Come On In...

Ooo I wish this was my very own home that I was showing you round! I have never ever walked into a building and immediately felt so 'at home"' (wishful thinking) and relaxed. It may have something to do with the sheer relief of finally being away on holiday but I think there is something very special about life at "The Mission", the atmosphere is so special, 'chiled' is the only word that springs to mind.



We made a deal on the journey, well, to be honest, I begged and begged to be able to take photos of the place before we unpacked, before the flotsam and jetsam of holiday luggage took over, You don't really want to be seeing our kagools, flip flops and wellies all over the place do you?



One photo I wish I had been able to take was our faces when we walked through those big red doors... We felt as if we had stumbled upon a photo shoot...



so unlike our own home, very 'grown up'. We squealed as we ran from room to room, marvelling at the rooms and the detail.



Kitsch, retro, eclectic, vintage but so so so comfortable.



We had booked this wonderful place for a week.



A last minute cancellation meant that this gorgeous home, intended for eight, was ours.



The four of us in this huge building,





daughters sleeping in what was the old Sunday school building attached to the Mission Hall,





us sleeping upstairs in the wonderful white cube in the centre of the beautiful wooden hall.



We danced around the sofas, Big Sister singing Ella Fitzgerald at the top of her voice,



we cosied up on the sofas around the woodburning stove (no, we weren't blessed with the best of weather, but you can't have it all).



We battled on the table football, determined to beat Mr Roses.



We took turns reclining underneath the icons,



posing on the old cinema seats.



making a feast of every meal.



We sat curled up on cosy chairs and read (what a treat that was)



We played games



In short, we had fun, good old fun, together as a family.



Thank you Helen and thank you Mr Roses
x

Nothing But Blue Skies...

Hello! Remember me? Sorry for the silence it has not been the best of holidays so far - my father has been in hospital and I have spent my time with him and returning home now and again to see the girls. Apart from feeling miserably tired and worried, I have been suffering from that age old problem of guilt - trying to be both a good daughter and a good mother has been very difficult, and I have felt that I failed miserably at both.
But the holidays are not yet over, it may be grey and wet outside but let's hope there are blue skies on the horizon, sandcastles waiting to be built, cuddles on the sofa, days spent together and many happy days to remember. Wishing you all Bonnes Vacances - speak soon x

There and Back

One of my favourite old card games that we have is an old edition of "There and Back". The cards, resembling the size of railway tickets, and images are wonderful. Conjuring up railway journeys and holidays to various towns, seaside resorts and cities. We spent a lot of time these holidays travelling by train (perhaps my favourite way to travel in this country), days out exploring the new and revisiting the old.



Many happy memories gleaned from simple pursuits.
Days revisiting favourite old towns. A favourite train ride away...



Mapp and Lucia days, pretending that Rye was once again the imaginary Tilling of the stories (oh so easy to do).



Climibing church towers, turning green with dizziness, quickly admiring the beautiful view before quickly, very quickly, clambering down the stairs to terra firma.



But taking in time to spot the pink house from above



And admiring it face to face (this would be my house here I think!).



Days spent walking through enchanted forests..



Entering through gigantic doorways...



Spying magical cobwebs...



Admiring Romany caravans...



Having the distinct feeling you were being watched ...



Viewing the sky through fern patterned eyes...



Sitting on a bench and turning around to see this most handsome creature...



Composing myself and feeling blessed to have him walk round in front of me to say hello...



Pretending, yet again, to be Mrs Bennett, in front of the house filmed in Pride and Prejudice.



Days on the river,,,



Dabbling your toes...



Sunning your arms...



Wanting to take the plunge...



Loving the way the river mirrors the sky...



Seemingly never ending days on the beach. Rockpooling...



Finding beauty and treasure in the close up...



Imagining and daydreaming on the horizon...

Days enjoying things that have been enjoyed by families for decades past ...



Days that make your skin tingle, your freckles appear, your appetite double and your smile permanent...
And now with the summer over, the railway station I shall be visiting most often is Stopathome, but it's been a good journey...

It's all in the Packaging...

I had intended to post a kind of photo diary of our all our jolly jaunts last week but then, on Friday, Mr Roses announced that we were off to London for the day, on a jolly that I had been wanting to do for quite some time. We decided to do something for everyone, a trip to an exhibition that Mr Roses had been wanting to see, a trip to Hamleys for Little Sister and, of course, to Topshop for Big Sister.



What better way to start an action packed day in London than a mooch around Notting Hill. We wander through the streets and market stalls of Portobello and, if it weren't for the million and one things we had planned to do, could quite easily have spent the day there. If you're going up soon, try and pop into the falafel bar on Portobello Road, we had the best lunch in ages.



After a quick detour involving walking up and down the lovely rows of houses and playing our favourite "If you could have just one house which would it be" game, we arrived at our destination. I have been wanting to come here to the Museum of Brands and Packaging for a long, long time.


Please click on the images to enlarge them

I love ephemera and vintage packaging and have often wondered if the collection here would live up to my expectations - it certainly did. I was in vintage packaging heaven! I think the rest of the Roses thought the trip worthwhile just to see the look on my face, honestly I didn't know what to do with myself!!!
Packaging, leaflets, posters and ephemera from World War Two:



Look at that sign asking you to bring your own paper to wrap your purchases, perhaps we should be doing the same thing today.



Household items have never looked so good. Almost makes you want to get the duster out.



Sweets and chocolates that brought back so many memories for me - I was back in my sweet shop as a little girl choosing my mother's Christmas box of chocolates and choosing my favourite sweets.



A history of packaging from Victorian times up to the present day. A hotch potch of wonderful imagery and graphics. A social history that you could drool over. I must admit looking through the shelves and shelves and shelves of goodies it was the most recent additions that disappointed.



Would we really be drooling over our packaging in years to come?
I can't recommend this museum enough, it may be small but what's that saying? "Good things come in small packages..." If only there had been some for sale!!!!!



How do you recover from a place like that? Why you jump on a tube, walk quickly along the Embankment and arrive at the Courtauld Gallery, one of our favourite art galleries in town. After all that rushing we really wished we'd brought a change of clothes and hopped into some of those fountains down in the courtyard of Somerset House, looks like so much fun.



We had promised ourselves we wouldn't miss theBloomsbury Exhibition that was on here. A small exhibition that had some fabulous examples of fabrics, textiles and designs that the Bloomsbury group produced for the Omega Workshops. A great display. There was also a small exhibition of Winifred Gill's designs and prints including some for toys she had intended to be made for the workshops.
We wandered quickly through some of the other galleries, gawping at the Cezannes, Renoirs, Manets but were very conscious of the Rosebuds desire to go shopping. So a whistlestop tour this time, with just enough time to visit the gallery shop where we made a few purchases:



I wish!!!