An English Farm

We had the chance to spend some time on a lovely farm during our visit to England. It was beautiful, green, and very quiet just as I has imagined before..

Lush green fields. Horses on one side and 14.000 chickens on the other. I have been told that they are laying 12.000 eggs per day. I have to say that eggs were delicious..

I dont know about chickens but I think some of the horses really liked me or maybe they just wondered about the woman on the fields with the camera...

This beautiful farm belongs to the sister of my sister-in law and sure we had a very warm welcome...

Conwy - Wales

During our trip to England, we managed to spent a day in the lovely Northern Wales town of Conwy.

Conwy is a beautiful seaside town with a magnificent castle which had been constructed by Henry 1. between 1283 and 1289. It was a very windy and cold day but we still succeeded to spend some time in the towers of this amazing building.. I just loved the castles in England..

We also thought that its best to try a classic British tradition here: Fish and chips and mushy peas.

Wedding

Here are some of the things that I did NOT buy from England. Do you think that I made a mistake? Could they be the the antiques of the future???

Right now I am watching the wedding on TV. Its funny but Bloomberg is broadcasting it live in Turkey..

More of Shropshire-England

I realized that I have neglected our trip to England a lot. A new one is on the way and I only managed to make few posts about the old one. So time to work!!!

Well, my last visit to Englang was probably 20 years ago for a forex training some where close to London and afterwards I remember squezing couple days to my agenda to spent in London with my brother who was attending the university there. London was OK with all the goodies of a big city life, but England on my mind was always associated with lots of history, castles, abbeys and large green fields etc.....

Luckly this time I have found what I looked for. Here is Stokesay Castle dated from 1291. Amazing!!

As you can see it is actually a fortified medieval house near theWelsh border. Look carefully to the great hall and its wood work which was unaltered since it was built in 1291..Its so easy to dream the large and noisy dinner parties at this hall, centuries ago.

and look at this wonderful scenery from the upper levels of the castle,

Although it has so many other attractions, it looks like Shropshire is most proud of its Iron Bridge.. Built between 1775-1779, it is the world'd first cast iron bridge and considered as an enduring symbol of the Industrial revolution..

Another place I loved was the Lilleshall Abbey which was founded in the 1140s for a small community of Augustinian monks. The monastic life was maintained for almost 400 years, until the abbey was suppressed on the orders of Henry 8. in 1538. Surviving buildings are from 12th and early 13th century. It was such a quiet and serene place...

Romance in Edinburgh..

Well, we are back from the green,green and gray England to gray,gray and gray İstanbul. Awful weather here..
Currently we are unloading the suitcases, doing the laundry and then re packing again for our beach house..We are planning to leave at the end of this week..Things are rather mad in the house..
But I have to tell you a little romance of mine between my ironing sessions..

His name is William Deacon Brodies. I worked hard to persuade him to come to İstanbul with me but not a chance..

Edinburgh is full of ghost and body snatching stories. There are even special tours which you can listen these scary stories in the dark alleys and the undergrounds of the city. I have never seen a city which are  marketing their ghosts so succesfully..

Well, my handsome is also part of the city's legends.
He was the cabinet maker and the Deacon of the guild of cabinet makers, also a town councillor. But soon he turned his professional expertise and society connections to more sinister use. By day, the craftsman and councillar and by night the gambler, drinker and thief..
In 1788, he hanged because of his crimes on the gallow that he had designed.
On 1876 Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a play called '' Deacon Brodie or the Double Life'' This was followed two years later by Jekyll and Hyde... Fantastic story and couple fantastic movies..

and here I am standing with the real guy..

 More stories from England will soon be on Turquoise Diaries...

PS: Blogger ban here still continues in a strange way. I can post and see from Opera turbo but not any where else..Well, its better than nothing..

Edinburgh..

Initially I had planned to post often from England but unfortunately the fast pace of our trip is not allowing me, but here are some photos from our quick trip to Edinburgh...

Edinburgh is a very beautiful and a lively city. As the locals also kept saying, the only negative part of our trip was the bad weather..It was cold, gray and rainy..Perfect for tourists..

As we were able to stay only 1 night in Edinburgh, we had quite a limited time and apart from a city tour we opted to visit the famous Edinburgh castle and took a tour in the underground city. The ghost stories were worth listening. Fun and scary...

Of course we found the time to taste famous Scottish whiskeys, and finished a small bottle of malt before the dinner.As you can easily guess we were quite merry that evening..

See you soon...

Green, Green Gray England

Hello from green green but gray England. We are currently in Market Drayton in the Shropshire region where hubby's twin brother and his family lives. Its such a quiet and peaceful place. Taking lots of walks in the city admiring the old houses and out to the country side admiring the nature..
Its the season of the Daffodils...

The beautiful house in the photos is the Huntingsdale Hall in Market Drayton..

Tomorrow we are taking the train to Edinbourgh and will spent 2 days there...

 More photos are coming soon...