Nosy parker in town

 Today I am linking up with   Kat's blog......

The idea is we learn more about each other's lives beyond just sewing, so here goes.

1)      Tell us about your home:

I live in a small market town in Nottinghamshire, in the UK.  It’s a town of ‘mixtures’ there are some very old houses and properties in the centre of the town, and several large modern housing estates built on around the edges.  There are some very expensive places to live, mostly affordable family homes, and some social housing.

The central focus of the town is the market place.  Thursdays is market day, and has been since the market was established by Royal Charter in 1314. People still come from the nearby villages to buy their fruit, veg, flowers, clothes, meat, fish and other general provisions.  (There is no supermarket for 10 miles in each direction) I wander round the market every week, and always bump into someone I know.

There is a small railway station, which goes in one direction to Nottingham, and in the other direction to Grantham and Skegness (the nearest seaside is 70 miles away).  There are two churches, a Parish church, and a Methodist church.  (This is the Parish church, one of the oldest buildings in the town - tower and spire date back to 1200 or 1300's.)

There are quite a few shops, lots of hairdressers and four cafes (we obviously drink a lot of tea and have our hair cut a lot here!).  I do have to show you a photo of our little wool shop. 

This is owned by Joan, and she can always give handy advice on anything sewing, knitting and craft related.  I don’t buy a lot here, but if I can get it here rather than on line then I do, because I would be very sad if this shop closed, and so we need to support our local businesses.

It’s Autumn here at the moment.... approaching winter, so a bit damp and drizzly some days, but today sunny and chilly.

Here are two random facts about our town (it has a bit of a gruesome history)......

From 1710 – 1739 an insane surgeon who attempted to set fire to the town was forced to live in a small prison especially built in the middle of the market place.

In 1299 a woman was publically whipped as a punishment for adultery.

2) What are the houses like in your area.

I already told you a bit about the houses in the town.... but on my road there are lots of different houses, some are huge, but ours is medium size.  Here is our little group of houses, ours being the small one third one along.  It’s a Victorian house built in 1896, and therefore very cold and drafty in the winter.

An unusual feature of our house is that is has a world war II air raid shelter in the back garden!!  This was built by the owner at that time for his family and the other nearby families to take shelter in during the bombing and air raids. 

Also, our garden shed was once the outside toilet and washroom for the house, as when originally built these would have been the only toilet facilities (now luckily we have an indoor bathroom!!)

Our house is semi-detached, and on three floors as we have a funny room up some spiral stairs into the loft.

Gosh, this is going to make me sound incredibly dull.... in an effort to live as simply as possible the radius of my life is very small.  We don’t go far very often.

As the week revolves around getting my little one to and from pre-school, in addition to this we manage to fit in trips to the local parks, we ride our scooters to the cemetery and collect foliage to make things with, we go and see our friends and we might go to the cafe (you’ll remember we have a lot to choose from) for a special treat.  We help out by running the toddler group on a Friday, and so spend most of Friday there. 

If there is anything going on at the weekend e.g. fete or coffee morning we go along

But there are some beautiful places to visit nearby.  The river Trent is not far from us and so we can go to the lock and watch the boats, and we can feed the ducks.

A bit further afield is Sherwood Forest and the great oak and Robin Hood country....

Statue of Robin Hood by Nottingham Castle

The Great Oak.

Above is part of Nottingham University where I studied.

And here is Wollaton Hall, another favourite place to go.

And my other half has insisted that I include some photos of the two great sporting venues.... Trent Bridge cricket ground, and Nottingham Forest football stadium (both places I never go to, but he spends as much time as possible!)

Our town has buses galore, and they are always coming and going!  They go to Nottingham every ten minutes.  So people can use those.  However we walk as much as we can, and everything is close by, so me and the kids walk daily, apart from on Wednesday when pre-school is just that bit too far to walk – so we use the bike trailer.  (Sorry no photos - too embarasing!) Now, I feel a bit of a banana using this.... but Hope loves it, and has a song that she sings ‘goodie goodie goodie’ when it comes out of the shed!  She waves at everyone as we cycle past, and yells ‘faster faster’ (as I am huffing and puffing up the slightest incline).

We do have a family car though, and use this at the weekend, or for trips out.

5) Is there a type of food that would be quintessential to where you live? E.g. a famous local produce etc...

Our town does not have a particular speciality..... but nearby Melton Mowbray is famous for pork pies.  Not far away, Cropwell Bishop is well known for it’s stilton cheese.  Belvoir Elderflower Presse is also made from Elderflowers in local hedgrows. And amongst my mates, my Victoria Sandwich is pretty renowned!!

So, I know my life is not as interesting as most of yours (I have enjoyed the other nosy parker blogs I have read), but here is a little window into my mundanity!! 

Well done, you made it to the end x