Scotney Castle

How bad am I? More photos from bygone days out last year just waiting to be found in my folders. And this day out was such a nice one too. Gah. I really must try harder not to forget what I have snapped.

Today I take you (via, errrr, Summer 2012) to Scotney Castle, which is part of the 

National Trust.

And honestly, I think it is in my top five places I have visited to date.

The whole place had me entranced. Being mid-week it was relatively quiet which gave us lots of time to explore the rooms and the grounds. But my, oh my, it was muggy. You know the type of humidity that makes your forearms damp. Ack. To be inside main house was a blessing.

Originally a 14th century moated castle, it is just the ruins of this original structure that remain today. During the mid 1830's the Victorian country mansion that stands was started and was only opened to the public in 2007. I have to say, it does feel very much like someone still lives there. Although it is a large property, it felt like a home and is stuffed full of personal effects and memories of a life lived.

The mansion was built using sandstone found within the grounds and once it was completed in 1843, the hollow left behind was made into the Quarry Garden. Now. I must have not strayed too far from the path, as I have since found out that it contains some fossilised dinosaur prints. Ah well, it means I shall have to return and seek them out. Shame.

I love, love, LOVE going upstairs in National Trust properties. Why am I so excited about stairs? Well, because they are not behind ropes and I always feel like, just for that small amount of time, you really get up close and personal with the property. Am I a crazy person? Perhaps. But, for me, it is always a bonus if I can go all the way up or down a flight of old wooden, only-carpeted-in-the-middle stairs. 

Imagine all the folk who have done it before me.

I could say that I was so engrossed in my walk up (someone elses) memory lane that I nearly missed the fabulous painting above. But I would be a fibbing. You cannot miss the hooooge black-&-white-striped-dressed painted lady. I just stared at her and she stared back. To then walk a little further up the stairs, into a bedroom and be greeted with the actual dress left me a little agog.

From memory, the dress was found in the attic many years after the portrait was complete having been carefully stored away. What a boon to find it in all it's stripy glory.

The whole property is heaving with little trinkets and signs of the past lives. I spent a far few moments imaging myself living in a place such as this. Especially sitting with all my friends around this table.

I have yet to shake my need for taking my own photo in other people's old mirrors. Fellow visitors in the room must think me kooky. I'm not (well, only a healthy amount)  -  I just love the idea of capturing myself in another's looking glass.

I like it so much -  I did it not once, but twice. What a poser. Ha! Something I liked a lot more than taking random reflection shots of myself, were these, frankly, amazing illustrated letters. I am a keen letter writer (although I am sure my penpal's would agree at the moment -  I have been woefully lazy when it comes to hand writing anything of late) and  I would love to be able to draw and send something like the above. Ain't they special!

And don't even get me started on how beautiful this dressing table set is. They are right to put things out of my grasp. I love how lived in, yet vacant and tidy the rooms are. Something for me to take some direction from me thinks when it comes to my own home. I have lots of old, thrifted stuff -  but it seems to be everywhere.

If the inside of Scotney Castle was not enough for me -  then there were also the gardens to be explored.

And mighty fines ones they were too. I would love to have a garden. One with a creeping-ivy-covered ruin in it, all the more so.

We spent a long time exploring with me trying to take photos of bee's and butterflies. This is the only one that made the cut. The others were a buzzing, fluttery mess. So you shall have to make do with some shots of my mug. In a blue polyester frock I found at a jumble sale in the Autumn.

Now. Take a closer look at the photo in the top right. See that hand? A blurred hand just by my head? Who's is it? I have no idea. It's not mine. It's not The Beards. And there was nothing behind me. Apart from that wooden door. And a wall.

Aside from that rather spooky note (who's hand is that?!) -  I can heartily recommend a visit to Scotney Castle if you are ever in the around that way. And if not, it is most certainly worth a special trip.

Barnebys - The Home of Plenty O' Auction

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A short while ago I was contacted by a representative for Barneby's who asked if I would like to review their new site. You know me and my bargain hunting, so I jumped at the chance. Working in a similar way to other auction websites, but with a lot more finesse, Barneby's  pulls all auctions world wide to one place. From Christies, Bonham, Fellows and beyond. Just a couple of clicks and you can search across some of the major auction houses, save your searches and view all the details of the items that have taken your fancy.  You can even set up search's for specific alerts. All you have to do is register. This I like very much. Very, very much.

 

What I like even more is the easy sub-titles you can search under. Of course I headed straight to the "Fashion and Vintage" section, natch. Closely followed by Jewellery. My, my, there are some glittery things on there. Indeed there are. I have made mention of my eBay frenzy before and just looking around the site, I could feel it bubbling up. I flitted around the site like a woman slightly possessed, clicking away at all the pretties. The listings mostly consisted of one off garments or pieces as opposed to job lots, the information precise and the pictures clear.

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At first, I did find the guide prices were a little off putting. However, they are just guide and you never can tell what is going to happen when the bidding opens. That is all of the thrill for me. The chances of getting something amazing for a snip of the price or being pipped at the post by someone who wanted it a little bit more and could splash more cash. There are a couple of items below that I shall be tuning in to see how the bidding pans out. 

Who knows, I may just be the winner.

Easy-Peasy Back Roll

I love to have curly, set hair every day. But. There are those evenings that I just cannot be arsed with the spraying-curly-pinning-ness of it all. Although it is only 15 mins out of my day, there are an increasing number of occasions that I just don't have it in me.

Invariably, this means that I have slight laziness regret by the time I have woken from my slumber. It is also usually coupled with me running late. It is at this point that I usually reach for the headscarf -  that Mighty Coverer of All Evils.

That said, I have rustled up an easy-peasy back roll that takes moments to do. I know there are a lot of tutorials out there and many of them use a hair rat or a scarf with the hair wrapped round from the bottom and spread out.

My hair does not like this approach. Nor does my patience level. 

So, I devised something else.

As you can see, I section off a front bit and clip it to my bonce. Then I take the hair from just in front of my ears, twist them back, poof them forward a bit and pin them in place. The work of about 30 seconds.

I then brush all the hair at the back so that it is smooth. And pin the hair rat in place. The one shown here is a rather large version as I have been practicing Edwardian do's of late. I usually use a slimmer version, but I use it just the same.

Once pinned to my head, I roughly section off into 3 bits. I loop the 2 side sections round the hair rat first and stuff the ends into the middle-ish. The final middle section is then looped and stuffed in the same fashion. This takes about 1 minute. Tops.

I neaten it up a bit with what ever pins I have to hand -  the big ones shown here did not work very well for me, so I tend to just use Bobby pins. I spray and smooth.

After that, I release the hair that has been pinned to my bonce and make a quick roll. Or 2, depending on how much effort I want to put in. I usually always use my Sculpture Curler for this, or perhaps a big pinned kiss curl. Usually the former, as I am not very good at the latter.

A quick blast of hair spray, and I am done. I add a hair flower (or 5) and I am off out the door!

It's a great style for the office (it is my go to interview hair do, minus the role. I normally do a middle parting), the summer, to wear under a hat or just round the shops.

If, like me, you cannot get along with rolling your hair round a hair rat, rolling it up and spreading it out, then this method could well be your saviour!

Let me know if you give it a go!

Toodles