In Frome

On Wednesday of last week we were driving back from Devon to Hampshire. We decided to stop on the way and went to Frome in Somerset. We made our way up St. Catherine's Hill to see the vintage shops and to treat Our Daughter to the knitting needles and wool which I had promised her for getting a Distinction in her ESB exam. I don't know why but I didn't take a photo of the shop where we purchased the wool and needles. It is a sweet little shop called Marmalade Yarns and is located at the top end of St. Catherine's Hill.

We visited Poot, Make and Mend, Holly Anna and Roundabout. We came away empty handed. We were just window shopping really as we were saving our pennies to go to Rome which is where we ended up on Thursday - far more posts to follow on that visit!

We did however have a lovely lunch at a cafe at the top of St. Catherine's Hill - again I didn't take a photo!

I had a raspberry milkshake (I normally always drink tea). It tasted just like the ones I used to have in a cafe in Bangor, North Wales when I was growing up - not like the horrid ones you get at places like MacDonalds! I was in milkshake heaven!

The above shop sells good quality second hand clothes as well as some vintage furniture. There was a lovely dresser for sale - painted in a lovely 1940's green colour. Our home is too cluttered already - oh, to have a bigger house!

I took a photo of the above pub sign as it reminded me of the upcoming Royal Wedding!

We then headed towards The Black Swan Gallery. We had previously been here at half term to see the "Smile" Exhibition. The Gallery is celebrating its 25th Year. 25 artists had designed a poster to celebrate that fact. The Gallery was selling 25 copies of each poster.

This one is very apt. Apparantly, the Gallery's funding has been withdrawn as part of the Government cuts. The lady who we spoke to said she would be surprised if the Gallery was open in 12 months time let alone another 25 years. Staff were being made redundant. How sad!

The above poster had proved very popular with most having been sold.

I liked the above poster as it reminded me of "Chopper" bicycles from the 1970's. My friend had one and I was really jealous as I had a more traditional bicycle which I had customised with Smarties lid tops in the wheel spokes! I remember saving up my pocket money to get the Smarties - not because I wanted the sweets but because I wanted the lids!

This poster is based on an Indian game called Pachisi which centres around the number 25 - very clever!

Oh dear! This poster resembles me having just come back from Rome having eaten too much pizza, pasta and ice-cream!

In this poster the artist had played around with the numbers 2 and 5 - I like the heart effect from the 2 the right way and wrong way round!

When we had finished at the Gallery we got into the car and drove back to Hampshire. On the way we dropped the dog off at the kennels and went home to check that the house and the cats were O.K. before packing our suitcases for a long week-end break in Rome.

Many photos to follow as we went to see the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain,  Pantheon, Roman Forum and the Colosseum! Our hotel was centrally located which meant that we could walk to all the places of interest.

On the first night we discovered a fantastic little restaurant. The food was del-i-c-i-ous! It was called "Life" and was just off the Via del Corso! If you're ever in Rome you should hunt this one out!

Until next time.

June.

Black Swan Arts Gallery and Frome

The Smile Exhibition at the Black Swan Arts Gallery had so many wonderful exhibits that I thought that I would show you some more! The photo from above and below is from the same piece of driftwood.

These images make me think of that song "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding.

Sittin' in the mornin' sun

I'll be sitting when the evenin' come

Watching the ships roll in

And then I watch 'em roll away again

I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay

Watching the tide roll away

Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay

Wastin' time

The Exhibition certainly brought a smile to my face.

A glove puppet made out of a washing up glove! Doesn't that fox appear to be saying "Oh, I s-a-a-y" in a Terry-Thomas kind of way.

As we came out of the Gallery and started wandering off to the shopping area we saw this boxer dog tied up waiting patiently for his owner to appear. The expression seems to imply "Please come back soon, I'm lonely without you. If you don't come back soon, I think I'm gonna cry."

We walked past this old building - love those arched windows. Reminded me of "Play School" which was on TV as I was growing up ... "And now through the Arched Window ..."

This was the sign to show that a wool shop was "Open" - Quintessentially English don't you think!

I know that fellow bloggers have mentioned this shop - there were some lovely bits and pieces inside.

We saw another dog waiting patiently for his owner.

Another shop which had some lovely things - it sold a lot of quality second hand childrens clothes - Boden, Zara, etc. I liked the old school desk in the window. A youngish man walked past with his girlfriend / wife and said very loudly "Look at the tat in that shop, especially that old rubbishy chest of drawers."  They then both laughed out loud before sauntering off down the road. I tell you it took a lot of restraint not to tell them to "Shut up" and to not voice their opinions so that everyone could hear!

Here we are having arrived home with our bag of goodies - the Julie Arkell and Craig Mitchell books.

A lovely day out.

Until next time.

June.

Black Swan Arts Gallery, Frome

Well, the Tuesday of half term brought down heavy rain - we decided to stay indoors reading books, doing crosswords, playing Monopoly and generally just having a restful time listening to the rain splashing on the windows whilst we were all snug inside.

On Wednesday we headed for Frome to go and see the "SMILE" exhibition at the Black Swan Arts Gallery there. Although I didn't have access to a computer I had our old laptop with me which is pathetically slow but was able to  look at a few blogs before my patience ran out and I abandoned the laptop completely. I managed to see the Hen House blog and decided that as it was only about an hours travel to Frome we would make a day of it!

I liked the charity box above (not part of the exhibition) where you drop a coin into the birds' mouth and it comes out of his bottom with the words "pass it on"!

All the exhibitors were British and some of the work was simply stunning. The above is from Abbott and Ellwood and is called "Lost Parents". There they are waiting in the tent for someone to pick them up! Don't they look a bit sheepish about getting lost!

These two look as if they are set for an adventure.

Really impressive was the work of the ceramic artist Craig Mitchell. This work was a vase - very creative indeed!

The delightful papier mache designs of the ever so talented Julie Arkell. I had not heard of Julie Arkell until  I started looking at people's blogs on the net. She is quite a popular lady out there in blogland. Seeing her creations close by you can understand why.

This little welsh lamb - just wonderfully whimsical. It was sold - being Welsh if it hadn't been I would have been sorely tempted.

A few more of this talented lady's works for you to feast your eyes on.

Makes you want to head for that old newspaper, make some glue and get cracking.

One of the best of her works was Stanley and these two delightful lady rabbits. It looks as if some quarrel has been going on - one rabbits apron is embroidered with the words "It's all because of Stanley" and the other with the words "Missing Stanley." Clearly Stanley had been up to some mischief, which led to him being ostracised!

Our Daughter near the wonderful driftwood work of Robert Race.

The recycled metal and fabric work of Lucy Casson.

After some lunch at the Gallery we looked around the shop - I purchased a book about Julie Arkell and Craig Mitchell to discover some more about these hugely talented individuals.

We then walked around the town - window shopping. There were some lovely shops selling vintage stuff.

Later in the week we went for another walk in the Devon countryside and on Saturday we made our way to Forde Abbey to view the lawn which was carpeted with crocuses - FANTASTIC!

I will show you more next time.

Until then.

June.