Big Day

Hip hip hooray!

Tommorrow is my Birthday, or at least it would be if there was a tommorrow!

Hmmm, what I mean to say is that tommorrow would be my Birthday if it weren't March!

Yep, I am a leap year baby and this year there will be no February 29th! So technically no Birthday! Luckily I have devised a cunning two day festival approach to this problem. Just in case we miss the actual moment we celebrate today and tommorrow, woo hoo!

I am hoping for some cupcakes sprinkled with auricula flowers!


Wshing my fellow "Leaps"
a very Happy Birthday too!

I am scheduling this posting this from Kent as I should be in Cornwall right now enjoying said cupcakes! hope it works!

Sarah xXx

(back in a week !)

..and they were all YELLOW

I must begin by wishing you all , old friends and new (and I notice quite a few new!) the warmest, sunniest welcome from me to you all.

I have been a little MIA last week and have not visited you which I dislike. Especially if you have taken the time to leave me a comment, which is much much appreciated. It has been tres hectic here Down the Lane, but only with dull stuff that must be attended to!

I can tolerate this grey leaden weather when it is puntuated by Yellow.

Wonderful lemony yellow daffy~down ~dillies, row after row.

Singing, zinging yellow with tangerine faces.

I took these photos in February 2008.

So glad I did as I needed an injection of spring and these have done the trick

I was not in Kent but far away in the most South Western tip of our land...

"At the far end of England, a land of rocks and moorland stretches itself out into a blue-green sea. Between it's high headlands lie tiny sheltering harbours where the fishing boats hide when the winter storms are blowing."

Antonia Barber "THE MOUSEHOLE CAT"

I love the opening lines of the Mousehole Cat, whenever I read them to a little one I long to be spirited away there at once.

This chap is not so fond of the Mousehole cat, or any of our feline friends but he is mad about Kernow.

I whispered to him that we are off tommorrow and he whimpered in anticipation and jumped off his bed, bouncing towards the door.

So yes, we are off to Cornwall for a few weeks.

There shall be much re-charging of batteries ( I find that pasties help with this enormously!)

Once there, we are pretty much incommunicado, no technology has reached our far flung bolt-hole yet! I am secretly quite glad of this! No e-mail checking for Mr.Lane.

So forgive my silence and I will catch up with you all on our return.

In the meantime I send you all a Cornish Daffodil to brighten your days, look how they shine for you!

Sarah xXx

Shopping in Lewes

Drinking in the Morning Sun....... It's looking like a beautiful day!

You know how you have dates on your calendar, booked far in advance and sitting there as you turn the page to a new month, deliberately written in some time before. As the day approaches you begin to feel a tingly excitement and a little smile creeps onto your face in anticipation of a fun day.

Well Magpie and I have had such a day planned for a while now and here it is!

We are off to Lewes, in East Sussex for lunch and a spot of shopping! Lewes (Pronounced LEWIS by the way!) Is a wonderfully independant town with it's own currency like Totnes. Full of artisitic and literary history, wonderful cafes and antiques shops a haven.

This is the Harvey's Brewery, a potent symbol of Lewes! As we park the car I can smell the hops.

First stop Flint a real favourite for us both, run by Heidi and her Mum Julia.

In the window a beautiful florists bucket of twigs with amazing orange berries and a silk dress in cream with a beautifully painterly print in black, simply stunning. (sorry no photos as they didn't come out, but I am sure you can visualise it.)

Have a look inside here

Then on for a lovely rumage in Wickle well worth a visit.

Oh and then for the main event, lunch at Bill's

Love it here, scrubbed pine tables, fresh organic local produce, simple menu and cakes to die for!

You can check out the menu here yum, cheddar buck rarebit for me!

After a lovely gas about what's instore for us and our family this year, including lovely pre~planning stage for the summer when THE Faraways are visiting, hurragh! We hit the antiques markets, and yes indeedy I did score! More of that in a jiffy, first we felt in need of a restorative cuppa, an intrigued by this........

Take a peak

On Cliffe High Street,

Over the river you skip,

Past Bill you dip,

And when on Malling

By Dorset come crawling,

Amidst Antiquity

At five and ten,

Come and find me

I'm homely and hidden.

we followed the clues and arrived here

The Buttercup Cafe

Hidden in a lovely courtyard behind a favourite antique shop.

Ooh what a treat, a tiny cafe so welcoming, all mis~matched china and bright crochet blankets on the benches great tea and wonderful ginger loaf!

Anyway time to head home and show you what treasures we found

Lovely pussy willow and twigs of blossom from Flint.

And this joyous antiques shop find

I spied this and literally pounced on it! I think Magpie thought I was a bit crazed!

Oh, girls it is double bed size and nicely blocked and lovely grey, neutral edges, hooray!

This cream jug is massive, and I love the shape and proportion, I shall put my twiggy blossom in it. Found in FLINT.

So, had a little play with new treasures including these velvet lined gorgeous slippers from TOAST given to me by lovely Magpie.

Had to include the gorgeous cushion from Cottage Industry

A lovely day with Magpie, thank~you x

Hope you are all enjoying chocolates, flowers and other miscellaneous Valentine's Bounty.

Sarah xXx

ps. thank you Floralovely x

Rock and a hard place

It's as though we are suspended in a no-man's land somewhere between Winter and Spring. The weather gods are playing with us, as I write this the walls of my study and are painted in a beautiful golden~pink light, the sun is rising, rose gold from behind the trees at the bottom of the field.

We have had some tantalising glimpses of spring already this year and yet some days earth really has stood hard as iron. One Morning last week the whole village seemed to be covered in a sparkly, icy crust of diamond chips. My pots full of emerging spring flowers were like sugary crystalised decorations.

And then there have been days and days of sombre grey. Earth more like claggy, sticky bog! Sunday was such a day. Mr.Lane prescribed a circular walk from Penshurst to Chiddingstone and back. Buster Boodle wagged his approval, and we set off.

I think this picture describes the day beautifully! After an hour of my wellies enduring serious liposuction thanks to the heavy clay we were yomping across, we arrived here.

This is the Rock, a tiny and favourite pub at Chiddingstone Hoath. If you ever come to this part of Kent you must seek it out as it is seriously authentic. I love the fact that it retains so much charm but is in no way twee.

Love the Bullseye glass in the doors, which are tiny, you have to stoop! Mr.Lane also recommends our local brew, Larkins.

Yesterday morning I was walking with the Boodle and admiring the newly cut hedges. Farmer Jones has been out and about, busily cutting back last year's growth. The another advantage of this is the verges become more open and I spotted a rather lovely clump of snowdrops.

The hedges look so good! I love the flat tops and the angular lines that the cut gives to the shape and yet the hedge itself is so intricate. This hedge seems so beautiful to me, there are so many patterns.

And little escape routes are revealed, I wonder who uses this?

Much snow is threatened here tommorrow, so I shall be dashing off to buy provisions today. As I said at the beginning of this ramble, the sunrise is beautiful today, and here is the big sky yesterday afternoon.

Hmm, thinking about dumping 10cm's of the white stuff iminently! Like I said, caught between a rock and a hard place!

Hope you are all enjoying your week? I am trying to telepathically send the snow vibes to Canada where it is required shortly for a particular sporting event! ( Let me know if it works Koralee, Heather! )

xXx

Bookish

It seems to me that books really are the most wonderful things!

They not only transport us to wonderful places but as objects in their own right they have such beauty and character.

I love old books.

I love to while away an hour or so in a second hand bookshop, discovering beautiful books that have already had several lives of their own who knows where.

They smell interesting and old!

The bindings and paper are worn and crumpled and loved, they seem to be alive.

Some of the best presents I have given and received have been second hand books carefully chosen with a great deal of care and thought.

And, to my delight it seems hard back, cloth bound books are once again becoming fashionable, I am so glad to see this. real time and effort has gone into the design and materials as well as the type face and paper used.

These beauties are Penguin Classics

Simply lovely clothbound books!

And my current favourites are published by White's

Have a little decko at Jane Eyre with a cover designed by Celia Birtwell

So collectable and wonderful presents.

And then my heart goes all fluttery when I think of the amazing work of Su Blackwell who creates magic from old books, check out her work here

Oh, and I found this rather clever book mobile too!

I like to spend time in Much Ado Books in Alfriston, brilliant, go there if you are ever in Sussex!

They sell old and new books in a wonderful shop, I was offered home made lavender shortbread last time I was there, yum!

And I found this old copy of "The Weekend Book"

So beautifully designed, it was published in 1955 but looks so relevant don't you think?

I had a lovely reminisce over at Pip's this morning, check out the lovely Narnia covers, brought back lovely memories for me.

So if the weather is naughty this weekend I intend to console myself by burying myself in a lovely old book!

xXx

P.S I just remembered Deckle Edged those of you familiar with Viv at Hensteeth will already know about her clever sister who is also a book and paper cut artist. Her website is also well worth a visit.

P.P.S Heather, you are lovely! Thank you, thank you for giving me the Kreativ Blogger award, I am really thrilled, mostly because I hope lots of new readers discover your gorgeous blog

"a day in the country"

Pip Pip x