Featured

Christmas Day in Picturesque Brixham Bay! The Old Market House

Wishing family, friends, followers, and readers a belated Happy New Year, 2020.

Christmas Day Lunch at The Old Market House

We (husband Geoff came too) arrived at The Old Market House a tad early for our pre-booked Christmas Day lunch. We were greeted with a friendly smile by the hostess, and offered a complementary glass of Prosseco. (For security purposes, I’ve decided NOT to add names of staff). Geoff was driving that day, so no alcohol. Instead, he enjoyed a (complimentary) glass of apple juice. 

We were both delighted to be shown to our table that overlooked Brixham harbour, upstairs. The restaurant looked absolutely lovely. Christmassy decorations hung from beams in the high ceiling. Each table duly laid. Candle. Christmas cracker. You get the picture, I’m sure. A real Christmassy affair.

Our table, within ear-shot of the huge open ended kitchen, meant I could eavesdrop on the goings-on behind me. My finely tuned (author) ears weren’t disappointed, readers. I was pleasantly surprised to hear such wonderful teamwork, and amazing precision timing. I didn’t miss a thing, folks. The kitchen itself looked HOT and ultra busy with so many different meals being prepared and then served onto various plates and dishes.

Team Kitchen worked like clockwork. So impressed was I that I just had to reach for my iPhone and began snapping away with the camera. At which point, I did ask permission first, followed by ‘you’ll appear on my website later.’ As busy as they were and working to a time scale, everyone smiled at my lens. Such a cheerful lot, I thought. 

Team Brandon.    

Worked just as speedily. The kitchen to table service flowed without a hitch. Every table’s needs were catered for with speed. Glasses refilled in an instant. First class customer service all round. 

Lunch

I thoroughly enjoyed someone else cooking my (superlicious) lunch! My starter, followed by an impressive turkey meal with scrumptious roasters (as good as mine too), and dessert (of my choice) was faultless. Cooked to perfection. Well done to everyone involved.

Manager, Brandon who wore an impressive Christmas sweater (as did his team) worked tirelessly throughout our visit, ensuring the smooth running of all aspects of the restaurant. 

Time To go home

We said our goodbyes, and made our way downstairs to the bar area. Suddenly, I spotted The Naughty Elf sitting next to the glass jar full of doggie biscuits. The question is, ‘Whatever was Elfie up to?’ CLEAN answers in the comments box, below. Others will be deleted. 

Above Photo credit: Me. CazGreenham

Below: Elf photos: credit: The Old Market House

I did hear a tale or two how Team Brandon kept The Naughty Elf as busy as a bee 🐝 in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Jobs galore. Poor Elfie. Maybe not so naughty after all. You decide.

Photo credit: The Old Market House
photo credit: The Old Market House
photo credit: The Old Market House
photo credit: The Old Market House
photo credit: The Old Market House
photo credit: The Old Market House
photo credit: The Old Market House

Who doesn’t love The Naughty Christmas Elf? Write in the comments box below.

Last but not least, enjoy a few random photos of the day taken by me.

A huge thank you to everyone at The Old Market House for making our Christmas Lunch so special.





Me

Team Brandon (Manager and his spectacular Christmas sweater). And our lovely waitress.

Geoff’s dessert

My dessert

Guess who!



Wood burner on the ground floor


Team Kitchen

Team Brandon

Team Kitchen




Brixham harbour

Team Brandon & Team Kitchen

Restaurant ready & waiting. Soon 72 hungry folk will be tucking in to a splendiferous lunch

My beautifully cooked roast turkey lunch

A great success. Thank you all!

Caz & ‘im indoors! x

Thank you for visiting today. Click here for more information about my books. The Adventures of Eric Seagull ‘Storyteller’ 3-book-series. Set in #Brixham Bay.

Donation to a Bushfire Appeal

Victoria Bushfire Appeal. Reblogged via poet, Frank Prem’s website. Do read his important post.

Frank Prem Poetry

I’ve thought hard about how I can provide some personal encouragement for folk to make donations.

It seems to me that the best I can do is offer something that, perhaps, only I can do, which is record myself reading my own poems and making them available to anyone that makes a donation.

With that in mind I have made some mp3 files – eight in all – of my own reading of poems from the current set of bushfire poems, which is still being written, so they’re quite fresh in content and context.

If you make a donation, let me know and I can email a link to allow you to listen the poems.

Write to me using the email address: FrankPrem03@gmail.com

If you decide to make a donation, please feel free to donate to whatever bushfire related charity appeals to you – there are lists of them around…

View original post 113 more words

November already

HAPPY NOVEMBER EVERYONE

How are we all.  Please don’t tell me you have your Christmas presents bought and wrapped or we will fall out. Apart from buying presents for my 2 youngest grandchildren, I give cheques! Easy peasy!

For those of you looking for stocking filler ideas, here’s a few I made/wrote earlier:

I might be able to help you out with some presents: 

So, what are you waiting for? Go buy my books!

Catch up with you really soon,

Love Caz x

October! Autumn already!

A chill in the air! I’d rather eat cake! (Baked by my clever Granddaughter)

Summer, my favourite time of year. Others, prefer Autumn. A few of my friends like Winter more than any other time of year. I have to say, I do look forward to Spring when the garden begins to come alive once more. And the days become longer, again. While I’m not a Winter person, I do enjoy pulling on a different bobble hat each day (I have many). The one time of year I show off my vast collection of scarves. I’ll admit to being a sufferer of SAD – winter depression – so when we do see sunny days at this time of year, I make sure I get outside and get a huge dollop of serotonin. Sunshine – I love how it makes me feel. Happy. Alive. Rejuvenated. Makes me smile and glad to be alive. Darker days have the exact opposite effect! So bring on the sunshine!

At this time of year, my 2 cocker spaniels like nothing more than a fun run on a sandy beach. I, of course, enjoy a paddle wearing my welly-boots. Last winter, on Boxing Day afternoon we had glorious sunshine here in Brixham. Too good to miss. So, off we all went to the beach. Fabulous. So up-lifting. Good for mind, body and soul. And then home for a slice of Christmas cake and cuppa tea. Or was it a Gin & Tonic? Mmm, probably both.

My darling girls are getting on a bit now. Lucy will be 14 in January. Rosie, 13 in March. So I make sure I enjoy every minute of every day with my loyal furry besties. Lucy, especially, follows me everywhere. She even sits outside the door when I’m having a shower. Now that is loyal, isn’t it? I think so.

Thank you for dropping by.

Caz x

Scone (pronounced scoane) or Scon?

Devon Scone 2015-06-26 10.24.33IT is quintessentially English – and yet the scone is something the country as a whole simply can’t agree about.

So, is it Sc-oa-ne for you, or Scon? I know that it’s always been a Sc-oa-ne for me and my family.

Living in Devon, as I do, it’s always clotted cream on first, followed by a huge dollop of strawberry jam. And that is how it is. Unless, of course, you live or come from Cornwall. Then, it’s jam on first, followed by cream.

Is it that important?

Yes!

It’s not just the argument about whether to spread the cream or jam first. Now, there’s an even more contentious question – how to pronounce the word scone.

If one isn’t from a posh background, it seems to be scoane! If one is posh, it’s definitely scon; as in gone! Where a person is from, or their social standing, also determines how we pronounce our English scone. So, which is it for you?

Caz x

 

Thank you for dropping by today. Before you go off for a Cream Tea, do drop by my Amazon Author page to view my books.

Eric Seagull-promo-3

 

 Caz x

 

 

#July in my Brixham garden 💐 

July already…and our Brixham weather’s been superb! The parasols, all 3 of them, are UP!

Sharing my sunny terrace with you all today. Stunning colours. Heaven’s scents. Marvellous. While you admire the colours, plants, roses, and o’course my dogs who are never far away, I’m off to make a jug of pimms 💕🍷🍷

img_0769

My Garden Diary

IMG_0781

I’m definitely a summer person. Are you? What’s your favourite time of year?

Thanks for visiting today. You can read about my books here too… use the menu above..  Caz

Father’s Day! ‘Only a Whisper Away!’

Happy Father’s Day ~ in heaven ~ to my wonderful Dad ❤️

IMG_5835

Forever at rest in your favourite place in all the world. Brixham Bay.

Your last wish… An honour and a pleasure, dad ❤️

~~~

A poem I wrote (copyrighted 2017 Caz Greenham)

~~~~~~~~~

“Only a Whisper away”

Don’t cry for me,

for I’m not gone.

I’m only a whisper away.

~~~

Call my name,

‘I promise I’ll hear.

I’m only a whisper away.

~~~

Think of me in your dreams,

And I’ll meet you there.

I’m only a whisper away.

~~~

I’m the breeze in your hair,

I’m the wind that kisses your cheek.

I’m raindrops that fall,

I’m with you everywhere.

~~~

So…don’t be sad,

just call my name.

For I’m not gone,

I’m only a whisper away.

Written and published by Caz Greenham (copying is NOT permitted)

❤️❤️❤️

Rose. my favourite yellow rose.

God Bless! My lovely ole dad 🍷🍷 Cheers! Miss you every single day

Horse riding is her passion! Our furry animals adore her: Meet my special guest, Sophie Payne!

img_0685-1My special guest has the twinkliest eyes, and the warmest smile. Meet my eldest Granddaughter, fifteen-year-old Sophie.

Sophie’s love of horses began when she was a little girl aged six-years-old. It began during a sunny day at the beach with her mum, dad, and brother. Noticing a sign, ‘Donkey Rides’ Sophie soon found herself enjoying a donkey ride across the soft sandy beach. She was hooked: and desperately wanted to try her hand at horse riding.

Sophie’s first horse riding lesson took her on a woodland trail of natural beauty. At age six, she was the youngest rider in the group that day. And now, a teenager, she’s a competent rider.

I asked Sophie how she felt the first time she sat in the saddle atop a horse. She told me, “I was so nervous, but, excited too. I rode one of the smaller horses.”

Today, we’re taking a trip back in time… in no particular order!

Sophie’s Diary!

A younger Sophie…party time! And halloween!

When Sophie’s not riding or helping out at the riding stables… she holidays in style with her family.

Clothes shopping…always welcome! Fun times!

Teenager, at last ❤️

Had the nails done too! Sophie knows how to celebrate in style.

Beautiful nails, Sophie 💕

From tot to teen! Always smiling 💕

img_0217

Sophie’s cake making is simply the best

Tasted delicious too!

Pretty good at candle making!

and makes stunning jewellery 

Every girl’s secret wish… Sophie’s moment of fame

img_0716-1

ready to party (bottom photos: ready for the school prom)

Arty, Sophie #school-project

and back in the saddle

younger rider ❤️

Dreams do come true

Well done, Sophie! We’re all so very proud of you 

I asked if she’d had any scary moments while riding, she told me, ‘When I was about ten-years-old, I fell from a horse named Blue. My foot got trapped in the stirrup and he dragged me along the ground. I remember the fear, but, I got back in the saddle and continued my  lesson. My dad was filming me jumping low hurdles at the time. I think he was as scared as I was when he saw me fall. It’s all on camera. It didn’t put me off riding.’

14102161_1808571726021588_7339653138372319386_n

Some time after that,  Sophie had quite a serious fall, which landed her in spiky brambles. She went to hospital that time. A scary moment for her family that time. But, resilient as ever, Sophie was soon off her crutches and painkillers; only to be back riding once again. We are all so very proud of your courage and commitment, Sophie! Though I have to say, the first time I saw Sophie on a horse when she was only six, it scared me silly. #ProudGrannyMoment

It hasn’t all be plain sailing ~ perhaps I should say, ‘riding’  ❤️ Sophie’s huge disappointment hit her hard when the riding stables she’d come to know and love for so many years, closed. A sad time realising she wouldn’t see her four-legged-friends again ~ she’d known them by name for so long

Sophie’s determined parents went on a search…and finally found riding stables not too far from their home. It wasn’t long before Sophie was back in the saddle, again.

img_0674img_0676img_0677img_0678

Lastly…

A family fun day!img_0662

I’ve really enjoyed your Diary, Sophie. Hope you did too. #ProudGrannyMoments ❤️

img_0125-1

Birthday wishes…17 today! Meet my gorgeous Grandson, Footballer, Kieran!

He’s tall. Handsome. And looks fabulous in his suit. Meet my eldest Grandson, Kieran.

IMG_0590

1173846_501009509992848_1448319577_n17 today! Happy Birthday, Kieran!

Kieran’s been a keen footballer ever since he could walk. Football crazy some might say. A great team player who’s already enjoyed enormous success playing in local football teams. Striker, he told me earlier, is his favourite position. Not surprising considering he scored a whopping 19 goals last season. Well done! He’s also an experienced left mid-field player.

kieran (4th from the left) with his team mates. Looking smart modelling their new kit ❤️

IMG_8834

A much younger Kieran, below, …determined as ever to get that goal…

Kieran. Footballer.

Kieran’s a Bristol Rovers supporter: same as his dad. But, his ultimate football hero is Cristiano Ronaldo. A Portuguese international who currently plays for Real Madrid team in Spain. I asked him, why this player? ‘He’s my favourite player because he used to play for Manchester United; a team I support now. He was my favourite player then too. I’ve continued to support him ever since.’

IMG_8788

IMG_8784

Today, we’re taking a trip back through the years…photos tell a thousand stories.

Proud moments! Fun photos! Family fun! In no particular order.

Photo: The Memorial Stadium. Kieran and Ollie Clarke. Bristol Rovers player.

13165906_796233833810958_1311134615516203964_n

Photo: David Beasant and a young Kieran looking excitedly proud. Football trophy Presentation at a local football club.

11187435_653191654781844_3548225258576879562_o

Photo: Year 6 Leavers’ disco at school (kindly arranged and organised by Kieran’s mum and her friend) A good time was had by all. Lots of friends joined Kieran for a fabulous party. (I haven’t posted any group photos).

314079_4398990296785_1590571479_n

Photo: Family fun! Celebrating Kieran’s dad’s 40th birthday, at the pub. And no, Kieran’s not really drinking that pint of lager. We all enjoyed a fabulous birthday meal inside.

1264355_571702889557714_1332341484_o

Enjoying a pint (again) …with his dad…a pint of cocoa-cola! Holiday time, abroad, with his family. Sweltering heat by the look of you both, Kieran. (Pint of lager looks refreshing, Justin).

277653_2294668490055_229750_o

Below: A more recent photo: taken April 2016. My youngest Grandson, Ethan, with  Kieran. A special photo of you both together. An early 6th birthday celebratory meal at the Prince William, in Brixham. Behind the camera and out of view; and probably at the bar **laughs** is Kieran’s mum, dad, sister, and grampy.

img_0106

Below: A proud moment. An article published in the local newspaper. Kieran’s ‘hit the headlines’ Yep! That’s our boy in the photo wearing the yellow shirt!

IMG_8702

Football is definitely Kieran’s game! A team photo-shot. Fun. Happy days. I’m not sure if this was take before or after the match. If it was after, I can only assume they Won judging from their smiley faces.

11049471_678572128910463_2320138735342541511_n

Above photo: A fun game of crazy golf with the family. Looks like you might’ve won.

I love these holiday photos. Especially as I’ve never been on a plane. Whenever there’s fun to be had, you’ll always find Kieran having a good time. Travelling by plane, and enjoying superb food and splendid views from their hotel…coming next.

 And then the holiday begins…

Back in the UK and it’s time for more fun and laughter in Brixham Bay. Cousins enjoying a bit of a laugh on the beach. I love this photo. Taken April 2016 at the Breakwater.

img_0209

Above: random footie photos. Left: Kieran soon joins the locals at his holiday destination for a kick around ~~ Right: watching Man. Utd. Translated for those in faraway lands, Manchester United. I did edit this photo. Kieran was actually standing with his friends at the time.

 Love the football trainers!

And when he’s not kicking a ball about, he’s enjoying a game of tenpin bowling with his mates…

Look good in his football kit.
On or off the pitch, Kieran is never far away from a game of football.

Chillin’ and wearing his smart white football kit, Kieran’s watching a game on screen… as you’d expect.

 Every picture tells a different story. Photo memories last forever.

Thank you for joining me on my blog today, Kieran. I’ve enjoyed every minute. I hope you did too.

Lastly, for those of you who appreciate poetry. A poem written by Kieran. Published by his primary school. Copyrighted to Kieran Payne 2017. No copying permitted.

IMG_0658

I love your poem, Kieran. What’s more…readers…it was published before my poem. **smiles proudly** #ProudGrannyMoment naturally. ❤️

Brixham Battery Gardens! ‘And the dogs went too!’

Off on my jolly…and my dogs went too!

Tails a-wagging (my dogs o’course) Lucy and Rosie took me for a walk to the Battery Gardens. A short walk from my home. Beneath the most beautiful blue skies and occasional bobtail clouds over Brixham Bay, we took in the ambience of stunning sea views, salty sea air (that cleared my sniffly-hayfever-nose) which brought a peachy warm glow to me cheeks! As always, I snapped away on my iPhone. All photos are by me, Caz.

Brixham Battery Gardens oozes history. An open space on the seashore here in Brixham. A traditional observation point where locals, and holidaymakers (Grockles) gather whatever the weather. Come rain, shine, drizzle, sleet, brilliant sunshine (you get the idea) folk gather for the finest views across the Bay.

The 14-acre site of Battery Gardens was first used as a battery in 1586 during the war between England and Spain. The Battery was not permanently armed but was certainly ‘active’ throughout the American War of Independence during the 1780s and the Napoleonic War against France during the first decade of the 19th century. The Battery was also used by the Coast Guard for gunnery training during the 1870s. It’s no wonder visitors flock here in their droves during summer, mostly. Autumn at the Battery is just as magical. So many tall trees. I love to listen to the winds rustling the leaves to the ground. But, I am not a winter person. Summer is my favourite time. A refreshing sea breeze is guaranteed to blow away any cobwebs…clears my head. Refreshing. Good for the soul.

If you visit Brixham, do go along to the Battery Gardens. Lots of benches to sit down on and stare out across the bay. You’ll see ships, yachts, little boats, maybe the Brixham Ferry…exhilerating views. I love a ferry ride from Brixham to Torquay. Fabulous!

A few photos I took this morning:

Thanks for dropping by 🌞

Caz the photographer!

I thought I might share a few of the snaps I’ve taken on my iPhone (camera) with you all today. I’ve always been a fan of photography. Always owned a camera. Taking photos on my phone makes it all the more fun, and a lot easier. As you’ll see, they’re mostly of the sea! Not far from where I live in beautiful South Devon.

%d bloggers like this: