A Week in the Country

 Hello lovely readers here i am back again after a relaxing break and a week in the beautiful cotswold countryside....

 .............we stayed in this beautiful historic thatched cottage which dates back to the 1500's.....

 ...........it was comfortable and quirky....lots of fascinating details like the ancient windows and the arrow shaped handles.....the garden was so peaceful with sheep bleating on the hills above, wood pigeons cooing....there was a small pond with water lilies and newts.....and a tiny herb garden, a huge apple tree and a plum tree filled with ripening fruit.........i could have lived there :).....

 .............a jug of garden flowers and a bit of english paper piecing for the evening made it feel even more homely....

 ..............the bedroom window looking over the fields..............

 .................the back garden and back view of the cottage...lovely lavender round the door and you can just see molly in the shade of the table.....

 ..............we wanted to visit some of the gorgeous gardens in this lovely area which is one of the reasons we chose to go there now.......all the roses were in bloom and the scents were heavenly...

 ................and this is my new floral crush....astrantia....i am planting some in our own garden.....

 ..............the borders at hidcote gardens were breathtakingly beautiful in the hot sun.....

 ..............(when we got home to our own garden we replanted a pot bound everlasting sweet pea into the ground after seeing this beautiful one blooming at hidcote)............

 ..............as always with my posts, just tap on any image to see them larger........

 ...........up the lane....quite a steep climb on a hot day and we were grateful for the shade....then at the top we found a glorious wildflower meadow........and masses of butterflies.....and as we walked back down via the fields i took this picture of the cottage from the front.....

 .............we visited lots of pretty places and i'll be sharing a few more pictures in future posts.....the wildflowers below were at snowshill gardens.....lovely to see that so many places now set aside areas for these lovely wild plants as well as the traditional beautiful gardens.............

............thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for the kind comments you leave me....i will be visiting my blog friends too this week and look forward to catching up again....wishing you a happy new week with sunshine and flowers.........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx