A first, a second ...Oh! and I've been drinking!!

I completed my calendar journal yesterday while at our caravan but just couldn't get the pics to upload so now, after sitting in a traffic jam for two and a half hours I have them!

 I used two colours of Distress Ink on my page along with some stamping and a plaid of sorts around my squares!
The only stamp I could find to fit in the corner was repeat stamped along the bottom and I added a few birds and butterflies!

Here is last months filled in. 

I would also like to join Erika for her Polka Dots, Stripe, Plaids and patterns theme at Art Journal Journey.


Next a Second look on the 2nd over at The Altered Booklover, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog

I'm taking you back to September 2014 and a visit to West Cumbria
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I hope I didn't mislead anyone last week, we weren't rubbing shoulders with the aristocracy all the time! The Castle was Muncaster Castle on the West Coast of Cumbria and it really is in a beautiful area. We had an en-suite room in the Coachman's Quarters which of course were above the old Stables. 
The stables are now a cafe and we ate our breakfast here before the paying public arrived! We were quite surprised when the old gentleman next to us started to talk to us(and quote verses of his own poetry)told us his life story and then thanked us for coming! It was only Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington the owner of the castle. He is often seen around the castle entertaining the public and pruning shrubs where e're he goes.
(Warning - from now on there are lots of photos)

Our bedroom was just above the sign

The Castle is home to the World Owl Trust and has a huge variety of owls on it's conservation programme

The view of the owl Sanctuary from our bedroom window 

My favourites - spectacled owls- because we had free access
I visited these little fellas a few times

These two were huge!

On our first evening we decided to go along to Ravenglass for our evening meal! It had been rainy but we still decided to go for a walk. It is quite a small village and I'm sure would look even more picturesque on a sunny day!

Loved this!

When we came out of the restaurant after our meal I noticed an orange glow coming from behind the house opposite - walked along and saw this….

The dark clouds lit up by the sunrays was fascinating!

Ravenglass has a small railway and Roman ruins too.

The next day we spent around the castle - lots going on as it was Bank Holiday week. We were also treated to the sound of two Elizabethan musicians every so often which gave a great atmosphere  to the castle grounds(neither of us got a good photo)

The more formal gardens were beautiful with fantastic views

This was the entrance for coach house residents, past a beautiful church

The terrace walk provided the best views, the hedges are alternate Yew and Box.

At 4 o'clock each day loads (14 on the day we were there)of Herons turn up to be fed!

Once we had seen the Herons we headed off to see something I had looked forward to for a while!

This is Wast Water and was voted Britain's Favourite View!

Can you see why?

The Screes look quite dangerous

The view back the other way from the top wasn't quite as good

This was right at the top of the lake and is one of my favourite photos

We headed back alongside to a lovely pub for our evening meal.

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It's also time to join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T stands for Tuesday.

The other week was our Wedding Anniversary(the trip in 2014 was for our anniversary too) so we had a day out, at the time this photo was taken I had no idea where we were headed!

Hubby took a turn into Eyam (you may know this as the Plague village)and I wrongly assumed that this was our destination but he had decided to trick me by stopping off here for coffee.

I had a filter coffee hubby had a cappuccino, we shared a piece of cranberry cake that arrived with two plates and forks.(please note - I finished my coffee before hubby - a very rare occurrence!)

I could see hang-gliders through the window.

 Eyam is a lovely village, we did visit it a few years ago, but only went to the museum.

Our actual destination was Bakewell - a lovely town but I didn't take many photos so I may squeeze them in somewhere! 

Thanks for looking, Chris