This weekend we went up to Newcastle to visit my sister. It was the first time I've seen her new house, and I fell in love with it. It's in the middle of a harbour, right on the edge of the Tyne, and it's such a pretty spot.
She took me to one of the best bead shops I've ever been to. It's called Lebeado, and there is one in Durham and Covent Garden too. I was really pleased to see the shop was very busy, and it was nice to see people sitting in the shop making necklaces and bracelets, such a vibrant, crafty atmosphere.
After that we ventured into the Northumberland countryside, so peaceful and green. I love the countryside, it's where I feel happiest. We thought we were going to run out of petrol at one point! We couldn'd find a petrol station for miles, and when we did find one it had closed at one o'clock, on a Saturday! That's the charm of the countryside! We eventually found one so all was well.
We visited a Roman fort, and saw bits of Hadrians wall.
On Sunday we went down to the start of the Great North Run. I felt completely choked up when I saw all of those people set off on the 13 mile half marathon. It was surprisingly emotional. So emotional that we decided to train for it and attempt it next year! I will keep you posted on the training progress.
After the race we hit the shops then went down to the river to have a look at the Sunday market. It was one of the best open air craft markets I've ever been to. They sold everything, from wonderful mosaic heart shaped mirrors, to button necklaces and crochet hats. I was so busy browsing and buying, that I didn't take any pictures. So you will just have to take my word for it and make sure you visit it if you are ever in the area.
... a gorgeous butterfly mirror, completely handcrafted.
When we visited the market, they were in the middle of making this mirror, it was the only butterfly shaped one they had, the rest were round or heart shaped. A few weeks later, my sister spotted it ready for sale, sent me a photo and when I showed Andy he said that we just had to buy it, so we did!
We have lots of butterfly things in our house, and it's not just me who likes them, Andy does too! All we need to do now is find somewhere to hang it, and to hang it securely because it is very heavy.
I love the colours of the mirror, they look much brighter on the photographs than they actually are. The people who make the mirrors are called Cotfield Mirrors. They make some using pieces of vintage china teacups too which are beautiful as they have a floral design. Their website is www.cotfield.co.uk but to really see what they do you would have to visit them at one of their craft markets because they don't show many of their designs on their site.
