Hunting for a little house in the country for the parlour maids

The title may be a little obscure to some so will endeavour to explain. On a Wednesday I post on Needlecraft Haven a little message to all my Parlour maids. We choose to stitch a design from one of three designers (sometimes there is more than one of us doing the same design) the designers are Little house needleworks,Country cottage needleworks and lastly The Sampler Girl . We have been discussing various rooms we may have and always enjoy our evenings in the parlour. The annexe has been added to enable those that are doing LHN  series Santas village .On Monday of this last week ,Martin and I took a drive out to a small village that is on the outskirts of Weymouth. To look for our Little Cottage in the the country so I could play pretend with the ladies . Are you with me so far?!! Anyway this was the Cottage I chose to photograph and "wish" it was mine. I thought the end of the cottage could be the annexe and the window  next door to it could be the parlour. I have shown the ladies and they would all like to come stay in this virtual cottage of ours.
This is in a little village called Sutton Poyntz and has a lovely duck pond which is fed by the River Jordon. Alfie our youngest grandson was baptised in the River Jordon one Christmas Season a few years ago.Then we sang carols but thought we may get odd looks if we started singing carols at this time of year.lol.

Sorry it is not very clear . Here is the river Jordon where Alfie was baptised.

At the far end is the duck pond and yes ducks were a dabbling up tails all. I did not manage to get a pic of the up tail though just head down.
It really is a pretty village and does not boast any shops only a pub called the Springhead. I think i shall be getting a reputation of the woman carrying dog biscuits as I was lucky to meet a few dogs and they were lucky too as they had dog treats much to their owners amusement. Ollie was not with us, he would have been in with the ducks. I also needed to have a sheep fix,and did not want to take Ollie as although I do not think for one minute he would chase them he may bark at them. He loves Country file and whines at them on the T.V. For those of you who are not in this country this is a programme about the countryside ,farming and lots of lovely animals -and sheep!!!!! Anyway I digress,hope you will not be bored with this post it may be a long one. We wandered about willynilly and found a friend who I could have brought home with me.

He/she even let me pick it up for a cuddle. I like cats but Martin is not too keen they upset his asthma . Although he was ok with the two we used to have and he was ok with Misty cat. I think he just wants me not to nag him that I really really need a cat!!!!!!!!!. Another good reason that Ollie wasn't with us as I think the cat would have not come to greet us ,and Ollie would have pulled someone's arm out of its socket ,as he would like to make friends hmmm so much !!!!Round the corner from here were some beautiful daffodils in a garden so of course the camera came out.

In the wall of one of the houses was this sundial and also if you look at garden after that you can see ,well can you spot it, a splash of blue a bluebell. So pretty a little haven to sit in.

It reads life is but shadow.

The bluebell is about a third of the way up from the bottom on the right hiding in the yellow. So we then said good bye to the ducks ,

Just had to take pic of the weather vane , it is a little blurry as it was windy.

So now  think I had better show you some stitching before I show you where we went next. This was our wedding anniversary by the way and we had just been out for lunch.Whilst on that subject thanks so much for your lovely comments to us both they were much appreciated.

SO onto the stitching and here is my Hope the sheep virtues I am sal with Sally, I am afraid I imitated Carin and used fine Chenille from Victoria Clayton for my sheep and "ewes not fat you's fluffy"!! So I am doing all these sheep in it.

Just awaiting the wool for the backing. I am also waiting for the next in the series which is Love.I have almost finished April so will let you see the almost finished article.

Next time hopefully it will be finished completely. As I mentioned at the start I meet with the girls in the parlour and  this is The Tea Room or at least the downstairs!

So that is the stitching that I have to show you.
Family news perhaps not so good, Jack eldest grandchild has suspected glandular fever ,but hopefully it is just a bad case of tonsillitis  He has not been able to go to college this last week. Caitlin his sister is having problems at school too. Ella too has school and friend? problems . Oh I am so pleased mine are grown,but let me tell you ,you still worry about the grandchildren.
Now are you ready for Mondays continuing travels. Well Martin knew I had to have a sheep fix so we got in the car and drove down to Abbotsbury. We went along the back roads and just before we got to Abbotsbury proper I espied some shhhhhheeeeepp .

Now don't you think they look like my woolly sheep hee hee.I think the one on the left looks as if it has been eating too much grass. Although the one on the right is quite fluffy too. Maybe they are pregnant.They have a yellow dot on their backs. I could show you a few more sheepies but will just share one more for the view they look at.

In the background is the Abbotsbury Swannery.Which is explained here,

We did not go into the swannery as it is walking and that is a no no. We did go into the little shop and admired this outside.

Then we visited the coffee shop where I was presented with this by Martin ,coffee cake yum but I think it was meant for 2 lol. Martin as you know is allergic to egg so none for him.I did share it with the birds.!

It was even warm enough to sit outside . So there you have our afternoon out but I have a couple more to show you , not many litter bins like this about.

Perhaps if you are ever in this part of the country you may like to visit here. On the drive home we stopped to take a picture as another thing you do not see very often . Is thatchers at work.

This is another a little closer .

As I know he will read this ,I would like to say to my husband of 46 years -it was a grand day thankyou sweetie.
I think also my son Graeme may read this too, so I will say thanks again to him as these are the flowers he sent for Mothers day. This was taken yesterday so they are lasting well Graeme.He wanted to know what we got up to on Monday so I am sending him this way to see. Hope you managed to get to the end it was a bit long this time . So thanks for visiting and I shall see you next time -
Hugs and much love

Barb xx