This and That Thursday

Hello!

It has been a busy summer for me so I thought it was time to do a This and That Thursday post.

Rhodes

For our summer holiday this year we went to Rhodes. We loved Kos when we went in 2023 so we thought it was time for another Greek island. We spent some time seeing the sights and some time by the pool reading loads of books.

Harvington Hall History Festival

I attended two of the events at the history festival this year. One by was Alison Weir and one by Tracy Borman. I also attended the book signings they kindly did at the end. The Harvington Hall cats were also in attendance but I wasn’t lucky enough to get a photo.

National Trust

We have also attended a few National trust places this summer. The first was a new one for us called Canons Ashby. Canons Ashby was a lovely Tudor property which was just like a maze. There were so many little staircases and little corridors I absolutely loved it.

Next was Waddeson Manor which was a return visit for us. It is definitely one of our favourite places to visit and they do a very nice afternoon tea as well.

We met my best friend at Charlecote Park last week and the weather was beautiful. We also had a great time helping my best friend’s son fill out the activity sheet where we had to work out whether certain things were ‘Tudor’ or ‘Not Tudor’.

Bath

We spent Bank Holiday weekend in Bath where we visited the Victoria Art Gallery and No. 1 Royal Crescent. I also did a lot of book shopping and eating of yummy food.

I am back teaching next week but this summer has been a lovely break with some great adventures. I am hoping that we will fit in more adventures around work.

Happy Reading

Etsy

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This and That Thursday

Hello!

I thought it was time to do a non bookish post as I haven’t done a This and That Thursday since November 2024.

Bath

December was super busy work wise but we also managed a little holiday in Bath to visit the Bath Christmas market. I love visiting the market to buy Christmas presents and this year Abbie who owns the Etsy store Britishbookart was doing a stall so I bought several Christmas presents for my niece and myself. I have also since bought more items from her site. If you haven’t seen her book trackers please visit her Etsy and have a look.

We also did some sight seeing and did our traditional afternoon tea at the Pump Rooms.

Etsy

I have also been super busy with my own Etsy shop and the TBR Tickets and Bumble Bee Bookmarks have been super popular. I love my little Etsy shop and love making and designing the bookmarks.

National Trust

We have been visiting some of our favourite local National Trust places. At this time of year a lot of National Trust places are closed but we like to support any that are open. Berrington Hall is definitely one our favourites.

Walking

We have been trying to get back into our walking again because we are still trying to finish our Mordor medal with the Conqueror Challenges. However, the house is still undergoing building work so have we have been a bit house bound at times. When we have managed to go for a walk it has been really nice to see the sheep and the horses that are in local fields near where we live.

Centre of Excellence

I have also been back to studying with the Centre of Excellence. I am currently about a quarter of the way through the History of Art course and I am absolutely loving it. I really enjoy their courses and find them perfect introductions to subjects that I might decide to do further reading around.

So there are my recent exploits.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

This and That Thursday

Hello!

I thought it was time for a post about all my activities that are not book related. Work has been back in full force after a lovely week off for half term. This has meant loads of teaching and organ playing. I have also been really busy with my Etsy which has been wonderful. October was my best month yet for my Etsy and I’m hoping it continues.

Walks

We have got back into our walking again and have been trying to go to different places for our walks. It has been nice to get out and about again and so I have also started playing Pokemon Go again and working on my Conqueror Challenge to Mordor again.

Afternoon Tea

For Christmas 2023 my parents gave my husband and myself a voucher for afternoon tea at Brokencote Hall and we finally got around to going. It was quite funny because my brother had also had a voucher and entirely by accident we ended up going on the same day and virtually the same time. I have never been to Brokencote Hall before but I absolutely loved the building and the afternoon tea.

RAF Museum Midlands

We love visiting Cosford so we decided to go for a visit because we haven’t been this year. I must admit I’m not so keen on some of the changes they have made recently especially because this means some of my favourite planes are no longer on display. I really hope my favourite planes return one day. I did have fun trying to find all the yellow planes.

Worcester

The building work continues on the house but thankfully the end is in sight. Due to being stuck at home for most of the summer we have been trying to leave the house more and so last week we decided to go for a wonder around Worcester and a nice lunch out. I did also end up buying quite a few books which I will post about on Saturday.

Webbs of Wychbold

Every year at around this time we go Christmas shopping at Webbs of Wychbold. I love Webbs at Christmas because the displays are always excellent and they have so many amazing decorations. We always end up buying quite a lot of decorations and this year was no exception. I can’t wait to get decorating the house for Christmas now. I also went a little bit crazy in Hobbycraft.

So there are my recent adventures. We are always quite busy on the run up to Christmas as we are both musicians but we hope to fit a few more in before Christmas.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

This and That Thursday

Hello!

I thought it was time for a post about the things that haven’t involved books. I am back to work fully from Monday so the reading and adventures might slow down but I’m hoping not too much. Work on the house continues and this week has involved a lot of noise from the builders which has been rather distracting. We really hope the end is in sight as we would love to see the house all finished and no longer covered in scaffolding.

Decorating

Whilst the builders have been working on the outside of the house we have been busy trying to get work moving on the library. I have done more wall paper removing this week and I hope to get that finished this week. There is a very long way to go with this room before it becomes a library but maybe if we are lucky we can get it done before Christmas.

Afternoon Tea

We took my parents for afternoon tea at Stanbrook Abbey the other day and the food was fantastic. I do love an afternoon tea especially when they have a great choice of teas to choose from which this one did.

Recital

My husband and myself have been busy working on a recital over the summer and finally we did the recital last weekend. It went really well and the treble recorder and organ combo sounded fab. Here is a little snippet.

Cat Cafe

Husband had a voucher to go to Paws Cafe in Shrewsbury for his birthday so we went last week and it was brilliant. We have never done a cat cafe before but we will definitely be going back. We both fell in love with the Maine Coon there called Darwin. Lady Grey was also an absolute cutie and loved having cuddles. I’m definitely considering getting a Maine Coon one day.

Happy Reading!

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

This and That Thursday

Hello!

I thought it was high time for a post about my escapades outside of reading. The Easter school holidays was rather busy for me as I took some time off teaching and went on some adventures.

Bath

We usually go to Bath at least once a year, usually more but we have never gone at this time of year so we thought we would see what it was like. It was busier than we are used to but it was still a fab little break. It also involved quite a bit of book buying.

It wasn’t all book buying though. We also had a lovely afternoon tea at the Pump Rooms, we visited the Ladybird exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery and we went to Dyrham Park just outside of Bath. We also did lots of walking and eating out.

Cambridge

I also visited Cambridge for the first time. I met up with my best friends and we had a good little explore. The weather was terrible so we had to do a lot of ducking out of the rain but we did manage some book shopping and we visited a very interesting museum. We also had great fun spotting all the giraffes!

Croft Castle and the Ironbridge Museum of the Gorge

We have also been doing some visiting closer to home. A couple of weeks ago we visited one of our favourites which is Croft Castle and today we visited a new place which was the Ironbride Museum of the Gorge. The Museum of the Gorge has only just recently reopened which is why we have never visited as we like to visit Ironbride. I also did a tiny bit of book shopping!

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

This and That Thursday

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far.

I thought it was time for a non bookish update. Although some of my adventures are book related in a way.

Warner Bros Studio Tour

I went with my husband and besties to the Harry Potter tour during the half term and this was the first time we also had the afternoon tea which was very yummy and the service was excellent. As usual the tour was brilliant and I highly recommend the afternoon tea if you haven’t had it before.

Cosford Museum

I love visiting Cosford and my husband and myself go at least once per year. Sadly, one of my favourite planes had moved so I didn’t get to see it but I managed to see some of my other favourite planes and bought two books and a cuddly penguin.

Learning Greek

I have recently joined Duolingo and I have started learning Greek. I am really enjoying it so far and I am aiming to do at least 20 minutes a day of studying.

I have been quite busy work wise with teaching and playing for weddings so I am trying to make the most of my free time at the moment. Hopefully more adventures will be happening soon.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

This and That Thursday

Hello!

I thought it was time for another adventure update. I was on half term last week which meant more adventures as I had no teaching.

Bath

We spent a few days in Bath which obviously meant lots of book shopping but we also went to a few nice places for cocktails. We also visited the Jane Austen museum which we haven’t been to for quite a few years. I really like the Jane Austen museum as I find it really interesting and the gift shop has some beautiful items for sale. The Jane Austen tea room is also very nice.

We had a champagne afternoon tea at the Pump Rooms which was really yummy and in the evening we went to the theatre to watch and listen to the opera Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell which my husband very kindly got me for my birthday. I studied part of the Dido and Aeneas opera at university and I have always wanted to see it live so I was really pleased to get the chance to see it.

On our last day we went to see the Rodin and Degas exhibition at the Holburne Museum. I love the Holburne Museum and it has become a tradition to always visit when we are in Bath and see the latest exhibition.

Wimpole Hall

I also went to Wimpole Hall and Farm to meet my best friend who I haven’t seen for ages. Wimpole Hall has one of my favourite libraries in the National Trust. The library is huge and has a book room attached, I would just love to spend all day in there reading and drinking tea. We also went to the farm and saw the latest arrivals of the piglets which were very cute and had lots of fuss off a very handsome shire horse called Stanley.

We are hoping to go on some Christmas related adventures very soon as you can’t beat a nice festive adventure.

Happy Reading

Etsy

This and That Thursday

Hello!

I hope everyone is well.

I thought it was time for another This and That Thursday because I have been quite busy going on adventures recently.

Norfolk

Just recently I went to Norfolk where my best friend lives to surprise her for her birthday. The surprise went really well and we had a really great time. We ate some lovely food and visited a lovely National Trust property called Felbrigg Hall. It was a wonderful weekend away and it was so good to spend time with friends.

Afternoon Tea

My husband and myself went to try afternoon tea at our local Golf club. We had never been before but thought as it was the holidays we would treat ourselves. We really enjoyed it and have also been for dinner there as well.

Powis Castle

Powis Castle is a bit of a distance for us but we had a rare Sunday off together so we thought we would set off earlier and go to a National Trust place further afield. We enjoyed the castle so much that we went around twice and this also helped us avoid the rain.

Witley Court

We are also members of the English Heritage but we haven’t used our membership this year so we decided to remedy the situation and visit Witley Court. I love Witley Court but I do find it depressing. The house was clearly a gorgeous house and would have been wonderful to see before it was burned down. However, walking around the ruins you get the sense of the grandeur but also sadness that so little remains.

Wightwick Manor

Wightwick Manor is one of my favourite National Trust places and one that is very local to us. I love the design of Wightwick and the fact that in comparison to most National Trust properties it is relatively new. The house is so eccentric and always fills me full of wonder. It is also has some beautiful artwork in and a very nice library.

So there are some of my adventures. I am going on another adventure tomorrow all being well so I am hoping it doesn’t rain.

What adventures have you been on recently?

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

This and That Thursday

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I have had a lovely day out today but I must admit I am rather tired now. Anyway, here is what I have been up to recently that isn’t book related.

Shugborough Estate

We do love our National Trust property visits and this is one we have visited in the past but is such a beautiful property we are always happy to visit it again. I also love the library at this property.

Spa Day and Afternoon Tea

This week I also met up with my best friends and we treated ourselves to a spa day at The Elms which included afternoon tea. This was a belated birthday celebration for my best friend and it was so good to spend time together after not seeing each other for a while.

Burwarton Show

I spent all day today at Burwarton Show and absolutely loved it. My feet are rather sore now from all the walking but it was worth it. Very cute animals, good food, good drink, vintage tractors and much more. All my favourite things.

The rest of my time has been the usual work, reading, walking with a little bit of housework.

I hope everyone is having a good week.

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

This and That Thursday

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I started yet another book today. I now have four books on the go which is feeling very odd and I definitely prefer reading one book at a time but I just can’t seem to settle at the moment.

I have been having some adventures outside of books though, so here they are.

Lord of the Rings Conqueror Challenge

We are still walking and trying to complete our Lord of the Rings Challenge. We are still on the first medal (there are 5) but we have now reached the 40% mark of that medal. Who knew it would take so long to get to Bree!

RAF Museum Cosford

I had an unexpected free Monday a couple of weeks ago so we decided to go to and see some antique planes. I always love visiting but I always feel a little sad at seeing all these beautiful planes which will never fly again. This is one of my favourite planes.

Afternoon Tea

It was my Mom’s birthday last week so we took my parents out to an amazing afternoon tea at Stanbrook Abbey. The food and service was absolutely brilliant and the venue itself was incredible. Definitely worth a wander around.

Attingham Park

Today we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went on a National Trust outing. Sadly, we were not able to go around the house but were allowed to go for a wander around the basement. Thankfully, the grounds at Attingham are beautiful so we did lots of walking and investigating. There was also a huge second hand book shop where we found a holiday guide for our next holiday.