A Few Plans For The Year

Hello everyone. I hope you have all had a good week.

This will be a special year for my dear hubby because he is due to retire in the summer. We have a number of travel plans, and I have a steadily growing list of jobs to keep him busy. Happy days ahead.

We have already started some jobs, including a cover-up job. When D came back home after living in her flat for several years, she also came with all her furniture. We have accommodated it all in our small corner, and this particular item is living in the conservatory. 

At some point, when she can buy her own house, all her furniture will go with her, so we are mindful of keeping everything safe and protected. I have been reluctant to put anything on top of the unit in case it gets damaged or the sun bleaches it, so this was our solution.

Hubby made this cover, and everything has disappeared behind closed doors. When the time comes, the hidden space can be used for our own storage. I'm happy, D's happy, and for hubby, it's another job off the 'to-do list'.

Another job that has been worked  on over the last few weeks is the hallway. In October, I shared that our very tired stairs and landing had finally been updated with new carpet. Now the hallway also has a lovely new oak style flooring. It will be some time before the flooring is extended into the kitchen but I am really pleased with  how things are going so far.

The small chair was hubby's TV chair when he was a child 😊

As I mentioned, we intend to travel more this year, including the UK and further afield. While I would love to journey to the extremes of north and south and east to west, I know I won't visit everywhere. However, I found the next best method on Google and YouTube. I began my armchair travel this week and started in the far north, in the Orkney islands.

Balfour Castle

The castle located on Shapinsay, is reached by ferry from Kirkwall, on mainland Orkney. Thomas Balfour built the original building as a house called 'Cliffdale'. His grandson David commissioned the castle building around the original house. 

People sometimes refer to Balfour House as a 'calendar house'. This is due to the design: seven turrets, twelve exterior doors, fifty-two rooms, and three hundred sixty-five panes of glass. The other interesting feature of the building was the secret passage hidden in the library bookcase: ideal for a quick escape for the Balfour family whenever uninvited guests decided to drop by! 

 

The castle has some beautiful walled gardens and extensive grounds. Sadly, the castle is now privately owned, so there are no visits, but some good videos show what the inside of the castle was like, as well as the walled gardens. 

If you want to have a look for yourselves there are several travel videos on YouTube.

I hope you enjoy an armchair visit as much as I did.

Returning to Our Small Corner

Back at home, D and I have restarted our reading of Shakespeare plays, which we began last year, and I also finished reading 'The Killings at Badger's Wood' by Caroline Graham. This was the book on which the TV series 'Midsomer Murders' is based. D and I are currently binge-watching this in the evenings.

I haven't ventured into the garden much this week but have been cleaning and tidying in the greenhouse so everything will be ready for the new season. I hope it is a good year.

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Hello. It's D, just popping in.

It was also time to try something new. Every year after Christmas, we eat turkey until it comes out of our ears. However, this year, I had an excellent idea based on one of the recipes from my books, and I decided to make a pastry pie from our Christmas dinner leftovers. It had the turkey, small sausage balls, stuffing, carrots and parsnips - all served with a side of roast potatoes.

There were indeed no complaints when Mum and Dad tried it. In fact, there were requests for seconds.

This may become a new 'post-Christmas' tradition!

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Have a great week everyone

Beverley and D