Welcome to My Hall!

Welcome to my world in Northern Ireland. I am taking part in a number of bloggy carnivals today, so glad you could join me.

At Kelly's Korner this week it is Show us Where you Live - Foyer/Entrance Way

Being in Northern Ireland we don't tend to have foyers (unless you live in a hotel!) but we do have halls, so today I am sharing the hall in our holiday cottage.

It is so small (compact and bijoux I think is the term used by the estate agents in the 80's and 90's) that it has been necessary to step outside the hall to take photos of it!

So, hear goes

Front Door (from outside)

Front Door (from the stairs)

Stairs (from outside front Door)

More of the stairs from up the stairs!

Some of the details

Coat Hook - I fell in love with this just after we had signed the paperwork for the cottage, and I bought it before we even had the keys to the cottage!

Talking of keys - wish these were original, but I love them anyway.

Do you remember this sign from a few weeks ago? It is on a trial relocation at the moment, not sure if it is destined to stay at the holiday cottage, or our main home.

This frame was an ebay purchase, and I use it to display some local vintage postcards.

This perpetual calendar is from East of India, as is this wee saying "friends/angels" which was a housewarming gift.

This mirror was another house-warming gift from a friend. I had fun trying to get different reflections in it.
I love occasional lights instead of using the main central light, but there is certainly no room for a table, so a friend donated this small lamp which just about fits on the wee windowsill. I think it was from Laura Ashley.


So there you have it - may hall/entry/foyer - it is probably only about 4 ft wide by 5 ft long.

In the interests of keeping it real, I assure you it is usually full of sand from the beach, a collection of shells and stones, abandoned shoes and AT LEAST this many coats!

Now on to another purchase to share which I am delighted with. A few weeks ago I was really impressed and inspired by THIS bathroom makeover by Flower Patch Farm Girl.

In particular on her walls she had some framed maps, which inspired me to search for some for the walls of our holiday cottage.

Finding myself child-free for an hour or so, I had a rummage in the local second hand book shop. Initially I was looking at old atlases, but invariably each map I may have wanted to use had a central seam/fold as it spread over 2 pages. So I moved on to inquire about local maps of the area.

The shop owner brought out a lovely old one of Co Donegal (which is further west of here, but can be seen from the local beaches - there is often a beautiful sunset over the Donegal hills). (Did you know we can also see Scotland to the north west - we are that close!)
He said it was very hard to find a map of our area, as they were in great demand. However, I rummaged further, and found one!

Not just as old and beautiful as the first, but still dated 1912! I ended up buying both. You can even see where our cottage is marked on the map of this area.


Now I just need to find the correct size of frames, and when I do, I promise to share them, hanging on the walls of the cottage.

Have you been directly inspired by another blog? Do share.

I am also linking up this post to Hooked On Houses, as this week I am hooked on my cottage hallway and vintage maps.

I am linking to Beautiful Life at The Inspired Room, as I appreciated some of my wee bits and pieces I have in my compact hall with fresh eyes today. It is funny how you can walk past items daily without really noticing them, until you stop to photograph them and blog about them.

Finally, I will include this in Show and Tell this week at Kelli's There's No Place Like Home.

Hope you have a moment to check out some of these wonderful blogs.

If you are visiting from any of these places, you are most welcome to Northern Ireland, and I hope you come back soon.

When Raymond met Sally

Technically this post should be when Raymond met Sally and Hazel, but somehow that is just not as catchy! (Sorry Hazel!)

Finally. almost one month after I returned to Northern Ireland, I will finally finish blogging about my trip to Bristol.

Did you miss the other parts? Well, I'll forgive you this time, and you can catch up HERE, and HERE.

On the Saturday evening I had been invited to attend/gate crash the 40th birthday of a husband of a mum who I knew from the school playground during our year in Bristol 4 years earlier. It was the perfect opportunity to meet up with lots of "old" friends. There was delicious food, a jazz pianist was playing, we are out in the garden watching the hot air balloons sail over Redland....... and you wonder why I miss Bristol?!
Later in the evening, the pianist kindly humored us as some started to sing along to one of his tunes, and somehow the evening evolved from relaxed, cool sophistication to impromptu karaoke with a live pianist, who seemed to know EVERY song that was suggested.
The singing ranged from Abba to Frank Sinatra via most Andrew Lloyd Weber Musicals. Sorry Andy for lowering the tone of your elegant evening!

Sunday morning, another hot and sunny day, I went with our friends to their new community church. Lovely, friendly and welcoming atmosphere, and I recognised a number of faces from various events earlier in my visit.

Finally, Sally, Hazel and I had a "pass" to be "ladies who lunch" while their husbands had a BBQ and waterfight for the kids.

We had booked Brasserie Blanc a new restaurant in a newly redeveloped area of Bristol city centre called Cabot Circus.

It is owned by Raymond Blanc a french chef who is often seen on UK TV - both cooking, and lately on a reality TV show called The Restaurant where he chose a couple to run a restaurant (loved that series) (I think it was shown on BBC America as Last Restaurant Standing). He also owns and runs Le Manoir Aux Quatre Saison in Oxfordshire, a 2* Michelin Restaurant (check out the link - amazing!)

Before going for lunch, Sally could not resist a paddle in the fountains in the square in front of the restaurant, but left them quickly when she realised that they randomly shoot water high in the air!
The food was delicious, and the set menu excellent value at under £16 for 3 courses including wine (however we did upgrade to a glass of champagne - it was that sort of a day!).

We were enjoying anticipating our food on the terrace, watching kids in the square playing in the fountains, when the man himself, walked passed and sat down at a nearby table. Being very uncool, we tried to look cool while taking a photo of him in the background of the photo of Sally and the menu! Raymond Blanc owns a number of restaurants all over England so it really was unexpected to find him dinning in Bristol. He is identified in the following photo with a circle and arrow!

We need not have bothered trying to be subtle in our photo taking, as after stopping by a table to meet an elderly lady who was there with her family celebrating her birthday, Raymond came over to our table.

Raymond asked if we had enjoyed our meal, and Sally asked him if he had enjoyed his too! Of course I asked if I could take a photo, and although he posed between Sally and Hazel, I could not manage to get all 3 in the photo (sorry again Hazel!). He was friendly and charming, and of course had a wonderful french accent.

Here IS Hazel, the food, and the most delicious dessert ever - hot chocolate mousse served with vanilla icecream - yummmm!


And here is a chance for you to listen to that wonderful accent for yourselves!


We just had time for a little bit of shopping in the new Cabot Circus area.

So that was the end of my Bristol trip, I headed back to the airport, so glad I had been able to pack in so much, and see so many friends again.

Thanks for making it to the end, and tell me, have you even met anyone famous, and if so, were you as equally embarrassing? Do tell!