English Countryside Peaceful Day🪴Calming Cottage Life🌿| Cosy Baking, Charity Shop Haul, Slow Living

I just wanna go out and walk with you Baby you know I just like to talk with you You don't have to tell me anything that's new I just wanna go out and walk with you I just wanna see your shadow next to mine Sailing over pavement with our two well-known eyes I like to see the shape you're in from time to time I just wanna see your shadow next to mine I just wanna see the same things you can see Understand the meaning on a new degree Maybe there could happen when you're next to me I just wanna see the same things you can see that with them so um we're gonna do some cozy bread and some outside activities and baking and just join me for a lovely spring week of activities. It's gonna be really really fun and hopefully I'll get to some decorating as well. You never know, I also might pop into a charity shop or two and see what I can find. Or there's always hope, we'll have to see. But an update on the bread. Basically I made it in the morning and then left it for 24 hours in that warm spot once I'd mixed it all in the stand mixer and then thought hey it'll be fine and then did it the next day, did the three hour rise after that and uh she's um not pretty, not great, probably edible and you know what if nothing else I'll blend this loaf up and put it in and make it into breadcrumbs and do something like that while the washing machine is getting but um it's a first try for my sourdough starter. I actually don't think it was the sourdough starters fault. Is that too loud? Hopefully not. I don't think it was the sourdough starters fault, I think it was just the process that I did. I just left the first stage of rising way too long, it did actually rise so that suggests that suggests to me that the starter is all fine but it's um it didn't turn out great. I mean yeah it's not it's not three bad. We'll try again another time, I just didn't do my timing as well. Hey ho but today I'm excited because I want to make some hot cross buns and I've got some flour arranging to do and I went to the charity shop yesterday. I think that's too loud so I'm really sorry about the noise in my washing machine. It's slowing down now. I went to the charity shop yesterday and found some wonderful finds obviously because I just love charity shopping and I love hunting. It was actually funny because my daughter had an appointment and so my husband took her there and I took the boys um charity shopping because they cannot object to this point in their life because they're too young and so they have to just come come along with me. I've got a two-year-old son and a six-month-old. He's nearly six months old by the time this goes out he'll be six months old. Um yeah so they came charity shopping with me and I found a few bits um one is including this cute little shirt that's got a nice detail here which I really like um it's very comfortable but I'll show the other things later but let's get on with making some I've got to make some soup actually. I love making soup and one of my favourites to make is a butternut squash soup however I'm just looking at the clock and my husband will be back with my eldest two from the park in just a little bit and I don't think I have time to do my lovely butternut squash soup um so what I'll do is I'll just throw a bunch of veggies together in a pan with some stock and some nice salt and all the good things um and then we'll eat it with we will attempt to eat it with our loaf and we'll see how that goes. My husband was very gracious and said it looks delicious doesn't um hey hey it's a sourdough loaf and it's just very heavy it's quite concerning but I'm excited it is Easter Friday as in it's good Friday it's good Friday today and so my husband's off from work and we've got plans to hopefully be in the garden although the weather is looking a little glum and a little dark um but hopefully it won't rain on us it might because you we live in the UK um and then yeah I'm excited I'm going to stop mumbling on and procrastinating making lunch and get on with it So as you saw that when I bought this from the charity shop I've decided to kind of style it here for now I mean this whole space is going to change because we're renovating it all um in the end of May so look out for the videos to come but um we're actually changing the paint colour even though I love this paint colour and it's a similar colour to what we painted our office and guest bedroom we're actually going to change it um because the kitchen cabinets that we've chosen are a little bit of a lighter colour and that that will we're bringing in a bench into the dining room with the same cabinets so I think it's going to clash with this colour so we're going to end up changing that but I do really like this colour and I thought this would look nice with this colour for now um so it was one of my hang it up so that you actually do something with the things that you buy from the charity shops and not just pile them on the floor and wait for the perfect space because truthfully I don't know if there's ever a perfect space for anything in my mind anyway I think I'm a little bit too much of a perfectionist which is interesting because I don't know if I actually am but um when it comes to buying stuff from the charity shops and then styling it I'm like it has to be perfect so I decided to just put it up there and get over that little um fault of mine but while we're at it let me talk you through what I also got from the charity shop yesterday first one is this cute piece look how adorable it's um it's a big jar basically and I'm going to use it for flowers and um things like that maybe even a big juice jug for when we have a bunch of guests over but it's one of those multi-purpose things that kind of look really pretty and it's interesting it caught my eye and I just found it interesting it's kind of got um some interesting patterns on if you can see that um all the way around I'm really into this blue and white kind of look at the moment so I thought that was gorgeous and eventually so in the dining room I'm thinking if I can persuade my husband I think I've persuaded him but I'm thinking we're gonna do like a big library wall all across here with a ton of books and shelves and super cozy and I thought this kind of stuff on with um on the shelves with books and things would look absolutely gorgeous and then I also got um this oh picture here which I thought was so pretty and gorgeous I am a huge fan of the countryside we live in the countryside but I love kind of British design I love British heritage British history um British countryside I just I'm all for it and so whenever I see something that has the British countryside on it or especially like kind of the Peak District and um Dales and everything like that I'm just so drawn to it um and so this actually says it's Monsaldale and I'm not actually sure where that is but it is absolutely gorgeous and I'll kind of insert some b-roll stuff so you can get a good look at it because the light sort of reflecting reflecting on it but um I thought it was so so good has a certificate of authenticity on the back um and the artist's signature here so oh hello it's got exactly what it is John Rudkin was born in Yorkshire in 1947 and from an early age showed a natural talent and love of painting his early career began as a this is so sweet in his free time he sketched and painted the countryside around him being more attracted to watercolours and now paints exclusively in this medium his superb attention to detail not only records the scene accurately but also captures the light atmosphere and peacefulness of the landscape in 1985 he was elected a full member of the prestigious British um as a full-time artist John has now found a continuous and ever-increasing demand for his watercolour paintings and fine quality limited editions John lives with his wife and three children within a beautiful woodland dale in Yorkshire oh that is just gorgeous oh I feel even more attached to it I'm so glad I bought it because I did actually think it was quite expensive um it was 15 pounds which did yeah it did feel a little bit expensive I'll take the price off now um but I think it's totally worth it because it speaks to my soul things like that just speak to my soul and I actually thought the frame was really pretty too um so we'll see where I style that stay tuned for styling um the next thing I got I tried to bargain for I didn't end up bargaining I didn't win because she said that they can only be reduced in a few weeks time because they hadn't been out for so long but it's a set of four um I'll put it on the floor and show you so it's a set of four beautiful again countryside landscapes which I just think are absolutely gorgeous now I was just going to go for one because they were selling them separately but I really liked how they looked together what does that say does it say Grasmere it says Grasmere and that makes me so so happy because ah this is all the lake district isn't it which is brilliant because Josh's family are all from from the lakes um well his extended family they all come from the lake district so that is just lovely so this one is Grasmere and then this one is Lousewater I knew I recognized these names that says West Westwater Westwater um and then that one says Rydal Water it's an it's called Nab Cottage across Rydal Water sorry about the shakiness that's not very helpful for you um but there's just a tiny little cottage in there and they're just absolutely adorable and spoke to my soul again I find it really hard to resist temptation when it comes to purchasing things like this because it makes me so happy the frames are a little bit tired but not too bad gosh I feel like I'm on Antique Roadshow or something telling you all about these but they're yeah the frames are a little bit tired but I thought they were pretty cute and I quite liked the wood um and there's some fine gold detailing there which I thought was very sweet also so all in all I thought that was a real good bargain does this have any details oh it does Geoffrey Cowton this one's from he was born and educated in Bradford and his love of the Yorkshire Dales began during a school geography exertion in Grassington um yada yada yada so he's painting some prints now hanging homes in America, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Austria so that's just a little bit about him but so interesting I love that it's the Lake District certainly that makes me so happy and now I will look so silly if it's not actually the lakes but I'm pretty sure it's the lakes um so that's what I got and I thought that was a pretty good purchase pretty pretty good round of the charity shops oh I did also get this shirt and a couple of other kind of like spring jumpers for like £2.75 so quite cheap all in all but very pleased I love doing charity shop hauls it makes my heart sing um so I'm sorry if you don't like them but they really make me very very happy so okay let's go it's looking good it smells absolutely delicious So I'm going to put this in, I'm actually going to leave it in the same bowl with some oil in it and leave it to rise for about one and a half hours. I don't have that long before we need to take these somewhere so I'm just going to put it in a warm spot and cover it for an hour. All right, while we're waiting on the dough for the cinnamon buns, the cinnamon buns, the hot cross buns to rise, I thought I'd give you an update on my Saturday starter actually because I realised I made bread but I didn't actually show you what's happening with it. So I fed this this morning I think and it's got some bubbles to it and like I said with the bread, I think it did work, it's just the bread dough I just didn't do quite right, I didn't time it well, perhaps I was a little bit too relaxed but it seems to be doing well obviously the jar's got a whole lot dirtier than when you last saw it but yeah, I think it looks good, to me it looks good, it's quite a nice consistency, I've been feeding it every day and I've been enjoying trying to use it, when I say that I was very sad about my bread earlier but we must not be disheartened, there is still hope. I'm also still very much enjoying the band that this jar comes with and the muslin cover actually, I've found that that has been quite the game changer actually in terms of letting it breathe and letting it get enough air, I've been really enjoying it so I would recommend this, it's got a little last fed on up here and then you can twist the band round when you last fed it. There is also a thermometer sticker that comes with it as well, I didn't stick that on because I think that makes things too complicated for me and I like it to be simple so I'm trying not to overthink it and so the thermometer may have just tipped me over the edge but if you are Taipei then you might really enjoy the thermometer as well and having it in the perfect condition for letting it rise. I love how fun this jar is, look how cute, only from Sainsbury's this jar, way down there, only from Sainsbury's, would recommend. I've heard that tulips only need just a little bit of water and they do much better with constant refreshing of water rather than a ton of water at the start so this is my approach this time round, I'm no florist but I do love flowers. Ok, that's a small jar. What is it? It's a flower. I'm going to try and get it this time. Well, we'll do it this way. Do you need to let the powder melt? Yeah, you mix it with... Uh-oh. Can I try and melt that one? It's a lot of work, but it's worth it.