♥♥A Friend To Visit!!♥♥

Ahhh, as those of who you follow my facebook page will know, I have had a good friend come to stay with me for a few days. She traveled up on Tuesday and left this morning so we had one full day to spend together and managed to pack lots of things into it!!!
First off we went to the National Space Centre which was fascinating!! (Don't go on a Wednesday though- school trip day....) Don't you think the building looks a bit like a grub?

We spent the majority of the day there, and I was so engrossed in it all I didn't take very many photos- all the more reason why you should visit it yourself!
Afterwards we went to Bradgate Deer Park which is B E A U- tiful! We saw so many deer(s?), both Fallow and Red. Plus several white deer.

There is quite a bit of history attached to this park, up on the hill there is Old John's Tower, built by Lord Stamford to replace an old wooden windmill and then used as a kind of comfy watch tower for the Lord and his guests.

It was also the birthplace of Lady Jane Grey, otherwise known as the 9 day Queen of England. The manor house was apparently as impressive as Hampton Court, although you wouldn't know it looking at it now. It was set on fire by one of the ladies of the house, but repaired by 1696, then abandoned after the death of the 2nd Earl of Stamford (whose first wife was the arsonist!!), and by 1790 it was in ruins, which have now been preserved in their ruined state. Seems such a pity but they don't half cut an impressive silhouette!

A Day In Abbey Park

Ahhh, don't you just love Springtime? Everything is slowly shaking the Winter sleep from their eyes and waking up in the gaze of the sunshine. Myself, Lucy and Tash went for a wander through Abbey Park this morning which was utterly glorious!!! A blanket of snowdrops in a patch of woodland was the start and end point of our wander as it was so pretty. We even got to sit in the pagoda!! Other times we have visited it has been blocked off, and it had really lovely surprise paintings in the roof.

We spent a while in Pets Corner, chatting to all of the animals and birds. There were some very cheeky cockatiels!!

It was a fab change from the usual weekend activities. I am hoping to revisit a little later in the year when the baby birds will be around- May time judging from the previous baby bird sightings.

Packages & Purchases

Evening All!! How's it hangin'? I have some delightful things to share with you, starting with the latest parcel from The Mother!! With a theme of 'Hearts and Flower's it was always going to be a good one.

I don't know how she managed to pack all of these bits and bobs in! Must be like the Mary Poppins carpet bag or something. I do love getting these parcels!! The socks I have already worn, the love hearts were shared and eaten, as was the fortune cookie (apparently I have to wait to be rewarded....), the hot chocolate spoon was sipped and slurped, and I have big plans for the paper flowers!!

A few days ago I promised to show you my purchases from London- I didn't go mad (definitely not as mad as some of the girls, apparently one in particular spent about £400!!!! Incredible.) so there isn't that much, but it is all so pretty!

Did you know that this striped weave is called ticking? You learn something new every day. I think this was one of my favourite fabrics, all of which were from a lovely shop called The Cloth House.

Oooo, and then I went to a new shop called Fan Trimmings!! If you are a lover of haberdashery items (beads, buttons, sequins, trimmings, ribbons, feathers, fastenings, patches, studs, etc etc etc) then you absolutely MuSt visit! They literally have a wall of beads, every shape, size or colour you can think of. You buy them by weight so it can get expensive for heavier things, but for the amount you get, it's not too bad.

Don't you think these pearl beads look like rice? And check out my long black beads!!! So funky.