Weekend and a Ta-da!

On Friday I took the Teen out for lunch.  We went to Lilly's Tea Shop in Wickham; this is a lovely, old building with exposed beams and old sash windows.  Its full of vintage furniture and tea is served in a proper pot with a cup and saucer. The staff are brilliant; they are friendly, helpful and feel like friends.  The food is amazing.  In fact there is often a queue for tables, its so popular.  There is a terrace outside which overlooks the Wickham Square.

Lilly's in Wickham Square

They do wonderful afternoon tea, sandwiches, cake and light airy scones with clotted cream and jam all served on a cake stand.
Today I had a smoked salmon sandwich and the Teen had a slice of chocolate cake.  Yes, chocolate cake for lunch!  This was after cold pizza for breakfast!


Delicious

Wickham is one of my favourite places, it boasts the second largest medieval market square in England and this is one of the places you can park.  We usually park a little further out of the village (for free) and walk in so we can admire the  architecture from tiny cottages to Georgian houses.  Around the square are a lot of independent shops selling unique gifts, chocolates (the most yummy chocolates ever), crafts, vintage things and antiques.  There is a small art gallery displaying and selling art by local artists.  In fact if you want a gift for someone special or something unusual just go to Wickham.

My favourite shop is J' adore La Maison which sells furniture, Annie Sloan chalk paint and lots of other lovely bits and pieces.   It has a small haberdashery section and they run craft workshops.  I did their crochet workshop which is what got me hooked (sorry) on crochet. 

J'adore la Maison

 A two minute walk from the Square are the Water Meadows.  On a hot summer's day the river is usually populated with excited children and the odd dog.   Running beside the water meadows is the old railway line which is used by walkers and cyclists.
 
Just down the hill from the square, past some beautiful houses is the Chesapeake Mill which was the flour mill for Wickham village.  Its called the Chesapeake as the timbers used to build it were sourced from the United States frigate Chesapeake, captured by the Royal Navy during the War of 1812.  It is now a place that sells vintage stuff of every kind, antiques and crafts.  Its a brilliant place to take a wander and look out of the windows and see the mill race.  There is also a cute little tea room.

On Saturday the Engineer was off doing engineery things and on the way he dropped my little car, Blossom (yes she has a name) into the garage to have new tyres fitted. A couple of hours later I walked in to pick her up.  I could have walked in via the noisy main road but instead I walked in the back way via the Gillies footpath and this was my view. 

The sun was very bright and the path lined with Lesser Celandine.  The flowers were all open and glowing in the sunshine although these photos don't show that very well. The birds were singing and as this area is quiet it felt like I was in the countryside rather than the town. 

I have now finished my crochet scarf. 

Ta-da!

I was quite pleased with it.  The only thing I would do differently is to make sure the 'triples' that I put in just before the turn are a little looser as some of them are a bit tight on this scarf and it makes it bulge.  But it is nice and soft so I will probably end up wearing it quite a bit. 

I am now doing the counted cross stitch I bought - its going ok at the moment but I do seem to be unpicking quite often.  I dChesapeake Millidn't do much in the garden this weekend, just watering my seedlings.  My peas are finally geminating making me very excited. 

Did you all have a good weekend?