Claire's blog

Day 3 - Dover Castle at last.

Not too far from home today, so we had a leisurely drive up to Folkestone Morrisons for breakfast and a little shopping, whilst the nice chappy in the carpark repaired the stone chip in the windscreen that we had picked up on our way to Groombridge yesterday. That done, we pootled up the A20 to Dover.

Now, the problem with Dover is that the only flat bits are vertical, so you have to be fairly fit - and we're not. Well Alex is, but Ivan and I are definitely not. Amber decided to forgo the pleasures of Dover Castle and stayed at home.

Dover Castle

is an English Heritage property, so we joined - getting 15 months for the price of 12 which is £75 for two adults. Now that sounds a lot but when you think it would have cost us £35 to get in today, then you can see it won't take a lot to make that back, especially as there are oodles of EH properties within easy driving distance.

There is so much there that we didn't get to finish before the site closed - no matter we can use our card and go back to finish :o) But we did manage to get in a tour of the Secret Wartime Tunnels. So secret in fact, that you're still not allowed to film or take photos in there even to this day!!! Not that that stopped the foreign visitors. Interestingly there were a lot of German visitors in our group!!!

However, I think the highspot of the day was at the Keep when, with a bit of very impressive timing, we managed to stagger back up there just in time for the afternoon audience with Henry II and Prince John.

It all started at the bottom of the Keep with the King's Steward inviting one and all to partake in remnants of the King's meal - a couple of lackies - all in period costume - were handing out dried fruit and nuts!!!

The actors were very impressive and did not drop out of character even when faced with deliberately !! awkward questions and comments. OK, I did try it on.

Anyway, the Keep is very, very, very high and Prince John popped his head over the battlements to find out what the steward was doing and to tell him that he could see Calais from there. The steward promptly told him that he was sure that Calais could also see him, and then invited him down to visit us down and outs littering the castle grounds.

We were all invited into the main hall of the Keep for an Audience with King Henry II ….. and the steps were a killer. I just managed to get to the top and collapsed onto a bench carefully placed to catch unfit specimens such as myself going through cardiac arrest.

The Keep has recently been re-decorated in the style that would have probably been there during Henry’s reign and there are some beautifully embroidered canopies and soft furnishings in there. Some have been done by the Royal School of Needlework, no less.

My son, Alex, fearless as he is, decided to sit himself on the royal dais – much to the amusement of Prince John and the steward. I somehow, don’t think that they expected this to be part of the entertainment but they rose to the challenge admirably. In fact too admirably as Alex wanted to carry on talking to them and had to be persuaded to sit on the floor and watch the show.

The actors must have been boiling in those outfits as it was very hot and overcast today.

Absolutely brilliant time though, even though every slope seemed to be steeper and more precipitous than the last. And there seemed to be considerably more UP than DOWN whilst we were dripping around. I have got to have lost weight this week, even with the icecreams and cream teas and big breakfasts. We didn’t eat too much today, but I spent a fortune on drinks.

Anyway, here are some of the lovely decorations in the main hall and the King’s bedchamber.

Canopy over the thrones – difficult to see in this picture but this is goldwork.

Detail of one of the embroidered cushions in the King’s bedchamber and the box at the end of his bed.

Day 2 - and we didn't go to Dover Castle ...

Instead we went to Groombridge Place gardens and Enchanted Forest just the other side of Tunbridge Wells.

What should have been a one hour journey turned into a 1 3/4 hour journey because I made the mistake of downloading detailed directions. My other half has the most amazing sense of direction, but even he couldn't make head nor tail of these instructions and we ended up in Tunbridge Wells going round and round, dodging roadworks.

In the end Ivan, ditched the instructions, got the map out and proceeded to use his directional ability to get us there.

It was well worth the effort though. The manor house is moated and privately owned so you can't go in there. But the gardens are amazing. The old outbuildings have been turned into the restaurant and the gift shop, but very sympathetically so the original exteriors have been well preserved.

All around the formal gardens there are very tame peacocks, mainly sitting on the roof when we were there - possibly they'd already been warned about Alex's bird chasing fetish.

The gardens are laid out in themed blocks separated by yew hedges. There was a formal garden with a large pond wherein large hungry Koi try to take your hand off. Water gardens and a knot garden follow, then a new maze which is too low at the moment to be really effective - even I could look over the hedges and see where to go.

To get to the Enchanted Forest you could walk up through the Vineyard and through the gate into it, or take a canal ride a short distance to the other side and start that end. We decided to take the canal ride.

The forest is perfect for active children and to be honest, for lazy adults needing some serious exercise. All of the things incorporated there were made of natural materials, so fitted into the scenery just perfectly. Playgrounds for the children, giant swings hanging from the treetops, a fort and a Tepee. There was a wild west explorer type person telling stories by the Tepee and further up a totem pole.

One thing I've forgotten to mention is that the forest walk gets gradually steeper and steeper. Getting to the Totem pole is extremely steep - you can't take pushchairs up there. Then you climb slightly higher before curving round and starting the trip down towards the Vineyard.

There are deer in the forest, and they are quite tame if the keeper is around. I was able to stroke one of them and his antlers were so soft with the velvet still on them. That was an amazing experience, being able to get so close to a notoriously shy wild animal. He even allowed Alex to feed oak leaves to him - typical bloke - stomach led as usual.

We had lunch in the restaurant there, which was also very nice. Ivan and I both had local sausages, chips and beans - sounds basic - but it was very tasty. Definitely would recommend a visit.

Despite the travel problems - ignore Google and AA directions as they are designed solely to make you lose the will to live - this was a thoroughly enjoyable day out and another one I would recommend. If you are in the area, at this rate you're going to need at least a week to get through everything we're doing and probably a year or so to get through everything that is in the area.

Onwards to Day Three.

A holiday from home - Day 1

Today we went to Diggerland Kent, on the banks of the Medway. From the carpark there were amazing views over the river and in the distance you could clearly see the massive keep of Rochester Castle.

We had an absolutely wonderful time there. My 15 year old daughter got to drive an automatic four wheel drive car with the rest of us in the back and the marshal sitting beside her in the front. She didn't do too badly at all.

Alex got to have a couple of goes on his own as we stretched his age to 5 so he didn't miss out. He has the most amazing eye hand coordination for his age (4 1/2) and managed his JCB digging with less problems than some adults.

However, I have to admit that my favourite part of this visit was getting to drive a large JCB myself. Very bouncy but the steering is surprisingly light.

We thought that would be a complete day but we'd pretty much finished by lunchtime, added to which the park was filling up and the queues for some of the rides were getting very long. There was a large party of men and boys from a religious sect, wearing skull caps with their hair shaved close to their heads except for two long bits dangling down from just in front of their ears. I couldn't think what sect they belonged to although they looked slightly Jewish. However, unfortunately they were also hogging all the rides and making it difficult for others to get on, so we decided to call it a day and move on to Chislehurst Caves.

They were fantastic. They're not really caves as they're manmade - more mines really. They are carved from the chalk and flint landscape and there are 20 miles of them under Chislehurst. The tour took just over 45 minutes and our guide was great. He made the tour such fun, involving all members of the group, telling ghost stories and historical stories. The mines had been used as shelters during the 2nd world war and he had a wealth of stories about them. He even took all the oil lanterns away (no electric lights, lanterns only, makes it more interesting) and left us in the dark for a while.

If ever you are in the area I'd definitely recommend a trip to the caves, if only to talk to the guides who have a wonderful sense of humour.

Tomorrow, possibly Dover Castle - just down the road really and I have been before, but they've just recently re-opened the Keep after doing it up to look as it would have looked during the time of Henry VIII. Alex has never been and Ivan (who's a local and should know better) has never been to the wartime experience in the tunnels beneath the castle.

I blog, you blog, we all blog together ....

I have a new blog in which I am detailing my ups and downs with various knitting firsts for me, please go and have a look on http://claireknitsandcrochets.blogspot.com/

It's all go here

I've been so busy over the last two months creating my vegetable garden that I've done no C&G work at all - much to my shame.

However, I'm back on a roll and all because Alex broke my mirror.  I took the mirror to a local glazier to have the glass replaced, and while I was there, I noticed some samples of textured glass.  On enquiring, as you do, I was told that they were freebies and to take as many as I liked.  So I did :o)  And I've been having a wonderful time making rubbings from them.  The lined glass especially will be perfect for the rubbing collage of the landscape picture.  Isn't it amazing where you find inspiration?

Boot sale discoveries

My other half did himself proud on Sunday, when he went to the local bootfair.  He bought me three knitting books for £1 each that are absolutely brilliant.

First one is a Sasha Kagan book from the 80s.  Not quite so good as the others, but there are some interesting designs in there that are screaming to be updated.

Second one is Knitting in Vogue 2 - 20s to 80s, where they've reknitted favourite designs from Vogue collections all the way back to 1927.  Some wonderful patterns, especially the earlier ones.  80s patterns don't do much for me.

But my favourite book of all is The Traditional Sweater Book.  This one has three sections, Gansey, Fairisle and Aran.  Each section has a history of the style and patterns based on each style.  The best bit are the original patterns, especially for the Gansey and Fairisle.  I absolutely love them and they will make great additions to my textured knitting samples.  I was struggling to find something I liked for the sixth sample and now I have a plethora of them.  And all for only £3 - can't be bad.

Sea Stripes

Layers

If it isn't one thing ...............

Well, last time I posted, I was having problems with my four year old - these have now been mostly rectified and he is now under a SENCO who will hopefully, help us to deal with his anger management issues,

So after all of that, getting him into a lovely nursery just down the road, which is considerably better than the last one, I went happily back to work confident that life couldn't throw any more mud at me for a while.  Admittedly the council I work for, is restructuring Revenues and Benefits with the result that we have all had to re-apply for our jobs, but for once, it's the managers that are being axed, not the grunts.  So I'm not over worried about my job.

I've just started a new exercise regime with the intention of shifting quite a lot of weight, and started three weeks ago, with my first ever visit to Aquafit classes at my local baths.  I loved it, but the same evening a lump appeared in my groin.  The doctor said, ruptured muscle from the exercise, painkillers and antibiotics to be on the safe side.  Four days later the lump was the size of my fist and excrutiatingly painful.  So after work I went to the local out of hours doctor at the William Harvey Hospital to get it looked at.  It turned out to be an infected abcess - nothing to do with exercise at all ...........  With the result that I was sent straight over to A&E kept in and put onto IV antibiotics and then had the abcess drained and cleaned out under general anaesthetic. 

I've been off work since then, having the wound packed and dressed twice a day by the district nurses.  Don't envy them the job .... the hole is right at the top of my inner thigh and is an absolute sod to pack and dress as the dressings keep coming adrift.  And it's looking as though it is going to be a long time before the hole closes up. 

On the positive side, I am now knitting away like fury at various projects that have sat for ages waiting to be looked at, and getting on with my C&G stuff as well.  So definite silver lining there.

I'm currently battling with, what seemed to be a fairly simple knit and purl pattern, based upon tiles on a fireplace from a picture in a book on the Arts & Crafts Movement.  I'm using a cotton/bamboo mix yarn which is lovely and soft, but also has a nasty habit of splitting its plies all over the place.  My initial idea was K2, *P5, K1, repeat from * to last stitch, K1  (and obviously reversed for the wrong side)  But the vertical knit lines are sitting on top of the piece and the horizontal ones are sitting back - so I'm not getting the nice even piece I wanted.  I think I'll try knitting through the back of the stitch for the K1s and see if that solves the problem.  Otherwise, I might have to make the lines between the purl squares, 2 knit stitches thick rather than one.

Any thoughts on this would be most welcome.

Avoiding the discarded rake of life .....

I've had several problems recently with my four year old, which I've now managed to steer around before they spring up and smack me in the nose.  Not that I think that's the end of it, but I'm hoping to manage to get to May and my holiday turnaround point, before I need to take more time off for him.  In the last two months he has managed to have Chicken Pox and get himself excluded from nursery.  I've used every scrap of available holiday and flexi-time I have left.  But we've finally found a nursery who are willing to have him and help him with his 'challenging behaviour'.

Looking back at that it sounds as though he is some kind of monster.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  He's a loving little boy with a very short fuse.  We are having him assessed for ADHD and such like.  So that particular rake will hopefully disappear soon.

All this means that I've actually had more time for knitting samples, because I've been at home a lot.  The lovely thing about samples is that they don't take much time at all.  So inbetween throwing stones at France (via the Channel), throwing bread at the ducks, throwing balls around the green and throwing tantrums I've been turning out loads of rib samples.

I'm also working on a laptop cover for a friend at work.  Now he wanted a black cover, no problem, says I.  I'm sure someone told me that black was a sod to work with, why didn't I listen?  Luckily I have one of those wonderful daylight lamps which makes it a whole lot easier to see what I'm doing. 

I might even get round to knitting that shawl from all the Colinette yarn my mum bought me last year.  It's sitting in a project bag, waiting for me.

During my enforced holiday, we went to Howletts wild animal park near Canterbury, and I've got some wonderful pictures.  Many of the animals didn't like the cold and stayed indoors, but the ones who came out to play more than made up for it.  So many wonderful patterns.  Funnily enough, one pattern I took a picture of, was of the side of the elephant building - possible stripes, or a weird sideways rib pattern ....

I had to upload my tiger, doesn't he look good?  Even with blurred out mesh.

Help !!!

Can anybody tell me where my other half can get a blocking board for me without having to make one.  I've asked him to get me one for Christmas, large enough to block a long scarf on and foldable for stashing away.  But I can't locate a supplier.