Heptonstall by night

Now and again I get the urge to go up to Heptonstall for a walk. (note that I didn't say "walk up to Heptonstall" - the locals will know why...take the steepest hill you can imagine and make it even steeper. Add a few cobbles and you're good to go! Or not.)

The plan was to get there just before sunset. And we did. About 3 minutes before the sun disappeared behind the hills. And all my photos are blurry and nasty. So I decided to go on a monochrome expedition instead.

 

Just want to point out that it's only about 4:30 in these pics...

 

Heptonstall is basically one street full of beautiful and extremely old houses. From time to time you get a glimpse inside one of them and let me tell you, they are the embodiment of cosy.

You get the occasional eerie passage or alley, but you know there's a nice warm pub at the end of the street with a roaring fire where people will be playing Irish folk music and everything will be ok again.

One of these Christmas lights is actually the moon. Can you guess which one?

I've posted more photos on my Flickr page if you want to take a look! Oh and don't worry, this blog is still about furniture and house stuff! Promise! Evidence coming very soon!

Deck the halls

I'm not usually a fan of whipping out the Christmas decorations on the first of December, but this year is different, this year, I have a windowsill!!! 

And a coffee table (of sorts)!!!

And (Like every other year until I have a garden with room to plant my tree in after Christmas) a miniature tree with freaky angels.

What can I say? The angels are a family hand-me-down and I'm not about to give them up even though they look at me weird and seem to be missing half their bodies.

Since our tree is so small I decided to display the usual tree decorations that we've collected (God knows how, I've never bought one in my life) in a different way.

Gingerbread lady is so my favourite

Then I went all snowqueen on the cocktail cupboard (with a seasonal nod to martinies and eggnog, and whatever booze you might want to put in that other glass)

And maybe one of these days you'll get to see what the lounge actually looks like with its sofa in. Maybe it would be a Christmas miracle...

Just another winter's day

It turns out Mytholmroyd isn't that far after all. We took a walk along the canal and that's where we ended up. And this is what we saw along the way.

A new bench has appeared along the canal! A very nice bench too. I wonder why the horse though.

This is a close up of a bridge. With an insistent tree growing right out of it. Why not?

Dream house located. 

 

And by the time we'd had a hot drink in a pub, it was 4:30 and DARK. So far the only thing I don't like about living here: I feel like a grizzly bear who should be hibernating. 

Various things including a brownie

Don't worry, I haven't disappeared under a blanket of yorkshire snow! Not yet, at least. I have been busy translating, and looking for new customers, and having a visit from my Mummy, and making my new sofa feel welcome in our house. 

How about I tell you about it as it happened? A little foodie newsflash to start with: a new Italian deli and/restaurant has opened in Hebden Bridge. We haven't had the chance to try the restaurant yet, but the fresh gnocchi from the deli are definitely something.

My Mummy wanted to go and visit a sculpture near Burnley. It's called the singing ringing tree and it's supposed to make noise when the wind blows through it, but on the day we went it was pretty silent in spite of the (icy!) wind. Strange.

Anyway, we decided to make the most of a beautiful sunny day and to drive there on the way to the coast. We didn't realise this until we were over in Lancashire, but it had been SNOWING. yes, real snow. I thought it was frost at first. The car didn't seem to want to believe it either because it kept skidding about. Snow tyres are pretty high up on our "to-get-done" list at the moment.

Anyway, it made for some very pretty scenery and I managed to snap a few before my fingers fell off.

So this is the famous "tree". You can read all about it here

After a quick round of pics we ran back to the nice warm car and made our way to Southport for fish & chips and a looooong walk along the pier. When we got to the end we realised the tide was out. So much for seing the sea!

We did see the inside of a nice cosy cafe that served hot drinks with whipped cream on top (and a fancy straw for my Mummy, which she clearly wasn't a fan of). Hot chocolate with Baileys, anyone?

And this was Boyfriend's attempt at taking a picture of the full moon over Hebden Bridge. Nice?

A few days later it was time to cosy it up with some lovely neighbours (can I still call your neighbours Claire & Graeme? I have a feeling you'll be back in Hebden soon so I'm keeping the adjective just in case) to celebrate the purchase of our sofa: the legendary vintage green chesterfield! Don't worry, it's getting its very own post soon, this is just a fake spoiler that doesn't even feature a photo of it.

The sofa inspired me to go for a sort of old school chocolate vibe. I even moved an extra lamp into the room. Yipee!

And I'm pleased to report that the Baileys brownie (recipe here) which I originally found on Pinterest, unlike most other Pinterest recipe experiences, was GOOD. Really really good, in fact. Yes, that is a layer of Baileys cheesecake you can see in the middle. And yes, it gave me a perfect excuse to purchase a bottle of Baileys to help me through the winter. Any more questions? Feel free to ask.