Oh, the bliss of a quiet January! I am just loving staying home, eating vegetables, staying off alcahol (mostly) and getting a bit more exercise. We had a lovely quiet weekend.
On Sunday afternoon we headed off walking along the stunning Avon Gorge path toward the village of Pill. (Yes, there's a place called 'Pill'. Don't ask me why!)
I've been along that path several times. It starts off in some slightly rough-looking areas with derilect old industrial buildings, bridges and lots of grafitti but soon gets onto a pretty river-side walk.
It then passes by the Avon and Somerset mounted police base. I love police horses so I had a friendly chat through the fence to a couple of completely un-interested horsies.
After trekking along the slightly muddy path for a while, I was surprised to discover an entry to Leigh Woods.
I'd only ever strayed briefly into Leigh Woods from the top near the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I had no idea it was so extensive. There are miles and miles of paths all up and down along beside the river Avon.
The path up from the riverside was super-pretty but quite steep and very muddy. We sloshed up for about 15 minutes then gave up, promising to come back in dryer weather.
So now I'm looking forward to lots more walking up and down and around the lovely woodlands in the months to come. What a treat to discover all that nearly on our doorstep!
Ah, the last weekend of sanity before Christmas... We very deliberately kept it low key and thusly had a lovely weekend. Highlights?
Christmas market
There is a market that pops up near our house every few months. This weekend was a particularly big one and there was a lovely singer doing her own take on a range of songs from folk songs to carols and 90's pop songs. We had lunch with a friend and snapped up some local 'Wife of Bath' cheese to take for Christmas. We also got some handmade pies (chicken, bacon and leek) and some locally roasted and ground coffee. I'd been stalking a lovely statement necklace with fuschia and emerald green beads on a brass chain so I *suggested* to my husband that it'd make a good Christmas present.
It was sunny, there was mulled wine and handmade mince pies... Lovely.
Cathedral service
Our normal church was having a kids service so we popped into the cathedral. It's so festive! The choir in robes and ruffs, lighting the advent candle, 10 foot Christmas trees up the front. The only thing I kind of wish they did was incense, but they're not as 'high church' as that.
Also, WHY is it that churches uniformly don't take the opportunity of having more lovely Advent carols? "O Come, O come Emmanuel" is my favourite Christmas song and I haven't had the opportunity of singing it yet this year.
Blaise Castle Estate and Blaise Hamlet
We thought we'd have another go at actually finding the castle in this large local park. We spent a couple of hours walking about there in summer and managed to totally miss the castle.
This time we followed the signs carefully and (after a lovely scenic walk through the woods and several delightful encounters with squirrels) found our way to the top of the hill. There is a surprisingly small 'castle' built on the hill in the 1700s at the request of the rich landowner.
We also had a quick wander around the green of Blaise Hamlet. There are nine of the most riDICulously cute cottages you could imagine. Don't they look like Hobbit holes? You can see some more here.
They were built for pensioners of the Harford family who owned the estate. Imagine being so rich that the housing for your aged servants is designed by a famous architect! (John Nash, in case you're interested). They're all owned by The National Trust now but are still lived in by a few very lucky people.
On our way back to the car we stopped in at the cafe and got pulled (not at all reluctantly) into a lovely carol sing-a-long. There was quite a competant pianist and a group of about 15 from (I found out later) the local church. I had great fun doing the descants on the final verse of carols like "Once in Royal David's City" and doing the male king/ female page thing in "Good King Wenceslas".
Then we mulled lots of cider and ate the pies from the market for dinner with lots of gravy and steamed veg.
What did you do in the weekend? Nice festive things or are you just feeling frazzled?
The other night I was achy and tired from several nights of poor sleep. My husband was out for the night. I picked up a book and a cardigan, poured a glass of chilled rose, shoved my feet into some shoes and walked out to sit by the harbour.
I watched night fall in stages like a keen stagehand was dimming the lights, bit by bit.The water rippled and scintillated hypnotically, its pattern broken by fast rowing boats pulled by crews straining at the oars.
There was a tapestry of sounds - a single cry from a seagull, swallows flitting and twittering after some final bugs, people laughing and chatting outside the pub, the padding strides and puffed breath of occasional runners...
My cashmere cardigan was warm and soft around my shoulders, the wine was sweet and mellow as I sipped, the book was excellent but I spent long moments just soaking up the scene around me.
Oh, the bliss of a quiet January! I am just loving staying home, eating vegetables, staying off alcahol (mostly) and getting a bit more exercise. We had a lovely quiet weekend.
.JPG)
