The Versatile Blogger Award

Now on to fulfilling the duties that are bestowed on a receiver of this award.

There are a few rules that you have to follow:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to that person's blog

2. Post the award on the sidebar of your blog.

3. Tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself

And last but not least - 4 Choose 15 other blogs and nominate them for the award.

I have already completed 1 and 2 so...

3. Hmmm... lets see

I am British and live in England, but I spent much of my childhood living abroad.

I am crazy about all things Regency, well actually 18th and 19th centuries.

I am a huge Jane Austen fan (though I think many fellow bloggers are :) )

I enjoy sewing but am pretty appalling at it so 99% of the clothes, I wear to Regency events, I have bought!

I am part of a Napoleonic Re-enactment group, but would also love to join a Victorian group.

I am currently working as a nursery school teaching assistant, but dream of having a job in the heritage sector.

I have a strange interest in modern ships. It isn't similar to any of my other interests but for some reason I find them fascinating. :)

Well that is definitively enough about me. On, to number 4 - nominating other people's fabulous blogs. I am not sure if I will be able to nominate 15 as most of the blogs I follow have already been nominated but here goes...

Afternoon Tea Total Written by Natalie, someone who like me adores tea. :) She visits loads tearooms in both Britain and Germany and writes wonderful reviews about them. A must visit for anyone who loves tea. :)

Amanda's Costumes A fabulous blog crammed full of photos of gorgeous costumes and amazing events.

Between Naps on the Porch Written by Susan, it is the blog for anyone who has an interest in interior design, DIY, historic houses in America, crafts and many more things. It is amazing.

El Vestidor Anacronico A spanish blog written by Nereida. Thankfully she writes in both spanish and English as my spanish is non-existant. She is an amazing seamstress who makes the most gorgeous costumes. I would love to have her entire costume wardrobe. :)

Miss Cathie Written by my friend and fellow Gibson Girl Cathie, it is a beautiful blog about life, fashion and all things pretty and delicious :).  It is a must-visit for anyone who has any interest in these subjects. :)

These three Oregon Regency Society Blogs

http://oregonregency.blogspot.co.uk/

http://orscascades.blogspot.co.uk/

http://orspuget.blogspot.co.uk/

I just love the ORS. I wish I lived in Oregon just so I could join!! They organise the most amazing events and all its members have such beautiful costumes. It is a dream of mine to one day attend the ORS Regency Retreat. These blogs are full of fabulous photos of  their events. :)

The Story of a Seamstress Written by Atlanta, who is a very talented seamstress, who makes amazing historical costumes (she made my beautiful blue Victorian ball gown). Her blog shows all her fabulous creations. Her etsy shop Bonnie Blue Arts is a must-visit.

I think I am going to stop there, but there are so many blogs that deserve this award.

Two Very Great Honours

I was very lucky recently, in the space of 2 days I received 2 blog awards. I know everyone says this, but they were completely unexpected, especially as my blog is not a literary masterpiece nor a thing of beauty (my computer graphics skills leave much to be desired). It is just where I post photos of my historical costumes and the events I attend. I started a blog so that I could share my photos and stories of events that I had attended, with people who might enjoying hearing about them. Sadly there is a serious lack of people in my area who have any interest in historical costumes, period dramas etc, so no one who would enjoy me talking endlessly about events and forcing them to look at all my photos!! :) However, I have to admit that there are a couple of people who like tea - I do live in England, so it would be strange if there weren't! I spend countless happy hours drooling over photos on other people's blogs, dreaming of going to an American civil war re-enactment, Colonial Williamsburg and the Fair at New Boston, so I am so happy that there are people who enjoy my blog. :)

Now on to the Thank Yous -

The first award I received was 'The Versatile Blogger' from Quinn over at The Quintessential Clothes Pen .
The second was 'Liebster Blog' from Angela over at The Merry Dressmaker

Both Quinn and Angela are amazing seamstresses, whose blogs are definitely worth a visit if you enjoy looking at gorgeous costumes and photos of fabulous events. :)

Thank you so much both of you. :)

A Regency House Party - Part 2

After spending a lovely afternoon at the castle, we returned to the manor to get ready for the Anniversary Ball.

Over the last few years I have gained a reputation of taking forever to get ready for a ball. Sadly I lived up to it, and when the time came for us to go to supper, I was not ready! However all was not lost. The serving of the food was particularly slow, so after each course Emily ( who wasn't entirely ready herself, and who is a genius at turning my frizzy hair into perfect regency curls) ran upstairs to finish getting ready. 

Emily at supper

Suzy (not sure what she is staring at?!), and other guest enjoying supper.

By the time supper had ended, we had run up and down the main stairs quite a few times but, we were ready for the ball. :)

Avril, who always wears the most gorgeous gowns

And of course I had to take a view of the back. It was made out of a beautiful sari. I really want a sari ball gown!!

Emily and Suzy waiting for the Ball to begin. 

Jackie doing the same

Me at the beginning of the ball.

Emily 

The anniversary cake that was brought out onto the dance floor near the end of the evening. Twas delicious. :)

Dancing. :)

Sadly there was't always enough room or enough willing dancers, for us to dance every dance, so when we found ourselves in such a situation we retired to the drawing room/bar to have a refreshing beverage. 

Here Sandy is reading allowed to us all, with a rather tired Babs falling asleep on her shoulder!

The next morning we had a kite making class, which was such fun.

Not everyone took part. Those who didn't chatted and played board and card games.

Not anything to do with kite making, but I had to add the photo in as I just love the carving on the paneling. 

I actually never got round to taking photos of the class as I was having too much fun. Emily and I were in fits of laughter sticking the plastic straws, that had been provided for us to use in constructing our kites, into our hair making us look like regency aliens. Lol :) I have to admit that I can be rather childish at times!! :)

Here are a few photos that I took of my kite when I got home. 

After making the kites we went out onto the lawn and attempted to fly them. They were made out of plastic straws and paper so weren't the best kites in the world, but we had great fun running up and down the lawn trying to get them to fly!! 

All in all it was a wonderful weekend, and I really hope HRD will hold another house party next year. :)

A Regency House Party - Part One

At the end of June I attended the 10th Anniversary of the Hampshire Regency Dancers. To celebrate they decided to hold a regency house party in a manor house in Somerset. It was a wonderful weekend, and I just wish it had been longer.

For photos I am going to start with a few of the house and then move onto events. So here they are:

Of course I couldn't publish a post that didn't have any photos of pretty ceilings in it!!:) This was the the drawing room/bar ceiling.

The dining room

The very impressive fireplace in the main hall

Part of the garden

Jackie and Emily in the dining room at supper on the Friday evening.

Everyone having supper 

After supper we had an informal dance. 

There was a maypole on the front lawn of the manor. I have always wanted to try maypole dancing, so a few of us decided to escape the heat of the ballroom and attempt a dance. :) It was such fun. We weren't very good at it and the ribbons became rather twisted, but we were in fits of laughter. :) I would love to try it again. Sadly I didn't get any photos as I was too busy dancing.

After the dancing, Regency and maypole, two ladies acted out a regency comedy performance. It was hilarious. :)

The following day we had a dance practice in the morning and then had the afternoon free. 

A few of us decided to take the opportunity to visit a local National Trust House - Dunster Castle. And of course we went in Regency clothing. :) Here everyone is walking up the steep drive to the castle entrance.

Claire - I love the back of her spencer.

The front of the castle. It was too big for me to fit the entire castle in one photo. I couldn't get farther enough away for it to fit.

Next: a few photos of the castle's interior

The inner hall.

The grand staircase

The dining room. 

Beautiful dining room ceiling.

I love the gown. :)

Another view of the grand staircase. It reminds me of the one at Sudbury Hall (the interior of Pemberley in P&P 95) I think it was carved by the same person.

Another painting of a lady wearing a gorgeous gown

All of us girls in one of the bedrooms. I have no idea what Emily is looking at. :)

The detail on the bed cover was gorgeous, sadly you can't really see it in this photo.

A rather blurry photo of the one bath in the house. It was enormous and so deep!

Another bedroom

Looking at Belgian tapestries

Helen and her beautiful bonnet. :)

Admiring another bedroom

The billiard room - part of the late 19th century renovation of the castle. We were actually allowed to have a go at playing! I say have a go, as we were pretty terrible at playing. The room steward looked rather nervous as we were attempting to play. He was worried that we were going to rip the green baize. Luckily we didn't harm the table in any way, and we had a lot of fun.

I love how there were seats in the giant fireplace. It must have been so cosy on cold winter nights in Victorian Somerset. The fireplace is so big as it was originally the kitchen before the victorian renovations were done.

A stack of old suitcases in the gunroom.

Gorgeous Adam fireplace 

A gorgeous desk (I think it is regency) that was in the owners office (owner during the late 19th century).

A rather blurry photo of the library - and the back of Emily.

The drawing room. Unfortunately we couldn't really walk into the room, we were only allowed to view it from either doorway.

Walking through the gardens. I love this photo. If you ignore the modern manhole cover and drainpipe, it looks like a glimpse into the Regency era. :)

And last but not least the stables, which were obviously very grand at one time. :)

Next: The anniversary ball and Regency kite flying.