About Me

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antrim, antrim, Ireland
Hello and welcome to my blog. If you like flowers and gardens, housey stuff, food and banter, then this is the place for you. I am a decorative artist, florist and maker of things. I sell painted furniture, plants and crafts, through a local retail shop, in my native Ireland, and wedding flowers from home. I am married to a lovely patient man and have a smashing little girl. I blog for the fun of it. Thank you for listening.

Sunday 26 June 2011

Antrim Coast

Today we had an impromptu visit to the North Antrim coast, Cushendun to be precise. It is my most favourite place in Nortern Ireland to go to, and if I could live there I would. The village square was designed by Architect Clough William Ellis, also responsible for Portmeirion in Wales, and is inspired by the architecture of Cornwall. It is all black, white and slate grey cottagey charm and I love, love, love it! It is now owned by the National Trust, but is lived in by locals and there is a tea-room, pub and shop. The beach is fabulous, and any time we have ever been, it is always quiet! My husband and daughter donned wetsuits and surfed the waves, whilst I settled into my foldaway chair and read my new book 'Parisian Chic' a style guide by Ines de la Fressange, what more could you ask? We had a lovely day, made perfect by going to 'Harry's Bar' in Cushendall for tea, which means I have time to blog.......hurray!



I hope to have some pictures of the painted furniture in my next post. Now I need to go and find out what all of you have been up to this week. My daughter finishes school for the summer on Thursday, so life is going to be pretty hectic around here! Have a wonderful week, love Linda x

17 comments:

  1. Hello Linda
    Cushendun looks like a beautiful spot indeed and what a perfect place for a day with your family.Thank you for the wonderful description of the town and its architecture.
    Reading on the beach is sheer bliss and to cap it off you did not have to make evening tea. Hope you have a lovely evening and thanks again for your great tour of Cushendun

    Helen xx

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  2. Hello Linda:
    How wonderful to be able to escape easily to the seaside and visit such a glorious place. Now we know of two Harry's Bars!!!

    And, how interesting that the square should have been designed by Clough Williams-Ellis, someone whom we have always admired. Indeed, our most favourite garden was his own, Plas Brondanw in North Wales.

    We are so pleased that you all had a lovely time. We should have chosen the beach and a good book too!

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  3. Looks such a lovely spot, I envy you being near the sea! x

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  4. Dear Linda ~ What a beautiful place to visit ~ thank you for sharing such a lovely day out with us! Hope you have a lovely week ahead, Love Brenda

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  5. Hello Linda! You must be on holiday! I was beginning to miss your beautiful, creative posts and ideas.

    You have taken us "out" this time, and shown us a truly beautiful place. What a beautiful beach! And so empty! I like the buildings, too... you can tell it's Ireland by the "mood" and the architecture. Nice!

    It was good to "see" you, Linda! Glad you are having a good time...

    ANNA

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  6. That sea looks so cold! I would be quite faint-hearted and opt for sitting it out with a book too.

    We also made it to the beach yesterday afternoon - late, about 5pm - just for an hour. It was glorious - I wish we'd been able to get there earlier, but anyway it was superb just relaxing for a little while. So warm and sunny and lovely.

    Oh for more sunshine - every day would be nice. :)

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  7. Hello Linda

    How lovely it must be, to live in one of those pretty white-painted cottages looking over this beautiful bay. I can well understand why you love visiting here.

    How interesting too, that Clough William Ellis has left his mark on the village.

    Hope you get to spend many other days here on the beech. Have a good summer.

    Anna

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  8. You are so lucky living close to the sea!!! I cannot wait for my summer beach vacation!!!! still 2 weeks!!!A BIG KISS

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  9. Hope your having a great time with your little vacation thou I miss the lovely post of flowers and beautiful things:)

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  10. It does look like such a beautiful place. I just love being by the sea. I will have to look up that book, Parisian Chic, as I think my daughter would love it! Glad you had a good weekend.

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  11. Hello Linda, what lovely photographs, they seem to capture the spirit of place, I do hope you have a happy week. Jane x

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  12. That does look such a lovely place to visit and I am so glad you had a lovely day out.
    The roses are absolutely beautiful too... such a wonderful arrangement.
    Thank you so much for your comments on my post :)
    Love Abby xx

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  13. With you there! i love Cushendun too! Looks like you had a great day! Cx

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  14. That looks like a beautful place, I think I would of done the same you can't beat reading on the beach, sounds like my sort of book too x

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  15. What a beautiful place, I would love it too, I'm sure! I've often visited Portmerion with it's amazing architecture. A beach and a good book sounds so good to me too! Love your rose heart picture. Have a happy day.
    Helen x

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  16. Beautiful coast!! Much better than our coast in Holland .

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  17. Linda! More photos please if you have them! Brave husband and daughter!
    Is it mostly cloudy at the beaches there? It looks wild!

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