Monday 21 July 2008

The ‘Good Life’ weekend

As some of you will know our garden has started to resemble something akin to a popular TV sit com (from the 70’s or was it the 80’s? who knows they all run into one at a certain age!) about a couple doing the self-sufficiency thing in suburbia.

Anyway as my OH was keen to sus out the local vegetable growing competition so we went to our village show on Saturday. It was the usual ‘jam and Jerusalem’ affair with the cake, flower arranging and veg competitions. But just to liven things up a bit they also had a visit from the Red Devils, which was very exciting, considering they dropped into the field extremely close to us, so here’s a couple of amateur shots just to give you an idea.





There were also a couple of bric-a-brac stalls, which of course deserved a closer look, and I found these 2 little beauties. The journal has lovely thick pages with gorgeous little sketches, just perfect for an altered book project, not bad for £1. The scarf is a lovely soft silk, white on one side, great for dying, and a yellow print on the other, a very good 10p’s worth.





The ‘good life’ theme continued in the evening with a birthday BBQ for our DS and his lovely DF, involving lots of home-grown salad, pots, eggs, herbs etc, oh! and home made bread, shame we didn’t have a pig, we could have done the hot dogs too.





On Sunday we went on a jolly to the Weald and Downland Open Air Exhibiton for a rare breed show, and what fun that was. It took me about 2 minutes to spot this fantastic stall at the bottom of the field and guess what? The chicken stand was next door, karma I’d say!!
Well I had to have look didn’t I and here’s the result, the fibres are Marino wool and silk and only £2.50 for each lot, 50g, seemed very reasonable to me.



Of course my OH had to have a trio of birds, i.e. 2 hens and a cockerel, and here he is sprinkling them with talcum powder, the idea being that if you make the new birds smell the same as the older residents they won’t fight. It seems to have worked too.



There was so much to see at the show, not least this lovely little portable loom, I want one!! Only £130.



On that note I have to admit that I succumbed to buying this lovely Jacob’s fleece, the colours are wonderful and it was only £5.0. So off she goes again, I hear you thinking, my neighbour is going to teach me how to spin, and if that doesn’t work I’ll felt it.



But when you get really clever you can do this.



I took a few shots of some of the animals that were being shown, and was particularly smitten with this huge bull, he really was a beauty, and so placid, I spent quite a while stroking his head, behind the barrier of course.



And as for this chap I thought we were about to take one of his mates home!!



The smile of a champion



All together the perfect day, did I forget to mention the oak smoked cheese and ciabatta we had for lunch?

8 comments:

Hannah said...

Sounds like a fab day out! I like the look of that loom!! Are they online?

Shirley Anne Sherris said...

What a weekend Sharon.
The merino wool was a bargain. I said some time ago that you were heading for 'The Good Life'.
You seemed to have had good weather which is more than we did - torrential rain.

Julie said...

We won't ask what the pig is dreaming about!.......he's got me smiling :) What a lovely post Sharon, I don't know where to start! Very impressive pic of the parachutey guy (senior moment forgotten the proper name!) and all that gorgoeus wool! Yummy! oh yes, and what a lovely diary too, lucky girl! And the sun shone, perfect.

Joanna said...

What a great fair to go too! And, that pig face a true classic! I was saying to my husband he could almost look like an old man sleeping. He looks like a truly content pig.

chrissythreads said...

OMG! I would have been in heaven. That Merino tent looked wonderful and so cheap. I also recently purchased a fleece (Southdown - £4) and have been spending spare time de-pooing it and washing it, good job I like the smell of sheep, but its going to be a LONG job so good luck.

Purple Missus said...

What a wonderfully entertaining post. Glad you showed DH with the hens & talcum powder - would never have believed it otherwise *LOL*
And the pig photo is fabulous - poor old thing, he obviously doesn't know whats in store for him!
You've brightened my day. :)

Ro Bruhn said...

Oh the nostalgia,I remember as a child we used to attend the village fair, this brings back memories.
So does The Good Life, we attempted to be self sufficient about thirty years ago, vegies, fruit, chooks, we even had 'Margo' living down the road. One had a formal invitation for afternoon tea, unbeknowingly I turned up in my wellies one day, much to her amazement.

Val said...

Brilliant post Sharon - and even more brilliant buys! (what a keen eye you must have!) Val