Friday Night Sew In, May

 May already, and once again the year is whizzing by. Friday nights come around very quickly too! Many thanks Wendy for getting us together - you can see who else took part by visiting Wendy's blog here.

Lunch out made for a lazy afternoon but I did get some work done on my latest Wings and Pretty Things block during the evening.

Sorry for the poor photo but I did most of the basting and started on the applique.

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It has been fun exploring West Somerset - lots of new places for me, familiar ones for Philip. I do love the narrow Somerset lanes with their high hedges

The hedges can be very deep - six foot in some places. I wanted to get a picture but it was not easy so will have to try another time. The other thing I love are these old sign posts with the miles marked with fractions, so glad they have never been replaced.

While looking for Holcombe Rogus, and more on that village in a moment, we came across the attractive church of St Michael in Stawley, pretty much in the middle of a field.

The church dating from the 13th century was open (BCP Sheila) and organ practice under way which was nice. It had a lovely warm and welcoming feeling, the sort you get from a well loved and used church.

Then on to Holcombe Rogus just over the border into Devon, which although a larger village seemed to be much harder to find! The village dates back to the Doomsday book. Holcombe Rogus Court  has been described as the finest Tudor House in Devon - here is the entrance and what I could see of the house.

The house is privately owned and has been completely restored over the last 20 years.

The church is next door and the family from 'the big house' had their own private entrance into the church yard.

This is a much larger and more formal church with many references to the Bluett family who originally built the manor house. These effigies are of members of the Bluett family.

This I felt was a name to conjure with!

Hope you enjoyed the mini tour - I will be back soon!

Friday Night with Friends

 We had a busy day with not much spare time so I was determined to get something done during the evening. I managed six rows of this Tied Knots hat which I am making with the gorgeous merino and silk yarn that I bought from Perran Yarns at the Great Wool Weekend.

The yarn is knitting up nicely on my new Knitpro needles.

Many thanks Cheryll for organising our Friday night get together, you can see who else took part here.

Earlier in the week we visited Dulverton in West Somerset for the day. A pretty village to look around but our main reason for being there was to visit the gardens of Hollam House which are only open for one afternoon of the year. As it coincided with my birthday it made for a very pleasant day out.

The gardens are stunning. They are on the side of a hill and well laid out with water gardens, pond areas, formal gardens and more open informal areas. Just a few pics....

Sadly not a sunny afternoon but still very worth while the visit.