Christmas Happenings, Part 2

Part 2?  Yes, I'd say it's about time.  Thanks to the gentle prodding of some friends, I've set aside meal planning for the week to post another update.  We really need to get past these Christmas posts!  If you make it past the Christmas market, there are house pictures at the end!!

Christmas Market in Cirencester 

Seems that many English towns hosts these lovely markets at Christmas time.  They are usually made up of wooden stalls where homemade items are sold, from food to furniture.  We chose Cirencester because it was small and not too far from home so we could tackle it on a Saturday morning.  It was super cold, but once we got out and got walking (and I stopped complaining!) it felt pretty good.  There were several musical groups playing but our favorite was definitely the Salvation Army Brass Band.   I wish you could see the detailed engraving on this instrument, it was so beautiful!

Frosty Faces

It's easy to get distracted by whatever is going on, only to look up and see a building like this!  Wow, pretty amazing architecture and history looming above us as we stroll among handmade gifts and vegetables.

I've learned that you can put a stalk of brussel sprouts in a pot of water, set it outside and pick of the sprouts when you need them.  They'll keep for about three weeks ... cool!  Most of the crops we'd think of as being spring/fall crops are in season throughout the winter. 

Hot pizza was a perfect lunch for a very cold day!  Oh, and it was so good!

Cooked right there in that little stove, by that very man, complete with (seemingly) authentic Italian accent :)

Waiting ...

Yum!  (I think I'll add pizza to the menu for tonight's dinner!)

And, finally, here it is ... the outside, at least.

It's a bit challenging to get good pictures of the outside because the road in front of our house is pretty narrow and on the other side is the stone wall that separates us commoners from the "Manor."

Our address is simply 31 and the name of our village ... no street names :)  Isn't our wreath lovely?  Bard bought it for me at the Christmas Market. 
 

This is about as far back as I could get without climbing up on the wall.  I really don't think that would be acceptable, do you ;)

There is one more gable to the left before the other cottage starts ... we're attached to them.  The date inscribed over the window is mid-1800's, I can't remember the year exactly ;)

 

There is a lovely gate at the end of the driveway, which you can see here, but we usually leave it open as it doesn't keep the two village dogs from coming to our back door every morning begging for food.  There is nice sized garden (yard, to us Americans) in the back which was a definite must for our little brood of kids.  There is also a garage (where all of our unpacked boxes are living) and a stone patio off the kitchen.  Pictures to come ... one day!