Charming Cottages

Charming English Cottages ...romantic inspiration!

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Not just a pile of rocks

When we were first planning this trip to England,  the one thing on my husbands bucket list was to get to Stonehenge. So we booked a private tour, which enabled us to go behind the fence and walk amongst the stones, with only a handful of other people.  It was a cool, gray, drizzly morning,the  I must admit it was pretty cool! but the weather certainly did not take away from the experience of this magical place.

 Some people were really into it...chanting and softly playing drums......

A sacred and very special place.

  I must admit it was pretty cool to actually be there amongst these giant stones!

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The man in the dusty antique shop

Over the past year  I have been using some wonderful vintage keys in some of my necklace designs. I love the mystery behind old keys... wondering what doors they once opened? Were they keys to the doors of country manors, or simple city homes? Perhaps they were keys from a secret garden gate, or a backyard garden shed. Some are keys  that were used to wind old clocks, and some of the smaller keys were probably from well traveled trunks and old leather suitcases.  While on my recent trip to England I managed to acquire some fabulous old keys from a small antique shop in a picturesque Yorkshire village.

 

 We arrived in the village, and my sister-in -law, brother, I strolled around taking in the sights, and browsing through some of the local shops. My son and husband had wondered off to do some antiquing, hoping to find some antique locks for my sons lock collection.  About an hour later, we met up with them and they had great exciting news about an antique shop that they had found. Out of a brown paper bag came several wonderful old locks and keys that had been purchased by my son, and for bargain prices!  Apparently, the owner had taken a liking to my son and his passion for collecting, and they had been let into the owners special attic area and allowed to dig through forgotten boxes, looking for old locks.  Well, this is an antique hunters dream come true! My husband and son were so excited, and said there were tons of old keys, and that I had to come back to the shop to get some of them for my jewelry. Well, I did not need much convincing, so off we all went back to the shop. We arrived to a small shop, filled to the rafters with all kinds of wonderful things.

 Once there, we were allowed access to the attic, and the boxes of many keys. My son was up the ladder, and passing boxes down to the rest of us, who were madly digging through them trying to find the best and  most interesting keys.  Meanwhile the owner, asked us in true British style, if we would like some tea! Well of course, we would...this was becoming a  real adventure! I think I managed to get about 5 pounds of weight in keys, and we proceeded to come back down stairs where  not only tea awaited us, but cookies as well! The teapot even had a tea cozy over it, to keep the tea warm.

 

 Here is my sister-in -law next to the  fresh pot of tea, and mugs.

This lovely  soft spoken man with the graying hair, had invited his neighbor over as well, and here we were sitting in this eclectic antique shop, surrounded by all kinds of stuff,  chatting and having tea and cookies! The bargain price for the keys was exceptional...he must have thought I was mad wanting all that "junk". 

After we had all left and were on the way home, we started thinking...what if we went back, and he wasn't there,  perhaps he was just a magical old spirit from beyond, like in a Hollywood movie!

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At the Seaside

During our stay in England, we ventured over to the east coast, visiting Filey and Brighton, and spending five days in Hastings, where my sister lives. Spending time at the seaside, as the Brits say, was fabulous!

Needless to say, the North Sea is very cold!

 

Brighton on the south east coast was lots of fun! We strolled along the famous Brighton Pier, and had a great day walking around this seaside town. The water that day was actually this very pretty aqua green color.

Brighton

 My brother, and my husband hamming it up!

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Playing at Spofforth

In the medieval North Yorkshire village of Spofforth, there remains the ruins of Spofforth Castle. While in York, we took some time and went out to the country to see the romantic ruin. Spofforth Castle is actually more of a manor house than a castle and dates back to the 13th century. The cost to go and visit this heritage site is free, and on the day that we visited we were the only people there! What fun we had playing in and exploring these ruins!

How fun is this for a 13 year old boy? My son really enjoyed this place.

 

My husband...feeling like a king.

We had a picnic lunch on the grass.

 I loved the texture of the old, crumbling rock walls and the way that the weeds, moss and various plants had made their home there.

 

At one time these windows were probably beautiful stained glass.

It is an amazing feeling to walk through these ruins, and wonder who were the many people that lived here, and what kind of lives did they live?

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Gothic Inspiration

While in England we spent 10 days in the city of York, exploring in the city itself, and visiting the villages in the surrounding countryside. York, is a beautiful walled city that was founded by the Romans in 71 AD.

Here we are, my daughter, my son and I, with my brother and sister in law,  walking the walls of York.

Looking down from the wall into the street.

                                      
 So as you can imagine with that kind of history, we saw some amazing castle ruins, churches and cathedrals.
The finest cathedral in York is the massive Gothic cathedral, York Minster, which happens to be the largest cathedral in Northern Europe. The original church was built in 627, but was destroyed by fire, and then rebuilt, damaged and rebuilt several times, with portions being developed by the Vikings, and Normans over several hundred years. In 1215 it started to transform into the Minster that is known today.  It was declared complete in the year  1472. The ornate work on the exterior of this cathedral is breath taking!

Take a close look at the hand holding Adam and Eve.

Wow...they sure don't build 'em like this anymore!

The interior was just as stunning!

                                                 

 We then climbed the 275 steps to the tower, passing gargoyles along the way, where the views were amazing.

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Strawberry Fields

One of the first things we did in England was to go on a wonderful walk with the family through the countryside.

After strolling past fields of grazing sheep, we came upon a wide open field filled with gorgeous strawberry red wild poppies! 

Nature has a wonderful way with color... not sure what the yellow flowers were, but the combination was stunning!

In and amongst all the fiery red poppies, was this lonely blossom, in a lovely soft shade of pink. 

 I really adore the color red, it always makes me feel warm and happy.  I am going to make a commitment to use  a lot more bright poppy red in my jewelry designs!

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