As I’d decided to spend most of the day at The Hermitage I bought the full price ticket (no reductions for pensioners!) and after a tasty lunch of pumpkin soup and apple pie I headed for the other show. There’s no permanent collection, as far as I understand but the Golden Age portraits are showing for an extended period.
Last weekend I made a short trip to Amsterdam. My Dutch friend, Monique, who joined me on my Irish trip last year, had invited me to her 60th party and I joined up with two Swiss friends (also called Barbara) for the weekend. We all met when I worked in Cambridge and they were at Language School. That summer (1977) Monique and I went to work at a Hotel in the Bernese Alps. We met up with the Barbaras during our time there and have met up over the years ever since in Boscastle, Italy, London, Grindelwald and Amsterdam. Later this year Tenerife is on the cards!
The Hermitage Amsterdam
At the weekend staying with friends near Gateshead it was suggested that we visit Corbridge on the Saturday. I’d heard of Corbridge’s Roman connections but wasn’t quite sure what was there nor how extensive the and well-preserved they would be. I was to find out. We parked in the free car park on the opposite side of the river from the village and Roman site; spent some time in some of the multitude of small shops – including gifts and cards, kitchenwares and books; ate lunch in an excellent deli then walked to the former Roman Town about half a mile away. It was a beautiful day crisp and sunny but very very cold.
After listening to Emma Bridgewater on Desert Island Discs and reading her memoir/stories ‘Toast and Marmalade’ the next thing to do was head off to Stoke-on-Trent to do the Factory Tour.
Emma Bridgewater’s Book
Wishing all Miladys Readers a Very Happy and Peaceful New Year!
Very much closer to home than Fountains Abbey is the Harewood Estate. Just a few miles north of Leeds off the A61, Harrogate Road. I often take a circular walk around the wider estate but not within the immediate site of the House and Gardens which are currently closed until late March 2017.
Earlier in the week I decided that on Thursday I’d head off to Fountains Abbey and have a walk, a bite to eat and be home early afternoon. Thursday dawned very frosty but the roads were fine and the car park almost empty when I arrived. I’ve posted several times about my visits to Fountains including here, here and here. But I visit many more times than I have posted – it is just such a beautiful place to walk and think and enjoy the views and the Georgian landscape and its follies.
Fountains Hall
I hope you will enjoy this post reblogged from Echoes of the Past. The beautiful Nativity windows are in the parish church of Holt in Norfolk (my home county). Christmas Greetings to you all and thank you for visiting here throughout the past year.
I found this beautiful Nativity stained glass window today, Christmas Eve 2016, in St Andrews Church in Holt, Norfolk. We had a lovely day, and I’m not sure where everyone was, as the roads were quite empty and we just visited some of our favourite small towns and villages in Norfolk. I got to visit two churches, one working water mill and we had lunch in a converted mill, so quite a good day really, although I still have a cold, it was not going to beat me……well only a little.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone, and I hope your day is truly blessed 🙂
Sadly, I have to report that The Red House Museum in Gomersal closed its doors for the last time today. I last visited this former home Mary Taylor, a dear friend of Charlotte Brontë, in July for a History Wardrobe performance and I have visited very many times in the past. We signed the petition but to no avail.
What ho! and all that. I have to tell you that I have been selected by Miss Honoria Plum of Plumtopia as runner-up in her recent competition to win a copy of ‘Highballs for Breakfast‘. Miss Plum writes :
“The Cheapest White on the List sat alone at a corner table, solemnly pawing an Anglers’ Rest bar menu.
‘What’s the matter with him? asked The Dubonnet Queen of Ealing Common.
During November Milady was called to the Jury at Leeds Crown Court and those two (harrowing) weeks were followed by a week busy visiting family and friends in Norwich, London and Surrey and last week preparing for Christmas – writing cards, shopping and buying presents – and planning and packing for THIS week in Switzerland!
miladysboudoir 