A welcome break

It truly beggars belief that the short break we'd been looking forward to for all those weeks is over and done with. As these little treats are wont to do, it was over in the blink of an eye. Time flies when you're having fun and all that ... 

Even though the weather gods tried to throw a spanner or two in the works, we enjoyed every single moment. We even had a treat within a treat to look forward to on Thursday, but I'm pacing myself here, so you'll have to wait for my next post to find out what it was. Oh, don't you just love a cliffhanger?

For now, I am taking you back to the Sunday preceding our tiny holiday. Same as Saturday, which we spent experimenting with my new camera in the park, Sunday the 12th of February was of the gloomy variety. The temperature refused to climb higher than 8°C, which I guess isn't bad for the time of year. However, aided by the lack of sunshine, there was a bit of a nip in the air.

Nothing more strenuous than pottering around and making a start with packing was on the menu and I only stepped outside into the passageway very briefly to show you what I was wearing.

Some of you might recognize the Prince of Wales plaid pussy bow blouse I'd found in a charity shop the other week. Instead of pairing it with the caramel button-through cord skirt I dressed Angelica in, I decided to do a spot of pattern mixing, picking a chevron patterned plaid skirt in browns, oranges and a dash of white, which I wrestled off a charity shop dummy in January 2022.

The blouse, by the way, was such a joy to wear. I loved its slightly balloony sleeves and the way the giant pussy bow flopped over my chocolate brown cable knit tank top. The latter was charity shopped back in December. Both the lady brooch I pinned to it and my translucent yellow plastic ring were flea market finds, while I stumbled upon the snoots (a.k.a. snake print boots) in a vintage per kilo shop at the end of November.

The colour palette might be fairly muted for me, but I mentally gave the outfit an A+ as I felt absolutely fantastic in it. In fact, I wore it again in its entirety on Monday, my final working day before signing off for the rest of the week.

As if on cue, the sun, who had taken absence of leave for the whole weekend, gleefully returned on Monday, when she shone brightly in an even brighter blue sky.

Thankfully work was fairly quiet, as my brain was already gearing into holiday mode. My lunch break took me towards Think Twice where another one of their famous sales was in full swing, with everything going at 50% off. Riffling through the rail of skirts, I pounced upon this flouncy Viscose biscuit coloured and flower printed one. The stretchy black and off-white chevron patterned belt was a no-brainer. I now have four of these belts, all with slightly different buckles!

And then it was Tuesday and the start of my holiday! Well, we were only leaving on Wednesday, but I thought having an extra day to sleep just that little bit longer, get into the mood and tie up some loose ends wouldn't be a bad idea. I'd finished most of the packing on Sunday, but still needed to decide which clothes to take. Not my forte, I must admit.

These are the two outfits which made the grade, complete with cardigans and accessories. It might have been another sun-drenched day with highs of 12°C, the weathermen couldn't seem to agree on the forecast for the next days, so I packed some camisoles, short and long sleeved t-shirts and a flannel lined slip to layer underneath as required.

We were overjoyed to wake up to a repeat of Tuesday's weather on Wednesday. The sun was still very much with us when, with slightly heavy hearts, we bade Bess goodbye just after lunch, arriving at our destination just over an hour later.

After a catch-up chat with Veronique, accompanied by coffee and home-made cake, we made our way to our room, Chocolat, which is located in an annexe opposite the stables. All the rooms are named after sweet things, by the way, the others being Caramel, Nougat and Cuberdon, which is a dusky purple cone-shaped Belgian candy. 

We got our luggage out of the car and reacquainted ourselves with our tastefully decorated luxury suite. 

While I took some photographs of its still pristine and uncluttered condition, Jos had a little rest.  I couldn't help but notice how well the colour of his favourite burnt orange corduroy shirt matched that of the armchair cushions in the background, while his trousers matched the bed's grey quilted headboard.

Let's proceed to the en-suite bathroom with its whirlpool bath which we'd be making use of every night of our stay.

There's a huge walk-in shower as well, although there's no denying a certain horror movie vibe in the photo I took in the waning afternoon light later that day.

Still experimenting with my Sony Cybershot, I was pleased to find it makes an excellent mirror selfie, which is definitely a first for me. Here's me wearing one of my all-time favourite Diolen frocks, accessorized with loads of mustard in the form of a suede belt, opaques and long-line cardi. I travelled in my caramel mock croc boots but wore my sturdy pair of fleece-lined chocolate brown ones for our outings.

Speaking of which, the weather was simply too gorgeous to stay put in our room. It was mid-afternoon by then, so we didn't want to venture too far from the B&B, opting for a bracing walk in Bulskampveld, a provincial domain which is practically on its doorstep.

The gateway to the extensive domain and nature reserve of about 230 hectares is the visitor centre - now closed for the season - located in a neo-Gothic style castle dating from 1887. Our afternoon stroll took us through the castle park laid out in the inevitable English landscape style, offering glimpses of the castle across the lake, the by now slightly hazy sunshine illuminating its red brick façade.

There were wooden adventure platforms and play huts to entertain and educate tiny people like me, majestic trees framing glorious panoramas and even a rare example of the elusive terracotta pot tree!

Established in 1980 on the site of the castle's former kitchen garden is the herb garden which boasts 400 or so species of medicinal and kitchen herbs, the majority of which were waiting impatiently for Spring to wake them from dormancy. Quite a contrast with our previous visit when the garden was basking in the heat of an August afternoon.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the castellated tower is part of the castle, but it's not. It is actually a water tower, which was built in the 1890s. Lushly creeper-clad in the Summer months, now all that is left are the climber's tentacle-like branches which seem intent on strangling the life out of the poor thing. Originally, the tower was topped by a mill which pumped up water from a well, with a clock-like instrument indicating the height of the water supply.

The Hellebores in our garden might be on their last legs, this magnificent specimen of Helleborus foetidus, a.k.a. Stinking Hellebore, was definitely in its prime.

As sniffing the plant won't make you wrinkle your nose in disgust, the stinking adjective might seem quite undeserved. It is only when you crush the leaves that its odour, which is often described as beefy, is produced. Due to the plant's poisonous nature we didn't give it a try, but limited ourselves to admiring its looks and taking its portrait.

Grey clouds had started blanketing the sky while we walked, until all the gaps of blue had once more been obscured. As the sun dipped towards the horizon, she left the faintest of orange glows in her wake.

Would she leave us high and dry again and shift the season back to late Winter rather than early Spring? Only time would tell as, lately, the weathermen seem to be quite untrustworthy!

As we were walking back to the car park, we were distracted by the sight of a folly in the woods. Believing it to be some kind of a Summer house, we tiptoed towards it and peered through its window, behind which a tall plaster statue of Mary was perched on a pedestal.

Erected in 1920, this is a Chapel of Thanksgiving to Our Lady in recognition for the protection of the inhabitants of the village in general and the Lippens family - then owners of the castle - in particular during the First World War.

And then it was time to return to our home away from home for some down time and a relaxing soak in our whirlpool bath.  Followed by Veronique's famous tapas board, of course! 

I hope you'll join me again for Part 2 of my travelogue, which I'll be posting very soon.