A sunny visit to Rye: antique shops, and flowering gardens

Today's post follows on from our visit to Henry James' house and garden and tells of our sunny day spent perusing the rest of Rye's delights. Rye is a lovely town with many quaint and unique boutiques. There were many antique shops filled with lots of bric or brac, and a few gems.

I made a mental note to return here when I need to decorate a house of my own because everywhere you look is another antique shop with some wonderful items hidden away, as well as a multitude of art galleries. When we weren't darting in and out of the antique shops, we had a wonderful time wandering the pebbled streets, admiring the pretty houses and all of the flowers in full bloom.

The witty residents that lived here made me smile with their original house name.

We weren't sure what we wanted for lunch and we indecisively walked around for a little while before finding the perfect place. We lunched in the garden of a cafe where we both had Mackerel Pate which was the perfect sustenance on such a summery day.

After lunch there was still a lot more to see with colourful flowers splattered everywhere one turned one's eyes. If it wasn't for the irritating visitors (me) taking photos of all the buildings, I could have loved to have lived in any one of them.

Just before we left we spotted this 'Tiny Book Store', which was certainly appropriately named; it barely had room enough for the two of us.

And that was almost the last stop of the day, having explored much of what Rye had to offer. We thought we had finished our trip and we were heading towards the car, but we were arrested by the ice cream parlour which detained us for long enough to gobble up an ice cream. We then headed back home having had an unprecedentedly, yet enjoyably, literary based day. 

I think we would have been hard-pushed to have spent this sunny Sunday in a much more enjoyable way! 

A mother daughter weekend: Sun, Al fresco dining, & (a little) wine

The weekend just gone saw my return down south- and what a sunny home greeted me! Dad had just flown out to China for business, someone was obviously keen to get to the other side of the world! Not really, he had come and driven all the way to York and back to pick me up, before dashing away. So we were left just the two girls. A much needed girlie weekend was in order. And that's just what we had, lots of wonderful food, giggles, incessant chatting, and a glass of wine or two.

Mum and I both love similar food, and after heading to the supermarket and really being that annoying child, i.e picking up everything, (which I can't afford when living as a student and normally just gaze longingly at), we had picked up enough fruit and veg to seriously overdose on the stuff.

So, naturally, having considered what to have for dinner, what we decided on was nothing short of a feast.

What we came up with was perfect for the summer's evening; we dipped into our mezze platter as we spoke for hours. 

We enjoyed some fresh bread, cured meats, peppers, olives, and pea & mint salad (a recipe post of which will follow.)

When it became dark it was finally time to come in after what had been a wonderful evening back at home. It was time for bed in anticipation for the day to follow.