presented. There was …
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A Smart Octopus!
Back in June last year, we took the first steps to improving our environmental footprint by going ‘all-electric’ for our main car. Then, in April 2020, we ditched British Gas as our dual-energy provider, and based on recommendations from friends who’d already made the switch, moved to the rather weirdly named Octopus Energy. Today was …
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The Greenhouse Effect
Letting me loose on any DIY task is always a risk! 😮 And recently was one of those (ahem!) ‘opportunities’ to demonstrate my talents (or lack of them!). Specifically, Ann’s new mini-greenhouse. It looked splendid in the pictures online, but like most things these days, it arrived (from those very nice people at Access Garden …
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Return to Kelmarsh
Well, I haven’t been here since the 14th of December 2011! – for my wedding! 😍😍😍! Click on the button below for a trip down memory lane… Wedding Pics (Unofficial) Welcome back to 2020! The reason for today’s visit was an invitation to a private tour around Kelmarsh’s well-known Gardens (where Mrs P is a …
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Oliver – Live in Concert
We drove down to Roger, Jane and Oliver’s this afternoon. The weather was horrendous, but it was well worth it as we were going to see Oliver playing flute in the East Herts Concert Band at their Christmas Concert. The venue was the delightful St Mary’s Church in the village of Standon, a Grade 1 …
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Bulbs for Banstead
An early start for us today as we spent Saturday and Sunday with Richard and Nicki at their place in Banstead. Saturday We left home just after 7.30 and drove over to Huntingdon station. Why not take the car? Well, it’s not the getting there, it’s the getting home part. Last time we tried it …
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Tech Alert (No. 1211)
Yes, it’s that time again! – technology marches on, and I’m looking to replace my ageing BT router – the ‘Homehub 4’. It might only be around 6 years old, but that’s a lifetime these days for this sort of tech! Why change? Well, normally, it would be simply down to more whistles and bells, …
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Tea for Three
We picked up Helen, and headed to the ever-reliable Beckworth’s for one of their Afternoon Teas! Yumminess predicted! The food and service didn’t disappoint, and judging by the fact that the rest of Northamptonshire were also there, others were equally impressed! Afterwards, we took a look round their Garden Centre and chose one of their …
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Coton Manor Gardens
Continuing our theme of looking at old things on our doorstep, I put the mirror to one-side and instead, we headed for Coton Manor and Gardens. The Manor House isn’t open to the public, but the Gardens are open Tuesday to Saturday. Based on the number of cars in the car-park, it was clearly a …
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Bank Holiday Weekend in Banstead
We travelled down to Banstead today to meet up with good friends Richard and Nicki. What made today different was that we decided to do it all by train (given the poor journey we had back last time by car!). Whether it’s a sign of getting a bit older, or simply the thought of the …
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Two Locals and Two Towneys
We caught up with Nick and Celina today. After a quick look round their local Garden Centre, we headed off to another local for Lunch – The Black Bull, in nearby Market Overton. Then it was back to theirs for a coffee and to admire how much they’ve done with their Home since we were …
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Easter (2019)
This year, we spent most of Easter with Denis in Heckington. Good Friday We left home fairly early (8.15am) and there was hardly another car on the road. As a result, we made record time and arrived just before 9.45. We’ve got plans to catch-up with Bev too whilst we’re up here, but that’s tomorrow, …
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Boughton of Youth
So, here we are again – Boughton House – and what’s become a regular event these past three years: it’s one of LunaFlix’s many outdoor cinema events. Our first visit to this novel form of cinema-going was back in 2016 when we saw Pretty Woman, and in 2017, it was La La Land. This year, …
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Gardeners’ World
Today, we slipped into ‘gardening mode’ and headed off to our good friends Nicki and Richard who have just bought their first house together, in Banstead. We’re here until lunch-time on Sunday with a list as long as your arm of garden-stuff that need ‘sorting’. The specific target? Their back garden – a jungle of …
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Tech Alert (No. 877)
Warning: This Blog contains a serious amount of techy nerdiness, and (more scarily) me attempting some DIY. It’s not for the faint-hearted, so if you are easily shocked, please click HERE to exit! OK, so I’ve had my new whizzy Amp, sorry ‘AV Receiver’ for just about 12 months now, and recently re-cabled it all …
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St Albans 2017
We drove over to Bedford today and planned to hop on the train for the short ride to St Albans. However, Fate had other plans for us as the car-park was completely full and we couldn’t find anywhere else nearby with a long enough parking period. Instead we braved the M1 and drove to St …
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82, not out!
Not content with enjoying ourselves at Ian’s 70th birthday celebration yesterday, today, we laid on a birthday lunch for Lee’s 82nd! Pick up from Yeoman’s Court was just after 11am (carefully avoiding the planned Armistice celebrations in Burton Latimer) and then we headed back to ours for the birthday lunch. But, before lunch, there was …
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Return to Netherfields
After last night’s late-night curry-fest with the Costellos, what could be better than a lie-in this morning? Well nothing actually, but instead, we sped off to Nick and Celina’s to continue with helping them re-model their garden. After a quick faff-around in the kitchen clearing up the final debris, we hit the road early and …
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Dahlia Express!
Another small garden project today in the shape of lifting Denis’s Dahlias! Gosh, we don’t hang about, we left home pretty early and were on Denis’s doorstep by just after 10am! Bev arrived not long after which gave us all the perfect excuse for a coffee-break! …and boy, has Denis got a lot of Dahlias! …
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Garden Groomers
Not content with taking on the challenge of Sean’s garden, we offered to help out our good friends Nick and Celina with the outside of their property. Currently, it’s less of a garden and more of a ‘wild’ patch! And it’s a big patch! It’s a lovely place, and there’s plenty to do inside and …
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The Gin Palace opens…
Over the past few years, as many of you already know, I’ve developed a liking for the occasional* G & T. Thanks to my good friend Jo, who introduced me to the delights of ‘the berry’ a few years back, I’ve started to accrue quite a collection. Word had obviously got around as many of …
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Lounge Makeover (Part 1 of 9637)
And so it begins… The Lounge was the first room we decorated when we moved-in nearly 21 years ago, and although it’s worn well, it’s looking a bit drab, when compared to the other, more recently decorated parts of the house. Being us, simplicity and speediness didn’t come into it, and every square inch …
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Steve gets Smart!
Today, at last, I got smart. More accurately, our house did – courtesy of a very nice man from British Gas called Tim. I must admit, I’ve known about the existence of ‘smart meters’ for some time now, but like many other things in (my) life, I’ve never got around to looking at it in …
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Sean/Prawn/Bourne
It was off to Sean’s first thing to continue our pruning marathon. One very full wheely-bin and a sack-full and we were all done… until the next time!Before… After… The next stage was to drop into the local dump (oh, the excitement) and get rid of the extra bag full of foliage – but the queue …
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Cordyline Corner
Thanks to Ann’s green fingers, our trellis-painting skills and some help from David to erect it into position, this corner of the garden that was looking a bit sorry for itself in recent months is now looking much more attractive! Ready!Steady!Go! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post …
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Pre-Christmas Get-together with the Neighbours
Sometimes, all the signs are that it’s probably best to stay under the duvet. This morning was one of those times! We retrieved the Polo from five-days of ‘intensive care’ at the garage, only to find that after taking it for a spin, the exhaust system fault light re-appeared. Then, just as we were heading …
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Bathroom Makeover
We finally finished the Bathroom makeover today. Ceiling and skirting repainted, ‘Audrey Hepburn’ wallpaper, new loo seat, radiator reattached (thanks Phil!), new soap dispenser, loo brush and mirror rehung. We’re sorted! Posted using my Galaxy Note III Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well …
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Stalag Pemberley – The Eastern Sector
David and I tackled the suspected ‘escape loophole’ for Biscuit today, by duplicating the established extra trellis construction from earlier this year, on the east (left) side of the garden, towards Karen and Paul’s. Biscuit Having tried a temporary construction over the past few weeks, we’re pretty sure that’s where she was exiting. David and …
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