Belated Christmas Blog ... and the New Year ahead!

Can't believe we are so far into January already!  .... apologies for this belated Christmas Blog which was started way before Christmas with all good intentions .....   maybe it will help to inspire someone somewhere to book one of the cottages for Christmas 2015 !!

.......... For me one of the first things I love about this time of year is when Christmas decorations slowly start creeping into the shops, - and this year has been no exception:   ..... come off it?  ... everyone loves this time of year don't they? ... it has been far too early to say "Happy Christmas" to anyone - and way too early for most to put the tree up at home, but it's absolutely great to wander around the local shops & antique centres browsing through all the Chrimbo Decks!

 

 

 

Barn Antiques, and the Stratford Antiques Centre (Dodwell) are easily reachable from Chipping Campden, - and both worth the occasional mooch throughout the year  -  neither proved to disappoint and their Christmas displays were lovely!  ...

 

We were infact looking for antique pine, - perhaps a chest, table, cabinet for Number Six.  ..... we left with a yoke pail !  .... not the first time we have been distracted and nice to have found something quirky which we have since filled with old copies of the Cotswold Journal and kindling for the wood burner at Number Six 

 

 The Yoke Pail with papers/kindling

ready for the next guests

                                               



Drinkwaters decorated for Christmas



I wouldn't be the first person to say one of my favourite local shops is Drinkwaters on the High Street in Chipping Campden. 

 

Full of lovely local fruit & veg, flowers & preserves - (great lemon curd & honey!)

 

it was great to see their Christmas Wreaths hanging outside with bunches of mistletoe

 

... not to mention the stems of sprouts - essential for the Christmas table!

 

 

 

December 5th,  at the Campden Christmas Market

 



 

 

Lots of goodies on offer,  - Judith from Shakespeares Sisters Soap - Stratford upon Avon displaying her wonderful soaps and balms, - sprigs of holly amongst the home made biscuits, jams and pickles.

 

 

 

On Tuesday we decided on a quick trip to choose Christmas Trees,  we were looking for a large tree for the Crafty Cottage garden, - and 2 smaller trees to decorate the interiors of each cottage.

 

 and after some trepidation "Hey Presto" !  Paul and I added a little Christmas cheer to Sheep Street!

 

Wednesday morning, and a quick trip to the Fosseway Garden Centre Moreton in Marsh,

 



 

 

 

A wonderful display of Christmas decorations, and outside Christmas Roses & berries!

... but it was soooooo cold, - even the Sheep at the garden centre were wearing boots & woolly hats!

 

 

 

Back at Crafty Cottage and Number Six, the smaller Christmas trees have been placed into each cottage to re-adjust to the warmer atmosphere,  - with guests due to arrive at the weekend at Crafty Cottage - I was eager to decorate the trees  .... which I hope you agree look lovely !?



 

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

The resident sheep were duly attired with Christmas Hats, and the cottages were decorated for guests due to spend Christmas in the Cotswolds!

 

 

-2015-

 

 

And in the same fashion as previous years - the New Year followed very quickly!

 

 

With guests due to arrive in both cottages to celebrate the new year, we had a quick changeover - and then could return home to our sofa, falling asleep in front of the Christmas telly with one hand in the Quality Streets! ...  Chipping Campden appeared to be ticking over nicely as we bumped into familiar faces & locals in the pubs over Christmas, - and it was nice to welcome visitors to the town too!  ...  things are generally quiet as you can imagine at this time of year - but as the weather was so mild with a good quantity of winter sunshine which seemed to encourage more people to get out and about!

 

.....  and so, the guests left and the decorations have been taken down, - We have had great feedback from everyone thankfully, and have already taken many bookings for the year ahead including one for New Years eve 2015-16! which is great.  Our new website was launched just prior to Christmas which now includes both our cottages Crafty Cottages  and we continue to be excited to see what the future brings :-)

 

... whatever happens I will be sure to keep you posted!

 

 

-S-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkins and Postmen .....

With Halloween tomorrow,  and Drinkwaters shop 'a plenty with pumpkins!  I grasped the opportunity to update my blog :-)  ...... its been a while

I was going to add a photo of their lovely window display - an array of pumpkins carved to spell out "Drinkwaters" !  - on close inspection of the photo I was excited to see an apparition behind the glass, however, soon realised I'd captured my reflection - phone in one hand, and one of their giant pumpkins from inside the shop firmly gripped beside me -  "with his head tucked underneath his arm ..." as the song says!



My Pumpkin!



... Oh how I love this time of year!   the B&B is becoming much calmer - with just the odd (numerical not personal!) one or two guests hoping for a little autumn/winter respite taking walks and kicking copper coloured leaves around which are everywhere!  ... and also I am actually ahead of myself this year surprisingly, as the Christmas Cake was made the other day - an annual ritual shared with my daughter Steph and a friend of mine, Pino Grigio!

This week has also been "half term" and no surprise that both cottages were booked for the week which has been great.  Thank goodness things seem to be going well, and all our guests have been lovely people all appearing to fall in love totally with Chipping Campden and the Cotswolds!

 

... and who can blame them ?!

I called into Crafty Cottage this morning to check on things once our guests had left for the ferry back to Ireland, - the sun was beaming down it has been such a lovely day today.  With the bins emptied, & a little "pottering about" here and there - it was nice to bump into Arthur the postman, who was happy to pose for a photo !

 

I have yet to ask if he'd be Mr. October

on the Crafty Cottage Calendar ?!

 

 

Crafty Cottage Garden

is looking good too!

 



 

Still sticking to the Arts & Crafts "White Garden" theme

the garden is maturing at a fast pace. 

 

and with the October weather having been fairly mild *(31.10.14 = 22!)

it has still been a lovely little space for guests to enjoy in the heart of town.

...  and now it's the 31st - Halloween, and breakfast time!
Today I shared a "Builders Breakfast" with Paul and we went to a familiar haunt of his,
 "Buttys"
less than a 5 minute walk away from Crafty Cottage & Number Six.

 

  

... surrounded by giant spiders, cobwebs & ghoulish skeletons
it was a great fun atmosphere, .... and the coffee was great too!


Particularly liked their Terms
which were hanging on the wall!

 

 and finally,

the finished product!

 

 

 



"Happy Halloween!"

 

 

I will of course (with the help of Arthur)

be keeping you posted!

 

 

-S-

Old Campden House, Hidcote Gardens ..... and other stuff !



Well !

 

I can't believe how long it has been since my last blog!

 

...  Seriously missing my blogging, and with things at Crafty Cottage and No.6 having now settled into a good routine with guests arriving/leaving on a regular basis, and the "changeover" days appearing to be relatively under control I was totally inspired by the town's attractions recently, - so grabbed my camera, my sunglasses and my husband (in that order!) and headed out incognito hopefully blending in with the many tourists that descended on Chipping Campden for the Open Gardens and other local events.

Sunday 22 June was my first day of exploration, - and what a day!  .... glorious sunshine.   My first achievement was to get Paul to pass The Eight Bells and head towards Old Campden House, - which now owned by The Landmark Trust was open to the public during that particular weekend.  This doesn't happen very often - and certainly a first for us both .. 

Keen to see the two pavilions or banqueting houses across the field, like many others we walked through the gateway which was once the grand entrance to Old Campden House, (to the right of the church) -   It must have been such a beautiful Jacobean Mansion in its day, sadly destroyed by fire in 1645 ... just a little before our time!

We were also keen to make comparisons, as the Landmark Trust is a building preservation charity that rescues historic buildings at risk and 'let's them for holidays : the banqueting houses sleep 6 & 4 people.  It was very interesting but impossible to compare them with Crafty Cottage !!  -  two totally different types of accommodations. The Landmark Trust

You can even see the wool in the field here, - where the sheep had obviously been sheared during the last couple of days!

 

It was a glorious sunny day, - and as we left the Campden House grounds I kept my half of the bargain ... and we made our way to the Eight Bells for a light lunch!   just a hop skip and a jump away from the church, (*the historic Eight Bells actually housed the stone masons who built the church!)

 

 

Our short walk beside the Almshouses en route to the Pub, somewhat compared to a scene from any episode of Midsomer Murders! - as the morris men were gathering in readiness to perform ...

 

 

 

... such exhibitionists !

 

------------

 

- catching up with myself - a few weeks later I visited the beautiful Hidcote Gardens with my great friend and bridesmaid "Trude" (of Crafty Cottage/No.6 curtain fame!)

 

  

 

   

 

We had a lovely morning, it was good to see the "White Garden" which was the inspiration for the Arts and Crafts garden at Crafty Cottage.

 

(I did actually take in excess of 70 photos which can be found on Crafty Cottage Facebook )

 

If I had to give a "tip" for anyone visiting Hidcote Gardens, that would be to take a stroll down the little lane through the village (hamlet?) - as most people seem to head for the car or the tea rooms after the gardens!  -  the village itself is beautiful .....

 

  

  

 

.. another tip would be to grab a copy of "Attractions & Events 2014" which has a 2 for 1 discount voucher inside which saves you £11  !

 

 

 

As we left Hidcote behind us, - lunch and a "natter" was very much on the agenda.

 

After a lot of deliberation and driving around we decided on ....

 

 

The Horse and Groom at Bourton on the Hill.



 

We had a lovely meal, - and it is a place that holds special memories for Trude in particular, as this was when and where she sent her first "Tweet" ( .... on Twitter !!!) ..

 and the fabulous "COTTAGE CURTAINS" was created alongside a wonderful photo of the huge portion of fish and chips infront of her :-) !

 

----------

 

...... jumping back on the time machine and catching up with myself,

 

 

there have been many days over the past couple of months when the sun has been shining and the days (and views) have been wonderful!

 

Yes, the weather has been good for most of the time, and guests staying at Crafty Cottage - and Number Six have been very lucky to see our part of the Cotswolds in all its glory!

 

 

 

The Lavender fields at Snowshill were particularly picturesque ...

 

and you just never know what you are going to

come across up in the hills and around the corner!

 

 

 

(Snowshill)

 

 

....  and to bring things up to date,

inspired by a gorgeous sunny afternoon yesterday - I wandered around town, which certainly didn't disappoint me with photo opportunities!

 

 

 

I ended up at the beautiful Church in Chipping Campden ......

 

  

 

 

 

Wandering around the churchyard, - I came across the Arts and Crafts and modest gravestone of Gordon Russell,

 

Gordon Russell Museum

 

 

....  and "being a local"   my grandparents too ..........

 

 

-------

 

 

.... having now caught up with things - blog wise! - I will endeavour to keep the trusty blog updated on a more regular basis.

 

It is now almost 1 year - since our very first guests stayed in Crafty Cottage

"Hello Judi and Ian"  :-) !!

we have had so many lovely and friendly people from all over the world stay in the cottages, and I  know some of them have enjoyed glancing at the Blog, - to re-kindle the memories of their holidays in Chipping Campden.

 

We (that's the "royal we" .... it's really just me !) have embraced social media

... sometimes I haven't a clue what I'm doing - but thankfully I don't seem to have upset anyone yet!

I tweet on a VERY regular basis! - I update the Facebook page with photos (tweets go on there too!)

I have just added my first YouTube video of Crafty Cottage - (very much a beginners effort!)

and so "fingers crossed" things are going well at the moment!

 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog....

 

.....  I will of course be keeping you posted!

 

 

The Postbox @ Hidcote

 

 

 

-S-