From Yorkshire To Roses

Hello there, it's nice to be back. Life has been returning to normal after the long summer holidays but before returning to work N and I took a delightful short break south of the border to the beautiful Yorkshire town of Harrogate to enjoy the beautiful gardens, boutique shops, delicious cafes and restaurants, including the wonderful Bettys. We even squeezed in a visit to the ruins of Fountains Abbey and RHS Harlow Carr garden this time.

Fountains Abbey was busy, this was first thing in the morning and a brief pause in visitors passing through this arch was the only chance I got to take a photo of this beautiful view without lots of people.

There were some heavy showers when we visited RHS Harlow Carr so we spent a while in the gift shop out of the rain. It is a lovely shop which made me want to buy far too many pretty things, one item I couldn't resist was this book for N as he loves roses. I bought him one a few years ago as a joke, little knowing it would start a passion and lead to him taking up gardening.

This is the rose which started it all off, it's called Hot Chocolate and though the fragrance isn't strong it does have a beautiful, delicate scent so I just had to buy it for chocoholic N. It has gorgeous, unusually coloured blooms which start looking like red buds but open to an orangey-brown coppery colour.

One rose led to another and N bought this one which he grows in a  pot, unfortunately it had the wrong label on so we don't know what it is. When fully open it has yellow anthers and a strong heady old rose scent which makes our patio a delightful place to sit for a few moments. If anyone has any idea what rose this may be we'd love to know. Recently we added a climbing rose, the pink Zephirine Drouhin, to our little collection and have plans for a gorgeous David Austin rose we spotted at Harlow Carr, Lady Emma Hamilton, once a suitable spot can be found.


I always find the first week back a little strange after having N home for six weeks and this year has been no different. I've found it difficult to settle in to any crochet or crafting so I haven't been doing much at all however I thought I'd show you the few bits and pieces I have done.

This is a cross-stitch I started a few years ago and have finally picked up again. There are so many similar shades of thread I only pick it up when the light is bright enough and as crochet is my first love, this hasn't been coming out too often this year. I know I will finish it eventually, I just can't say when.

I moved on from the cross stitch back to crochet when the sun came out and inspired me to start these small Paisley motifs. I had wanted to do a second Paisley cushion but when I didn't really get to use the first one with all the rain we've had this summer I went off the idea. Well the sun is back now so out came my hook and I made up these little Paisley motifs. They are smaller and squatter than the previous ones and the hook part is joined to the main body of the motif this time too. I think this time I will pair the pink with yellow and green.

That's all I've made for the moment, I hope to catch up with all my blog reading this week and see what you have all been doing.

Til next time,

Hx