Attic24

Autumn Woodland

Waking up on a gloriously sunny, bright Sunday morning....

....prompts us to head out for a stroll. We walk along the canal....

....until we reach the small beck. The reflections of Autumn are breathtaking.

Into the woodland we go, strolling in dappled shade....

....under a sunlit canopy.

The trees are still holding on to their Summer greenery....

....but the Autumn colours are slowly creeping in.

How wonderful to look up as I walk! Makes me feel so happy to be outdoors....

....watching my sweet family walk, run, chatter and laugh.

A moment of rest beside the pond....

....then a steep climb up out of the woodland to the sunshine bright fields.

♥ We did this beautiful walk through the woods just over a week ago at the end of October. It was such a glorious morning, so bright and beautiful and perfect for a Sunday woodland walk. I look at these pictures and they make my heart sing. So much good stuff. The Little People spent the whole time trying to catch falling leaves so they could make a wish. I can still vividly remember the sounds of their shouts, squeals and excited exclamations. It was the sound of joy ♥

 

 

 

 

October 2012

Mmmmmmmm, a bowl of steaming hot porridge with sultanas, chopped banana and a generous drizzle of golden syrup. That was my lunch today, I had such a terrific craving for it at lunch time and it was absolutely delicious, so cosy and warming, real comfort food on a cold, rainy day.

The light levels have been so, so low here this week, with heavy grey skies and intermittent rain. At the weekend our clocks went back an hour, so no more Summer Time and such an early close-of-the-curtains in the evening now too. Our lamps are working hard, both in the early morning and throughout the evening, and I have a makeover in mind for our old, plain cream Ikea job there. I'm thinking something decopatchy to match my dining table lampshade, but with extra crochet and button trim pizazz. I am also thinking about a stripy crochet wrap-around for the stick bit of the lamp, ha! It's gonna be a bit whacky! I can see it very clearly in my Minds Eye, so watch this space....

The blankets are working hard too, their workload goes hand in hand with the lamps. Which reminds me, I really must get round to finishing off the ripple. It just needs a bit of a border putting in place but I've been procrastinating over it and doing other things instead. It bothers me that it's over a year since I started it, and yet it hasn't had it's moment of ta-dah glory yet cos of the missing border thingy. So slack of me I know. Soon though.

One thing about this time of year that I really love is the way that the Little People come back to their indoor pursuits. The bad weather and dark evenings force them to play more indoors, and although this suits Little Lady very nicely, the boys struggle a little. But it's been a really nice thing about summer's end (for me anyway), and I've been encouraging all sorts of creative pursuits. Colouring books have come out, new sketch pads and pens have been purchased, spirograph has been given a whirl and recently the hama beads have been rediscovered. One very happy Mumma here, as I love to watch my Little Peeps busy with their creative fingers.

The Very Large Tub of Lego has been back in action too, much to Little B's delight. He's still a bit young to really build with the small lego, but he's not bothered so long as he can somehow be included. As you can see, he just tends to jig around on the periphery making lots of excited chatter, but it seems to keep him very happy. He is also very accomplished at Lego Demolition, and will dismantle a carefully built vehicle with alarming dexterity. All good fun.

Crochet is not in any way a seasonal pursuit for me as you well know, but I do really have a major crush with blanket making at this time of year. It just fits the Autumn season so perfectly, especially if there is a crackling fire nearby and a hot mug of tea to hand. I am still working slowly on my Granny Patchwork blanket, fitting a few squares in whenever I get chance. The funny thing is that I started this blanket as a way of de-stashing my Stylecraft leftovers, and of course the inevitbale has happened and I am running out of the stuff. Ahhh, shame, it looks like I shall have to restock in order to complete the de-stash project, does this count as a success or a failure?!

I am still wholeheartedly addicted to my monthly magazines, and have been enjoying the Autumn editions very much. Usually I find they get me down a little with all the brown and all the indoorsy stuff, but I am finding them inspiring and cosy this year. I particularly enjoyed Sarah Raven's write up about tulips in the November issue of Country Living...I am very inspired to try this exact planting scheme of hers in some big pots.

I've been thoroughly enjoying my little garden posies throughout October, such a sweet and colourful reminder of Summer. Sometimes I have them on the dining table, sometimes, beside my bed and sometimes (like now) in the bathroom. Wherever they end up, they bring so much joy to a room, even though the ink bottle is only small and the snips of flowers very modest.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago, the Prosecco cork a sweet reminder of a 4pm Friday celebration with friends when The Results were through. Very happy to report that Little Man passed the 11+ exam and will be heading to an extremely well respected boys grammar school next September. Happiness and utter relief all round. Silly 11+ system.

October often feels like a transitional month, with one light foot still in Summer camp, and one woolly-socked foot in Autumn camp. We did have a couple spells of bright sunny weather in October, although the memory of them is buried under the general damp mist and rain that hung around for much of the month. I stopped hanging out my laundry to dry in September when the window-fitting men dismantled my washing line, but my neighbours across the back street are still hanging theirs. The view of my elderly neighbours pyjamas and underpants is an oddly comforting sight, although I'm not sure I should really admit to that. A laundry-filed washing line just speaks of cosy domesticity, and I always delight in seeing it.

The colours of Autumn are very evident in my neighbourhood now.

Our walk to school has become a leafy affair, and on dry days we delight in much kicking and shuffling through piles of fallen leaves. I often think that when you are a parent of small children, it's quite wonderful to suddenly find you can legitimately do all these things again...running and jumping through leaves, splashing in puddles, singing as you walk, balancing along low walls. Little B has re-introduced this simple, physical fun back into my daily life which I am rather grateful for.

We are so, so lucky living here in that we have a really beautiful piece of woodland just a stones throw from the town centre. It's owned and managed by the Woodland Trust and offers a really wonderful reflection of the seasons. I think my favourite time to walk here is in May when the wild garlic is in full bloom, but October comes a close second. Many of the trees here are beech trees, and their coppery golden leaves at this time of year are beautiful.

We walked in the woods a few Sundays ago, a lovely family walk on a sunny morning. Little B absolutely loved it, striding out in his new wellies, enjoying the outdoors and his favourite pursuit of poking a stick into muddy puddles. I took some lovely photographs on this day, I'll share them with you sometime soon before the memory is lost.

I am declaring October to be the official Month of Cheese. Since returning from France, I've had a renewed love of cheese and have been eating it often at lunch time with a bit of crusty bread and butter. I am back with the English cheeses though (on the left is Five Counties, on the right is Wensleydale with apricots), but I think I need to be more adventurous with my Cheese Appreciation lunches. Tomorrow I am going to go and search out some gooey French cheese to remind me of my week away.

Been trying to counterbalance the Month of Cheese with some healthy snacking, especially as my jeans are only just do-uppable at the moment. I do need to shed a bit of excess weight that has accumulated during the course of this year, but darn it, it is baking season now (as well as the cheese thingy) so not sure if I am capable of any dieting malarkey till nearer springtime.

October has also brought about my seasonal candle obsession too, like the lamps and the blankets it's a natural reaction to the lowering light levels at this time of year. I love candles, they never fail to make me feel all sort of cosy and mmmmmmmmm.

Autumn love extends to my faithful hot water bottle, brought out of it's summer sleep sometime last month and now pressed into nightly service down by my feet. I cannot bare to have cold feet in bed, they keep me awake and make me fidget, but I don't like to be too overly hot in bed either (electric blankets are not for me). I love my hot water bottle ritual. Yeah, it's the cosy-mmmmm thing for sure.

Halloween yesterday, did you celebrate it where you live? We do, in a fairly low key way that involves a few spiders and some suitable chocolates. Oh, and definitely always a pumpkin too.....

....I wish I was showing you a picturesque pile of pumpkins on an organic farm or something, but have to admit that this is just the local supermarket. Still glorious though, aren't they?

J actually took it upon himself to purchase the pumpkin a few days in advance of halloween, and he chose a very sweet little specimen for us. He said he picked it cos of the shape and smooth skin (good, good) but the diminutive size of it seemed to have escaped him. I had a little laugh when he got it out of the bag, he was a tad offended I think. But still, we had a family pow-wow over the design, and I set to work.......

....very pleased. Scary but fun. I am not one of those Mums who can leave it to the offspring I am afraid. I did allow them to carry out a little bit of scraping-out (and in Little B's case, some experimental tasting of the seeds), but the carving fun was mine-all-mine.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo spooky! We had a fun but rather wet trick-or-treat outing around our neighbourhood last night, but it was really good. We taught Little B to say "Hap-py Hall-weeeeeen!" and he delighted all the houses we visited. Sweet, sweet boy (he was dressed as a skeleton this year), he is impossibly cute.

Octobers Attic view has seen Summer depart and Autumn arrive.

The moorland is wearing it's parched, dry grass look, and the bracken which covers the side of the hill has now turned brown.

Definitely Autumnal.....

....but the beautiful light at this time of year helps make up for the browness.

So that's October then, all done and dusted and behind us for another year. I'm hoping that November will be a gentle month of homely pursuits as my nesting instinct has finally kicked in (a little late this year, it's usually a September thing for me). So I shall be donning my apron and getting down to some serious housekeeping during these next few weeks. I expect that I will feel a pressing need to tell you all about it. Bet you can't wait.

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Provence Temptations

I have to say I have really, really enjoyed sharing my Provence travels with you all, it's been a pleasure. I love the whole process of writing blog posts like these. I love taking a heap load of colourful images, then stringing together memories, thoughts and emotions with a sprinkling of descriptive writing to produce an inspiring record of life. My week in Provence was just a teeny tiny small slice of my life, just a mere fraction, yet it felt so important to capture and record as much of it as I could. I find that the act of putting words together with pictures is a very therapeutic thing to do, and quite simply I LoVe to do it. And then when I share it with you too, well, it somehow intensifies it and makes it all the more special.

After six lengthy rambling posts, I haven't really got a huge amount left to say about my week in Provence. But there remained a niggling feeling that I hadn't quite finished putting all my thoughts in place.

One of the things I have most missed since coming home is the sunshine. Oh the delicious warmth of the Provence sunshine is such a beautiful memory! I just adored the feeling of spending all day outdoors, returning home in the late afternoon feeling sun-warmed right through to my bones, and I miss it. It doesn't happen often enough in my part of the world, we are sadly very short of hot days even in our summer months. To be in the south of France in October experiencing a week of true warmth was such a luxury.

Looking back on my blog posts, I realise that a lot of what I have recorded is to do with my visual experience of Provence. Because I am an extremely visual person and am constantly tuned in to the colours, patterns and light in my surroundings, I guess this is what inspires me the most and makes up my the majority of my memories. The landscape, the buildings, the market, the villages, the food, the weather, the sun and the stars. But there is another element to the week I spent in France, and that is the people.

So to round up my Provence Journal, I would like to share a couple of things that we did during the week that were extra special because of the people involved.

This lovely lady is Sylvie. Sylvie and her husband keep angora rabbits, and they came to visit us at the villa to demonstrate how they spin, dye, knit and crochet the angora fibres.

It was a really special morning. It was lovely to meet people who are so passionate about their vocation and who demonstrate such talent. Sylvie's spinning was absolutely mesmerising, and although she made it look easy, I know for sure it is nothing of the sort.

Her yarns and textile pieces were very beautiful, and well, they were just really lovely, warm, friendly people.

It made me realise how great it was being in France with Provence Temptations, because it enabled us to have a very lovely and personal insight into French life. Away from the tourist trail, and into the lives of some lovely French people.....

....this amazing house and garden belongs to a beautiful French family, friends of Petah who runs Provence Temptations. We were invited here for lunch on the last day of the tour, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the whole week. The house and garden were absolutely stunning, as was the weather, gosh, it was seriously hot on this afternoon! We were instantly made to feel  welcome here, invited to sit, chat, drink an aperitif, nibble on some delicious appetisers while we waited for lunch to cook.

Lunch (lamb chops) was expertly cooked on the outdoor barbecue, and the six course meal (six!) with various accompanying wines was really incredible. I wish you could've heard the noise though. It looks so peaceful and serene in these pictures, but honestly, lunch was a very lengthy and loud affair. SO much laughter around this table! So many jokes, anecdotes and lively spirit! It was a truly wonderful experience, made even more memorable by the generosity and warmth of our hosts.

After coffee and the most beautiful, pastel coloured macarons (why didn't I photograph them? they were exquisite), we were invited to try a pomegranate from the tree right beside where we were seated. For us English people, the sight of these rather exotic fruits actually growing on a tree is really amazing. Unreal almost. We are used to apples and pears here, but sun ripened pomegranates, well what a luxury!

I have the most incredible memory of the taste and texture of these juicy red seeds bursting in my mouth, it was absolutely lovely. And it was my birthday too.

Here I am look, smiling at the thought of all that luscious wine maturing nicely inside these oak barrels! We were lucky enough to enjoy a visit to Chateaux Pesquie, a large vineyard and winery on the edge of the village where we stayed. I didn't think I would enjoy this tour as much as I did, it was really interesting to learn about the whole wine making process from the grape vine to the bottle. And of course we got to taste some very top notch wines, as well as some delicious local olive oil.

This is Petah and I one morning, supping coffee and eating the most delicious honey cake. I really, really liked Petah. As she lives in Australia, it was not possible for us to meet before the tour took place, although we did email a lot and chat on the phone. But as soon as we met, I already felt like I knew her and I also knew instinctively that we would be good friends.

She and I are the same age, she is a Mum to two children who are older than my brood, and we share a love of the outdoors, the landscape, the beauty in our surroundings, and of course the yarn thing. Petah is a fantastic knitter and hooker. Every time I saw her wearing her hand knitted socks in the evenings when we were relaxing back at the villa I wanted to steal them from her, they were so beautiful. But what I like most about Petah is her absolute love of life. She has so much energy, so much joy for living and getting the most out of life. And she is most definitely a People-person. I am quite a quiet soul really, in real life I am happy pootling about by myself and am very happy within my own little colourful bubble. But Petah, well, she seems happiest when she is surrounded by good people and lots of chatter and laughter. And boy, did we laugh! It was a very happy, fun filled week, full to the brim with lovely people, good things and happy times.

I have come home from Provence full of gratitude. Grateful to my gorgeous husband for encouraging me to take time out from my family and go Have Fun. Grateful to Petah for offering me the chance to go to a place I have always dreamed about. And I am grateful to you all for stopping by the Attic each day to read about my scatty, colourful life. Thank you. Very, very much ♥

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ps Provence Temptations is a fledgling tour company with great heart and soul. Petah is knowledgeable and passionate about this area of Provence and the people who live there which really comes across in the creative way she plans the itineraries. Her unique insight comes from the year she spent living there with her husband and two children, and she shares this experience with great enthusiasm and zest....her love of all things Provençal is infectious!

Tours are already being planned for next year, so do keep in touch with Provence Temptations if you are interested in being "lured away from your every day"

www.provencetemptations.com

www.facebook.com/ProvenceTemptations

 

 

 

 

 

French Bower Bird :: Ta-dah!

It seems like quite a long time since there was any decent Ta-dah-ing in the Attic doesn't it? I think it might've been the May Rose Wreath which was way back at the beginning of the Summer, crikey, I really do need to be more productive. How very slack I've been this year!

I've been SO looking forward to sharing this little project with you, as a lot of heart and soul has gone into it's creation.

Working to a deadline is not something I'm used to, neither is making something specifically for others, so this project had me a little nervous at first. Like many of my projects, I've had the idea spinning around in my head for quite some time, and suddenly this seemed like the perfect opportunity to coax it out into reality.

I ended up working quite hard on it in the weeks before I took it to Provence, and it was not as straight forward as I had originally anticipated. I had to sample and re-sample the various pattern parts until I was completely happy with it all, and it took a lot of faffing. Lots went wrong. Lots ended up in the bin. It's one thing to come up with the idea, but quite another thing altogether to create a good pattern for it. However, this kind of design work is soooooo interesting and exciting to me, I absolutely adore the process.

Ok, so you must've read the title of today's post, and know that this project involves a bird? That's it above in it's flattened out component stage. I originally tried to design and work a three dimensional bird in amigurumi style (a little like this one), but after a few failed attempts and a lot of frustration I realised that I was simply not capable of doing it. I am not a Three Dimensional Thinker. No. I do best with Two Dimensions, with simple, uncomplicated flat shapes that don't require stitch markers and ooodles of counting.

Right from the start I wanted this project to be very decorative. I really love combining wool embroidery with crochet (do you remember the babushkas?), and this is definitely something I would like to do more of in future.

I kept the decorative stitches simple, using mainly straight stitches.....

....and was really happy with how it came out. I really hoped that the ladies in Provence would enjoy the stitching too as I know it's not everyones cup of tea (I can tell you they did, they stitched their birds so beautifully, I'll show you in a bit)

This was the Communal Yarn Heap I took with me to Provence for us to work from. It's a mixture of DK merino wools (Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino, Rico essentials merino, and Lang superwash merino). I wanted the ladies to feel the happy rush I get when faced with a whole heap load of colour, so I stuffed a large bag full and took the whole lot with me. I wanted for them to be able to play with the colours, line them up, compare and contrast, pick and choose. The yarn stayed on the coffee table in the villa for the duration of the week and provided a great working palette as well as a jolt of colourful inspiration each day.

During the week, I made up another bird in shades of blue.

It was really interesting seeing which colours were chosen by everyone, and how each bird began to take on a new personality when it was made with different colours. Dani chose tropical bright greens with contrasting orange details....

....and Sue's bird (destined for her seaside-inspired summer house) was made in calm shades of blue.

Sitting outside in the warm October sunshine to crochet was one of the weeks highlights for me. The intense light made the colours seem even more rich and vibrant, and it was incredibly relaxing to sit working with the sun so warm upon us. Sometimes I think that a spell of  warmth and sunshine at a normally chilly time of year is the greatest luxury and gives so much pleasure.

Do you know, when I planned the project and thought about how everyone might take to it, I hadn't anticipated how I would feel about it. It was such a super-good experience to watch people actually at work with my ideas, kind of like my blog come to life in a way. It made me feel soooooooo happy! I felt like I might burst with pleasure actually!

These al-fresco-hooky pictures were taken in a beautiful spot just outside Roussillon where we stopped to have a lovely picnic lunch (with the giant tomatoes, remember?). It was really quite hot on this afternoon, but with a strong breeze blowing.

Just behind where we were sitting there was a pretty little oak tree, it's branches and leaves rustling in the breeze. I thought it might be a nice idea to hang my bird in the tree to photograph it.

Want to see?

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets have a  closer look >>>>>>>>>>>

There, that's better, there she is, my little French Bower Bird sitting in her pretty flowery bower. She was being blown about in the wind a lot I have to say, and it was quite tricky getting an in-focus picture of her. I did try!

There....she's landed! I love her beady little eyes and the way she perches so sweetly as if just about to burst into song.

I wish I had taken more work-in-progress pictures during the week to share with you as it was really great watching the projects take shape. The time we had to crochet at the villa was quite limited and mostly in the evenings, but there were a couple mornings where we were "at home" and could spread out on the table after breakfast. On these occasions, we had the most incredible pastries to nibble on, and of course that divine milky coffee (mmmmmmmmmmmmm!). It was all rather blissful.

I was so pleased that everyone managed to finish their bower birds in time for them to travel home.

This is Sue's beautiful bluebird.....

....and this is Dani's happy tropical bird.

And this pretty little cutie belongs to Petah (the wonderful Aussie lady who organises Provence Temptations tours).....

....here she is on the last evening before we sadly had to pack everything away. Petah tells me she has now added some flowers to her bird bower, although I do quite like the simplicity of it without.

My French Bower Bird is very at home in the Attic, I love seeing her there keeping watch on us all.

Every time I walk past her I get flashes of bright sunshiney warmth and colour and a flood of happy memories.

This could very well be the end of the Bower Bird Story, but if you hang about a little bit longer, I'd like to show you a bit more.......

The grey bird I made before I left home was given a slightly different vocation in the end. Rather than sit idle in a bower of flowers, he had his tummy stuffed with gloriously fragrant Provence lavender and is now keeping my Cath K pillowcases smelling divine. I so wish you could lean forward, give him a squeeze and inhale the amazing scent, it is incredible.

While I was making the above birds and bowers at home and in France, I had a PiNg of an idea. I figured that the stripy ring cover could easily be made to look like a rainbow, and instead of a heart hanging down, I could somehow come up with a design to make a sun!! Wouldn't that be sweet?

So last week I started work on the idea, and hooked up a rainbow.

The idea worked a treat, am so happy with how it turned out.

Just want to mention about the rings that form the base for the crochet, they are marvelous and not very much money to buy. They are designed (I think) to hold and frame stitched pieces of work, so they come with a lovely little metal hanger on the top. They are called "Flexi Hoops" and come in lots of different sizes, the ones I used for this project are 7" and came from Ebay (see here and here). Modelled for your appreciation by Little B. He who Has To Be IN on EvErYtHinG.

The other thing I bought new for this project were some shiny little beady safety eyes, and I couldn't believe how much character they gave to the birds. The ones I used  are 6mm ones, you can find them for sale here, along with many other shapes and sizes.

This was me this morning, sat in my pyjamas in the dim light of the bay window (it's been raining all day here today, and I've been in my pyjamas all day!), adding the decorative stitching to my rainbow bird.

It's not a bad work space I don't suppose, although a little bit cramped on the arm of the chair and the windowsill. Plus is does leave me very exposed to the attentions of a certain Little Boy who was practically sat on top of me for much of the time.

I enjoyed doing the embroidery on this little bird soooo much, it's quite a knack to know when to stop. I wanted to smother her in little lazy-daisy flowers with french knot centres, just for the joy of stitching.

I have to confess, I feel really proud of this simple bird design. It comes together quite quickly really, once the main body part/tail has been made. There are two wings to stitch on, and then an underside/gusset piece which gives the bird a nice rounded tummy and three-dimensional shape (who needs amigurumi?!)

The sunshine turned out pretty good too, and was very easy to make. I made two of them and simply stitched them together with a little bit of stuffing inside to give it shape.

Awwwwwww! I love this little pink bird, I think she is my favourite of the four I've made so far.

I went up to the bathroom shelf to take a few photographs, but the light today was very low and grey, so apologies for the poor quality. My little garden flowers look bright and cheerful though don't they, I picked them yesterday and think they may be the last now (boohoo).

I've got lots of ideas brewing for these sweet little birds you know. I want to make a seagull type one to sit in a deckchair-striped bower hung with mini bunting for my bathroom. I also had an idea to make some slightly smaller/fatter ones in jewel colours which I could stuff with christmassy spices to nestle in the branches of the Christmas tree this year. And perhaps a Festive Bower Bird, sitting in a ring of holly and mistletoe? Or maybe a Snowy Bower Bird in frosty blues, silvery greys and whites, surrounded by crochet snowflakes? Sooooooo many ideas!

....but for now I need to find a home for Miss Rainbow. I'm thinking Little Lady's bedroom might be the perfect place for her to go to roost.

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ps :: have just received this gorgeous photo from Dani...after returning from the tour, she made these Love Birds as a wedding gift for her friend, don't they look amazing? The sight of them has made me feel rather ridiculously happy! ♥

pps :: this beautiful picture has just come through from Petah! I am in love with her finished French Bird in his bright flowery bower, huge heart swells here! ♥

                           

ppps :: Sue's Bluebird has landed! He looks right at home inside her new seaside summer house, so happy to see :o)

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Provence :: Roussillon

I'm so glad that nobody has asked me to pick my favourite part of my week away, it would honestly have been an impossible task. The tour was packed chocka-full of great things to see, do and experience so that every day seemed like a dream. However, there was one particular place that really earnt itself a place in my heart, and that place was the village of Roussillon.

Like many of the other villages we visited in the region, Roussillon is perched high up on a hill. But the thing that made this place different was the abundance of colours . Oh, the colour of every single bit of Roussillon was just sublime!

The town is built upon a ridge which is rich in ochre deposits, and up until the 1930's there were big quarries here which mined the ochres for use in the textile and art industries.

I hadn't really known much about any of this before I arrived, I only had a vague idea that the buildings would be a slightly reddish colour. I hadn't anticipated the stunning array of colours to be found within the earth itself....isn't it beeeeeeautiful?

Even though natural pigments are no longer mined from the ground here, we came across a fabulous art and gift shop on the edge of the village which still sells them. Hundreds of jars full of powdered paints, an incredible variety of colour all taken from the surrounding landscape. I was absolutely mesmerised by it all.

But then.....the landscape was nothing compared to the beauty of the village itself.

Oh My.

Come on, I'll take you through the streets of Roussillon and you'll see what I mean....

This incredible door is at the very bottom of the main street. It takes your breath away with surprise as you kind of come across it around a corner and there it is.

This is the main street up through the village. It is full of beautiful little gift shops and art galleries.

The colours everywhere in this small place are intoxicating.....

....the hues in the old walls and buildings seem to glow in the morning sun.

The little streets and alley ways wind upwards, quite steep at times.

And everywhere you look there is beautiful old stone work in mellow colours....

....and cute little vistas around every corner.

There is an ancient, rambling feel to everything here....

....yet it also feels loved and cared for somehow.

So funny! I've just had a flash back to myself walking around these beautiful little streets, you should have heard me! I was sooooooo excited by all the colours that I sort of went into verbal hyperdrive. I exclaimed a lot!! I also had some really cute design ideas pop into my head as if from nowhere, I really got inspired here you know!

We wandered around Roussillon at a very leisurely pace and there were hardly any people at this end of the village. It was sooooo quiet and tranquil (except for my exclamations and rabbiting over excitement). We were very fortunate visiting in October as I imagine it gets terribly busy here in high season. I appreciated the tranquility and the lack of other people very,  very much.

You can see how high up we were, we are right at the end of the village here, looking out over the wooded valley and cultivated fields down below.

As the morning edged towards midday, the haze lifted and the most amazing blue sky was revealed. It made the colours of everything look even more incredible, especially this glorious pyracantha bush with it's bright orange berries.

These morning glory flowers were so lovely, they were rambling up over a gateway to a small perched house right on the edge of the rocky ochre cliffs.

By now, I had kind of talked myself into a frenzy and was suddenly in dire need of a good coffee and a calm down. So we turned and began to walk back down towards the village square.

Awwwwww!

We walked past this window on the way up to the top of the village, but I hadn't really taken in the detail then. On the way back down, I suddenly noticed how pretty the curtain was....

....isn't it delightful? I may have swooned a little right here.

I just love love loved these windy little narrow streets. The weeny thin views of the buildings ahead were so charming, it was a real pleasure to just put one foot in front of the other and Stroll About here.

Almost there....you can just see the central square and the town hall there which is at the heart of the village. I can smell the coffee!

Ahhhh, what a beautiful, happy and atmospheric place to stop for morning coffee, I totally loved sitting my bottom on those lime green chairs and passing some time chatting over a drink....

....speaking of which, my café au lait was completely divine. Mmmm-mmmm.

Such an amazing, stunning place. Oh, the colours!!!! Still in raptures over the colours.

Roussillon, you stole a little bit of my heart, and I feel sure I will come back to revisit you again one day. I can't wait.

♥

So......I think my friends, that might possibly bring us neatly to the end of my Provence Travels. I hope you've enjoyed sharing my memories with me, it's been such fun reliving it all. Excepting of course, we've still got some hooky to come, oh yeah, I've not forgotten, of course not! I've simply saved the best till last. So do please come back tomorrow for a little bit of a colourful Ta-dah moment, I can't wait to show you what we got up to under those sunny blue skies. See you then.......

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Provence :: four villages

Village 1 :: the ancient perched hilltop village of Les Baux de Provence

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Village 2 :: the medieval hilltop village of of Vaison la Romaine

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Village 3 :: the quiet, sleepy village of Monieux

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Village 4 :: the beautiful, serene village of Ville Sur Auzon

Four Provençal villages.

The first two were pretty much given over to tourists, yet they were bustling with visitors taking in the history and enjoying the ambiance.

The second two were much more "real" and lived in, yet unbelievably quiet with near deserted streets.

We weren't in these villages to do anything in particular, it was all about just Being There and soaking up the atmosphere. That was one of the lovely things about the way Provence Temptations had designed the tour, it was just so relaxed and enabled us to simply enjoy. I felt like I was made of sponge, like I wanted to soak up every scrap of what I was seeing and feeling.....

.....the warmth of the sun, the intensity of the light, the most beautiful sun-faded colours on walls, doors and shutters, the abundance of flowers, the crumbling stone, the winding cobbled streets, the steps here there and everywhere, the old olive and plane trees rising up through pavements, the unexpected views, the rustic simplicity. All of this and so much more.

It's hard to describe how lovely it was simply to wander slowly around these small villages. We walked and walked and walked and there was such beauty and charm around every corner. I enjoyed it enormously, it made my heart swell ♥

Tomorrow, I'm taking you to one more place, my favourite of the whole trip. See you then....

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Provence :: landscape

The village of Mormoiron where we stayed last week with Provence Temptations was small, ancient, picturesque and peaceful. It kind of nestled itself so beautifully into the surrounding landscape that it seemed as if it had been there forever. That's it in the picture above, taken from a local vineyard where we had an exclusive tour of the winery. It was really interesting to learn about the whole wine making process from the grape vine to the labelled bottle, and even more interesting to sample the various wines made there. Although I am blissfully ignorant when it comes to wine I did try really hard to recognise the hidden flavours that the knowledgeable wine lady was talking about. They all tasted scrummy to me.

I love these tall skinny trees and we saw them a lot as we travelled around Provence. I forget what they are called now, is it Cypress? Like much of this landscape, they made me feel a bit like I was walking inside a Van Gogh painting.

We went to many High Up Places when we travelled around and about. Sometimes the sheer height of where we found ourselves was really mind blowing. This rocky place is at the very top of Les Baux-de-Provence, a most picturesque and ancient hilltop village.

The views of the surrounding countryside were stunning...

 

....and I loved the green patchwork of fertile fields and olive groves spread out below.

The driving around and about between all the High Up Places was simultaneously spectacular and terrifying. Ooooooo those hair pin bends! Eeeeeek those sheer drops! But it was all worth while when we came to somewhere like this......

WOW!!!! Check that out! This is a famous piece of road which runs through the Gorges de la Nesque. It's famous due to lots of bicycles, ie the Tour de France, which comes this way.

Simply stunning scenery.

Breathtaking. You have to go look at this picture which shows the road we drove on. This one too. It was a little bit of white knuckle combined with a whole lot of ooooooo-eeeeeek.

Ahh, we are back on two feet now, the car has been left down by the river and we've walked up here to take in the view. This is another beautiful High Up Place, the old medieval part of a town called Vaison-la-Romaine.

More patchwork fields of grape vines, so lush and beautiful to look at. Incidentally, I took lots of pictures in the old town which I'll show you tomorrow, it was wonderfully atmospheric.

One of the things I was a little sad about was that October isn't lavender time. I would really, really have loved to be in this area in the summer months just to see the landscape wearing it's purple haze. The dried out greeny-brown version wasn't quite as pretty.

These particular lavender fields are famous in the region as they are tended to by Cistercian monks who live and work at Sénanque Abbey.

It was so serene and peaceful here, even though I kept wishing I could see and smell the lavender.

This incredible bridge was the last scenic tour we made during our week in Provence. It's an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge called the Pont du Gard, and is one of the most incredible, humongous structures I have ever set eyes on. It's hard to convey the scale of it, it's seriously massive I'm telling you.

Look, see? See how teeny-tiny those people look? It was an amazing place to be, both on the bridge itself, and down along the riverside looking up at the bridge. It was awe-some. And then some.

I love this last picture, it looks like it could be a painting don't you think?

In fact, the whole of Provence was impossibly picturesque and scenic. I adored feeling like I was somehow a part of it, that I could stroll about, gaze at the views, take it all in and feel like I was living inside a painting. It was a wonderful sensation.

Tomorrow I'm taking you through some really pretty little Provence villages, see you then....  

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Provence :: to market

One of the things I was most looking forward to when I read the itinerary put together by Provence Temptations was the promise of a jaunt to a local market. I felt sure that I was going to be in for a real visual treat, and I was not in any way disappointed. It was an absolutely delicious experience in every way, and I love love loved it.

We visited two different markets during the week, but my favorite of the two was the Sunday one in L'Isle-sur la-Sorgue. The town is very picturesque, with the river Sorgue winding right through and around it.

There were some lovely waterside cafés and restaurants to sit and while away  a pleasant, warm Sunday morning over a coffee or two. Did I mention how much I loved the coffee? So delicious!

This is the old part of the town where you can see the Sunday market is in full swing.

It was incredibly atmospheric and I instantly fell in love with the whole experience of market shopping here. The abundance of fresh produce was absolutely breathtaking. There were huge piles of fresh, colourful fruit and vegetables, herbs, garlic, locally picked mushrooms....

There was an abundance of local cheeses and cured meats....

....and the famous lavender scented "Savon de Marseille" soaps.

There were rich, fragrant spices....

....and there was an enormous amount of (highly priced) bric-a-brac and collectibles.

There were beautiful fresh flowers....

....and gorgeous dried flowers.

There was oodles of lavender (swooon) in bundles and bags, it smelt sooooo lovely....

....and there were lots of hand crafted and brightly painted toys, instruments and decorations.

There were gorgeous scarves and beautiful embroidered linens...

....and there were baskets.

OH the baskets!!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely went bananas when I saw these, aren't they perfectly gorgeous and desirable? I wanted to buy at least twenty in all different sizes and colours, but hell, I was travelling by train and had to be sensible about what I could cope with carrying.

I settled on one small basket for 5 euros, it just sang out to me from the pavement and I simply had to give it a home.

The colours of the woven straw (straw? not sure what they are made of exactly, but it looks like straw) are so vibrant, I love it very much.

Something else I fell in love with was the hand painted Provençal pottery. There were many market stalls selling these gloriously colourful bowls and plates, from huge big serving bowls down to these teeny-tiny little ones. To see it in such abundance was a real visual treat, although I have to say the vendors were very grumpy about photographs being taken. I bought these little ones for a few euros each, they are just so cute! I wish I had bought more. I wish I somehow had a huge case that I could've filled with these gorgeous items, with a personal porter to carry it on and off the various trains for me. Sigh.

The other thing I had to purchase was lavender, I felt I could not leave the market without some. The scent of true French lavender is out of this world, very much more potent than our English lavender I think. I have been inhaling it at every opportunity, my bag smells gorgeous!

I want to tell you that I used some lavender in my crochet project.....the scent of merino wool infused with lavender is oooooooooooo-♥-oooooooooooo!

Hoping you have enjoyed coming to market with me.....tomorrow I want to wow you with scenery and show you some of the gorgeous Provence Landscape. See you then....

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Bonjour!

Ahhhhhh Bonjour mes amis!!! How have you been? It feels like I've been away for aaaaages! Very glad to be back here I have to say, I've been trying to find time all week to pop in and say hello but it just hasn't been happening. Have managed to carve out a little bit of breathing space now though, and am here with some photographs to share with you from my sunny trip away to France last week.

The memories from last week are still so very fresh in my mind, although they feel a little bit dream-like now I am home. This is the beautiful villa that we called "home" last week, it was a wonderful light, spacious and peaceful place for sure. Petah from Provence Temptations had sent me some pictures of the villa, but it was so much more beautiful in real life.

As you know, I adore taking in a homely landscape view, and I spent quite a bit of time leaning out of the wide open windows at the villa gazing out. It looked so beautiful and not too dissimilar from what I am used to. Cute rooftops and chimneys, old walls and lush trees, distant hills and wide skies.

That large mountainous looking heap in the distance is Mont Ventoux. It was oddly exciting to look out of the window and see a real, genuine mountain. Definitely not Yorkshire!

This was the view I woke up to each morning, the view from my bedroom window. It was incredibly peaceful, apart from a little noise from the local vineyard as truck loads of grapes were unloaded in a tumbling heap.

It's hard to describe the beauty of the light, it was just so very lovely. The mornings often started out quite hazy and misty with pale sunbeams shafting gently in through the trees, but as the day wore on, the sky cleared and the sunlight was bright and intense. The night sky was equally astonishing due to the complete absence of light pollution (the villa was in a very rural location, a small village surrounded by open countryside). The stars were extraordinarily bright and there were so many of them! Great swathes of them spattered across the sky, far, far more than we ever get to see here in town. Some nights I would wake unexpectedly, pad across the tiled floor and go to the open window just to breathe in the sent of the cool night air and feast my eyes upon the starry sky.

The week was a very busy one, with a full itinerary of places to go and things to see. We started each day together around this table enjoying a truly scrumptious breakfast. The ripest, juiciest peaches, warm flaky croissants, fresh rustic bread delivered from the local bakery each morning, spread with creamy farmhouse butter and fruity preserves. And lets not forget the coffee. Ohhhhh the coffee had me in raptures! A shot of rich espresso topped with lots of hot milk, I adored it. Me thinks I definitely need to be a super-good girl and write a letter to Father Christmas to beg for one of these. Pretty Please Mr C.

I took a heap load of photos last week, hundreds of them. I tried hard to capture the beauty of the landscape which day after day took my breath away. The landscape in Provence is just so rich and full and alive. Beautiful fields planted with row upon row of grape vines, cherry and apple orchards, lavender and olives. There is something so pleasing about gazing upon rows of planted stuff, whatever it may be, it made me feel so happy just being surrounded by it as we drove around.

The above olive tress happen to be very special indeed. They are situated just outside Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, a place made famous after Van Gogh did many of his paintings here.

It was remarkable to stroll amongst these ancient trees, it felt exactly like stepping into one of Van Gogh's paintings. We were actually having a picnic here, just imagine that! Sitting eating a picnic lunch inside a famous painting! It blew my mind a little every time I thought about it.

I need to tell you about the picnics we had last week. Oh boy. Such a feast for the senses. Eating this type of food happens to be amongst my all time favourites (alongside Spanish tapas and Greek meze), and we often picnic this way as a family. It speaks to me of relaxation, good company and happiness. Crusty fresh bread. A selection of local cheeses (ooooo do you see the little round one wrapped up in vine leaves? It was smelly and delicious!), a little paté, some simple salad and the most beautiful, sweet sun ripened tomatoes.

A glass of chilled white wine accompanied this plate full (well actually I confess I may have had two or three plate fulls), and it was completely Yum. Yum-yum-yum.

The above scene was our view across a picnic lunch on another day, near to the incredibly beautiful village of Roussillon (more of that divine place to come). See how blue the sky is? I can tell you that spending a week in Provence in October is really exquisite in terms of the weather. Hot enough to laze around comfortably in a light summer dress and to feel pleasantly warmed through to ones bones without breaking a sweat.

Bread and tomatoes for lunch.

The tomatoes were utterly delicious. And so big and unreal looking!

More cheesy delights too, gosh I ate a lot of this stuff last week, couldn't get enough of it. A mixture of sheeps cheese, goats cheese and cows cheese, it was all quite strong, ripe and whiffy and not the type of cheese I usually eat (we mostly eat local cheddar and Wensleydale up here in Yorkshire), but I loved it. The whole Cheese Appreciation thing struck me as being a very French experience. I loved that when we ate out in restaurants, there was generally a course served in between the main meal  and the desert which consisted of a bowl of fresh green salad and a selection of cheeses. What fun! I am going to try this at home for sure, I'm think the Little People would enjoy it.

So.....I've talked a lot about landscape and weather conditions, views and fodder, but hey, what about the hooky time?? Well truthfully there wasn't a huge amount of time each day for dedicated crochet, but we did always carry it with us Just In Case. I think there is something extra special about crocheting in the Great Outdoors, it's as if the memories of the time and place, of the light and landscape get captured within the stitches. It was pure pleasure to sit in a sun warmed field after a delicious lunch, chatting and laughing with yarn and hook in hand.

I really, really enjoyed watching other people at work with my yarns, colours and designs. Once I got over my initial nervousness about the whole thing (oh dear, I really was soo nervous!), I realised that my project was bringing a lot of fun and enjoyment to everyone. It was the best feeling. The best.

We did crochet at the villa too of course. The living area was comfy and spacious and we enjoyed many mornings and evenings sat here with a coffee/glass of wine, chatting, laughing and  creating. On the very first evening when I introduced my project, I turned the coffee table into a yarn palette so that I could rabbit on about my way of using  and choosing colours. I found I was able to verbalise a fair bit of what I do instinctively with colour, and I did really enjoy talking about it and discussing the use of colour in general. If you are interested in this sort of thing, I have written about it before here.

If you look back at the first picture in this post, the picture of the villa, you will see this amazing balcony that runs across the front. It was a beautiful place for us to sit and work, and I have such lovely memories from my time sat in this peaceful place.

By the way, I'm not deliberately keeping you in suspense about the project we worked on in Provence (honest!), I just need to take some more pictures first. All will be revealed very soon I promise.........

....it was great fun I have to say.

Would you like to come on a trip with me tomorrow? Yes? Great stuff, I'm going to take you to market! See you soon, don't be late...

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French Hooky Time

Phew. What a busy week I've had. Just about coming out on top I think, with enough time to quickly bob in to the Attic to say Au Revoir! I am off on my travels later this afternoon, my tummy feels like a thousand butterflies have taken up residence in it. I am excited and nervous, it all feels quite ridiculously unreal at the moment, like I am in some kind of dream world. But it's a good dream, full of yarn and colour, chat and laughter, travel and glorious vistas.

I've been working hard on designing a quirky little project to take for the wonderful ladies who will be in Provence with me...such fun! I was originally going to assemble all the yarn and components into little kits, but as the yarn needs to be in small quantities with LOTS of colour play, I decided that a Communal Heap of the stuff would be the way to go. I hope I've got a bag big enough for the above to squeeeeeeze into?!

I'm looking forward to sharing this project with the world, it's one of those things that's been sitting in my Creative Mind for quite some time, jigging about and making it's way slowly out into the world. Provence seems the perfect place to bring it to life, I hope it's not going to seem silly to everyone else?! It's a true Attic24 creation, colourful and whimsical, a little bit of decorative fun...

....a creative combination of crochet and embroidery, buttons and beads.

Well my lovelies, I really do need to scoot now. Three hours till my train leaves and my clothes are still tumbling in the drier! Last minute as usual.

I will be thinking of you all whilst I'm away, pointing and shooting my dinky little silver camera at all and sundry, capturing  the visuals to share with you upon my return.

See you when I get back xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx