Not at ALL what I had planned for today. Kinnersley Castle . . .

You know you are in sheep country here . . .

 Well, the day started badly.  I decided to have cheese on tomatoes on toast for breakfast.  Bad move - as the sliver of enamel on a molar with a very large filling, broke off . . .  I phoned the Dentist straight away - they could give me an emergency appointment in an hour.  I quickly changed into presentable clothes and was on my way - managing to forget my waterproof jacket so when I got to Llandovery and it rained, I got wet.  Toof quickly patched up - it may last, it may not, in which case it's either removal or crowning . . . think it will have to be the latter or I will start to look like  Gummy Jock (chap we used to see in town as teenagers in Southampton!)  It was £30.  They told me had I been a private patient, it would have been £310!!!  Anyway, I popped into the sewing shop, and they were still clearing their Rose & Hubble ditzy prints at £7 a metre, so I bought another metre of a print I bought last time I was at the dentist.

The castle . . . I was parked just below it.  I drove back, but got stuck behind someone intent on sticking to 30 in the 40 zone and no faster in between, breaking hard for each slight bend in the road and doubtless panicking when it was Z-bends.  I got fed up so pulled off below the Sugar Loaf and took some photos.  The new header was the best.

Carmarthenshire at your feet . . .

Then one of Tam's friends, who is a history and crafts buddy of mine, messaged me to ask did I know that Kinnersley Castle was open?  I checked it out.  It was a lovely day.  I dropped everything once I read that - just got in too.  Got in the car, grabbed a bottle of water and a soft "lunch" - "don't eat on that side - make sure it's soft foods only today".  Well, puff pastry is soft isn't it, and cream and apple puree?  That was my lunch :)  Oh, and I made Kedgeree for my tea, which doesn't need much chewing.

I arrived early, so parked up and went around the church again, which didn't fail to impress a 2nd time.  Will share that with you all tomorrow.

The front of the castle, with the later entrance. We went into a room used as a Library and had a short talk about the current family and when they arrived there, before going outside to walk around the building and seeing the changes in architecture.  It began life as a Norman castle but you can see where the Elizabethan windows were inserted later, as was the third floor.

There used to be a wing of the earlier castle jutting out from this end wall, but it was demolished (in a state) in 1880 and these windows added. 

The pillar on the left is one of the buttresses which became necessary to support weak walls.

Of course, there are no footings and the drainpipes empty out at the base of the house too, which is not ideal . . .

You may be able to see if you look closely, but the middle window on the right in the wing to the right of the tower, is really quite out of kilter - bending inwards . . .  In a Grade 2* house, this would not be a cheap fix.

The Servants' quarters.

A Huge 100 year old Gingko Biloba tree.  They sell the leaves to Neil's Yard Remedies.

There were two lovely double-cube type rooms, one above the other. The bottom one with panelling which had been covered over with painted canvas, which has kept the panelling from darkening over the years. A lovely fireplace too - though problems with the Jackdaws still trying to reclaim the chimney for their nests!  A beautiful ceiling which had been replaced in the Arts and Crafts period.  The room above it had its original ceiling, ornate with sinuous dragon-headed beasts, pomegranates (spotted those and thought Catherine of Aragon straight away), vines and flowers.  Around the top of the walls were various crests and dog-headed trailing sinuous snake like shapes.  Weird.  The intriguing part was the small  Green Man above one window . . . The Vaughans were staunch Catholics, but appear to have been hedging their bets!

It's open tomorrow, and next weekend too, for anyone who might read this and be in the area.  Kinnersley Castle Events  

I am glad to have done the typical Aries "drop everything" to go as it was really interesting and a lovely day out.

You can only spend it once

 

I have had my Hospital appt. and my nose has been signed off as non-malignant.  Phew.  Keep using the Factor 50 though.  Then it was post a letter time - one to my penpal in Holland.  I last wrote at Christmas and the price has gone up another £1 since then - £3.20 now.  I wrote on a card with a couple of pages extra, but that's the cheapest I could have sent it anyway.  We may have to email each other in future, though we don't correspond that often.

Then down the street to the Health Food Shop and I got a bag of Dove's Farm Organic Wholemeal Rye bread flour as I fancy making the Maslin Bread that Sue (My Quiet Life in Suffolk) mentioned on her blog about the Flour Mill.  Tasty and high fibre.  Cheaper there (£2.29) than at Tesco (£2.40).  

I stuck to my short shopping list as I did a big shop last week and most of the fish etc is still in the freezer waiting for me to be home/have an appetite again. I shall do a Salmon Kedgeree with one of the pieces of wild salmon I bought then.  I remembered Oat Cakes - which Keith loved - so got some Nairn's, one Cheese and one Superseeded.  High fibre.   I got Strawberries to eat at breakfast, and will try some Kefir yoghurt (Aldi) a little at a time to get my gut used to it.  Since my hospital stay, I have cut right back on sugar, virtually no Alcohol either (1 1/2 glasses over two nights) and no Diet Coke.  I have no sugar urges now so I am hoping that the high-strength antibiotics I was on in hospital have killed the bad gut bacteria.  I did buy minced beef (diddy tray of 5% fat) and will make that into a Cottage Pie, using half and half mash with spuds and sweet potatoes.  I can freeze that in portions then.

L. Whale was on the sofa before I left and I thought I would have a tiny trim of that bad nail again - snipped it and the whole big "rogue" nail fell off.  It had split on one side, and that had been digging into his paw too.  Underneath was a perfectly normal short new nail.  I am glad about that. They are due worming/flea treatment so I can spend what it would have cost for his nail appt. on that instead.

This afternoon I have to collect my new spectacle frames after breaking the old ones (arm came off - because I pull them off right-handed).  I will have the old lenses put in the new frames.  £36.  From the weekend money again.

I resisted the temptation of any magazines, treats etc, although I did allow a packet of Wheat Crunchies into my basket for the occasional nibble.  Although I earned some money at the weekend, that will pay for much of my middle week in NZ, and as my header said, you can only spend it once and I need to spend it wisely.  Oh, ahem, non-edible treats - I had a special 1/2 price offer on two of the Audible books by S J Parris (£3.99 each), and did take those as I had enjoyed the others so much.  I did try Borrowbox but it didn't have the old authors I wanted to listen too.  I listened to Voyager to and from Llandod - I intend to get all the Outlander books to listen to.  I think I am going to spend £4.99 on renting The Salt Path on Prime, since I was prepared to spend nearly double that seeing it in the cinema.  So that's £12 from my takings going on entertainment.

Yesterday, whilst resting up, I finally got to see all of A Passage to India (saw bits of it one Christmas, but think I was probably cooking the meal whilst it was on.)  I thought the ending a little weak/contrived, but it was enjoyable all the same.  India is so colourful - I'd love to go there - but too hot for me, and I would get upset about animals in poor condition, and beggars who have been deliberately maimed to attract more sympathy and money that way . . .  What a career choice . . . that or starve.

This morning, l made soup for my lunches this week, using home grown tomatoes, then onion, leek, grated sweet potato (I'm not mad on it in chunks), carrots, lots of cabbage, tomato puree and a sprinkling of Garam Masala stirred in before re-heating.  I pureed it and it is lovely and tasty. When you consider a single tin of boughten soup is about £2 these days, this cost a fraction of that to make - and enough for the week too.  Enjoyed with a slice of the Norfolk loaf from the Bakery in town, but back to baking my own again now.  I will say, it is a struggle to have to give up anything strongly curried, apart from now and again.  I don't really enjoy granola with the Greek yoghurt, which is so thick, even when I have lots of fruit with it. (I don't like milk so don't have that with cereal).  I have always had beef mince as a staple, in all sorts of ways - chicken or turkey mince don't have the same oomph.  I like all rices, so not bothered by changing from white L-G, and have usually had wholemeal/granary bread.  I occasionally have a sliced loaf when T & R are here, but it's usually the granary sort.  A small white crusty cob is twice the size of a wholemeal loaf, and I did enjoy white crusty cobs . . .  Ah well.  I need to keep my gut healthy.

Right, this won't do.  Down the road to the Opticians now. . . Back, and better off than I thought I would be as the new frames didn't fit the old lenses, so she had to take an arm off the new ones to repair the old frames, and that cost only £15 and not the £36 for the entire frame (I can't afford fancy-pants frames, so have to go for the budget end of the market).  

Sneezing fit to burst

 I can't remember ever having sneezed quite as much or as violently as I have with this cold.  I have just taken half an Actifed, in desperation, and it has calmed the streaming nose and sneezing a bit.  Phew.  I have spent half the day asleep on the sofa, the other half awake on the sofa, watching various You Tube offerings.  One lady shared her haul from the Festival of Quilts - my goodness, she must be skint now!  I have to say, her choice of fabrics and mine widely differs, but each to their own.  I shall pop across to her site occasionally to see what she makes from them.

Tea tonight was half a pizza from the freezer - I didn't fancy curry two nights in a row.  My appetite is not big at the best of times, but I certainly couldn't eat an entire pizza, nor are you meant to of course. Otherwise I have only had some wholemeal bread and a bowl of chicken soup all day and two Discovery apples

I have seen where one early retiree and husband have moved from North to South in France, and what she bought with her first week's shopping.  Surprising to see prices fairly level with here - e.g. minced beef shot up in price.  Her meal choices are not what I would initially think of making, having been bought up totally differently - hers probably a lot healthier than my own bung its.  I hope that their new home isn't too gloomy in the winter as I could only see one small window downstairs, apart from double glass doors at front.  At least it will be cool in the heat of the summer months.

L. Whale is now sound again.  The claw that was operated on in the spring has grown back with a vengeance and after he had been shaking that paw sometimes when walking, I managed to check it out, and the claw was growing into his pad.  Desperate NOT to have to spend £60 or so at the vet's just to have a claw trimmed, I managed to gently restrain him on the sofa (that hand in a leather riding glove) and snip the end off.  Phew.  He is a lot more comfortable but when he has forgotten about being trimmed, I will take a bit more off and trim the others too, though they haven't grown at anything like the speed.

I did some more research on the people in the recipe book, and found out that Sheila Eastleigh is actually Sheelagh Southwell Eastley, who was married to John Edward Eastley and she was a JP.  They were at Loventor Manor in 1944.  She was a JP and awarded an MBE for her war work.  Since 1933 she had been the Hon. Organizing Secretary for the Personal Service League, formed to provide clothing for the unemployed in distressed areas etc.  She also assisted in the formation of the A.T.S. in Devon and was Welfare Officer for Devon and Cornwall.  She certainly did her bit.

I get my new spectacle frames on Thursday (old lenses replaced into them) and note to self, do not remove them by pulling them off on the right side.  Use both hands.  On Thursday, I also have to see the skin specialist in LLandod Hospital to check the mark on my nose - which has been much better this year as I slathered it in Factor 50.

So, not a lot going on.  Not up to sewing, or walking, or even dead heading the roses.  Or baking, or making bread, or anything much really.  A hot bath and a hair wash next.

Lovely old recipe book

 Good morning all.  I don't know why I bothered to go to bed last night.  I was so tired by 9 p.m. I went up, but came down again at 12.30 and was STILL awake at 4 a.m. with shoulder pain that paracetamol didn't touch.  My neck and shoulder were aggravated when I had my MRI scan, and lifting boxes (I couldn't let Pam do it all) yesterday made it bad again.  This morning I can barely croak, so have clearly picked up a bug over the weekend.  I had to cancel my asthma review appointment and put it back a week. 

Anyway, here is the interesting old recipe book I bought yesterday.  A quality book with marbled end papers and margins, made and sold by Pawson and Brailsford, Sheffield.  I have found Edith Davy in the 1901 census at 10 Belvedere Road in Scarborough, which is a lovely big period house - the sort you need money to own, and the use of this expensive book means they were comfortably off.  She was born in Sheffield in 1865 and married to Charles, a retired mechanical engineer.  Age-wise, she would probably be Ruth's grandmother.  Anyway, from Scarborough they moved to Devon, and in the 1911 census they are living in Knoll Cottage, Woodbury, Devon and a Maude Hosford (born Leeds, 1870, DiL, widowed, private means) and her son William 8 (b. Kensington) are staying there/visiting.   I have found a picture of the beautiful manor house Ruth/her family  lived in (now divided up into flats).  Ruth Eleanor Hosford doesn't appear to have ever married.  She was born 2nd November 1910 and died 13th May 2005 - so made it to 95.  Her death was registered in the Torridge area of N. Devon and she is mentioned in Companies house 2002-05 as a director at a Barnstaple address, along with various of the Hartnoll family.

There is a picture from the paper of Afton, the little hamlet on the doorstep of the manor house.

This page from Vogue magazine was slipped into the front of the recipe book.  A little snippet of history.  Can't find out anything about Sheila Eastleigh, let alone the enigmatic "Sue", but doesn't Mrs Eastleigh look a kind lady?  Perhaps that is Sue in the photo too.

 

The first recipes in the book.  There seemed to be a lot of ones using breadcrumbs, so perhaps these were 1920s/30s recipes - the other ingredients were too difficult to source in wartime.

This must have been a much earlier recipe, note the instruction to cook it "over the fire".

I think the earlier writing is Edith's, and have included this page as she seemed to have made these recipes, owing to the splashes on the pages.

Towards the end of the book the hand changes, and is similar to the writing that put the address and year 1950 on the front page.

Of course, the moment I saw a Totnes address I thought of all my dad's family tree hefted to that area (and around Dartmoor) so knew the book had to stay with me. It "had my name on it". . .

Right, going to lie down on the sofa now, and have a Time Team nap . . .

Time for another wander round . . .

 

It poured today, torrentially at times - with pausing into drizzle at others.  It REALLY affected the footfall and I had plenty of time to go for a wander around.  Several of my dealer friends who had been doing this Fair for many years were absent - although one was having a knee op.  The two "posh" buildings were half empty.  As the Fair has been bought out by another company, they are clearly a new broom sweeping clean. This would appear to be the same for the catering pitches - NONE of the ones which had been there for decades were there, but two or three brave individuals had filled spaces, but who wants to pay £13 for a Greek snack lunch?  Or £7.50 for a burger in a bun?  However, the date did clash with important Fairs in the South - Ardingly and Detling, and dealers who are permanently on the road, moving from Fair to Fair, would stay down south and not bother to come up to Wales only to go back again a day or two later.  The back sheds (where I am) seem to still be well supported with dealers, but there were noticably less outside stalls and NONE at the far end which has always been full to bursting with spread-out stands and vendors sleeping in their vans by them.  Disappointing for folk visiting. . .  I sold 3 things all day . . .

A really unusual European painted bed head.

A beautifully hand-made christening gown.  Every stitch and pin-tuck sewn with love.

Above and below, good displays of Ceramics - Clarice Cliff below.

Several photos from a friend's interesting stall.  Unusual patchwork quilt below.

Lovely wholecloth quilt with good hand quilting.

Finally a fabulous smock.  I always fancied making one of these and have a book about it, but it's one of those pipe dreams we all have occasionally.  

Whilst I was browsing their stall, and nattering, my eye fell on a lovely old hand-written recipe book, many from the 1940s/50s.  I asked the price, and it is now mine.  I will write about it tomorrow, when I have done a bit more research on the lady who it belonged to.  

Meanwhile, I have my asthma check and my 2nd Shingles jab tomorrow morning.  Hope I don't get any side effects.

When I ask for help

 Looks like a menagerie doesn't it?! The Giraffe, of course, sold . . .

 . .which is something I hate doing, friends are only too glad to lend a hand. I was "carp" at lifting today as I haven't been gardening much this summer so my muscles aren't very toned, and I had a bad night's sleep last night 😔 and was tired before I started.  The chap who is my regular next door neighbour at the Fair unloaded heavy things for me and put my tables up, bless him. They are unwieldy at the best of times.

Anyway, Tam and Rosie arrived after lunch and I had a quick look at the outside tables but I was very unimpressed - not a thing I would have liked in my home. Lots of it seems to be house clearance.  I took Rosie with me in her pushchair to give Tam a break . Then my friend Pam arrived and stayed to help me load the car with a few things I needed to take home, so I could fit everything else in tomorrow and she will help me pack up then. It's free after 3 p.m. I am so grateful.

I'm resting now and about to take a couple of Paracetamol for my sore neck, where I have a small area of arthritis which got upset when I had to have my arms above my head for the MRI scan last week.

As always it was good to see old friends and customers and make new ones. I am all chatted out :) 

Back home now and resting. Tam's just taken Rosie up to bed so I have some peace again and am watching Fake or Fortune, about a Rodin drawing this time.

Hope I get a better night's sleep tonight. Enjoy your weekend.

 

A Walk Around the Fair

90% set up.  K's stuff to go out tomorrow, and a selection of paintings I have here.  Reluctantly offering my favourite horse picture, dated 1913, but I can live without it, and need to carry on the downsizing exercise and moving things on.    Shattered now though, and will rest this evening and hopefully sleep well.  Thank Goodness it's not a 7 a.m. start like it was with the last folk who ran it - they added an hour either end where we had to be with our stands, so they saved on two hours' Security payment. . .

LOTS - and I mean LOTS - about half each front (expensive) hall - of empty stalls, for whatever reason.  The back sheds are fairly full though, so perhaps people have moved there, as perhaps it's the the cheaper option. Or have just decided it's not worth it for them to come here.

I had a walk round once I'd done my stand, and here are a few of the things on offer.

My friends' stand - still a few things to go out.  They specialize in Wemyss ware and Llanelly plates.

A pretty European cradle with a folksy design.

Some nice things on this stand.  Keith and I loved it when we dealt in period furniture.

Another stand with all sorts on it.  Looking at the chest of drawers, I get the feeling that the handles and key escutcheons are far too big.  We have Georgian chests of drawers and the handles are a good bit smaller, so possibly these are covering where it was "modernised" with round wooden knobs in Victorian times.  Each would have left a big hole on removal.

Another nice setting.  Those gate-leg tables sell so cheaply at auction now. . .  Yet they are so practical as fold down to just the width of the central legs.

Royal Worcester I believe.  Several display cases full.  OK as long as customers want Royal Worcester . . .  A lovely display but eggs all in one basket springs to mind.  You can't say that of my stand!

Oh my goodness, if Keith had been there he would have been over and asking the price!!  The legs are a . . . later! - addition and look like they've been made of drainpipes!

Someone's late lamented Jersey cow, taxidermied!

Some interesting treen here.

A few quilts for your delectation on a friend-from-the-old-days stand.

An example of what many of the backsheds stands look like, bits of everything . . .  Hah, mine looks like a menagerie this time!

Right, off to sit down with a glass of water now.  Hoping the weekend goes well.