Mr HenHouse, always up on what's going on where on the steam railway scene, had long since spotted that last weekend was to be the West Somerset Railway's Spring Steam Gala. Lots of wonderful engines all to be in attendance (apparently). After a bolstering cup of tea and hot buttered crumpets, off we set!
We did drop in at my fave local charity shop on the way so I could get my thrifty vintagey fix, to steel myself for the railway onslaught that was to follow!
A meandering drive through the beautiful West Somerset countryside found us arriving at this very quaint rural railway station.


The Railway had gone to a lot of effort to make sure everything was looking its best. There were lots of vintage treasures on display to satisfy even my aesthetic side!
But someone enjoyed themselves oh so much more, fulfilling a lifelong ambition (all seven and a half years of it, you know) to be a GWR engine driver at long last!



Always keen to encourage youngsters' interest in the steam railway, we were allowed a rare treat to go up into the signal box. Oh so cosy! A stove in the corner, a nice arm chair, kettle on. I could have really made myself at home with my crochet! The boys were much more interested in all the levers and bells and err, things, of course.

We had a ride along the railway, jumping on and off at various stations to have a peek into the engine sheds and finally arrived at the terminus at Minehead. The treat here is the new turntable. If, like me, your knowledge of railways is somewhat patchy at best, the turntable is used to well, turn, the engine round at the end of the line. It is quite something to see in action, seeing tonnes of steam engine being turned around.
Still with me or have your eyes glazed over at all this railway talk? Let's move on to vintage prettiness.
A while back, you may recall I visited Cath K at Bicester (I know, it's hard to remember, I hardly ever go to Cath K...) There I puchased some bargain blue cotton sheets with crochet edging. Well, I turned the single sheet into two pillowcases (the sheet cost £8) and left the super king size one as it was (cost £20 as opposed to the original £90). I am a bit of a white bedding freak so the blue is taking some getting used to, but they are really lovely quality. I've teamed them with some stripey pillowcases (50p from the fave charity shop) but I need to make some new cushion covers because these ones are too blue alongside the blue sheets. I apologise for the creases but the bedding went on late on Friday night when we got to the cottage and the photos I took then were all blurry because it was dark so the better photos are post-occupation, so to speak!
Our little cottage has just two rooms upstairs, our bedroom and the Munchkin's cowboy room, of course. It is very higgledy piggledy, roof rafters and beams everywhere at odd angles, the little windows peeping out of the thatch. It really is the quintessential chocolate box country cottage. When we went to view the cottage before buying, Mr HenHouse went up the (tiny little windy) staircase (no mean feat for a six footer) and shouted down "You're going to love this!" A few shots around the bedroom reveal the cottage's quirky nature...

It is a complete contrast to our life here in the big city, both wonderful in their own way. It certainly is nice, lying in that big Victorian bed with my snuggly eiderdown, hearing nothing but the song of the birds outside.
Now, I really must get on and do something productive today!