Day at Hestercombe

 Ok today's post is full of photos of my and Andy's walk from Taunton to Hestercombe in Somerset.  We did this mid September before we had the lovely heatwave.  As you can see the skies were grey and it was a bit nippy.   We had a nice snack of fresh blackberries on the way.

This was the view over the fields from Pitcher's Hill, Cheddon Fitzpaine.

We saw some nice wildflowers ... Common Toadflax

And some nice buildings

With beautiful Hollyhocks outside

As well as free apples for the taking

Check out the Hollyhock taller than Andy!

Sitting in Hestercombe's 'Stable' coffee shop.  It is converted stables and we are in one of the stalls

Beautiful Cyclamen in Hestercombe shop

The man is looking away as I enter my pin number

A beautiful Autumnal display, would love this in my garden

I love this cute building which is the 'Bat house' - there are bats inside but we didn't see any because the monitor showing them was broken

On our way through the grounds

This is usually a waterfall but I think someone had turned the tap off!!

Andy on the Chinese bridge

I loved this tree, maybe a few fairies living inside?

We bought some swan food but the swan didn't appreciate it

A nice feature.  There are loads of lovely features at Hestercombe

And some lovely grapes, a bit sour though

 Beautiful flowers

I love this daisy like flower which seemed to grow everywhere and here they are growing out of stone steps.

Snapdragons (easier for me to spell than the latin name)

I love these Michaelmass daisies with bees and butterflies.  Click on the picture for a beautiful enlarged version...

You can see the butterflies easier if you click on the picture

Hestercombe House

Guess who?

Love this interesting entrance

In the outdoor coffee shop, beautiful Cyclamen on the tables

Love the tree growing in the pot, shame the picture doesn't do it justice

An interesting hole in the wall, taken by Andy ... actually the next 7 pictures were taken by Andy

Me taking photos of the bees

The Orangery

A nice house on our journey back home

And an even nicer dog we stroked as we passed by.  Her name was Belle

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  We had a lovely long day there.  I recommend it totally

Miaowski is on holiday

Yes, she is spending a couple of nights at Andy's house.  This is just to give her a bit of variation and me some hassle free living - no not really..... I love her dearly.  I want to her to get to know Andy better seeing as he is a part of our lives.  

She doesn't really like being held but Andy seems to have the magic touch.  Maybe it's because he's wearing his Simon's Cat t-shirt.  And talking of which, here is a cool video by Simon's Cat -  I reckon most cat owner's have experienced this ...

Enjoy ....

Oh you are sooo foxy

This is the fox drawing I was trying to do yesterday.  And as I said, I haven't drawn anything in ages so it really is a bit of a scribble.  But (and I'm trying not to be so self critical) at least it looks like a fox and not, say, a rabbit or a hedgehog :-).

I've got to get back to practicising more and I'm going to try and do one drawing or doodle a day.  Otherwise my drawings are going to get more scribbly than ever.

Next week I'll be putting up pictures of the day out I had with my boyfriend Andy at Hestercombe.  Hestercombe is just on the outskirts of Taunton, Somerset, and as their blog http://www.hestercombe.com/ says, is

'Hestercombe is a unique collection of three gardens spanning three centuries of garden history and design. All have undergone acclaimed restoration works and today provide important examples of gardens in contrasting styles that continue to grow and develop'


It is really beautiful there and we had a great day.

Have a lovely weekend and thank you for stopping by ....

Woo hoo a new post at last

Well the weather is getting a lot cooler now so my thoughts are turning to creativity once more. The conditions were right, the sun was streaming through my window and I had my sweet Miaowski for company. My drawing pad and pencils all ready and I had a really nice picture of a fox for inspiration ....

Of course I had to take some pictures of Miaowski who was looking really cute.

But also looking a bit bored.

And maybe I should have heeded the warning signs. Cos she was also looking a bit annoyed because I started sharpening my pencil. She got all interested as the sharpener made a scratchy sound on the pencil. I don't know, maybe it just frazzled her ears. So I started drawing the ears of a fox. I haven't drawn in ages so I was just scratching a few marks on the paper. Maybe it was the sound that annoyed my furry friend. But within a flash she was up from her sleepy position and attacked my hand viciously and gave me a good prod with her sharpened claw. As you can see ....

Evidence of blood beginning to oooze! Ok, not much but still, enough. Oh yes and the sudden attack made me drop my pencil thereby making it blunt again :-/

It's a shame about the quality of these pictures but it's difficult when the sun is shining through. I was in a great mood for drawing. But now, I have a painful hand and a blunt pencil. And then the plant gets knocked over ...
Does Miaowski care? Nope, and here we have the innocent Angel impression....

She doesn't like the picture of the fox either.

I will show the picture of my fox tomorrow when I get a better picture of it. Think I will have to scan it. It's not great though. I haven't drawn for ages and it's quite scribbly.

My lovely cousin Lynn (check out her fantastic blog here http://pinneyandpnut.blogspot.com/)made me a beautiful recipe book and covered it in material and embroidered a cool design on the front. And just look at Miaowski using it as a new cushion. Honestly, that cat has such a cheek! And you know what? She gets away with just about EVERYTHING!

Divine Recline

Well, to begin with I was pleased with this gorgeous greyhound because to begin with I managed to get the body shape half right. But after I'd done the eyes and hadn't captured them properly, I went off this drawing. And what's with the atrophied shoulder??? I know I'm hard on myself with my drawings, but I'll never get better if I don't see the mistakes.

The main thing I'm happy with is the ears. Love those floppy ears, so sweet. And I'm happy with the way I captured him languorously reclining on the sofa. The patch on his bottom is bad shading, where it should be showing darker fur. I work hard on a drawing and then give up when it's not going right.

I recently discovered some amazing art work by Cecil Aldin, a British artist and illustrator best known for his paintings and sketches of animals, sports and rural life.. He draws dogs really well, I love his work. Would love to get nearly as good as him.

Thanks for stopping by. Check by now and again to see if I improve any time soon :) xx

Charlie me darlin

Okay, I've been slacking ... ha ha, I know I said I'd post this picture yesterday. But instead other things cropped up and I totally forgot.

Well, this is Charlie (I'm sure it's Charlie but it might be Jack). I'm going to re-draw this picture because I struggled like crazy with his nose. First I got the length right but the angle completely wrong. When I re-drew it I straightened his nose and then shortened it. Poor dog!

I'll do it again and hopefully get it right. Meanwhile I've been working on another drawing of one of these beautiful greyhounds and I'm hoping to put that up over the next couple of days.

I'm gonna have to draw a picture of a cat soon because Miss Miaowski is having her nose put out of joint by all these doggie pictures!

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by ....

Shelby, Jack and Charlie

Happy New Year!!! OMG this is my first post in ages and for the new year.

Well I don't know where time flies. But I have been having a good time even though I haven't been doing a lot craft or art work.

These three gorgeous greyhounds belong to my cousin Kyle and his wife Lynn. I hope I've got their names in the right order, Shelby Jack and Charlie. I know I haven't done them justice. In fairness, my printer isn't brilliant and when I printed this picture out I couldn't really see the details in their eyes. And it's their eyes that show their true personality. It's the one thing I really try to draw correctly but didn't quite manage it. Actually the more I look at my drawings the more faults I find so maybe I should just stop looking and practice more!

Here are the beauties ....
Tomorrow I'm going to put up a picture of Charlie I drew before Christmas. Only his nose isn't quite right and it's something I've had a problem with. But before I can re-draw it I'll show the first attempt anyway... gotta have something to show on this blog otherwise it looks like I've been slacking, :)

Have a lovely Monday and thank you for stopping by ....