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Christmas lights amid the gloom of another drizzly day - Guildford, Surrey |
Felicitations of the Season!
Well, here in south-east England it's once again been a disappointingly mild autumn and winter - just a single frost so far, and although the past couple of days have been refreshingly chilly (around 8ºC during the day), most of the time we're still having daily maximums in the mid-teens, which is very concerning. The winters are definitely getting progressively shorter and milder - and those of you who know me will understand how disappointing that is for me.
We haven't been up to too much, really, though in November I made use of one of my 60th birthday gifts prior to its 12-month expiry date: a voucher for afternoon tea for two at National Trust property Cliveden, less than an hour's drive away near Maidenhead in Berkshire. We've visited the gardens of Cliveden quite a number of times but never the house itself which operates as a luxury country house hotel (in other words, well beyond our modest budget). It was a truly indulgent afternoon in a refined and beautiful setting. Somehow we forced ourselves to do justice to the abundant selection of sandwiches, pastries, petit fours and scones, all of which were washed down with a glass of pink champagne and three (yes, three!) pots of Lapsang Souchon.
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The lounge at Cliveden House, on the border of two counties (Buckinghamshire and Berkshire) |
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The opulent dining room at Cliveden House |
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A glorious autumnal view from our window table at Cliveden House |
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A sample of the superb offerings at Cliveden House's afternoon tea. I adore Battenberg and can't recall the last time I had it. On the left is the Four Seasons Fruit Cake, topped with a disc representing one of Cliveden's ceiling murals |
One of the reasons we have not done too much socially is because we have been travelling weekly to the historic market town of Ledbury in Herefordshire, about 200km north-west of Frensham and not far from the Welsh border (approx 2.5 hours' drive). The reason? Well, at long last, after nearly three years of fruitless searching, we have managed to buy a house.
It's a semi-detached, three-storey, three-bedroom Victorian property, about 120 years old. We had to give up on finding something within our budget in Wiltshire or Somerset, after making offers on two properties along the way and each time being outbid by another buyer. We viewed many other properties in the vain hope that the floorspace would be adequate for our needs, despite the online floor-plan indicating that two fairly streamlined adults - we are both chucker-outerers - could not hope to function (Where do we store the towels and bed linen? What about the vacuum cleaner, mop etc? There's nowhere to place a litter tray for the cat! *etc*)
So our net was cast a bit further north where your money goes a little further, and in fact Ledbury was already familiar to us as we spent a number of days exploring the area a few years ago - see my blog post from 2021. The town is lovely, nestled on the edge of the Malvern Hills and within easy reach of many attractive places such as Hereford, Ross-on-Wye, Tewkesbury, Glouchester and Cheltenham. It's also only 40 minutes from the beautiful Cotswolds.
Currently we are trying to get there weekly to do some decorating and gradually move some possessions, but this is a bit of a balancing act as we'll continue to live at Frensham until the end of the academic year, ie until July 2025, when Kevin will retire. I am trying to source bits of furniture and household items from second-hand sites like Facebook Marketplace and Vinted, but we will possibly buy a few new pieces.
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A sneak-peek at the house in Ledbury: this is the original Victorian tiled stoop... |
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... and the front door |
I confess I'm finding it difficult to get excited about the move. Firstly because it's such a long way off, but secondly because I have never wanted to leave Surrey and its glorious woods, historical houses and ruins, the easy proximity to London and of course its many 'tunnels of green.' Regrettably our budget means that the purchase of anything other than a two-bedroom flat, a dilapidated and tiny cottage (which we couldn't afford to renovate), or a characterless 'new build' in suburbia is all we could hope to afford in this expensive and crowded county, and in fact almost anywhere in the south-east of England. And so for the past few years we have spread our net further and further afield.
On the positive side, our street in Ledbury is incredibly friendly, with most of our neighbours having lived there for many years. There is a lot of local community activity in the arts, walking, gardening and so on. The high street is quite remarkable in being comprised almost entirely of independent businesses, as opposed to the lamentable chain stores you find in nearly every English town, making them all nearly indistinguishable from each other. There's an organic market and café with an abundance of vegan options, and a totally gorgeous Scandinavian homewares and gifts boutique, just to name a couple of independent traders.
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Display window from one of Ledbury's independent businesses on the high street |
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Hus + Hem ('House & Home') - groovy Scandi homewares store in Ledbury |
Meanwhile, I had hoped to make the most of what is our final Christmas here in Surrey, however about six weeks ago I accepted a job offer working in retail in our nearby town of Farnham. I am employed as additional sales staff over the busy festive period, in a longstanding family-owned department store - one of the few remaining in Britain. Many of the customers comment that they specifically shop there because they enjoy the traditional department store vibe, and also in an effort to 'save the high street.'
In the first couple of weeks I had been very lucky in not struggling with back or foot pain from being on my feet for 8-9 hours, which I understand is quite unusual... until my third week, when the Black Friday / pre-Christmas sales madness commenced and I found myself often standing in the one spot for multiple hours, serving customers on the till. OUCH - pain across the top of my right foot which thankfully does go away when I have a day or two off.
Despite being exhausted for most of each week since starting this new job, I have managed to do a couple of Christmas-y things. I met my former boss for a woodland stroll, lunch and a wander through the house at Polesden Lacy, a National Trust property that we've visited many times over the years. Frensham Heights put on an absolutely super Christmas Fair one afternoon / evening, and although I'd stood on my feet for more than eight hours at work, I somehow summoned the energy to drive home, quickly change out of my uniform and then jog over to Josie's house up the other end of the school campus. She laid on a fabulous spread of 'picky bits' for a few of us, following which we headed over to Main House to enjoy the festivities.
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The illuminated ferris wheel at the Frensham Heights Christmas Fair |
Frensham's Main House was beautifully decorated and revellers meandered through its historic rooms where around 30 stalls were set up, selling wonderful things from mostly local-ish artisans - food, alcohol, Christmas decorations, jewellery, gifts, cards and toys. There was also a concert of Christmas carols performed by students, staff and alumni (see short video below). Additionally, outside were a fully illuminated ferris wheel as well as a path lit by lanterns through the school's woodland, leading to a zip-line allowing brave souls to whizz through the trees in the dark, with only the colourful spot-lit trees to light the way.
Then it was back to Josie's for mulled wine and mince pies.
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Meandering through the school's woodland towards the nighttime zip-line |
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Trees lit up for the nighttime zip-line ride in the woods |
Now a couple of things completely unrelated to Christmas.
Some of you might be familiar with the excellent British TV crime drama Strike, which has just aired its sixth season on BBC1 here in the UK - here is the trailer. Back in the summer we had the excitement of filming for this series taking place here at Frensham. For days the car park was crammed with trailers for the lead actors, catering and make-up vans, and burly security staff. Frensham features for just a few minutes in episodes 3 and 4 - so much work and expense for only a couple of scenes! All the same it was a thrill to see the school on the TV screen, and I do confess to a bit of a 'thing' for Tom Burke, whose performance in The Souvenir (2019) opposite Tilda Swinton's daughter Honor Swinton Byrne (and Tilda herself) very much impressed me. He plays vulnerable characters incredibly well.
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A portion of Season 6 of the wonderful TV series Strike was filmed right here at Frensham Heights |
Still on the topic of film and TV, some of you might be familiar with a fine young British actress named Aimee Lou Wood. If you've seen the 2022 film Living, which attracted a plethora of award nominations - particularly for the wonderful Bill Nighy - then you'll surely remember Aimee Lou who played a supporting role in the film and who has a very characterful face with an adorable gap in her teeth (coincidentally, Tom Burke had a small role in Living as well). Anyway, a clip of a TV series she's in showed up in my Instagram feed about six months ago, and I felt compelled to comment as follows:
Well, not only have nearly 700 people (to date) 'liked' my post but the woman herself actually reacted to my comment! See below....
So, back to Christmas and sadly we are unable to celebrate Christmas in Norway yet again this year, due to our commitment to Daisy May who turns 19 in January. For the second year running we have enjoyed a special Christmas Eve supper at a gastro-pub in Guildford, and tomorrow we'll have a leisurely late breakfast, followed by a walk in the blissfully quiet country lanes and woods surrounding Frensham. We will return home to cook for ourselves to the accompaniment of my festive playlist. That's right; despite having suffered multiple weeks of all-day Christmas toons during my shifts at the department store (somebody please remove all evidence of that bloody Mariah Carey!), I have not yet been turned off the season's traditional music.
As one ages Christmas is naturally tinged with sadness because we remember loved ones no longer with us, as well as those in the public eye whose lives have had an indirect impact. I always shed a few tears whenever my favourite Christmas tune is played; there should be a shrine to whoever thought to put David Bowie on Bing Crosby's TV Christmas special in 1977 as this version of Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy is pure magic. We lost both David and George Michael in 2016, the latter on Christmas Day, and I'll never forget hearing the news on Norwegian radio whilst celebrating Christmas with my family in far north Norway.
To close, some photos of seasonal festivities in the local area. With the mild weather conditions - it's set to be one of the warmest UK Christmases on record - it's been a bit of a challenge to get in the spirit. However the Frensham Christmas Fair and a visit to Farnham's Christmas Farmers Market went some way to redressing that.
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Two tiny revellers at the Farnham Christmas Farmers Market |
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We indulged in a couple of delicious Christmas-themed morsels from Farnham's Petite Patisserie - see below... |
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[left] The Bauble (tonka bean, milk chocolate, hazelnut) [right] Rudolf (chocolate, miso caramel) |
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[left] Dear Santa (mixed berries, cream) [right] Gigi (gingerbread, mandarin) |
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Decorated window at one of the local village pubs |
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No frost, but a beautiful winter sunrise all the same - our backyard at Frensham, early December |
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Appropriately, home-made holly wreaths on the front gate and front door of Holly Cottage in Frensham village |
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Guildford Castle illuminated for Christmas |
2025 is likely to be 'interesting' due to certain world events but here's hoping it won't be quite as bad as those of us to the left of the political spectrum fear.
Wishing you all a happy Christmas and much joy in the year to come.
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Cheers! 🍷 Kevin enjoying a fine Primitivo at our Christmas Eve dinner this evening |
Until next time,
- Maree xo