The Road to a Friend's House is Never Long...

Even when the roads are covered in ice and snow...

I had such a lovely day yesterday and so wanted to write a quick blog post to thank my friend Helen for her hospitality - she really is a fun hostess. (Helen allowed me to feature her delightful cottage and some of her special treasures in my book last year.)
Sue and I were invited to a festive lunch and a good old chin-wag!

Cups of tea were sipped beside the log burner within the inglenook and we were able to watch the birds visiting the wintry garden all day out of the windows.

The blackbirds and fieldfares were having a whale of a time continually eating all of the fallen cider apples; gorging themselves on the bounty.

And a rather special visitor was this Great Spotted Woodpecker; hopefully just visible at the top of the telegraph pole...(OK, I admit I have a bit of a way to go with my photographic skills until I make David Attenborough's team! ;-))

So, moving on to lunch and an exchange of Christmas gifts...which we're all saving till the big day.

Once again we were joined by a woolly congregation of fuzzy friends - this time part of Helen's collection of animals were acting out the nativity stable on a windowsill , with a tiny pompom bunny as the baby Jesus! ;-))

Funny! But maybe you had to have been there?! ;-))

Isn't the festive season just THE BEST time of year to spend with good friends?

Thank you Helen and Sue for a fun and relaxing day,

Niki x