Stella

Staycation 2021 – Day 8 (Waddesdon Manor)

Thursday, 24th September 2021 – Waddesdon Manor On the Thursday of our staycation, after a scheduled session with my physiotherapist to sort out a neck/shoulder issue, we headed off into Buckinghamshire, via a series of delays caused by the hideous works for HS2, to spend the day at Waddesdon Manor. Now, Wikipedia says that Waddesdon…

Staycation 2021 – Day 7 (Stanwick Lakes, Deene Park)

Wednesday, 23rd September 2021 – Stanwick Lakes, Deene Park Wednesday we were in pretty much the same territory as on Tuesday. There are a number of castles, stately homes and such over towards Corby, along the Nene Valley. We were planning on visiting another one we’d never been to (and in fact until I started…

Staycation 2021 – Day 6 (Rockingham Castle)

Tuesday, 22nd September 2021 – Rockingham Castle Tuesday morning we made a late, slowish start (A had stayed overnight so we had breakfast together before heading off in our respective directions, she to visit a friend further north, us eastward towards Corby). Today’s destination was Rockingham Castle, another on the “we really should go there…

Staycation 2021 – Day 5 (Dojima Sake Brewery, Fordham Abbey)

Monday, 21st September 2021 – Dojima Sake Brewery Did you know that sake is now brewed in the UK? No? Nor did we until a couple of weeks ago, when I was hunting around for interesting places to visit on our staycation. It looked intriguing, and was over the same direction as Ely. We were…

Staycation 2021 – Day 5 (Ely)

Monday, 21st September 2021 – Ely After returning from Goodwood on the Sunday, Monday morning saw us getting off to a slowish start and heading east towards Cambridge and beyond. Our destination was the city of Ely, in Cambridgeshire. Now you may think “city = large centre of population” but actually what it means is…

Staycation 2021 – Day 1 (Tinwood Estate)

Thursday, 16th September 2021 In the face of Covid, and the resulting price hikes for any form of accommodation in the UK (because the owners/landlords know they have a mostly captive audience), we decided we would have a genuine staycation and would spend a week or so at home, going out for the day to…

Home 2021 – The Great House Extension Project (Days 135 – 142)

Sunday, 9th May 2021 – The Great House Extension Project (Days 135 – 142) You thought it was all over, didn’t you? Well, it is and it isn’t. We still have the front porch to remodel, the patio to be built outside our new bifold doors to replace the hole that is currently there waiting…

Travel 2021 – Towcester Wildlife

Sunday, 3rd April 2021 – Towcester Ever since we locked down back in 2020, 13 months ago, we have been taking regular walks in the local parks, including the water meadows, and along the stream that borders the parkland next to our house. In all that time we have made occasional sightings of the local…

Home 2021 – The Great House Extension Project (Bargain Furniture Find)

Tuesday, 9th March 2021 – Furniture Find I’m not a great one for antiques or vintage stuff if I have to hunt it out, but we do have one or two pieces that seem interesting, and just every so often, something comes along that you’re not expecting. There’s a space under the window in the…

Food 2021 – Banquist, Jitin Joshi

Saturday, 6th February 2021 – Banquist, Jitin Joshi Banquist have been consistently good through the entirety of the lockdowns/pandemic stay at home sessions, with a number of excellent meals curated by some very well known, well-regarded chefs. The latest one was the work of Jitin Joshi, former executive chef of Gymkhana, a Michelin starred Indian…