Hello May!

The initial forecast for the bank holiday weekend had been for gorgeous, sunny Spring weather on both Sunday and Monday, with the latter expected to be the best of the bunch. So imagine our disappointment when the weather gods changed their minds at the very last moment, scuppering our plans for Monday, the 1st of May. What's more, in a bid to annoy us even further, those pesky deities quarreled among themselves about whether to plague the poor people of Belgium with rain in the morning or in the afternoon. 

With the sky colouring a granite grey during breakfast, we decided to wait it out, until the threat of rain seemed to have passed after lunch. With the temperature making its way towards the day's highs of 17°C, it would have been a shame to spend the day inside, so off we went.

We'd decided to check out a walking destination which until a couple of days earlier had been completely unknown to us, even if it is less than 15 minutes by car from Dove Cottage

Cleydael, in the neighbouring village of Aartselaar, is a nature reserve of 26 hectares, which is historically part of the castle park of Castle Cleydael, a fairy-tale worthy moated castle whose origins go back to the Middle Ages.

The castle lies at the other side of the road from the nature reserve, so we carefully crossed the busy road to have a proper look. Although the gates leading towards it were standing invitingly open, there was a sign that prohibited us from entering and taking photographs. 

There's a golf course on the castle domain, which might explain the wide open gates. Plus, the nature reserve leaflet I'd downloaded described the castle's particulars in quite some detail, so that we felt obliged to trespass and take a cursory look!

The castle was built on a island formed by two tributaries of a brook called Struisbeek. Cleydael is derived from the words klei and dal (transl. clay and valley), a reference to the brickworks which were once prolific in the area. Until the 16th century, one could sail up the Struisbeek from the River Scheldt, which was of the utmost importance for transporting the bricks from the local factories.

The landscape has been protected since 1977, and has been owned by the Flemish Community and  managed by latter's environmental department, the Agency for Nature and Forests since 1997.

The reserve offers a large variety of different habitats, such as reed marsh, sedges, pools, hay meadow, coppice and forest stands.

There's a lot of new mixed deciduous forest here, planting of which took place in several phases in 1999, 2002 and 2005. Native species were planted together in groups.

Jos had just remarked that the paths were relatively dry here in spite of the copious amounts of rain we've had lately, when we came across this partially flooded one. After debating how to circumnavigate this, we opted to make our way to the wooded area on our right rather than squelch through the marshy underground on our left. I was thankful for the thick crepe soles of my charity shopped Mephisto boots, and the mud which clung to the boots' suede uppers cleaned off in no time once dry.

The trees here were like high-rise buildings for the area's population of snails, the ones on the top left having just moved in together!

Having successfully made it across the muddy mire, we paused for a while so that I could show you my outfit which, apart from the charity shopped King Louie cardigan and Mephisto boots, coincidentally consisted mostly of high street buys.

The skirt is fast fashion pur sang but, after having resided in my wardrobe for many years, it has definitely earned its keep by now. I'm always happy to see it after its seasonal sojourn in the linen chest.

The lilac short-sleeved knit jumper was a retail buy last year, as was the stretchy belt with its big square buckle. The flower brooch is modern, picked up in a quirky independent shop in Antwerp called Akotee (linkin' coz I love, as Sheila would say) a couple of years ago.

All too soon, the 3-day weekend drew to a close. It wasn't nearly as traumatic to start another working week, though, as it would only be a 3-day one!  In the meantime, the weather gods had upped their game and sent a string of mostly sunny days our way, even if the temperatures fluctuated wildly, with highs of 11°C one day and 20°C the next.

Wednesday brought a surprise in the form of this gorgeous wrought iron poppy we got from Inneke and Maurice as a thank you for looking after Nessie. It was made by the husband of Inneke's niece and is a truly unique piece. Of course it deserved a place in our newly created passageway border!

A foray into the garden discovered the emergence of a handful of hoop-petticoat daffs (Narcissus bulbocodium), the bulbs of which I'd planted back in December. I had given up on them making an appearance at all this year, so that was a nice surprise as well.

I'd also made several forays to various Think Twice shops during my lunch breaks. The shops had started another round of their famous sales, and I found the sleeveless green and pink shift dress in the nearest shop to the office for € 5 on Tuesday. It might look a bit baggy in the photo, but I promise you it looks a treat on me rather than on Angelica.

By Thursday, prices had gone down to € 4 a piece. As it was a warm and sunny day, I walked down to my favourite of their shops, in Antwerp's edgy Kammenstraat, where I'm the first to admit I went a bit wild.

It had been absolutely ages since I'd come away with such a haul!

First up, this gorgeous flower patterned hessian purse, which I was unable to resist in spite of owning a multitude of the things.

I picked up no less than 4 dresses as well. 

The terracotta mosaic patterned one with its Chelsea collar shows every sign of being somebody's perfectly executed handiwork.

The multicoloured Paisley patterned midi shirtwaist dress is enhanced with blend-in fuchsia buttons and white piping at the collar and sleeves.

Next up is this handmade burgundy, grey and yellow fit and flare dress. Its side zipper initially didn't budge, which didn't overly worry me. Endless patience and gently rubbing it with candle wax eventually did the trick, as I knew it would.

Finally, I fell head over heels for this black floral cotton Summer dress, which I can't wait to wear once it's warm enough, and I have sorted its minor issues. I don't really mind minor issues when I've only paid a minor price!

A mix of sunny spells and showers, and highs of 17°C were on the menu on Friday the 5th of May. 

My outfit of the day was built around this butterfly sleeved vintage dress, an old Think Twice find if my memory serves me right. It's got roses in palest pink and fresh green on a rosewood background. Its peachy pink lining makes it the perfect dress for this time of year, as it would doubtlessly be the cause of a sweat fest in high Summer!

My green cardie, necklace and ring were all charity shopped, while the Miracle brooch was a flea market find in the Autumn of 2018. I don't remember where I picked up the peach coloured flower corsage, but it might very well have been at Veritas, a well-know Belgian chain of haberdashery and accessories shops.

That's all I got for you today. I'll be back with Friday's charity shop finds and the rest of our weekend adventures in my next post. Hope to see you again then!