After the Party

So the big 50 has come and gone - do I feel different? - yes I do - I'm not sure if I like it much but there you are, nothing to be done.
I did have a wonderful birthday though, starting with the mystery mini-break which was finally revealed about half an hour from our destination. Mr Bloom chose well, this is the lovely country house where we stayed. It was right out in the sticks but not too far from the town of Ledbury in Herefordshire. I was quite happy to be there as we were close to some favourite antiquing haunts.

The B&B was superb, we were the only guests and our landlady kindly showed us round much of her home, done out in splendid English Country style. The kind of house most of us will only ever dream about living in. Sadly, photos were not allowed indoors, but I did sneak a few in our room.

We could choose our room and though the other one had a four poster, this room was bigger with the best views and the most luxurious bathroom.

Several shopping trips ensued over the next couple of days, including one to the pretty spa town of Great Malvern in Worcestershire.

You can stock up on spring water for free.

A view over the town from the romantic Waitrose car park.

The magnificanet Malvern Priory.

Something new since our last visit was this delightful retro shop called FOL (which stands for Fabric of Life). The owner was just doing up the front for the "Best Christmas Display" competition for local traders. He wasn't too keen for me to photograph it in a half finished state, but finally relented. I thought it looked great anyway, I hope he did well in the competition, I didn't notice much going on outside the other shops.

Great Malvern has a good selection of shops and some nice places to eat and drink, if you are thinking of visiting. After a lovely couple of days it was back home for the weekend, and a family dinner. I'm not much for big parties and this was the perfect end to my celebrations.

I was very spoiled and received some lovely gifts, these are just a few:

Beautiful hand painted box and glass perfume bottle.

Pretty candle cup and loads of flowers!

Mr. Bloom's gift had been a mystery too, there had been a trip out somewhere one Friday afternoon which I wasn't allowed on, and I had no inkling what my present might be, but I couldn't have chosen better myself - this beautiful vintage french lamp and shade, which I just love.

In fact, I did choose it myself, I just didn't know that I had. We spotted this back in the summer in a lovely french brocante style antique shop in Pewsey, I had oohed and ahhed over it, then promptly forgot about it, but not so Mr. Bloom. Lucky for me it was still there when he went back months later - there's dedication!

Something purchased whilst we were away was this huge chandelier prism, you should be able to just make it out in this picture, the postcard underneath should give an idea of size.

Not sure why I felt the need to show this, I just thought it made a pretty vignette.

Also wanted to say Thank you for all my lovely birthday emails, I think I have replied to everyone now.

Once my birthday is over, I usually get straight on with Christmas preparations, but annoyingly I have succumbed to this nasty cold virus going round and for the past week have been unable to do much other than lie on the sofa under a blanket feeling ill as well as old ;-)). It's still hanging around, hope it buzzes off soon!

Webshop Update: Due to other commitments I haven't been able to update my webshop and am postponing until January, hoping my customers will be prepared to wait!