You would be forgiven for not knowing this little church exists. It is tucked away at the end of a small lane behind nearby Billesley Hotel and a neighbouring farm. There was once a bustling village here but it was wiped out by the plague in the 1400s. There has been a church on this site since the 1100s but the present building has “only” been here since the 1800s.
Exploring
A weekend in Towcester
The third of our “visit all the -cester towns in England” saw us spending the weekend in Towcester. It feels really mean to say that you dont need a whole weekend in Towcester, a morning will do it but there is a reason why people generally say ‘oh are you are off to Silverstone?” when you mention you are going there. Wikipedia is scant and even Google was reluctant to
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Exploring
Billesley Manor Hotel and Spa — A review
I was thrilled when we were invited to experience an overnight stay at beautiful Billesley Manor recently. Not only because it is very close to one of our favourite areas of the country, the Cotswolds, but because it also meant to we got to visit another of the towns ending in cester, Alcester. You can read about that by clicking on the link, but for now what about the Billesley
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Exploring
A day in Alcester
When we set out to visit all the towns in England that end in cester I have to admit that I didn’t envisage us spending a day in Alcester as I had never heard of it. Despite the fact it lies just off the M40 and so therefore we have driven past it hundreds, if not thousands of times. Alcester is a market town that has been around since Roman
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Musings
Exploring Cirencester
We were looking forward to exploring Cirencester and as soon as I mentioned on Instagram we were heading there people gave me all sorts of tips on places to go, restaurants to eat in and what to do. Not too far from us I am surprised we hadn’t been there before to be honest, and I really hope we get the chance to go back. In fact I might have
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HomeLife
Mother’s Day Gift Guide 2023 — AD
Welcome to my Mother’s Day Gift Guide for 2023! I have been sent some lovely things to share with you so shall we just crack on (make sure you see the note at the bottom too about where the gifts have all been sent on to) QuietOn Noise Cancelling earbuds You are anything like me then one of the things you really crave when you are sleeping is to cut
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Exploring
A weekend in Worcester
We were in Worcester for the weekend when we realised it was of only a handful of towns in England that end in cester. I say “we”. It wasn’t we at all, it was Bruce because that is how his brain works. Once we realised they were all “do-able” for a weekend we promised ourselves we would set out to visit them all this year. We found ourselves in Worcester
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Exploring
Visiting all the -cester towns in England
Did you know that there are only seven towns or cities in England that end in -cester? And if you ever find yourself saying “what are the towns that end in Cester?” I can tell you that in alphabetical order they are Alcester, Bicester, Cirencester, Gloucester, Leicester, Towcester, and Worcester. You are welcome. This isn’t why we ended up in Worcester in the middle of January but whilst having dinner
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Exploring
Luciano by Gino D’Acampo, a review
Bruce first visited Luciano forty years ago so he was excited to revisit when I mentioned that I fancied going there for dinner after seeing their posts on Instagram. Technically when he was last there it was a nightclub called Brasingamen’s where footballers and wannabe WAGs hung out, and not a beautiful restaurant run by popular chef Gino D’Acampo, but he was excited nonetheless. If you know Alderley Edge at
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HomeLife
Displaying photos using Photowall — AD
It’s all very well taking all these photos on our phones, or with our fancy cameras, but what do we do with them afterwards? I have over 90.000 photos on my phone and whilst I grant you many of them are of cute cats or my dinner and probably only deserve to stay on my phone, there are some that I would love to see more often. So when Photowall
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Exploring
Things to do in Bath that aren’t baths
There are so many more things to do in Bath other than the baths that I thought I would do a post listing my favourite things to do in Bath that aren’t the baths. Don’t get me wrong, the baths are fantastic and something you should do but equally there are lots of other things to do that might be a little over shadowed. Bath is a relatively small city
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Nurturing
The perfect Chilli Con Carne (ad)
If you have followed me for a while you will know that my husband likes to grow chillis. Lots of chillis. Like so many chilli plants all over the patio you can’t move for them over the summer. Alongside tomatoes. Our patio is positively awash with stuff from about May onwards, all grown from seed, all tucked up in a greenhouse on cooler nights and when it gets really cold