A breath of fresh air......

In my search for a new me I came across this website....

http://www.cynthiaashbystore.com/

How can you resit a company that says this about its garments and customers:

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Cynthia Ashby speaks to the woman who does not subscribe to fashion trends. This woman is on a perpetual treasure hunt, collecting pieces to mix and layer, creating different combinations and infinite choices for her wardrobe.
The poetry of color is a key part of what makes these garments unique. The clothing is garment dyed, which creates a quality of uncommon depth and texture. As the colors fade they achieve character with wear, like a patina on a bronze sculpture. Seasonal color palettes may be combined in past and future collections, creating infinite wardrobe possibilities.
The garments are made from linen, cotton, silk and wool in assorted textures and weights. The raw look of the fabric is animated with fine detailing in design and construction.

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I am in desperate need of some black linen floods...and being a woman of ample
proportions I found nothing in the UK......

I found the perfect pair of floods.....

and after lots of oooooh so helpful emails from the lovely Adrian, I ordered two pairs...

Four days later I received a letter from parcel force saying that unless I paid them nearly seventy pounds, I couldn't have my floods delivered...

Outraged, I contacted the lovely Adrian for advice. He did a lot of research and finally said I should return them as the cost was ridiculous, (nearly as much as the floods themselves!)
So I contacted Parcel Force, who were not as helpful and arranged for the floods to go back to Adrian in Chicago...

I was so disappointed....I had fallen in love with these lovely floods....
I then received an email from Adrian. He had posted the floods, disguised as a present and four days later they arrived..... I didn't have to pay a penny.......


but unfortunately the length of pants didnt look right on me...
I agonised all night and I didn't sleep well....
how could I ask to change the floods when this lovely gentleman had been so kind...
eventually I decided I would email him....I worried all day....I hoped I hadn't thrown his kindness back in his face when I asked if I could send the trousers back....


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when I got home I found an email from Adrian....a pair of long floods was in the post ..... I aksked what i could do to repay his kindness and service......he asked me to tell my friends where I got them. from...
so the first thing I am doing is telling you...... my dear friends....
I can quite honestly say I have never known such a wonderful and efficient service in my whole life. All my emails were answered promptly, full and detailed information provided on all garments and the most amazing customer service...
::
Please go to their website, the clothes are to die for and now I have received mine, I can guarantee their excellent cut and quality...isn't it refreshing...such a breath of fresh air....one's faith in human nature restored.....thank you Adrian...you made my month let alone my day.....!!!
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:: She is a genius ::

Whenever I feel down, I plug the ipod in and listen to my Victoria Wood compilation...this is one of my favourites....as a big fan of large knickers and the cotton gusset...I was recently dismayed when my girls at school had no idea what a gusset was......the youth of today...they don't know what they are missing......

enjoy.....

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I can remember when pants were pants. You wore them for twenty years, then you cut them down for pan scrubs. Or quilts. We used to make lovely quilts out of Celanese bloomers. Every gusset a memory. Not bras. They won’t lie flat. We didn’t wear bras till after the war, round her. We stayed in a polished the lino.
I didn’t see an Oxo cube till I was twenty-five. That’s when I got my glasses. And we weren’t having hysterectomies every two minutes either, like the girls these days. If something went wrong down below, you kept your gob shut and turned up the wireless.
We never got woken with a teasmade. We were knocked up every morning by a man with a six-foot pole. It wasn’t all fun. We’d no showers. We used to club together and send the dirtiest one to the Slipper Baths. We might have been mucky but we had clean slippers.
And it was all clogs. Clogs on cobbles – you could hardly hear yourself coughing up blood. Clogs – when times were hard we had them for every meal, with condensed milk, if we were lucky.
And no one had cars. If you wanted to get run over, you’d to catch a bus to the main road. And of course, corner shop was the only one with gas, so you’d to go cap in hand if you wanted to gas yourself.
For years we had to make our own rugs. We used to stitch mice on to pieces of sacking. We weren’t always making jokes either. I once passed a remark about parsnips and couldn’t sit down for a week.
Oh, but I shall never forget the Coronation. 1953. We all crammed into the one front room and starred at this tiny grey picture. Somebody had cut it out of the paper – nobody got television till the year after.
I think we were more neighbourly. If anybody was ill in bed, the whole street would let themselves in and ransack the parlour.
And we didn’t do all this keep-fit. We got our exercise lowering coffins out of upstairs windows. In fact, if people were very heavy we used to ask them to die downstairs.
It wasn’t all gloom. My brother went to Spain, which was very unusual in those days. Mind you, that was the Civil War, and he got shot for trying to paddle.
We couldn’t afford holidays. Sometimes us kids would take some dry bread and a bottle of water and sit in the TB clinic, but that was about it.
We had community spirit round here, right to the end. The day they demolished our street it was like the war all over again – dead bodies, hand sticking out of the rubble. The council should have let us know.
That’s me done, best be off. Got a bit of cellular blanket for my supper, don’t want it to spoil. Ta-ra…
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:: St Ives and the long road home ::

The sun didn't shine on us on our trip to St Ives...

but it didn't stop us admiring the view, watching the surfers and eating yet more Cornish pasties...

they taste so much nicer in Cornwall....

I was shivering just watching them....

I loved the view over the roof tops as we walked back up the hill to the car park...a very good excuse to stop and get my breath back...it was a very very steep hill...

We then drove to Taunton, as we headed back up north....

the call of my lovely comfy bed was getting louder...

five nights sleeping on a very very hard camper van was taking its toll....

lunch time the following day brought us to the Cotswolds ...

I always feel I have gone back in time when I visit our favourite village Burford.......although its the wrong area, it takes me to Thomas Hardy tales, of Tess and Eustacia, Wildeve and Bathsheba....memories of English literature lessons...and my romantic musing as a teenager...

after a wonderful lunch...and a mooch round the shops we got back in the van to visit another bloggy friend, Anne, from 'Wild Somerset Child'....

Anne and her husband made us so welcome and provided us with tea to sustain us on the long journey home...the call of my bed was getting louder....

Anne was a big hit with sweet P....

she shared some of her beautiful needlework projects with us and Mr B chatted to her husband about the history of the area...

once again feeling at home with friends made over the Internet....

....and now the cupboards are full, Dougal has been been returned to his owner, the washing machine is doing overtime and scones are in the oven...made by my lovely Sweet P... cornwall just a lovely memory...

but the desire for a cream tea never dies....

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:: Portscatho.....a little bit of heaven..::

I am just sitting in a little chef with an earl grey...catching up on my emails ...I try and get WiFi when I can...I can thoroughly recommend net books for holidays...this dinky laptop is the size of a hard backed book and as slim as a note book ....even fits in your handbag!

here are a couple of pictures of the views from the cliff top campsite...

Poor Mr. B is exhausted as I am still being a scaredy cat and haven't plucked up enough courage to drive Dougal...we spent the day in St Ives and are now on the way to Taunton to break the journey up...and it is a long journey....

we then head for the Cotswolds where we are going for a coffee with the lovely Anne from Wild Somerset Child

http://annsomersetmiles.blogspot.com/

I also hope to pop into my favourite shop in Burford, Maggi Whites, where they sell amazing clothes for the larger lady....fingers crossed, still haven't spent all the money I made on eBay....

I thought that you might like to see some pictures that I took while we were waiting for Jane in lovely lovely Portscatho...

Mr B made me an Earl Grey and we bought some fresh bread from the bakery...still warm.... and enjoyed the last of the October sunshine looking out over the bay...bliss...Mr B always has more than one cuppa so while he put the kettle on again I took these pictures...enjoy....

St Ives tomorrow....

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:: Cornwall and a walk with a happy and very lovely crow ::

We reached Cornwall on Sunday night , staying in a campsite recommended by Jane ,

from Jane and the happy crow.

The views were amazing from the cliff tops....it's a stone's throw from Porscatho, a beautiful sleepy fishing village ...home of 'the Sea Garden'.... but more of that tomorrow...

.

Jane said that you could rent this lighthouse as a holiday cottage...

can you imagine the views...and the noise when the fog horn goes off!

The signal is very poor where we have the van at the moment ...I am actually sitting very early in the morning in my night shirt doing this post...with the sound of the cockerel and the fluttering of the doves' wings from the dovecote near by...lovely views of the sea...and bird song accompanying me as I type...idyllic ...but chilly....so this is a short post showing you the spectacular walk that we all went on with Jane and her adorable little dog Midge..(We wanted to take her home)

we walked around the headland from St Anthonys point and admired the views of Falmouth and St Mawes...

at the end of our journey we found this beautiful little church still and silent steeped in prayer ...a beautiful end to a beautiful walk..

.it's amazing that we spent nearly two days with Jane, someone we had never met, or even seen, and yet felt that we had known her for years...everything was so easy and comfy...it felt like snuggling into your favourite chair..and you could just be you...

thank you Jane for being so kind and giving up so much of your time...I hope we can return the hospitality one day...
::

:: The Blogathon :: adventures in the little orange VW Van

After the most horrid journey down the M1 on Friday to Devizes......and lots of traffic jams on Saturday morning.....we finally reached Totnes on Saturday afternoon ...

greeted with lovely sunshine and a wonderful market ...which we had to drag Sweet P out of!!

We headed off in search of our first pastie of the holiday ...having bought three...we meandered down the steep hill....nibbling away.... as we did a little window shopping...

I couldn't resist a T shirt for Mr. B with a camper van on it...which is featured later!!

I loved the little alley ways of the main street and I cant resist a picture of post box!

That evening after leaving Dougal at the campsite we met Mr and Mrs. Snippets for tea...

the Devonshire helpings nearly beat Mr.B and I certainly left some food on my plate....

The Snippets were lovely and wonderful company...

a big hit with our family...we hope we have persuaded them to come and stay with us in the future....

thank you Sal and Terry ...you were so kind ....

We then drove to Chudleigh to meet Niki from the Vintage Magpie....

I have to admit the green eyed monster came out when I saw her wonderful shop... I also picked up Archie, who Niki has made for me, I am sure he will feature in the next post

we had another warm welcome and a super cup of tea...

I think you can forgive me for being jealous......isn't her shop lovely.....

I am sure you all want to know what life in the little orange van is like...well I have to say it's very cramped! although Sweet P doesn't seem to mind!

we slept in the double bed and poor Mr. B was in the pop top...we were scaredy cats....
besides I can't see how I could have got up there with out two big strong lads and a small crane!

...this is sweet P looking out of the back ...lying on the double bed.....

Mr. B was sleeping in the pop top which you can see below....

and here they are together this morning...Mr. B sporting the new T shirt!

.....we have finally arrived at Portscatho campsite an hour ago....and the three of us are now snuggled in for the night as the wind howls around the little van...

we are going to settle here for a few days and tour around from here....so if you see us give us a big wave!!!

....tomorrow we are going to meet my lovely friend Jane (of Jane and the Happy Crow) for a walk...I am dying to meet her and Sweet P is bursting with excitment...so if the weather is good we will have some lovely pictures to post....

so it's good bye for now...see you same time same place tomorrow.....

hopefully with a cream tea inside me!

:: Help! ::

I have always wanted to have a VW camper van...and next week we are going to be the proud owners of Dougal for a week! Doesn't he look wonderful?

So the little green van is having a well earned rest as we travel down south to Cornwall....I have had a very stressful and quite unpleasant half term so I desperately need to get away....

we are all so excited.....

So far the only thing we have organised is a night in Wiltshire staying with friends who have a farm near Devises...then we are heading off into the unknown with only two visits planned... firstly to see my lovely friend Jane ....we are beside ourselves with excitement, Jane was my first blog friend and she has really encouraged Sweet P ... we nearly deafened her when she rang last week...

then we are also hoping to pop in on Nicky at her new shop...
So apart from that we are free agents...well you have to be in a cool camper van....

However, we don't know Cornwall and Devon at all......... so I wondered if you lovely folk who live down there would please help us fill in the gaps by suggesting places (that only locals know about ) that we could visit.

It would be so useful to help us plan our journey so if anyone could tell us about camp sights, nice walks and beaches, vintage shops, wool shops - of course, places to eat and most importantly - tea shops ...

Sweet P and Ihave planned to have a cream tea every day....

on our return I will do a post about our adventures.....

fingers crossed for nice weather....

see you in two weeks.....

probably about two stone heavier....