FILMING AT THE MANOR HOUSE - BARCLAY'S INSURANCE

Last week, we had a very exciting day here when advertising agency Mccann Erikson

came to film a 'mannequin challenge' for Barclay's home insurance.

For those of you who are not familiar with a mannequin challenge, it's a viral video

craze that is sweeping the world featuring people freezing for the camera imitating mannequins whilst music plays in the background.

This is the result....

 

LOOKING OUT OF THE WINDOWS

We are so lucky to have beautiful and interesting views from each of our windows.

Take this one above...it's from the hall landing looking across at our neighbour's field.

The sun is setting after a warm summers evening, the grass has been cut

and bundled into hay bales. Is there anything more lovely to look at?

We look out of this window every morning as we walk down the stairs to the hall below.

Each day, after several years of seeing it, it does not disappoint. 

The lounge (above) looks towards the church across the road.  

You may not be able to see it clearly in this photo, 

as the shrubs and trees against the wall are growing fast but beyond them you can just see the roof of the church.

Richard's office has a special view looking past the conservatory onto the garden. 

The purple Catmint is in full bloom, lush green grass and a Corkscrew Willow.

We are very lucky to have dual aspect windows in the kitchen, offering us two very different views to look at. 

The sink (above) looks out over our neighbour's drive (always immaculately kept).... 

and the opposite side has views of our garden which has lots of green trees, bushes and grass too.

Looking through the windows every day brings a happiness....

it offers a new image to see as the seasons come and go.

SIMPLE CHRISTMAS TREES

Oh I love, love, love these simple Christmas trees - some might say plain but to me there is no fuss, no tinsel, no baubles, just tree...and very natural.

Photos found on my Pinterest Christmas boards

FROM AROUND OUR HOUSE

Some photos from around our house....

There seems a wintery, woody, natural theme running through these photos even though we're about to enter Summer any moment now.... It's the 1st of June tomorrow. 

We're hoping for the sun to shine this weekend as we have lots of jobs to do outside in the barn and garden.  

PUPPET HEADS

You may have noticed some 'heads' on our lounge  mantlepiece?    

We bought them at Newark Antiques Fair.  Lucky for us this is very local, so we often pop down for the day to see what is on offer.

We bought these antique puppet heads from a Danish stall. Three are made from papier-mâché and the other from wood.  A close-up look at them shows they have been painted and varnished.  

I love the 'quirkyness' and colours used on them.

THE LOUNGE

The Agents photo of the lounge as we found it back in Spring 2008...



The lounge (or drawing room) sits at the front of the house in the Regency part, hence the high ceilings, cornice and large deep sash window.  It over looks the front garden and beyond to the church. Twin French doors lead to the conservatory.

(before/above) A leak from outside had caused severe damage to the large deep skirting boards and window surround.  A local carpenter managed to copy the existing woodwork and replace with new.

(before/above) All four walls were in a terrible state - cracked, lumpy and very bumpy.  Even though we wanted to keep as much of the house as original as possible, it simply wouldn't have worked to just paint them.  We made the decision to have all the walls re-skimmed and re-paint.

(before/above) We took down the book case (at the right-hand-side), so that the fireplace would be the focal point of the room. The original fire surround was in excellent condition, simply painting it was all that was needed. The 70's Baxi burner was removed and the wood burner stove was added for extra warmth in the winter. (after/below)

 

(after/below) The window has secondary double glazing.....very ugly indeed.... in time we hope to restore all the sash windows.

Sanding, repairing, staining and varnishing floorboards; new radiators, updating the fireplace, skimmed walls and re-painting of the room.