FREAKY WEATHER

Spring is on its way - to be precise it's Thursday 20th March 2014 just 20 days 8 hours remaining til its here. We've been noticing a glimpse of it already; sunny days, flowers blooming, birds tweeting, and a gentle breeze. 

Today started off as one of these beautiful early spring mornings, 

then ..........

all of a sudden from nowhere comes a mass of hail stones......huge loud hail stones that make you stop what you're doing and look out of the window.  

The photo above is taken from the main bedroom that over looks the conservatory roof. 

The above photo is a detailed 'close up' of the large lumps of ice that now cover it and the garden.

Then as quickly as it arrived, it all stopped, the sun comes out and shines again!!!  

Isn't mother nature a versatile and wonderful thing?

STILTON CHEESE TASTING

Our neighbours set us a challenge.... that they would be able to taste Long Clawson Stilton Cheese from all the other Stiltons from around this area. 

We bought 4 Stiltons in total - Long Clawson, Cropwell Bishop, Colston Basset and Stichelton, then tasted them 'blind' without knowing which was which.

The 'reveal' showed us which cheese was which and it's place of origin.  The four of us were divided down the middle, two in favour of Long Clawson and the other two in favour of Stichelton.

Stilton was first recognised as a type of cheese at the beginning of the 18th century.  It was given its name by the village Stilton, south of Peterborough. Having originally being made in the town Stilton, protection by a certification trademark (PDO - Protected Designation of Origin) - means that today the world famous cheese can only be made in the three adjacent counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.  

CLOAKROOM OBJECTS

Details of the things and objects in the downstairs cloakroom...

 

 

 

CLOAKROOM TOILET (UPDATE)

Once the renovation of our cloakroom toilet was finished, it was time to decorate it with some interesting 'bits and pieces'.

We found this gorgeous head in one of my favourite shops, Baileys Home.  Their principles are recycle, reuse and repurpose found objects....and that's exactly what we did.  We call him Bailey and he sits on the window shelf in the corner beside a glass jar with twigs in it.

 What could be more simple and perfect?  

CLOAKROOM TOILET (UPDATE)

We had a room called a 'boiler room' when we moved into our house.  It housed the huge monstrosity that heated the house and gave us hot water.  The boiler was very old and on its 'last legs'.  

After numerous call-outs from the plumber, it was decided that we had to replace it with a new and efficient one.  This then lead us onto what to do with the room.  We decided there was enough room to make two rooms from the existing one.  We finalised on a downstairs toilet and cloakroom for coats and shoes.

(above) The boiler room before we renovated it. 

The floor needed raising to add waste pipes for the sink and toilet.  We added a reclaimed pine wooded floor, walls and beams were painted Timeless white, new double glazed wooden window and recycled door with frosted glass as well.  

To keep with tradition and in the style of the house, we chose the sink and toilet from Burlington.  Taps are silver plated from Beaumont and again a traditional shape. The mirror came with us from our old house and fitted in so well with the colour scheme.  My lovely sister gave us the twig heart for a Christmas present.

Stepping back out of the toilet room, there is a door to your left.  This opens into the small but very useful cloakroom which now has the original coat hook that was originally in the house when we moved in. Sanded and painted in white, has given it a new lease of life.

CLOAKROOM HOOK

The Chinese are obsessed with the number eight.  It's associated with prosperity......the more 8's the better.

We have incorporated its auspiciousness into our lives.

A metal hook, originally from a Great British Railway Station waiting-room with the number 8 on it, now upcycled and reused for a towel to hang in our downstairs cloakroom.

2014 WINNER OF THE GREAT INTERIOR DESIGN CHALLENGE

Congratulations Sarah on winning BBC2's final of 'The Great Interior Design Challenge' tonight.

Sarah Moore (41, vintage homeware designer) was one of the 28 amateur interior designers to take part in the show. She wowed us with her unique, always original and very stylish designs. A lot of repairing, a bit of restoring, lots of upcycling of furniture and rooms....a very talented lady. 

I have really loved watching the 12 episodes of this series and have some new insights into interior design.
An inspiration for The Manor House especially as I have some time on my hands now this programme has finished. Can't wait for the next series, if there is one!!!!