A Forthcoming Spending Spree

Both Mick and I have been thinking of treating ourselves to some small kitchen appliances for a while now so we've been doing a bit of research on the things we're wanting to buy.

First up is a bean-to-cup coffee machine. Mick loves a good cup of coffee and I know this is something he'll get a lot of use out of. It's something that other members of the family will get a lot of use out of too! This is something that Mick is definitely going to buy, it's just a matter of which one. The one above is a Ninja, we went into an independent shop where they gave him a demonstration and he tasted the coffee it made, you don't get that sort of service in chain stores. We've got a Ninja air fryer and we've always been happy with that.

Another contender is this Sage model. He hasn't had a demonstration but he likes the look of this one and it's got all the functions that he wants the machine to have.

Something that I've been considering buying is a Kitchenaid stand mixer, not in the colour above, that's Milkshake. I quite like the Almond Cream or Cast Iron Black, and I prefer the stainless steel mixing bowl rather than the glass. I've always used a hand mixer or good old elbow grease in the past so I'm wondering if I actually need one. I'm still thinking this one over.

I'm definitely going to treat myself to a Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser. I know I don't actually 'need' this but I 'want' it. I always enjoy a nice hot chocolate and this gadget makes delicious hot chocolate, and cold drinks too. So this is going to be a gift to myself. There's some delicious flavours that you can buy so it will be fun trying them all out.

We don't often treat ourselves to 'things', in fact, we're using money which my mum and dad gave us as Christmas gifts, and they died over five years ago. It will be nice to use that money on something we'll actually use. So, has anyone got any experience of the things we're thinking of buying? Any recommendations or things to look out for? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Masham

Yesterday we visited the small market town of Masham in North Yorkshire.

A wonderful array of independent shops are set around a large market square and it's a wonderful place for a day out. Set in rolling countryside, it has links to both Fountains Abbey and Jervaulx Abbey through the sheep trade. An annual sheep fair is still held in Masham to this day.

Masham has held a market charter since 1250 and markets are still held in the market square on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There's a really good array of stalls: fruit & veg, baked goods, clothing, footwear, fabric, jewellery, handicrafts, artwork to name but a few.

One of my favourite shops is The Curious Merchant, listed in House & Garden 50 best independent shops 2025.

Inside is a treasure trove of homewares, French antiques and haberdashery. It's absolutely packed full of so many useful items as well as decorative beauties you just can't resist. It's always a joy to visit.

Right next door is Masham Gallery, another beautiful Georgian building housing a selection of British art and craft. There's lots of treasures to discover here.

If it's art you're interested in then don't miss the sign which directs you to Nolon Stacey's gallery. It's tucked away behind one of the cafes facing the market square and definitely worth visiting. Nolon's artwork depicts native wildlife and beautiful landscapes. He uses pencil and charcoal and I've actually got two pieces of his art on my own walls.

I always love an old fashioned sweet shop and I do try to support independent shops, but sadly, I found the prices in Bah Humbugs extortionate. There's a gift shop across the market square which sells the same sweets at a fraction of the price of those being sold here. I wouldn't grumble for the odd twenty or thirty pence per 100g more, but really, they were almost double the price!

There aren't that many bricks and mortar yarn shops to be found these days so it's wonderful that there's one in Masham. Through the Looking Glass sells not only yarn and knitting notions but supplies for other crafts, such as embroidery and needle felting, too.

We recently watched a TV documentary series called Our Yorkshire Shop in which the community of Masham restored an old grocer's shop to its former Victorian glory. Unfortunately, Peacock & Verity closed down just as soon as it opened as fundraising is continuing to extend the restoration. The aim is to provide a heritage centre, a Post Office counter and four rental flats for local people. Such a worthwhile venture.

Just off the market square is St Mary's Church. Mainly Norman, there were additions in the 16th and 19th centuries. There's archaeological evidence that the site has been used for Christian worship for over 1400 years.

It's a beautiful church and felt very welcoming.

There's lots of side streets and snickets to explore. Can you see what you can find down this one. Yes, a brewery tap.

Masham actually has two breweries. Theakston is an independent, family-run brewery which was established in 1827. The direct descendants of the founder, Robert Theakston, are still in charge today.

I just love this dog hydration station in the beer garden.

Black Sheep Brewery was established in 1992 by Paul Theakston, the Black Sheep of the Theakston family.

Both breweries offer tours and each have their own bar and shop. Quite a few bottles travelled home with us, a good selection from each brewery.

This is just a taste of what Masham has to offer. We've visited many times but it's one of those places you can visit again and again and never get bored with. Such a lovely day out.

October 2025

The highlight of October for me was most definitely my trip to Copenhagen which you can read about in my Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen post. I would wholeheartedly recommend this city for any short break, or even longer break, we both loved it. The chest infection I ended September with thankfully abated for our trip but unfortunately returned with a vengeance once we returned home and the aftermath left me with a hacking cough. I'm feeling much better but the cough is still ever present.

I also wrote a post about our visit to Fountains Abbey to see Helios, and we've had some other wonderful days out this month too. We've visited the market town of Helmsley many times but we've never been in the castle before so that was something we did this month. The ruins aren't quite as impressive as Fountains Abbey but it's an interesting place with good information and more to see than I expected. We also visited Nunnington Hall, one of our favourite National Trust properties.

I've read three books this month.

No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara is about two little girls who jump on the tube ahead of their mum, the doors close and they head off to the next station. By the time their mum catches up with them there's only one child waiting for her, no one saw the second child, she seems to have vanished into thin air. This storyline sounds right up my street but I found the characters unlikeable and one dimensional, the writing wasn't up to par, it felt as though the author was trying to create tension but the cliffhangers were most definitely lacking, and I'd guessed the outcome at the start. Not a book I'd recommend.

I'd seen Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout when looking around Waterstones, I nearly picked it up there and then but decided to order it from the library instead. It was only once I started reading that I discovered the book is part of a series. It was an okay standalone story, not quite what I was expecting really from the blurb, but I think you'd probably get more out of it if you'd read the other books in the series first.

The eleventh book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths is The Lantern Men. I can get through these books quickly, I enjoy them so much. This book finds Ruth with a new job, a new home and a new man, but it isn't long before she's back with Nelson, in more ways than one. Another great read.

Do you watch The Traitors? I've never watched it before but I saw that a celebrity version was being made. I happened to turn the TV on when it had just started, I hadn't planned on watching it, but I noticed some celebrities I knew as opposed to most other celebrity versions of TV shows when you haven't a clue who any of the, so called, celebrities are. There's Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry, Charlotte Church, Claire Balding, to name just a few. Of course, there's others who I don't know, but I started watching. Half way through I told Mick that I didn't know if it was for me, but I continued to watch and I really got into it. I've enjoyed this so much that I thought I'd give the very first series a go but it just wasn't the same and I won't continue to watch. I am looking forward to the final of this celebrity version though which is being shown next week.

I've managed to get a couple of woollies finished for Jack, a jumper and a cardigan. I actually knit both in larger sizes so that they'll last him throughout winter, they're a little big on him at the moment but he'll grow into them. I've used both patterns before, the Baby Aosta Cardigan by The Knit Purl Girl is my go to pattern now for babies and this one is the eighth I've knit for various babies. This is the second Marienlyst Sweater by Guri Pedersen that I've knit, the first was in a size 3-6 month for Jack and he's worn it and worn it so I hope this one gets as much use. I love this sage green colour.

I had a lovely surprise when I watched the Franny Do Makes podcast, I'd won a prize in the Spring Shawlathon. I'd cast on the Vertices Unite by Stephen West, and though I still haven't finished the shawl, I will do eventually. It's such a lovely pattern. Fran who hosts the podcast lives very close to where I live, walking distance in fact, so we decided to meet up so that she could give me my prize. We went for a coffee (tea for me) earlier this month and we enjoyed a nice chat. The prize was a gorgeous sock set from Bellica Yarns, such a pretty colour. There was a project bag from Hannah's Happy Space, a yarn carrier and also some project cards which Fran sells in her Ko-fi shop. A wonderful prize.

Today is Halloween so I thought I'd show you my own little Halloween pumpkin. Eleanor and Jacob had taken him pumpkin picking and he had a whale of a time pushing the wheelbarrow, climbing on the tractor and generally running amok! I knit one of these hats for him last year, it's the Sweet Pumpkin by Drops Design. Obviously, he'd grown out of that one so I knit him another to wear this year, the same pattern. While they were there, the mum of a baby of a similar age to Jack asked Eleanor where she'd got the hat from, when she told her that I'd made it she said it was the best pumpkin hat she'd seen. That made my day!

You can see the hat a little better in this photo. Jack had just fallen in the mud!

It's hard to believe that there's only two months left of the year, time is passing by so quickly. The clocks have gone back now and the evenings are so much darker. I usually hold off putting the heating on for as long as I can but having Jack here at 7am some days means it's been put on earlier than usual this year. Winter is definitely not my favourite time of year but we've got Christmas to look forward to yet so that's keeping me going for the time being.

Helios

We had another trip to Fountains Abbey a couple of weeks ago. We've visited this National Trust property many times but this was a trip with a difference, this time we were going to see Helios, the new artwork from Luke Jerram. He's previously created Museum of the Moon, Gaia, and Mars, large scale models of the moon, the Earth, and Mars. Helios, his new art installation, is a large scale model of the sun.

You could see Helios in the abbey's ruins during a regular visit or you could visit out of normal hours and see Helios by sunrise or Helios by sunset, we opted for the latter. We thought it would create quite the impression in the night sky and we wasn't wrong. You could see it glowing within the abbey.

In Greek mythology, Helios is the sun god and this is who this artwork is named after. It was suspended in the centre of the Nave in the abbey ruins.

Helios has a 7-metre diameter and each centimetre represents 2000 kilometres of the sun's actual surface.

Fountains Abbey was the perfect place to view it, especially at night. The open aspect of the abbey gave a great atmosphere, especially as there were sounds of the sun recorded by NASA being played at the same time.

The 360-degree viewing experience allowed a closer look at the whole surface of the sun, including sun spots and solar flares. It was fun looking at it at different angles through the ruins.

Fountains Abbey itself has a totally different atmosphere at night.

We took the opportunity to wander away from Helios and look at some other areas.

The Great Cloister is my favourite place in the abbey, it's so well preserved.

The abbey was built in the twelfth century and the sun played a vital part in the lives of the monks who founded it.

I missed Luke Jerram's other art installations when they toured but I'm glad I managed to see this one.

Malmo, Sweden

Following on from my previous post when I told you about our trip to Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen, I thought I'd tell you what we got up to on our second day there.

You may know that Denmark is connected to Sweden via the Oresund Link. This comprises of a tunnel which goes under the Oresund Strait which then emerges onto a manmade island before continuing across the Oresund Bridge. You can travel between Copenhagen and Malmo by road or rail. The photo above was taken from the top of the Round Tower in Copenhagen which you can read about in my last post. In the distance you can just see the Oresund Bridge. Being so close to Sweden, we decided we should take the opportunity to visit.

The rail journey took about forty minutes from Copenhagen's Grand Central Station to Malmo and cost about £23 for two tickets. Coming back from Malmo to Copenhagen, two tickets cost about £19. It was so easy to use the train, purchasing the tickets from the machines was simple to do and the trains run so regularly that we didn't have to wait around at all. We also used the train to and from the airport, again, without a hitch.

The first place we came to was Stortorget, or Big Square. The Town Hall is situated here and there's also a fountain commemorating the recapture of the region of Skane for the Swedes from Denmark.

The signpost displays the distance to major cities around the world.

Further on and we came to Lilla Torg, or Little Square. It was originally a marketplace but it's now a place for socialising as the buildings are mostly cafes and restaurants.

There's some beautiful architecture here with some of the structures dating back to the sixteenth century.

We walked through Kungsparken, a lovely park in the heart of the city, where we came across this statue of the Roman goddess Diana surrounded by deer.

Coming out of Kungsparken at the opposite side, we came to Malmo Castle. Built between 1526 and 1529, it now forms part of The Malmo Museum. We didn't go inside but we had a walk around the grounds.

The Castle Mill was built in 1850 and put into use from 1851.

Turning Torso was the tallest building in the Nordic region until a few years ago. It stands at 190m (620ft) with 54 stories. We could see it from the castle but we didn't venture any closer.

On our way back to the station we came upon St Peter's Church. It didn't look very grand from the outside.

Inside is another matter though, my photos don't do it justice. This is Malmo's oldest church and it's absolutely beautiful.

The altarpiece was made in 1611 and is one of the largest in the Nordic countries.

I had a pen pal from Sweden when I was a child and I've always wanted to visit the country, so that's something crossed off my list. I enjoyed our day in Malmo but it isn't somewhere I'd visit for a second time, though I would like to see other areas of Sweden.