Gods Own County!

Good morning all.

Playing catch up with some posts after missing several in December!

Hubby and I were lucky to sneak away for a night down at Slaley Hall in Northumberland between Christmas and New Year, to meet up with my sister, my niece and their husbands. I was born and brought up in North Northumberland...hence why this is titled God's own County. I'm sure some will disagree and we'll have to agree to disagree as this girl is not for changing!

The day dawned clear and bright with a deep frost at home but no snow. As we headed towards Edinburgh (hubby's idea of a shortcut!) the hills turned white and by the time we were headed south down the A68 there was several inches of snow...very picturesque!

Of course because hubby was driving and I'd picked fault with his route planning skills..or lack thereof, I didn't get the chance to stop and take many photos. This one was taken from the truck.

It wasn't until I uploaded it to the computer that I spotted the photographer in the field...wonder if he got a nice shot!

I did manage to request a stop at the border scenic point...although things were a might slippy underfoot, I didn't venture far from the truck to take this shot looking towards the coast from whence we had just come!

As we got down to about Otterburn the snow disappeared and we arrived at Slaley to a cold frosty afternoon, in time for a late lunch. I didn't get time to take any photos whilst we were there...eating, drinking and a trip to the spa took up most of our time.

We set off home early afternoon, taking the direct route via the A68 which didn't involve circumnavigating Edinburgh. The weather was still cold and frosty with blue skies and sunshine. We stopped at the Catcleugh Reservoir...a frequent picnic spot in the summers of my childhood, just as the sun was going down. I managed to catch some lovely reflections in the water.

Another stop at the border where it was still just as snowy as it had been the day before.

After a pit stop in Jedburgh for tea and cake and we were soon headed east towards home. The sunset behind us was very pretty but I'd used up all my photo stops! This picture might have worked had we not had a car tailgating us...but it was the best I could do given the circumstances!

We've got workmen here now putting in a patio around our new garden room so we won't be able to sneak off again until that's finished...although I'm heading off to London later in the month to go to a funeral. We still haven't had a covering of snow in the garden yet, I'm hoping there is one before winter's out!

Take care and keep warm.

Carol x