Village vignettes

Thank-you for all your lovely comments after my last post. You shouldn't have encouraged me because now I feel compelled to show you a few more pictures taken in and around the beautiful village where we spent the weekend.


The lovely entrance to Kloovenberg Wine and Olive farm

This feels just like France with the cypresses, lavender and vineyards





This attractive entrance is to a shop selling olive products



Another beautiful entrance



Pretty little Georgian style house in the village

I love this row of potted olive trees

Stunning chandelier and stone wall

I want one of these garden clocks

These cypresses are so reminiscent of  Provence or Tuscany

A  sweeping avenue of plane trees underplanted with ivy

I hope you enjoyed and I promise I won't subject you to any more sightseeing for a while!

Till next time


Sharon x

Back from my break!

 

I'm back from my short blogging sabbatical and I really missed all of you, but did enjoy spending time with my family. I haven't been entirely unproductive during my boy's school holidays and have been busy with some little projects around the house which I will show you another day, but today I want to show you some pictures of the place where we spent the weekend. My husband and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on Friday and my twins celebrated their 9th birthday on Saturday so we decided to treat our family to a little getaway. We went to a beautiful little town called Riebeeck-Kasteel which is about an hour's drive from Cape Town and spent 3 nights there. We stayed in a house with a lovely view over the quaint town.

 

The patio behind the house where we spent a lot of time. Don't you love the fleur-de-lis cut-out on the chairs?

The view of the town from our house with the vineyards in the background.

To celebrate our anniversary, my husband and I went out for breakfast to a restaurant called Cafe Felix. It is a French style restaurant with a very rustic French country feel.  I took these pics especially for you, my fellow Francophiles. I am reading a book at the moment called "Almost French" by Sarah Turnbull and she talks about her French boyfriend and how everything around him has to be aesthetically pleasing otherwise he feels "unwell"! I can really relate to this. If I am in an environment that isn't particularly pleasing it can adversely affect my mood. I'm not proud of this, but it is what it is. These surroundings were so lovely I was definitely not "unwell"!

 

This is the front entrance and after walking through here you are met by delightful little scenes of weathered shutters and old ladders and gates leaning casually against the walls,  beautiful lanterns fixed to the walls and old iron urns with greenery tumbling over them, a weathered potting bench with old terracotta pots and a beautiful fountain with tinkling water.  Everything was just so appealing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we returned the boys asked if they could go to buy us anniversary presents. They came back with a bottle of olive oil, a rusty wire heart, a bottle of strawberry jam and a small beaded heart. I just adore those boys - too sweet! You can't really see in the photo, but the little cards they made say happy A-day. I guess 'anniversary' is a bit of a mouthful!

 

 

 

I will show you some more of the picturesque town in another post, but would like to share with you a lovely surprise I got. While on my blogging break I received not one, but two "Stylish Blogger Awards"! The one is from Jodie at The Nest Eclectic and the other is from Renee and Angela from Under Spanish Moss. I am very flattered and grateful to you wonderful women. If you aren't familiar with these blogs, please go and pay them a visit. You won't be disappointed.

I will briefly mention 7 things about me that you probably don't know:

• I am the youngest of five children.
• I grew up on a big sheep farm in South Africa.
• I went to boarding school at the age of 6.
• I loved being part of a big family and am so blessed to have a big family of my own.
• I will never send my children to boarding school.
• Having dinner with my family in the evenings is my favourite thing to do.
• Being the only person in a family of 6 interested in interiors and decor is sometimes lonely - that is where you bloggers have come to the rescue!

I have been sitting here trying to decide who to pass this award on to, but am finding it impossible to choose. You are all wonderfully stylish bloggers in so many different ways and have enriched my life immeasurably so I am giving this award to all of you with my love and gratitude!


Till next time

Sharon x

French Beauty

My children started school holidays yesterday so I am going to take a little break from blogging. I thought I would leave you with these French lovelies to gaze upon. See you soon!

 

Images via Life as a House


Till next time



Sharon x

April Fool



Every afternoon, Elaine enjoys sitting down to a hot cup of tea, while Gary prefers a nice cup of cup.” via {Catalog Living}



Is it just me or do you think those orange stools were someone's idea of a joke!   (Source unknown)

I hope you all survive April Fool's Day. If you didn't see Andie's post (Divine Theatre) - go and have a look here.

Till next time


Sharon x

View from my kitchen island

 I once read an article on kitchens that said instead of making your kitchen the heart of your home - find the heart of your home and make that your kitchen. In other words, find the area of your home that is the natural centre point, the area where your home converges, and have your kitchen there. Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to do this, but when we renovated our house 18 months ago, we were able to do exactly that! It is a double volume space and is in the centre of our L-shaped house.

This was before the island was installed. The units on either side of the range cooker are inexpensive carpenters workbenches that you can buy from any hardware store.

This was the inspiration for my kitchen. It is the cover of a recipe book which epitomised the French farmhouse feel  that I was after. (The author is Marlene van der Weshuizen. She lives in Cape Town and has a home in France and runs cooking schools both in South Africa and France.)

The area is double volume so the chandelier had to be hung from a great height!

We bought the huge chandelier for a song! It used to hang in the Artscape Theatre complex in Cape Town.

The shelves to the left and right of the range cooker house my silverware collection and everyday crockery.

This is looking up from behind my island. Our bedroom is through the door you can vaguely see on the left and the children's wing is to the right. The chalkboard you can see is where I write the children's weekly schedule so I can see at a glance what kit has to be taken to school.

This is another view from behind my island towards the staircase.

This will explain the layout better.

This is the view looking past the family room to the pool.

And this is the view straight ahead towards my entrance hall and patio.

And this is the view towards my dining room on the left.

This is a view from the landing near the childrens bedrooms. They often chat to me from up here and, if they're feeling brave, through down their dirty laundry!

This picture makes me feel a bit dizzy!

. This is a view from the upstairs landing outside our bedroom. You can see the kichen layout better. The island was made by my brother who has a furniture manufacturing business. The top is oak and I have a big slab of marble in the centre where I do most of my food preparation. The island is over 2 metres long.

And here we have a night-time view

 Hope you enjoyed this little tour.


Till next time

Sharon x

Romantic Retreat

I would love a little getaway to this gorgeous place.  I would arrive in this entrance hall with it's beautiful stone wall .....

after coming through  these beautiful doors.




I would sign the visitors book......






Have a quick visit here to freshen up.....




And then get shown to my room. Should I pick this one.......



or  this one?




I will then have lunch al fresco here.....





and then stroll through the beautiful gardens ....



admiring this.................



and this.....



and this...............




I will fetch my book and relax here for the rest of the afternoon. I might even doze off for a while.....




Then I will run a bath and have a long soak.....




while looking out onto this....




put on some make-up here.....




and then head on here for a pre-dinner cocktail .....




or should I rather have my cocktail outside? After all, it's a beautiful evening.....



A delicious dinner awaits.......

outside here with friends and family............

 or maybe a romantic meal here (with my husband, of course!) ....




After dinner I will pop into the kitchen to thank the chef for a wonderful meal.....




I will then sit here with a cup of coffee before heading for bed......





I will breakfast here in the morning.............



And have a final cup of tea here......




And then say good-bye to this beautiful place before heading home feeling wonderfully relaxed and rejuvenated.

Would you like to join me?

All pictures via Morrells Boutique Venue, Johannesburg, South Africa.




Till next time

Sharon x