Heart Felt

Conkering the world

 

Conker season is here.....

 

Sadie took delight in collecting as many as she could find, careful not to prick herself on their sharp casings.

 

Oscar loved the large leaves.  He found a huge one!

and thanked the tree with a big hug...

Not sure what we are going to do with them yet, unfortunately they aren't the eatable chestnut.

When I was a child dad drilled holes into them and strung them into a necklace for me, I had it for years in my dress up box.

We will have to visit the farm again soon to collect some sweet chestnuts to eat.

I'm obsessing over a fig tree we found today in a vacant section....fresh figs!....going to waste, it might be a fence jumping day tomorrow. xx

Wild blackberries

We revisited the farm today.  The children have fond memories of our summer there and we want to keep those memories fresh in their minds.  Charlie mentioned his walks down the long drive to check the letter box and Sadie pointed out the beautiful hills and valley.  

Down at the old milking shed the wild blackberries were in fruit.  We've had very little rain so the berries were big, fat, juicy and sweet.

 

Oscar's first taste of blackberries was heavenly.

Tonight we had a beautiful pear and blackberry crumble, thanks to Daddy.

 

Chicky Chicky Alfie

Last summer while we were renting the farm house, we raised a number of chicks.  Sadie adored them and often I would find her in their run feeding and chatting away to them.  

When we bought our own home and moved into the village we had to rehouse them all.  Some of them went to Ian's brother who owns some land just a short drive away, which was nice because Sadie could still visit them.  

We got a nice surprise when Uncle Neil presented Sadie with a small egg.  One of her little chicks had laid it's first egg.  It was small but perfect.  Sadie decided she was going to mother it and hatch it herself.  It got given a name, 'Chicky Chicky Alfie'.   Chicky Chicky Alfie was tucked up in bed, pushed around in the pram and he even got stories read to him!

Needless to say the this story doesn't have a happy ending.....

Chestnuts

The shift went well, thank-you for all your kind thoughts.  We are slowing unpacking boxes, it may take me a few more days yet before everything has found a home.  The children have settled in well along with Badger the dog and Louie the cat.  The house feels 'right' and we think we'll be very happy here for a long time.  

On shifting day Charlie and I escaped away for one last walk on the farm.  We took a path we're d never been on and stumbled upon two large chestnut trees.  Below, the ground was scattered with prickly casings where inside hid beautiful brown horse chestnuts.  We carefully extracted the chestnuts from the shells and filled my camera bag up.  It was the perfect farewell. xx


Prickly casings




Charlie carefully collecting the chestnuts




Chestnuts




Charlie's photograph of me sitting under the chestnut tree
  



Final farewell...but we will be back for visits.

Saying 'Goodbye'

It never was the plan to stay long term on the farm.  It was always just a temporary stop over the summer period while I was on maternity leave.  

Now that we have found our home it's time to say 'goodbye' to farm life.  We have loved the experience and it will be a summer that will stay in our hearts forever.  We are moving into the village with the countryside just a stones throw down the road.  Our 'grand plan' has come into fruition and we are looking forward in making new memories in our own home.

Happy Days. xx

Autumn days

 We have one week left in the farm house before we shift into our own home in Greytown.  We are so excited, but feeling like we're in limbo with boxes blocking the rooms and packing coming to a stand still because of items still needed up to shifting day. 

 A little sanity in our week was a walk in the park.  The big oak trees are losing their giant leaves and the boys enjoyed frolicking in their carpet of crunchiness .  Charlie (my sensitive guy) told me that 'everything is so beautiful it makes his heart fall down'.

Sigh. xx

A nest found

A nest found bought delight and discovery.  It's amazing dissecting a nest with your eyes.  It's been lovingly constructed from horse hair, branches, twigs, human hair, leaves, straw, moss and feathers.  So compact, perfect and complete.






It's a fine addition to our autumn nature table.  So far we have collected leaves, bark, feathers, acorns and seed pods.  Sadie loves rearranging the display.




'Thank-you' to Gill for the gorgeous knitted gnomes, they are our nature table guardians. xx

Cotton, Wool and Tweed

Normally I would show off my thrift finds for the month, but with the shift looming we have boxes packed and things lying around everywhere.  But I do have some photographs of the children wearing some thrifty pieces I found this month.

 

Handmade vintage cotton dress for Sadie

 

Rustic wool vest for Oscar

 
 
 

and every farm boy needs his own English tweed hat ~ with a feather of course! (compliments of 'Lieutenant Dan' our rooster)

Misty mornings + a vintage giveaway

Currently the children have been waking between 5.30 and 6.00 am. Normally I would be feeling incredibly hard done by but on the bright side we have been getting up to these stunning scenes.  










The mist rolls down the valley below lingering near the river. Then we watch as the sun squeezes itself through the clouds so we can enjoy a warm autumn day. It's scenes like this that I will miss the most when we move house.

As I have started packing our things up for our shift in three weeks ~ I came across some bits 'n' pieces I thought one of you may enjoy as a little vintage giveaway.

We have three hard cover Little Golden books, a piece of Scottish embroidered linen, vintage hook and eyes on their original card and a Patons bazaar pattern book which has '40 ideas for gifts and novelties'.



Just leave a comment telling me the most beautiful thing you have experienced this week and I will get my 'sensitive little guy' Charlie to choose his favorite and this little package is yours! I'll let you know the winner on Friday. xx

The week that was.....Heart Felt.

We have been enjoying beautiful sunrises.....





and watching this boy grow more eatable everyday.





We've had nature following us while traveling in the car....





and we counted 65 swallows surrounding our house!







I have been taking autumn portraits of Charlie boy.....







and we have been making the most of this place......we shift in less than five weeks......we have bought a house!