Chatsworth, Stash and Stitching :)

Hi every one :) please pull up a comfy chair , grab your cuppa and goodies ... you may want to make sure the kettle is filled ready for your next one ...lol this is gonna be a long post with lots of oooo and wow and gorgeous photos ... are you ready ??? then I shall begin heheheh............................................................

As I said last week DH and I escaped for a few days R&R to the wonderful "homesford Cottage" at Whatstandwell in Derbyshire, it is a gorgeous wee place and Julie is a wonderful hostess and does the most yummy breakfasts , we missed it the first time we went past  so had to ring up for instructions ... we were soooo busy looking at the scenery ... that's our excuse and we are sticking to it ..... just don't follow the sat nav it will take you to the place... but actually above it in the middle of nowhere hehehehe . The bed was soooo comfy I wanted to bring it home but Julie wouldn't let me *sigh ..... we got to meet Dillon and lettie as a special treat as they are normally not allowed in the guests part but she knew we were mad on poochies as we showed her Master Bentleys photos :) I must say that the service was second to none and the room was well stocked with teas and hot chocolate etc and home made cookies yummmmmm .... in fact Julie and her DH are opening up a tea room just opposite the cottage and I for one can't wait to go and sample the goodies once it is up and running :)
But I digress before we went to the cottage we bobbed into Bakewell as DH had never been and I had to let him sample the delights of the Lavender Tea Rooms .... Gillie and Denise I had a scone for you ;) before I subjected him to the Wye Needlecraft shop ..... well to be honest I was actually disappointed in it .... or it could be the fact that I have been spoilt with the Nimble Thimble and Harrogate but ..... there wasn't many GAST threads or CC ones or even WDW and my list was only tiny and I only managed to get about four of them and a couple of DMC that I was missing ... I dropped on the kreinik for Ally by sheer luck and managed to find the Plum Street Sampler chart "Christmas Tea " and that was hidden in a funny place ..... when I went to pay for my goodies I found the LHN chart Alphabet birdhouse I think it is ... just stuck in the section with pins n things .... *ho hum , don't think I will be going back there in a hurry ....

However I did find another wonderful shop after we had been to Chatsworth House on the Wednesday which I will tell you more about later heheheh .... 
Chatsworth well all I can say is we dropped on with the weather those few days .... it was lovely and sunny but cold but as we were wrapped up warm it didn't bother us ....
we arrived early and had a walk up to the stable blocks where they have a restaurant and some shops so we had a quick look round before going back down to the house and we were one of the first ones in that morning and it was lovely to be able to pootle round at our leisure .... well lets face it I can't rush anyways heheheheh .... sooo armed and dangerous with my new camera I took lots and lots and lots of photos .... somewhere around ermmmm 200+ mark hehehehe .... I promise you I won't show them all ... otherwise you will be here all night and a few more pots of tea later ....
There was sooooo much to look at around the house but one thing made me giggle was the fact of them putting teasels on the chairs so that you didn't sit down on the treasures ..... 
We looked at loads of paintings and artefacts and ooooo'd at the library as it was a wonderful room and also had a baby grand in there as well ... and it looked like someone had been practising before we came into the house ..lol
as well as admiring the bedrooms and state rooms before coming out of the house into the wonderful gardens .... you can tell how cold it was as there was still ice on the water and waterfalls ....  
soooo do you want to hear about the new stitching shop then ???? ...... better make another brew then hehehe ....
The shop is called White Peak Embroidery  and the best thing is it has a tea room attached for all those partners that go with you ;) and I went in and just went OOOOOOHHHHH and can I take some photos to show all of you and Ann the owner said yes and promptly put the kettle on for DH and I heheheh .... it is full to the brim with wonderful trims (colour of rick rack that I have never seen before) silk ribbons , silks and perles and fabric and threads and lots of goodies and yes I did come out with a wee stash haul  ... did you expect anything less hahahahahah ....  she also owns the patchwork shop just down the road which I just had a very quick peek round and got a couple of FQ's and a lovely pair of new scissors ....
I even managed to get some stitching done on Wednesday night on Dandy Dreams well you don't think I went away without anything to stitch on now did you ...lol 
My RAK to Lesleyanne arrived safely so I can show you that now and also my stitchers day exchange piece arrived while I was away and I just had to giggle at the sentiment on it .... 
As it was Hermitting weekend this weekend I have been busy working on Dandy Dreams by Silver creek Sampler some more , The North Wind by LHN and also the Friendship Blooms SAL with DJ by Blue Ribbon Designs....
sooo onto the photos ..... 

our gorgeous room

stash from Wye

robin at the cottage 

driving towards Chatsworth 

the stables where the shops were

see ice !!!

look at the roof detail 

just loved this statue

check out that roof

ouchie don't sit down

just loved this doorway

and this lamp ..lol

amazing details everywhere

want one of these ..lol

just look at the patchwork of colour stone

check out the cross stitched border

one of the many bedrooms

now this one looked comfy 

the libary

love the wee gallery 

any one for dinner 

close up of the settings

see that rood detail again same as before but guilded

atmospheric shot

loved this waterfall

view from the top of the waterfall looking down 

part of the gardens

amazing waterfall to the side of the house 

from the folly again 

White Peak Embroidery Tea Room

and the shop

and again

drooling here

and here 

and a wee bit of stash enhancement from both shops ..lol

progress as of today

and again

and I have finished all the branches now but not taken photo

stitchers day exchange from Jess ... how apt is that ..lol

                                             

Master Bentley so pleased to see us home he posed for the camera :)

soooo folks hope you have enjoyed the whistle stop tour of Chatsworth and beyond ..... I am looking forward to going back to the tea rooms  ..lol and we will go back to Chatsworth again but preferably when it is a wee bit warmer round the edges .... I am back at work again tomorrow so stitching progress may slow down a wee bit ....

so what ever you are doing this week take care and happy stitching until next time :) love mouse xxxxxx