The Nodding Gables

http://instagram.com/p/XaNwhmsYTi/
This 17thc building was first a ticket office for stage coaches. The Old Coach House. When the railway era arrived it became an ironmongers. The Golden Key. When the gable ridge broke the gables fell forward and it was known as the Nodding Gables.
They still nod! I shall take another pic soon showing more. Now?It's a bank.

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Upton upon Severn

So maybe this is the way we should all go, buying directly from the butcher.  I've no idea what this one is like, but it looked very attractive, set in the middle of a little village, I think Hanley Swan?  Not quite sure. Worcestershire.

The Severn at Upton, swollen and vast.  I felt drawn to it standing on the edge, yikes!  New flood defences put in there seemed to be working marvellously though!  

I've always liked Upton.  Quite similar to Tewkesbury in lots of ways.. including the flooding!  Nice little town, full of individual shops rather than the inevitable chains you see in lots of towns.

Malvern trip

Afternoon trip to Malvern on a beautiful sunny day.

The approach to the Malvern hills from Tewkesbury is so lovely - the hills are not far away and it's good to get closer...

Trails in the sky, the hills loom larger.  Thank goodness the mist is lifting.

This looks like a proper entrance to the hills themselves!  In fact it's in the area of the Three Counties Showground, I just pulled over to take a shot.  Interestingly, this is Lyn Downes Way!  Different spelling from my own name, but I'll take it just the same.

Trying to emulate Eric's viewpoint at http://www.parisdailyphoto.com  - and not quite making it.  My face takes up too much of the pic.  Must practise more.  He manages to get just an eye in or something.  Take a look!

Guest County Time again!

 So, uploading some more of the pics I took during my visit to Norfolk, where my parents live and where some of my ancestors come from... quite a lot of them, it turns out!  Quite a surprise since I - and my parents , well and most of the relatives or so we thought - are London born!  Above:  Mattishall church.

 Inside the church are some treasures, above, and below, I photographed some buildings which I knew would have been around when my ancestors were.  Fascinating to think they walked where I walked just recently.

We didn't go in to sample tea at Tabnabs, but must try it next time! Looks marvellous.

 Ancient font, above, inside the church, and below the beautiful church door which doubtless they would have touched.  Touching that myself was really quite special!

 Gorgeous stained window of the church and, so useful, the village store!

Inside the church at Mattishall is this absolutely wonderful ancient screen - one which people travel to from miles around to photograph, we were told.  I am not surprised; they were quite stunning.  

Tudor House Hotel Tewkesbury

In High Street Tewkesbury the Tudor House stands out in typical black timber, resplendant now it's undergone some refurb. Go down the little lane beside it to find the lovely River Avon and of course when you spin on your heel you find this.. The stunning rear view of the Tudor House. Quite a difference. Love the architecture of #Tewkesbury !

Bronte on Austen..

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The Abbey has a new skirt ... Flooded grounds of beautiful 12thc. Tewkesbury Abbey today.

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Looks just as beautiful when flooded!

City Daily Photo theme day .... Umbrellas

This was taken at a remembrance day some years ago. Sad occasion but I think it makes a good picture.

Check out other umbrellas round the world via http://www.parisdailyphoto.com

Rainy rainy Tewkesbury... But still very beautiful.

The river Avon is swollen and surrounding floodplains are lakes. All open though and worth a visit! All so pretty... Just an everchanging landscape.

Flooding in Tewkesbury today...

Really heavy storm today just after these pics were taken. Gale nearly knocked us over!

Bridget Jones Trip

So I thought I'd show a pic of the start of my recent sojourn - arriving at my parents' house at Christmas  feeling like Bridget Jones and looking rather like her in those pyjamas...

...and returning home to our lovely Cotswolds.  This being Anne Hathaway's Cottage in Stratford...can you also see the ghost in monk habit standing by the gate or is it just me?

and here's a memory of Mum beating me soundly at the Block Game.  As usual...

Always Room for Chocolate

Yep here's Dive again, he took me for a quite scrummy lunch in Norwich, at a sweet little French patisserie.  We laughed.

We ate.

We drank.  Coffee with pretty patterns, cakes which looked more like art and took some beautifully wrapped offerings back to my parents too.  Such a lovely day!  Pattiserie Valerie in Norwich.  Can recommend!

Here's a little pic of my parents and their stunning Christmas tree.  How I miss them!  Hope to be back for another visit before long.

Peering at the Sea

Another day in Norfolk over the Christmas period and we went to Wroxham Barns, which is owned by my friend Susi's brother Ian - lovely place and well worth a visit!  Then visited a craft centre which was most interesting.... all this with Dive again of course, a most wonderful companion and guide.  Much fun was had and conversation explored as he expertly drove me around.  Next stop... the beach!

We went to Cromer.  Here you see the long expanse of sandiness stretching on.  A lot of walking was done. This being a point of disagreement between dear Dive and I... ;)  I like to meander, to walk around ... a BIT.  He likes to walk for MILES....and miles.  Haha, but we had so much fun.

Above, you see the pier at Cromer.  A pretty sight even on a pretty dull day, bringing untold shades of colour to the sea...  Again, check out Dive's blog SmallGlassPlanet to get more detail.

Here is the man himself - Dive - allowing me to pause from marching long enough to take a shot of him!  Now I am home, to beautiful Gloucestershire again, I still miss Norfolk and I miss Dive. Even with the walking.

In Touch with the Past

So over Christmas I was in Norfolk to see my parents and whilst there, met up with Dive again, which was great fun.  This may not seem the best fun (below photo) to some of you, searching around graves, but it was to me... ! You see, I'm tracing the family tree and find that some of my ancestors come from Norfolk by the name of Fitt.  Who better than Dive to show me around and try to find some of the right spots.  Here is the most beautiful little Saxon church in Hemblington.  Utterly adorable.  I felt very peaceful and at home there.  It was an amazing feeling to be there and know that some of my ancestors from 19th and 18th century would have been to the same church, touched the same door!  

Anyway we couldn't find exact graves, but I did so love the church.  It has become a favourite place for me now ... and for Dive too, since he hadn't been there before.  He tells a much better tale of history of the place if you pop over to see his blog here ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynncherylede/8264407354/in/photostream/lightbox/

Making the Christmas wreath this year, with materials from my biz http://www.FloraLilly.com I put fabric bows and also some tulle bows tied into the weave.  The tulle picks up the light amazingly well around the front door!  I wondered whether the fabric would get horribly wet and soggy outside but it's sheltered quite well by the porch.  It might be a different story if you haven't got a porch.

What's your wreath like this year?

"Outside - Gold" by Lynn Ede | Redbubble

"Outside - Gold" by Lynn Ede | Redbubble:

Theme Day - People Watching !

Today is Theme Day at City Daily Photo and the theme is 'People Watching'.  I thought this pic was suitable!  Taken at Gloucester Docks, I have used the tilt shift effect to make all the people into tiny toy-like figures.  I hope you like it!  You can see all the other submissions to the theme, here

Imperial Gardens in Cheltenham is the place to go on a sunny day - and we've had so few of those!  Packed with islands of superbly tended gardens, it's a space to relax in, with the backdrop of the gorgeous Georgian architecture so typical of Cheltenham.  At lunchtimes, it's often full of people meeting, chatting and sunning themselves.

Cheltenham centre, long exposure... great fun!  I took this a while ago, but I'm planning some more.  Any requests? ;)  This is the Montpellier area of Cheltenham.  Wonderful for shopping - but take plenty of pennies!

So, it's City Daily Photo Theme Day today (on 1st July) and the theme is.... chimneys!!  Ok... I didn't have time to pop out and shoot a new pic, so I searched my stock.  This came up; it's a story I wrote, for children, and illustrated it too.  As yet unpublished!.... get in touch, publishers :)  Anyway, yes, it's about a little mouse called Bert, who wonders what the view is like from the very top of the house (tenuous link to chimney here).  His best friend Tom, decides to sort it out for him on Bert's Birthday (title) at much risk to himself!.... of course if you want to know how it ends, I'd have to get that publisher... :D

Well those of you who are local will know this is Cheltenham.  Our Cheltenham racecourse! Pic by me of course ;)  Wonderful it is too, the horseracing here, but actually I'm getting in the mood for the upcoming part of the British season which is Ascot.  Love it!  Royal Ascot in particular; I love the fashions, the horses, the flutters and of course the Royal arrivals.  Who's going?

"Girls Chatting in pretty dresses! iphone case" by LynnEde | RedBubble

"Girls Chatting in pretty dresses! iphone case" by LynnEde | RedBubble:

So Tewkesbury floods again!  Must stress the town centre is still open for business and well worth a trip, but the rivers have burst their banks again and many fields are flooded.  This pic I took is of the Water Treatment building at the Mythe, where as you see here the fields are completely flooded, taking the waters right up to the defences built after the last floods of 2007 where we had no water for some time.  Let's hope it holds!  You can see more pics of the flooding I took on May 1st here and should you wish to use any of them for publication, please do get in touch at http://lynnede.redbubble.com

Cute isn't she?  Meet Flora.  She is doll no. 1 in my collection of handsewn, elegant, soft dolls designed by me, Lynn, at http://www.FloraLilly.com  No two dolls will be the same, each will be named and are very collectible! Each comes with a little personality trait secret:  Flora adores perfume & always has fresh flowers in the home! ;D  No sooner had I put Flora out there, she was sold within 2 days!  She is currently happy and living somewhere in England.  I am designing and sewing more dolls right now, so keep checking the website and start your own collection, or gift for a friend!  I am also making bags; totes, weekenders and other items, all in pretty fabrics.  Follow me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/FloraLilly

Sew Pretty

There's been a lot of sewing and making in the Lynn household lately! I have an Etsy site.   FloraLilly is the name;  an amalgam of my two grandmothers' names; Florence and Lillian.  http://FloraLilly.com  is being built!
The cushion, above, is what I call a Memory cushion cover.  You know when you have lovely, favourite and pretty dresses / blouses / shirts hanging in your wardrobe you can't, for some reason or other, wear again, but still love them so much? Well, that.  I made the top part of this dress into a cushion cover!  Careful to sew it so it retained the character of the dress, I am so pleased I now see it every day in my sitting room instead of it being hidden away from site, useless.  My children used to love me wearing this, so it has lovely memories.  You can send me your favourite garments and for £20 I'll make one for you!  Get in touch.  Follow me on Twitter !