Throwback to a Weekend In Copenhagen

Back in December C and I headed for a 3 day break in Copenhagen. We normally try and get to a Christmas market and we decided 2016 would be a Danish one. Despite it being rather cold and very grey Copenhagen is a beautiful (if expensive!) city. Here are some of my favourite snaps

My favourite area was Nyhavn, which is the picture postcard area which seems to be 'the' image of Copenhagen. It featured a lot on The Danish Girl with Eddie Redmayne. The houses are lovely and the little habour is full of older boats - it's also where a lot of boat tours depart from.

Apparently there have been a lot of fires in Copenhagen over the years - this is the current town hall but it is relatively 'new' having been inaugurated in 1905. The two previous ones burnt down!

Danish parliament. We did a guided walking tour and our guide told us all about the political system, and also explained about the taxes. Although they're high they seem to have it right in Denmark - social benefits are amazing.

There is a square on which all of the royal palaces sit (about 4 in total I think). The royal family lives in these - they are so open in comparison to Buckingham Palace. We were lucky enough to see some sort of ceremonial changing of the guards complete with marching band.

Another highlight was Tivoli Gardens - the world's first theme park and apparently the inspiration for Disneyland. It was suitably bedecked for Christmas.

On the final day we went back to Nyhavn for a boat-trip.

All in all a beautiful city, I'd highly recommend a trip! It was a bit pricey but definitely worth it :) We are now planning our next getaway, Morocco, Amsterdam, Montenegro... who knows!

Tiptoeing Into Christmas

Starting to feel slightly Christmassy, finally! Our town is so beautiful at this time of years, it's full of churches and other old buildings and they tend to do a good job with tasteful variations of decorations.

I've managed to make a few presents for people, but not as many as I would have liked - above is a hot water bottle cover I made for one of my best friends. There has also been snowflake crafting activity of both the crochet and cross stitch variety. I might even finish something to hang up before Christmas! Watch this space...

Christmas Card Swap and a Lovely Weekend

About a month ago Amy amazingly organised a Christmas card swap, which I signed up for straightaway! I was delighted to be paired with the lovely Lil who has a really gorgeous blog you should definitely visit, House With Hearts. Above you can see the wonderful card I received from Lil, who is very talented. Isn't it gorgeous! The snowman is so cool, and I love the ribbon and button detail, Lil said she didn't have a crochet pattern for the snowman but made it up so I am in absolute awe! I'm going to work out a way to frame him so he becomes a permanent part of our decorations :)

Thank you Lil, I love him!!

This weekend my lovely Mother-in-Law came to visit and we had a wonderful relaxing weekend. Last night we watched a film, she knitted, I crocheted, we both nattered and C played football manager... all happy campers! Today we went on a little outing to a National Trust property in nearby Northamptonshire, Lyveden New Bield. It's an unfinished Elizabethan garden lodge, built by Sir Thomas Tresham who as a Catholic was under close surveillance in Elizabethan times, fined for his faith and often imprisoned. He died heavily in debt and when he died the workmen working on the lodge simply downed their tools and left. It's in a really isolated spot and remained pretty much untouched until the National Trust took it over in the 1920s. I just wanted to share some pictures with you as it is quite simply stunning.

The graffiti you can see was left from the eighteenth century onwards, which I think is wonderful!

In other news this week... I made some mince pies (made me very popular)

I also made another flannel, these two are for my mother-in-law and sister-in-law for Christmas, I bought some nice handmade soap to go with them

And I've got some more Christmas makes finished, more on that in another post :)

Thank you for all of the lovely comments on my first 'Five on Friday' post, it was wonderful writing it and wonderful reading the comments. Have a lovely week whereever you may be :)

Until next time

Helen

Getting a wee bit festive...

Yesterday I went with my wonderful friend to visit Chatsworth Christmas market. We didn't go in the famous house, as we had both been previously, but had a lovely few hours wandering around the market, topped off with some grub and gluehwein.

I thought I'd share a few snap shots, I'm afraid I don't like taking lots of pictures of stalls as there are always lots of people milling around, and a lot of stall holders don't seem to like it, instead I thought I'd share some festive decor :)

I have finished my first crafty Christmas present! here is Dad's scarf - he is always looking for a red scarf, but never seems to find one, this year I could happily make him one. I am going to make my brother a scarf as well and insist the whole family wear their 'Helen' Scarves on Christmas Day! So egotistical...

I have also stitched together the front of Mum's hot water bottle cover, just the next one to do and then I shall try and fudge the assembly.

How are your Christmas crafty plans coming? Do tell :)

Until next time x