Nothing Exciting.

As nothing exciting has been happening here apart from the usual Christmas preparations and as you are all doing the same thing, I didn't think you'd want to read about mine. So I decided to take you on a tour of my local town.

The town is split into two parts old and new, I'll tell you about the old one today and the new one next time.

The town is very old, it is first mentioned in 1185. It was granted a charter to hold a weekly market in 1255 and in 1269 it was granted another charter to hold an annual fair, this still takes place in May.

As you can see there are some lovely buildings. The white building in the middle of the last photo has been used in some episodes of Poirot. Some of the buildings are being renovated and while this is going on you can see how old some of them are.


Not a very good picture but it was through a dirty window and you don't see this sort of thing very often.
It has a large parish church.


The first vicar is mentioned in 1210 but the church that is here now dates from around 1869.

The town is on an old coaching road so there are lots of pubs! Probably a lot less than there used to be.
There is The Saracen's Head

this is thought to date from about 1194 and there are written records of an inn from1242. It is supposed to be haunted.
There is the White Hart


there are records relating to it dated 1624.
Then there is The Greyhound


this is down one of the Ends, as the main roads are called. I've only mentioned this one as it's where Husband and I had our first date and it hadn't been "improved" then.

Just on the very edge of the town there is this house.


This is where G.K.Chesterton lived for a time. Not sure how old it is but I don't think it's as old as the rest of the town.

Hope you've enjoyed the tour, I'll tell you about the New Town next. It's certainly not as picturesque as the Old Town.

Enjoy your week.

Sue x

Family Gathering

This weekend the family was at home, except the youngest member as she was away for a much needed break.
The reason for this gathering was the 30th birthday of eldest daughter. How did I get to have a daughter that old?!
She didn't want a big celebration, she just wanted the family together, along with her partner.
On Friday night we sat round chatting, just enjoying being together. Oh and some alcohol was consumed!
On Saturday we had a party lunch. This was made up of all the things we used to have at birthday teas when the children were small. You know the sort of thing, all the unhealthy stuff you don't let them eat the rest of the year. In the evening we had a take-away and some more alcohol was consumed, although not to much.
The thing that she enjoyed most I think was the birthday cake. I had asked her if she wanted anything in particular and she said she wanted the same cake that she had on her 3rd birthday.
So I spent Thursday evening baking it and Friday morning icing it, this is what she wanted.



He tasted really good, a piece was saved for youngest to enjoy when she gets home and the rest that was left after we had all tried it went back to Norwich. Bet he doesn't last long!
We had a lovely weekend and we will all be together again in a few weeks time for Christmas, minus the hedgehog.

Have a good week.

Sue x

Winter Colour

I've been inspired by an idea in a post on Marigold Jam which she got from a post on silverpebble. The idea is to find colourful things to photograph throughout the winter months and so make things a bit more cheerful. So here is my contribution

the display outside the local florists. Lovely on a grey and damp day.

Have a good weekend

Sue x