Decorating for Easter

An early Easter is always tricky.

Here we are on the first day of spring, but the weather is still feeling decidely wintery.  And Easter is less then ten days away.

We will be spending Easter in Brittany.  We leave next week, but I still like to have elements of Easter in my London home.

My daughter and I had a lovely time the other evening adding a few touches of Easter to this house, we are both really looking forward to decorating in Brittany next Thursday.

Here are our London efforts.

Have a lovely weekend, and I'll catch up with you next week once  we have arrived in France.

An early spring walk

I had such a busy week last week, teaching at my daughter's school, that I found I had no time to post these photographs.

Today the sun is shining, but over the winter, we have had, day after day of leaden skies.  However with a new, young dog and a six and a half year old daughter there is no excuse not to be out and exploring.

Do you remember the joy of puddles? My daughter loves them, particularly if there is a thin layer of ice to break!  And we're delighted that the dog is gaining confidence, he is now walking off the lead, it's wonderful to watch him blossom!

Testing the ice

Squelchy footprints

An air bubble under the ice

Creak!

Crack!

Look at me...

No lead!

Gaining confidence!

First buds...

I love these early signs of spring

A nest being built...

And a feather waving in the breeze!

A New Sea Glass Beach

I was a little unwell over the  New Year holiday, with a bout of gastric flu, but my husband and daughter set out each day for a walk whatever the weather.

The clever things, they passed a headland, and found a New Sea Glass Beach!

Once I felt better, I joined them and we had a super time scrambling over rocks, lifting shells and seaweed, to find these wonderful treasures of the sea.

This is a trick photo, there is no glass
but we loved the orange shell

The fragments of glass are usually to be found
among shells and stones

Just after the tide goes out they are easy to spot
as they still glisten with seawater

In France most are broken wine or beer bottles
so white, green and brown 

You can just see this fragment

We put them on a white plate at home to view them clearly

I love to bring this part of the beach home

Incredible jewel like colours

The natural shell and the seawashed glass look amazing

I love looking for texture on the glass

And contrasting the colours

A wonderful palate

Visiting Father Christmas

We popped along the road to Ham House on Sunday, where we followed a trail to Father Christmas's Grotto.

It was great fun, running around the garden looking for clues, making  a magic word which we could  tell Father Christmas when we met him.

I don't know who enjoyed it the most, our six year old daughter or my husband and me!

Ham House

Lots of Fun

Christmas decorations

The first clue was here, under this exotic fruit

We read the clues and filled in the wordsearch

Riding lessons at a nearby stables

More clues, and directions to the next one!

The clues were in the most unlikely of places

Wintery light dappling this wall

Another clue

They were all attached to bowler hats

Every where looked cold... Brrrr!

Some vegetables were still growing in the garden

But most were gone

the Holly looked spectacular

At last the final clue

We're nearly there!

Hot drinks for those feeling the cold

And here is Father Christmas!