Entertaining the grand kids

Evening Everyone.
We were asked to look after our grandson today at very short notice. He is almost two and absolutely loves cars, trains etc, in fact anything with wheels that makes a noise.
We thought it would be a good idea to take him to the airport to see the planes taking off as he has never seen one.
We are lucky that there is a pub right at the end of the runway and so we collected him and set off for Manchester. It took us about 40 minutes to get there and it was a really pleasant journey.
The pub is called The Airport. Here is a link if you'd like to take a look. Airport Pub
The food looked lovely and although we didn't eat here today we would definitely consider it in the future. It cost us £1.80 to park the car and £5 for a couple of coffees and we had a really lovely time. Our grandson was absolutely amazed by them and showed no fear whatsoever despite how loud they were.

To be fair I actually really enjoyed watching them myself and look forward to going again sometime soon.
I noticed that people were set up with binoculars and one man told us about an app on his phone where he could get all the details of the flights - where the plane was going to, how many passengers were on board etc. Another person watching the planes told us that if the wind is in the other direction then the planes actually take off from this end of the runway and you can wave to the passengers and pilot as it goes past before take off!
I enjoyed it but i couldn't be that fanatical about it. I think it must be a hobby for some.
All in all it was a successful day out and not too costly. On our way back home we called into Quarry Bank Mill which is a National Trust property just up the road from the airport and had a picnic. Link is here Quarry Bank Mill
The things we do for our grand kids! ( But secretly enjoy ourselves).
Jules x




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Fruits of my labour

Evening Everyone.
Well what a busy, busy few days I've had. It has been ridiculous, I've not had a minute.
I made the 70th birthday cake for my brothers mum in law who is a lovely lady and very big in the WI. No pressure here for a decent cake then???
Before I started the dining room was all neat and tidy, it didn't stay like that for long!

Just getting everything ready to decorate the cake

The cake was a vanilla sponge with a strawberry and champagne jam and vanilla butter cream filling.  It was crumb coated with a very thin layer of butter cream then iced with fondant icing. Finally it was decorated with what seemed like a million flowers in different sizes and various shades of purple, lilac and white. Each had a different centre, some with silver balls, others ivory balls and some had very small ivory sprinkles. It was very time consuming. Measuring 16" x 12" Oblong, it was quite a heavy cake.

Not only did I have this to make but I also got asked to make a cupcake bouquet for my granddaughters school coffee morning yesterday. The coffee morning was to raise money for a cancer charity so I didn't mind helping out. I didn't realise when I was asked to make them that there was a competition for the best cakes. I got a phone call from a very excited granddaughter after school yesterday to say she had won first prize and had a £10 gift voucher. She was thrilled to bits and it made me happy to hear her so excited. Being a Nanna is a real privilege.
Here are the cakes for the bouquet

The picture doesn't do the bouquet justice as my daughter in law had put them into a box and put cellophane around them. She is a trained florist and is really good with anything like that.
Do you get asked to help out with items for family members? What talents or crafts do you have that get called upon?
Jules x





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Busy! Busy! Busy!

Evening Everyone.
So sorry for the lack of posts the past few days. I have had four family birthdays this week and been super busy. I've also got a poorly daughter.
Tomorrow I'm having to make a 70th birthday cake and also a cupcake bouquet for my granddaughters school coffee morning.
It has not helped that my elderly mum took a fall on Saturday and hasn't been well at all. I've been at her house most of today and given it a thorough clean through and changed the beds whilst the weather was nice. I was shattered when I finished, maybe I haven't quite got over the virus I'd had.
We are very lucky really with mum as a rule as she is very independent and only needs help with gardening and decorating and does most of the housework, washing and cooking for herself. I do try to hoover through, change her bed and clean her floors for her once a week as she still lives in the family home and it is far too big for her, but, she refuses to move.
I will get up early tomorrow morning, go for my morning walk and then start baking. Hopefully by afternoon the cakes will be cool enough to ice. I wont be decorating the 70th cake until Friday but will make all the flowers to decorate it tomorrow night.
Hope everyone is well and has had a good few days.
Jules x

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Poorly and Parties

Evening Everyone.
Hope you are all well. Unfortunately I have succumbed to a virus and been laid low for a few days. I visited my granddaughters school on Wednesday evening for a meeting and think I may of picked it up there as I have since been told that there have been quite a few children and staff off with a similar thing.
I just felt wiped out and had didn't know where I ached most!
Thankfully today I seem as though I'm over the worst of it which is a blessing as I've had to bake cakes and attend my granddaughters 5th birthday party.

She absolutely adores unicorns and so I was tasked with making 24 unicorn cupcakes.

Other granny  who is an excellent baker made her a unicorn birthday cake this time, which I was grateful for with feeling under the weather. Sorry about the darkness of the photo.

We had a lovely couple of hours at the local Wacky Warehouse and I do love seeing all the family and friends together.
My poor son wasn't able to attend and was really upset about it. He is renovating their house and whilst using a mini digger to prepare the front of the property yesterday, ready  to put in a drive,  he uncovered a plastic gas pipe that is now outdated and against the law. He had to ring British Gas who were sending someone out to look at it. I did go to see him after the party and gave him and his friend some unicorn fairy cakes. They looked hilarious eating them whilst in their Hi- Visibility jackets and work wear. Wish I had taken a photo
now! Ha Ha.
Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend. The weather is really turning now and it was quite chilly tonight when I walked the dog. Think we can safely assume that Autumn is here with winter fast on its heels. If I needed any more proof of this it is in the fact that Hubby has actually worn a pair of long trousers today. The shorts will be packed away till next year now. Take care everyone.
Jules x




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Home and hitting the ground running

Evening Everyone.
Phew, I'm glad to actually sit down tonight, what a day! All hell seems to have broken loose in my absence and I've spent the day catching up with people and jobs and generally getting on top of everything.
I've had my daughter with a very poorly dog ( they have no kids and so she is their baby). This involved several very costly visits to the out of hours vets and I have had to take the poor little thing back to the vets today for more tests. Thankfully she seems to be finally over the worst of it and on the mend tonight. I've had my son upset that his dog has got to go into the vets to have a cancerous tumour removed on Friday so I've been consoling and trying to give positive help to him.
My granddaughter had a parents evening and I was asked to go along by my daughter so spent 45 minutes in school. All good though and the teacher is very pleased with her.
I've taken my elderly mum to three supermarkets ( don't ask!) then out for lunch and to visit another relative.
I came home, knocked up a quick pasta meal for dinner as Hubby was starving after a day walking with his friend in the Peak District then went straight out again. This time it was to visit my sister who's birthday it is today. After this I visited my son and daughter in law as it is her birthday today too. I ended up staying longer than I intended as my two granddaughters wanted me to bathe them and read them a bedtime story. I actually loved this simple pleasure of reading and them listening intently. So beautiful.
Just when I thought that home and a curl up on the sofa was in sight Hubby says " You don't fancy calling in the pub for a pint do you?" This translates as him having 3 pints and me driving home.
I don't think I worked this hard when I was working full time.
Finally, home, cup of tea and supper.

I'm hoping for a relaxing couple of days now before my epic baking session commences at the weekend. I've a large 70th birthday cake to bake, 24 unicorn cup cakes and a cupcake bouquet to make. I really must learn to say no! Ha ha.
Take care everyone, I'm having an early night.
Jules x


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The wanderer returns

Afternoon Everyone.

Hope everyone is well. I feel like I've been away forever when in reality it's been just over a week!

We have been to Wales where we have a family caravan. We have had a caravan on the same site for 26 years and we have decided that we would like to move to somewhere else.

We still want to stay in Wales and so have been looking around at lots of caravan sites and finally we have found the one we like. It is on the outskirts of Conwy which is a place we really love so we are looking forward to moving there. 

We have had a lovely, lovely time away, just the two of us and of course the dog. He has come with us to the caravan every time we've been since he was a puppy and we couldn't go without him. He loves his walk on the beach and just being out and about with us each day. 

A visit to Wales just wouldn't be complete without a visit to Betws y Coed. If you've never been you really should. It is a beautiful little place with shops, walks, and lovely places to eat. One such place and one that we always go to is The Alpine Coffee Shop. We love to go for breakfast before a drive through Snowdonia and a good walk, the scenery is amazing. We don't eat out much when we are away but we have certain places that we like to go. There are two reasons for this, One is the cost and second is because we like to eat healthily even when on holiday.  That said I do have trouble saying no to a whippy ice cream or the odd cake.

Inside the cafe with its quirky interior

They have a really good menu including plenty of vegan and vegetarian choices and a specials board too. 

Sorry about the darkness of the photos but the interior is painted mostly in dark colours.

The cafe is dog friendly and in fact positively encourage you to bring your pets inside.  Our dog gets really excited when we go in as he knows he will get a treat. When we buy our breakfast we always buy him a dog sausage ( well two but we save one for later in the day as a treat). 

All the food here is ethically sourced and much of it is local too. 

A full English breakfast with a tea or coffee and toast with preserves is £8.95, which for the quality of the food, I think is really reasonable.

A very patient spaniel is waiting for his treat. I chop it up into small pieces so that he will sit and wait to have a piece now and then, otherwise, there would be no chance of him sitting and behaving while we eat ours. He thinks he can visit every table for a fuss and give the puppy eyes in the hope of getting tit bits. So naughty!

Do you take your pets on holiday with you? Do you eat out all the time or cook for yourselves sometimes whilst away? Do you have favourite places that you don't mind visiting over and over?

Until next time

Jules x

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Back from my travels and normal service will be  resumed tomorrow 

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Wash out of a day.

Evening everyone.
Today the weather here has been absolutely atrocious. I have spent the whole day cleaning the house and washing up everything so that I could pack as we will be going away for a few days to our caravan in Wales. The caravan is just down the road from John Gray ( going gently blogger ) so I will have to keep a look out for him.
My daughter and her partner will still be at home and so I don't like to leave any dirty washing or the house not clean.
I've had to use the tumble dryer today for the first time in months as there hasn't been more than 5 minutes at any time when its not been raining.  I try to avoid using the dryer as it is so expensive to run. In the winter I usually wash then  dry on the line as much as I can before just finishing it off in the dryer, or, wash early evening and try to dry the washing on the radiators while they are on instead of putting it into the dryer. It's a real nuisance as it causes condensation so I'm forever wiping the windows otherwise it goes black which is unsightly and really difficult to remove. This was a lesson I learnt very quickly when we moved into this old cottage after living in a modern house.
We had terrible problems with black condensation in the bathroom which I thought was mould. After having several experts look at it we had the walls re plastered with special plaster, installed a fan and started leaving the window open a small way and we seem to have sorted it. The joys of old properties!
 It was so bad at one point that I was thinking of selling up because it used to drive me mad, always having to clean it off with bleach or mould and mildew cleaner. We have none of that any more thank goodness.
Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and the weather isn't too bad where you are.
I will try to post while I am away but the internet can be a little bit hit and miss. If all else fails I will catch up when I get back.
Take care everyone.
Jules x
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Swapping skills and a favour repaid with cakes!

Evening Everyone.
Today my brother came around to our house to fix our gate. We have a big iron gate at the rear of our property which has somehow broken. The bolts on the brackets have sheared off and so it came off its hinges.
Hubby tried to drill out new ones but none of the drill bits he had would even touch it. We borrowed some heavy duty drill bits from my son that he uses at work on the building site - still no go!
Finally it was my baby brother to the rescue who brought his super duper industrial drill from work ( he is a sheet metal engineer). With determination and sheer brute force they managed to drill out new holes for the bolts. Hooray!!!
We now have a fully functioning gate that is as good as new and I feel much happier that I can close it at night and feel safe.
As a family we often help each other out with jobs. My brother is an engineer and can turn his hand to most things. I have another brother who is a gas engineer, son who is a plumber, brother in law an electrician and nephew who is amazing at woodwork. We are very lucky and have most things covered if we need repairs.
It has always been the way that we don't charge each other for jobs but what we do do is help each other whenever or with whatever we can. Hubby although a teacher by trade is an excellent gardener and so will often help out anyone in the family with a gardening problem. I am the baker of birthday cakes and cakes for parties. We also get called upon to dog sit and in an emergency give occasional lifts. Its nice to be able to help each other and I never take any of that for granted.
Today I made my brother some banana cakes as a thank you. Just a small act of kindness but well received.

Made with fresh banana and drizzled with icing. 😋

Some to take home.

Do you swap skills and help others? What do you do in return for favours?
Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.
Jules x

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Visit to The Brampton Museum

Evening, hope everyone is well. 

Recently we had a little trip to a place quite local to us called The Brampton. This is an old country residence that has been turned into a small museum. 

It has a Victorian street complete with shops, including a chemist shop, ironmongers and pawnbrokers. Looking through the windows of the shops is fascinating and its funny to actually recognise odd things from my childhood that I must remember from grandparents homes. 

There is a collection of toys, some of them dating back to about 150 years. There are dolls, teddies and games.

My favourite part of the museum is a 1940's kitchen. Its amazing how little our grandparents had in the way of labour saving devices. It must of taken an age to just wash and iron let alone housework. In some ways life must of been much simper though and at times I think I'd like that. 

All down the corridor are glass cabinets which have lovely handmade jewellery and pottery that local artists have made and are for sale. There are sometimes exhibitions of local art too.

The museum has a little shop and an area where they put on ever changing exhibitions. The exhibition at the moment is about schools at the beginning of the 20th century. The desks were of particular interest to me as I am looking for one to buy to put in our cottage. I like the idea of having an old desk with both Hubby and myself having had career in education. 

The grounds of the Brampton are really lovely for a walk too. There is a cafe which does lovely coffees and you can get as many refills as you like for £1. A sensory garden which is so relaxing to walk through, a large children's play area with swings etc and a miniature railway that runs most weekends and school holidays. The price for a ride on the train is just a donation.

Also on a sunny day is a large sand pit with toys in. An outside aviary is there with quite a naughty parrot who will bite your finger if you try to stroke it! There is a grave stone in memory of civilians who were killed in the bombing of Stoke on Trent and Newcastle during the second world war.

Again, a lovely free day out with so much of interest, right on our doorstep.

Jules x

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Last days of the summer holidays

Evening Everyone.
Sorry for the lack of posts the past two days. On Saturday I was struck down with a dreaded migraine and as I lay in bed trying to sleep it off yesterday afternoon I was woken by a horrendous bang followed by my hubby shouting my name upstairs to come quickly.
I looked through the bedroom window as I was passing and could see a car on its roof, blocking the whole road right outside my cottage.

As I was running down the stairs I grabbed my phone and dialled 999. I was dreading getting to the car and to what I might find. As it was, the two teenage lads that were in the car had managed to struggle free and even though the driver clearly had minor injuries and needed cleaning up, they seemed remarkably unhurt, thank goodness!

The emergency services were outside for over four hours, brushing up mess and the remains of three of my immediate neighbours front garden walls and gates. Mercifully the car had come to a rather precarious stop just as it reached our cottage.

The fire engine was there soaking up spilled fuel, the ambulance left after a short time once it was established that it was more a case of severely dented pride rather than physical injury. The police and highways were there for the duration until the car had been towed away and the road made safe again.

So after my very eventful and not so pleasant weekend, it was a very welcome sight today when two of our grandchildren arrived and we set about baking, chatting and giggling. Its amazing isn't it that without knowing, these little people can bring real sunshine into our lives. I loved spending the last day of their summer holidays happily in the kitchen baking goodies to take home with them.
We made dark chocolate cookies with chocolate chunks in and lemon and blueberry muffins.

Hope everyone is well and had a good, less eventful weekend than ours.
Jules x


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