Autumn in England

We had an amazingly, beautiful fall here in the UK.  The colors lasted a long time, with the last of the leaves just falling this week.  We went to the Apple Festival at the Cambridge Botanical Garden a few weeks ago.  The weather here is continuing to cool with temps mostly in the mid-50s.  Our days are shortening quickly with the sun setting at about 4:30pm and completely dark by 5:00.  I have to carefully plan my day if I intend to walk out somewhere.  The sun sets fast and I'll find myself walking in the dark.

It's been a really busy month with lots of activities with new friends.  We had a blast at Rhonda and Greg's Halloween Dinner Party.  We rented costumes as Captain Hook and Maid Merriam.  The Robin Hood costume just didn't work out for John, but I loved the dress so stuck with it.

Also, back in October, I went to a fall crafting day with Ann where we made these cute fall decorations.  It was great since I didn't bring any fall decorations with us.  

 

I crocheted up a bunch of fall pumpkins.  You can find the pattern here.

 

Last week we attended our first Evensong Service in King's College Cathedral.  It was an all male choir and it sounded amazing as their voices resonated  with the walls.  We celebrated John's 50th anniversary that night as well with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Jamie Oliver's where we were given a free bottle of Prosecco and free Tiramisu for everyone. 

Two weekends ago, I went to the Spirit of Christmas Fair and out to dinner in London with a big group of ladies and last Saturday, joined some gals at the Ely Christmas Market.  This market was held in the beautiful Ely Cathedral.  I am prepping for Thanksgiving as we have invited the doctor neighbors over for a traditional American Thanksgiving on that following Saturday.  So I plan to have the Christmas decorations up and displayed by then.  We ordered a new tree this year and just last night took it out of the box to check it and went ahead and set it up.  It's going to be so pretty when decorated. 

Cambridge Photos.

 

 

The following photos are from London, Kensington Gardens.

The Queen's Vacation Home

Sandringham House, located in the near the village of Sandringham in Norfolk, England, is the country home of Queen Elizabeth and her family. This is where they spend time with family over the holidays.  The house sits on 20,000 acres of beautiful countryside.  The home is private property belonging the the royal family and not part of the Crown Estate.

It was early fall when we were there and we were just starting to see some color. 

Of course, they have their own chapel.