A week in one post!

I've kidnapped Hubby's computer. Right this is a quick overview of my first week of the Easter holiday. I say quick, It may take a while!

Easter Sunday

Lovely day spent in the garden. All these lovely flowers blooming!

The above is a lovely small flower called Hacquetia Epipactus. They are actually small yellow flowers surrounded by lime green bracts.

Easter Mondy

Not such a nice day weather wise, but we went to watch the motor racing at Oulton Park. I took some photos of the ancient trees.

There use to be a very grand house here and the race track is in the park of the estate. The house is long gone.

TuesdayHubby took the day off so we went to Styal,

to Quarry bank Mill.

Then we had time to have a stroll around Dunham Massey. The sun was coming out.

Wednesday-Friday.

I took my mum to visit my mother-in-law in Church Stretton, Shropshire.

This is the thatched church in Little Stretton built it 1903and this is in a beautiful old church in Woolstanton.

We went to Acton Scott Victorian Farm where they filmed the series 'The Victorian Farm'

Saturday

I went to a workshop at The Royal Exchange. It was run by one of the costume department. She showed us how to make these flower corsages.

They have a new blog and I think they will be putting up photos of the workshops that take place there.
So that was my first week of the Easter holiday. I hope to tell you all about my second week, but highlights will be the garden, applique with Shan, a day in York, a visit to Saltaire and My BIRTHDAY on Friday!!!!! so please come back and see me soon.

Sunny Easter Saturday

Today started a bit dull but as we headed off on our day out the clouds turned white and parted and the sun came shining through.


Remember this post? well we decided we had some unfinished business there.

Hubby was very disappointed when we visited the cathedral a couple of weeks ago that we never made it up the tower.
This time we walked to the cathedral through St James' gardens.

We went straight to the tower. Up two very slow lifts and up 108 steps to the very top. You pass the bells on the way, the large one in the centre is called Great George and it weighs 14.5 tons.

The views were spectacular!

The above is looking west. Can you see the mouth of the Mersey River leading out to sea? The Liver Building? The new Museum of Liverpool Life?

This is looking north. You can see the Catholic Cathedral, affectionately known locally as 'Paddy's Wigwam' We could see Blackpool Tower on the horizon.

Looking east with the beautiful Georgian area of Liverpool and the Mersey heading off to Warrington.

Then it's south towards the hills of North Wales across the Mersey.
The above photo is looking down onto St James' Gardens.

On the way down we stopped off at the 3rd floor.

From the Cathedral's Triphorium you get some great views of the inside of the church and a close up view of the Benedicite window.

There is also the Elizabeth Hoare Embroidery Gallery.

Elizabeth Hoare was the niece of the Cathedral's architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. It shows some beautiful examples of Victorian and Edwardian Church Embroidery.

The photos were taken without a flash so are a bit blurred and they don't show how intricate the stitches are.

Then after a lovely lunch at The Quarter we headed off to the city centre.

1st stop St Georges Hall. The hall opened to the public in 1854 and is a grade 1 listed building. It combined the Civil and Crown Courts with an entertainment area to hold concerts and have balls. You can wander around the cells below the courtroom then walk up the stone steps to the dock and face the judge.

You can walk along the balcony in the Great Hall.

There is a huge organ at one end and the beautiful stained glass window of St George and the Dragon at the other. The beautiful tiled floor was covered with boards at the moment.

Next stop The Walker Art Gallery.

We walked around the gallery and the special exhibition 'The Rise of Women Artists' Then it was home time.
We relaxed in front of the TV and watched Dr Who and Over the Rainbow.
The request I mentioned the other day....

...please pop over to my New Blog! If you like a bit of history it might interest you, it is actually a project I am working on at the moment but I thought some people might be interested in reading about it.

A grey Good Friday

Today was a grey old day. After a leisurely morning we decided to go for a walk to Hardcastle Crags. We visited Gibson Mill.

Gibson Mill was opened as a cotton mill in 1800 by Abraham Gibson. It made cotton using the river for power until 1900 when it closed. The Gibson Family still owned it and they opened up as an 'entertainment emporium' with tea dances, cafe, skating rink and leisurely walks. This carried on until 1945 when the last Gibson family member left the mill and surrounding country side to the National Trust.

The mill is totally self sufficient in energy, water and waste disposal. Its a fascinating place to look around. Upstairs it tells the history of the mill and on the top floor it shows how it was used for the entertainment years.

The tables are set for afternoon tea.

The area has some lovely walks.

lots of stepping stones to cross.

crystal clear pools.

The rain was getting a bit heavy by the time we got back to the car.

Back home for a real cup of tea!

This is my 200th post!

Can you believe it?

Lots of lovely people that leave comments and I can't believe 107 followers read my everyday ramblings!

Thank you

I think we need a give-a-way! what do you think?

Busy run up to Easter

It's been a busy run up to Easter. Usually we finish school the week before for two weeks but this year we finished today.

I am not sure if you remember this post from Easter last year? We usually have friends over with their children and have cake and chocolate and Easter Egg Hunts but the house and garden are in such a mess and some of our friends are going to a family wedding so we decided not to do it this year. So I have not decorated for Easter-at all! Which is a shame because I do like the celebration of the season and the idea of a new beginning.

Last weekend I did some much needed gardening.

It was lovely and sunny on Saturday but cold. The spring flowers really looked cheerful.

Sunday we went for a walk and I didn't take my camera. I did try to take some on my phone camera but they are grainy and tiny!

We walked around Ryburn Reservoir.

School today was fun. The classes mixed so we had all ages in each and they did Easter activities.

The dyed eggs were a hit, don't they look wonderful? Then we walked up the cobbled lane to the church for a lovely Easter service.

I got some Easter gifts too!

Last night, I went to the Royal Exchange to see A comedy of Errors, it was brilliant, well worth a visit.

SO I am not sure what the Easter weekend holds but I do have a request. I will post about it somethime over the next few days, in what will be my 200th post!