Sunny Days and a Very Old House

We have had so many sunny days lately that we don't even mind the odd shower or two.........

 ..............it has been a lovely time to explore the countryside round about and enjoy seeing the lambs, the trees filled with blossom and the hedgerows frothy with cow parsley................

 ...............we visited this beautiful old, old house (built in tudor times) which looks like a fairytale illustration...........it is a moated manor house and you walk over a little sandstone bridge to enter the building.........the moat has goldfish swimming in it and ducks and ducklings too............

 .............this window is in the long gallery looking out toward the field of sheep in the top picture.....

 ...........at the back of the manor house is a small knot garden........... in the central courtyard are pots of peachy coloured tulips..........i have always been inspired by the design of tudor buildings  and tudor embroidery which echoed the black and white patterns...... years ago when i wrote my first book (*the new cross stitch sampler book*) i designed a whole sampler in blackwork and made lots of small things exploring counted thread embroidery like the key keeper below....... 

 ...........and of course we had afternoon tea in the tearoom.......though i didn't take any pictures of that so here is our own tea tray at home on another sunny afternoon...........cups of tea, small vanilla cakes......and some stitching in the garden...............

                              .............a little embroidery being added to my garden quilt.............

 ................strawberries are one of my favourite motifs for all kinds of stitchery..........

 ................the garden is just about to open all its early summer flowers this week......roses especially...........here are the last of the gorgeous forget me nots, just beginning to fade.......i love how they self seed and pop up all over the place................

 ................the potting shed is a lovely place to while away an hour or two, very quiet and secluded as it is tucked into the corner of the garden............if you sit quietly birds soon appear and it feels miles from anywhere even though it isn't really.........

..............thank you for visiting me here, lovely readers, it is always a pleasure to see you.........i do really appreciate your sweet comments too, knowing how busy everyone is :).................i hope you are enjoying a happy week with plenty of flowers and sunny days.......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxx