Lacock Abbey and village x

Have you ever wanted to visit a place so quintessentially British that you feel like you've been there before? Well, if you come with me on a sightseeing trip to Lacock Abbey and village you will.

Knowing you, you have probably been here before in your imagination. The beautiful village streets with the markets laid out with fresh produce, the sounds of crinoline skirts swishing across the cobbles, dancing in the Town Hall, young scholars milling through the cloisters and oh yes is that a broomstick I see flying in the sky over there?

That is because Lacock has been used in so many amazing films and TV series, that you have been here quite often but never realised it. I know that many readers are Harry Potter fans and Jane Austen fans too so you will, I hope, enjoy this trip around a beautiful part of our heritage.

It was the perfect spring day - blue skies, sun shining, not a cloud in the sky when my friend and I set off to visit Lacock. As it's a National Trust property you know that is something special and this was a place we had wanted to visit for sometime. As this is a village and property, the car parking is off site and this makes it a wonderfully safe place to walk around.

The first view you see is the crocus walk and Lacock Abbey in the distance. The spring flowers were perfect and also included snowdrops and daffodils. The grounds also have woods, river walks and gardens so there is plenty to see.

Our first stop was the Abbey after a stroll around the grounds. The Abbey itself was a nunnery until the Dissolution of the monasteries, which if you know your Henry VIII or have watched Wolf Hall, is the destruction of the Roman Catholic monasteries and nunneries during Henry's battle to separate from Rome in order to divorce Catherine of Aragon, marry Anne Boleyn and form The Church of England. You see I do remember a bit of history from middle school. The remains of the Nunnery are beautifully maintained and they are the key areas used in Harry Potter, they even have a cauldron, although this was made in 1500 and something not brought from the studios as a prop. The Cloister ceilings are ornately decorated with carvings.

The rest of the Abbey was restored and built upon to become a family home for the Fox Talbot family, more on them in a while, and remained a family home until it was bequeathed to the National Trust in the 1900s. You can see the new building as you go around the outside as the different shapes and additions demonstrate the architecture of the times.

Inside the rooms are all laid out as a traditional family. We loved seeing the rooms and collections and also spent time searching out the mice and small cameras as we progressed, there were 8 in all although the wine cellar was close obviously that mouse had a hangover.

 The final room of the house is embellished with figures, one of which was very much like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, however in reality he was a traditionally attired Jewish gentleman from the times.

 This room had the most incredible ceiling decorated with different shields and the windows had beautiful stained glass features.

We walked around the gardens a little more before retiring to the tearooms where we partook of the tea and yummy cakes. Definitely recommend the coffee and walnut and St Clement's cakes.

We then rambled around the village which is lived in by local families. The village is small enough to stroll around and there are some individual shops to visit and the tithe barn. We wandered to the church and then to the river where we watched the children and dogs playing in the sunshine.

After a rejuvenating stroll, we finally went to the Fox Talbot museum which is attached to the visitor centre. This museum, for photographers and the interested, a look back at the history of negatives, photo development and photography itself. Fox Talbot was one of the first individuals create the first ever photographic negative in 1835. In the museum are a variety of vintage cameras and the story of Fox Talbot's findings and the development of photo processing styles to the modern day. It was interesting to learn how long it took for photographs to be processed compared to the digital picture we can now see immediately. I imagine Fox Talbot would be stunned by the significance of his discoveries and how they have moved forward in the past 100 years. This gives a bit of a brief insite into his part in photography

I would highly recommend this lovely day out. If you've got any wonderful places to visit then do let me know. Oh yes and all my collages were made in Canva and I wrote a little tutorial about how to use this great site here.

Have a lovely day.

Today I am.......................

......................in the mood to celebrate something I made and other interesting places on the web.

• Here is my completed iphone cover from yesterday's post. I had to use my own fluorescent felt for the piece under the scallops as I neede the full width of the grey felt to go around my phone. I used all the other felt pieces as per the instructions and am really pleased with the finished piece. So is my iphone as you can tell.

 One very happy pink iphone................................

 and here is my version next to the version on the ''packet''. I'm glad I used the extra pink and yellow, I like their freshness plus the pink matches my phone.

• As a child I used to go hunting pink elephants in the New Forset and still do with lil people now. Today on facebook, I was sen a link to this facebook page linked into Mind. This is a UK organisation supporting people with mental health problems like myself. The ''elephant in the room'' is all about talking to people in the workplace about mental health issues and their emblem is a pink elephant. Please give your support if you feel this is a good idea.

• Elle's Studio have a new project kit thingy there'll be starting in a week and have a sneak peek here. I love sneak peeks dont you?

• My friend Luke has caused me to go over to the dark side in that I am now obsessed with Drop Dead Diva, a US show which I have to say makes me want to be the main character. She is a fuller figured (yes this is US tv) lawyer who is body confident, sophisticated, and can sing amazingly well. I so want to be her I can feel it in my veins.

Not only am I obsessed but I am mourning the near loss of my other faves Bones, which ends tonight and Glee which ends next week. If you haven't seen ''Funeral'' then get a box of hankies ready cos it is well sad. You have been forwarned.

Will you be camping with us?

Last year I took part in a 2 week exploration of crafts of a variety of kinds with the wonderful Maegan. This Spring she is again embarking on Creativity Boot Camp. Will you be camping in a tent, caravan, camper van or alternative more upmarket accomodation? Whatever you choose you'll be more than welcome to join in, all you need is the imagination and abit of time. It was definately fun last year and you can find more faqs and info here. You can also download last years ebook for free if u want to know what to expect.

So today I have spent much of the afternoon reading in the sun, Sian said this morning that she was doing nothing in the sun including no reading. I would get bored so I sat outside the flats with my selection of reading materials which included a copy of ''Cloth, Paper, Scissors'', some scrapbooking books and my latest read ''The Crimson Petal and the White''. It's currently being dramatised by the BBC but I am recording it until I've read the novel. I like reading some books for themselves first. I often find that I get more from the novel itself than from the dramatisation as there are, due to financial and plot constraints, certain parts of the book that will be removed.
I read alot so am quite up-to-date with the traumas of seeing your favourite book trashed by TV and film adaptations. I have to moan when they change important parts of a book. One of my all time favourite books has been ''Interview with the Vampire'' an amazing book by Anne Rice.

When the book was filmed by Neil Jordan, there was an outcry because one of the key roles was taken by Tom Cruise, who in his defence actually did an incredible job of portraying a not very pleasant character. Brad Pitt played the other main lead. The fact that they completely change the end was sacrilege in my book, however it was not as dreadful as what another director and screenwriter did to one of the follow ups in the series ''The Queen of the Damned''. Now that made my blood boil. Some fimlmakers however really do understand their craft and the importance of the initial novel, Emma Thompson's screenplay for ''Sense and Sensibility'' really stands out as a work of sheer love.

Also the 2 versions of Persuasion I have seen on the TV were superb. As you can see it features that star of stage and screen The Cobb at Lyme Regis which is one reason alone to watch. If need anything further there's always the very dishy Rupert Penry Jones!
Do you have any novel to TV/film translations which have traumatised you?