A little find

This morning, at about 9.30am, Keith, Sophie and I went off for a walk. I didn't want to go too far as we were out in the afternoon with my Mum and had planned on going to an Antique Fair in Kettering. We walked through the open gate (for once) and down the brick path to the fields. It was shaping up to be a lovely morning and I keep forgetting that it's getting on for the end of October!

Sheeps - two of them (the black one and another) were having a little fight

We walked over the fields and down to the nature reserve, looking out all the time for deer. Sophie did see a hare and of course we saw numerous squirrels and pheasants, but that was all.

We were out for about an hour and a half and then it was time for a breakfast of scrambled eggs and some coffee. Delicious!

In the afternoon we picked Mum up at 1pm and drove to Kettering, managing to get stuck in a traffic jam on the way. At one point I was worried it was queues for Wicksteed Park where the fair was, but it was just usual roadworks. It seems at the moment that so many roads are either closed or have works going on!

We were met with quite a rude man who took our money and validated my parking card. He didn't explain that it would be free and when I asked him what I needed to do with it he replied, "Just put it in the machine!" as if I was stupid! Hmmm!

There were quite a few stalls and lots of lovely antiques, although some were a bit pricey. Sophie spotted one of her lecturers who came over and sang her praises, so that was good and very nice to hear! I felt very proud of my daughter!

I bought a small Minton sugar bowl for £4 which was perfect for a candle. The seller said it dated from the Victorian period and it has their blue "delft" pattern. Mum saw some lovely china but it was £180 so she decided against buying it!

We weren't impressed with the tea and cake facilities at the fair so we drove over to Beckworth. The queue for the restaurant wasn't too bad and after about fifteen minutes we were seated and studying the menu. Sophie and I went for a slice of cake while Mum chose a scone with butter and jam. As usual, the place was packed and several tables were enjoying the vast afternoon tea that they serve.

After we'd eaten we had a look around the Christmas decorations and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Normally Beckworth have a small marquee with some really lovely bits and pieces for Christmas, all in a slightly Scandinavian "home-made" style which we really like. However, this year, before the ice-skating rink has been installed, the decorations were housed in the large building where you can normally buy bedding plants and garden ornaments. Nearly every item was from a company called "Premier" who stock wholesalers. In fact, when we had the business, we bought a lot of stuff from this range but it's very commercial and mass-produced. Even the different colours of baubles and tinsel were arranged by colour scheme, something that I'm sure Beckworth never did before. They now seem to have taken on virtually all of Premier's stock and I think it's lost a bit of magic, which is a real shame. I'm hoping that when the skating rink is installed, they'll revert to what they've done before but with all the stuff they have, I'm doubtful.

I bought Keith some dates with cashew nuts and the children chocolate twizzlers to make hot chocolate and then we took Mum home. She mentioned that the tree we bought them for their anniversary was looking a bit sorry for itself so we went to have a look and it was fine! It's only a baby so hasn't grown much since July and obviously hasn't produced any little crab apples, but it looked very healthy to me!

Back home we discovered that Mike wanted to spend the night with a friend in Brixworth so it was back out again to drive him. Once we returned it was definitely wine time!