What I wore in September - Part 1

I have to admit I've been feeling just a tiny bit bereft now that I've finished this year's September travelogue. Now that the last memories have been virtually committed to paper, our time away seems to be well and truly a thing of the past. 

Fear not, though, as we've got another little trip lined up shortly, which I'm really excited about. 

But first things first: it's time for another attempt at catching up, starting with what we did - and more specifically, what I wore - in the week after we came back.

A sweltering 28°C did accompany us on our way home on Sunday the 7th of September, but by Monday the temperature had taken a couple of steps back to a more moderate 23°C. 

I was glad I'd had the foresight of taking an extra day off to deal with the inevitable flurry of post-holiday chores. To cheer myself up, I was wearing one of my all-time favourite Summer skirts. Instantly smitten with its Missoni-esque pattern, it was a no-brainer when I laid eyes on it in a charity shop in the Summer of 2021.

The lobster print top I paired it with was charity shopped new with tags in May 2019. 

Picking up the yellow zig-zags of the skirt, I accessorized my outfit with a flea market find pleated belt and a bubble-gum beaded necklace from a long-gone vintage shop. The turquoise enamelled fish brooch was bought in Ypres during one of our September holidays and the yellow shoes were a post-dentist charity shop find back in April.

Bess was happy to see us and insisted on lots of lap-time, although she'd had more than her fair share of cuddles while we were away as she'd managed to charm her way into her team of catsitters' affections. When our lovely neighbours Wes and Michèle came back from a night out and spotted her sitting behind our front window, they couldn't resist treating her to some nightcap cuddles!

I finished the final chapter of the book I'd started in our holiday cottage. Compared to both Donna Tartt's The Secret History and Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca - which is a favourite of mine - I had high expectations for Lucie Whitehouse's The House at Midnight which - although an enjoyable read - it didn't exactly live up to.

My next read, Adriana Trigiani's The Shoemaker's Wife, had been in my reading pile for ages before I finally took the plunge. A slow and long-winded love story spanning two continents and two World Wars, I was soon quite bored with this one, but still managed to get to the end of its 475 pages.

It was back to work - and chaos! - on Tuesday, the only positive news being that it continued to be sunny with balmy temperatures into the low twenties.

I still managed to muster the necessary energy for posing for outfit photos after work on Wednesday and Thursday. 

Wednesday's outfit featured the funky short-sleeved vintage shirt by Finnlene and the brown pleated leather belt I found in the Think Twice sales at the end of August. The pleated green and white zig-zag patterned skirt was a charity shop find back in June and must have been one of my most-worn skirts this Summer. My red shoes were charity shopped a couple of years ago, while the necklace was bought brand new from Accessorize when they briefly had a shop in Antwerp.

The skirt I wore on Thursday was a gift from Claire who used to blog as Winter Peach Photography. From its citrussy colours, I picked orange for my short-sleeved jumper, which, same as the green stretchy belt with its bamboo buckle, was found on the high street.

Both the greyish green wooden necklace and the olive green shoes were charity shopped.

After a short but hectic working week, I was glad that Friday and thus the start of another three-day weekend rolled along.

To celebrate my freedom, I wore a vintage peasant-style C&A dress I found at Think Twice in June 2024. Both the green elastic belt and my burgundy ankle boots were old charity shop finds.

On the menu on Saturday the 13th of September was a mix of clouds and sunny spells, with some heavy rain mid-afternoon and highs of 19°C.

The perfect weather for a rummage at the charity shop, methinks! After our disappointing trip to the one in Poperinge, we were amply rewarded by the goddesses of the charity shops in our edge-of-town shop.

No less than three blouses came home with me. From left to right: ruffle-sleeved Summer top by the Polish clothing brand Nife, long-sleeved blue and white Western style blouse from the Spanish Sfera label and high-necked and long-sleeved floral extravaganza by good old H&M.

Seriously, did I need any more skirts? Probably not, but then I fell in love with this one. I couldn't find any evidence of there ever having been a label, so it might very well be someone's handiwork.

As it's almost impossible to find a pair of trainers which do not have those in-your-face white soles - which I don't like at all - I pounced on this lovely pink and navy pair. They're from the Dutch Van Haren chain and I saw an almost identical pair in their shop just a couple of days later. For just € 5,90, these were mine!

The bookshelves didn't disappoint either, with three more books added to my Tower of Pisa reading pile.

The day's outfit was built around this black and white leopard print skirt by posh label Essentiel Antwerp. I couldn't believe its € 5,30 price tag when I spotted it in a charity shop in February 2023.

My magenta short-sleeved knit was charity shopped in Shrewsbury last year. I added pops of green with my suede belt and wood and raffia beaded necklace (both charity shopped) and enamelled butterfly brooch from a posh second-hand shop back in the mists of time.

Sunday looked set to be a dry day with lots of sunny spells, so we wasted no time in going for a much needed head-clearing walk, for which we chose our beloved Middelheim Sculpture Park.

Finding a parking spot wasn't exactly straightforward, but this was soon forgotten at the sight of a sea of cheerful yellow Rudbeckia which greeted us when we entered the Middelheim-Low part of the park.

Signs of impending Autumn were found in pink-flowered Sedum spectabile, which apparently now goes under the new name of Hylotelephium spectabile. Quite a tongue twister, that.

We wandered at will, following our noses until we passed the Pillared Pavillion by Belgian architect Charles Vandehove (1927-2019). This offers shelter to Sibilla (above, bottom left) by Italian sculptor Pericle Fazzini (1913-1987), and Grande Bagnante N°1 (above, top right). The latter is by another Italian sculptor and contemporary of the aforementioned Mr. Fazzini, Emilio Greco (1913-1995).

The picturesque thatched warden's cottage, Aubette, is currently showcasing merchandise created for the museum shop by The Zangles, a collective of female artists, performers and musicians based in Antwerp.

Crossing the street, we entered the Middelheim-High part of the park, where we sat down on a bench facing the dancing sky tubes which make up the artwork called The Pogo Never Stops.

By Dennis Tyfus (°1979), the work is a nod to the artist's punk roots. It is a nonstop dance performance by thirteen sky tubes, which have drawings of faces and T-shirts of noise bands, its other-worldliness enhanced by the mechanical noise of the blowers driving the tubes.

As we sat there, a couple of children were running riot between the tubes, pinning some of them down by sitting on them, while their parents sat watching them disinterestedly. Sadly, none of the museum wardens were in sight, as both children and parents would certainly have received a good talking to. 

Intriguingly, when we visited the park again last week, the installation had gone ...

Oh, how I wish for some aliens to whisk some people away to their planet for due punishment!

I'll finish this post with a final outfit. Again, magenta was the colour of choice for my blouse, another peasant-style one I snapped up in last January's sales. The maxi skirt was charity shopped in June 2022, and has had many admirers since, yours truly obviously among them. 

My belt - the same one I wore in this post's second outfit - came from Think Twice, while my necklace was charity shopped and my brooch picked up in a Shrewsbury antique shop last year.

I'll be back with more September outfits in a couple of days. See you soon!

Sunny days in the West(hoek)

It's the final installment of my September travelogue. And about time too, as it's now more than six weeks ago that we woke up to sunshine streaming in through our window on Friday the 5th of September. 

The weather forecast for the day ahead looked very promising, with highs of 22°C, which felt positively balmy now that the wind had finally taken a backseat. We had thrown open the cottage's French window while having breakfast and were enjoying the antics of the resident sheep (a.k.a. the lawnmowers), when a telltale sound coming from across the road made us leap up from our seats and walk over to the cottage's front door. Yes, it was that time of year again: hop picking had finally commenced!

We decided to make the most of the fact that the weather gods were on their best behaviour by going for a walk and enjoy the bounty nature has to offer. Not wanting to stray too far that day, we'd selected Helleketelbos (bos is the Flemish word for wood), which, in theory, would involve a drive of less than 15 minutes.

However, as there were roadworks along the route which would normally take us there, we decided to catch two birds with one stone and take the road we could see in the far distance when looking towards the Franco-Flemish hills from our balcony. 

A couple of houses on said road had been catching our attention for years, so we were wondering if we would be able spot our cottage if we'd seek these out. And we could! As it was in the shade, however, it wasn't exactly straightforward to pick it out among the surrounding trees, so I've added a helpful pink arrow for you!

From there, finding Helleketelbos should have been a doddle. After all, the road we were now on was called Helleketelweg (weg being the Flemish word for road), so we presumed that this was where it led to. So, we refrained from entering our destination in our Satnav, deciding to rely on our - admittedly shaky - sense of direction and a rudimentary map. 

Well, what can I say? Those winding country lanes did get the better of us so that, after literally driving around in circles, we finally admitted defeat and tasked Truus, our Satnav with the Dutch accent, with pointing us into the right direction.

By the time we finally made it there, our shattered nerves were sorely in need of a spot of Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing. It was then that we remembered that, in spite of the existence of numbered markers which correspond with the handy map we were carrying, we always seem to end up getting lost here.

So, why not throw caution to the wind and start our walk the other way around, taking the path we usually - and eventually - arrive back on?

This seemed to have done the trick, as we finished our walk without any hiccups whatsoever. Or perhaps we have finally learned from our past mistakes?

Helleketelbos covers an area of around 56 hectares. The name Helleketel, which literally translates as Hell's Cauldron, is not as ominous as it sounds. In old Flemish the word helle means hillside and ketel refers to a depression at the bottom of a slope. 

Helleketelbos is a remnant of an early medieval forest. The current wood consists of plots of deciduous, coniferous and mixed woodland and is surrounded by agricultural land. 

At the edge of the wood is a small half-timbered farm labourer's cottage, which used to be part of a large farmstead. It is locally known as the Witches Cottage. The cottage, which is in an enclosure with a picnic area, has been restored in recent years. Sadly, however, signs of vandalism are already apparent, with one of the windows giving access to the basement having been smashed to smithereens.

We rested here for a while, but as we hadn't brought a picnic and it was getting late, our faintly rumbling stomachs demanded that we drive back to our cottage for lunch. This was followed by a siësta, after which we drove down to Poperinge.

Here, we started with a visit to the local charity shop, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Although I've found many a treasure here over the years, the stock wasn't up to scratch at all this time around and prices were considerably higher than where we live. I mean, € 11,50 for a dress, that's almost double what we're generally paying here.

We then continued to St. Jan's Kerk (St. John's Church), which has its origins in the 13th Century. The church is a well-known place of pilgrimage, connected with the nearby Mirakelhuisje (Miracle House) where it is said a stillborn child was brought back to life by Our Lady of St. John in 1479.

About 400 meters from the Market Place it is a little bit out of our way, so that it was only our second visit to the church in the 14 years we've been coming here.

But it was the Market Place we'd come for, and more specifically, the terrace of well-known establishment La Poupée, for an afternoon treat of waffles and cups of cappuccino.

Although we were already salivating at the mere thought, we stopped to photograph the magnificent neo-Gothic town hall for the umpteenth time. 

Our last day, Saturday the 6th of September, dawned sunny with some light clouds, which the sun would soon make short shrift of. With highs of 25°C forecasted for the day, there was no need for a jacket, so I made do with my faithful haori style cover-up to protect my arms from the sun.

This time, we stayed even closer to the cottage for our morning walk. 

A short stroll along a bumpy unsurfaced path, the whitewashed chapel of Ons Heerens Boompje (literally translated as Our Lord's little Tree) would have been visible from our balcony if only some trees hadn't been in the way. 

The top of our cottage was visible from the path we were walking on, basking in sunshine across a field of cabbages (above, top right).

Harvest was in full swing as we walked along the maize fields, until we came to a sign nailed to a fence post and pointing us towards the chapel, which, as you have probably gathered, is kapel in Flemish.

Quite why there were two signs, if even one would have been superfluous as at that point the chapel in its copse of trees was clearly visible, we'll never know. 

It is a so-called "fever chapel", where people come to pray for the relief of fever and pain as well as miracles in general.

The bushes and trees surrounding the chapel are hung with ribbons, handkerchiefs and other pieces of fabric - indeed in some cases whole garments - since legend has it that this would make fever or pain go away.

We usually burn a small candle here, for whatever it's worth. Last time we were here, though, in September 2020, we only had a € 5 note on us. In order get our money's worth, we lighted both a small candle and votive candle, and took a spare votive candle back with us as a souvenir.

If we were hoping of invoking the odd little miracle, we could never have guessed that it would actually work. As it was, exactly nine months later Jos's youngest grandson was born, although his parents had long ago given up hope.

Again, we had lunch at the cottage followed by a little siësta, after which I went to post a letter at the post office. 

Only joking! The post office I am about to enter in the above photo is part of an open air museum called Bachten de Kupe, about 20 kilometers from Poperinge.

The museum introduces you to the fascinating traditions of yesteryear.

It is a reconstructed farming village from the Westhoek region and consists of 46 authentic buildings, the oldest of which dates back to 1650, as well as thousands of objects that bring the past back to life. 

Old cobbled streets lead you through a village with shops, an inn, a farmhouse, and much more. Too much really, as every available nook and cranny is crammed full of stuff, which makes the interiors of the shops and other buildings a bit confusing and unrealistic.

Whether this is down to a lack of funds to properly display all the objects the museum is being donated, I have no idea, but somehow I can't help feeling that it's a bit of a missed opportunity.

It didn't really help that our visit coincided with that of a coachload of slightly inebriated folk, who were talking and laughing too loud and were making fun of some of the exhibits. A couple even attempted to ride the bicycles which were on display! Trying to keep one step ahead of them was our main object, but in the end they were literally everywhere.

Still, my camera kept working overtime, so here are some snapshots of the things which caught my eye.

After our rounds of the village, we finished our visit with a drink on the terrace of the inn on the village square. Service here was quite confusing as well, but we managed to get our order of non-alcoholic beers in the end!

So, that was it, our September holiday 2025. 

We spent our last night wistfully staring out of our window, and noting the progress made by the hop pickers in just one day, leaving a huge chunk of the hop poles bare.

It will be business as usual in my next post, starting with a massive round-up of September outfits.

See you soon!

Two weeks in June

We've been back from our far-too-short substitute holiday in Belgium's west country since last Saturday and have subsequently been enjoying a week's worth of staycation here at Dove Cottage, trying to keep our heads cool during the heatwave the weather gods have cooked up for us. It's been two weeks of semi-indolence instead of our customary action-packed UK holiday, and at times it hasn't felt like a real holiday at all. We've mainly been lazy so-and-so's, sleeping much longer than we usually do and having siestas in the afternoons. I guess that this is exactly what we needed after the ordeal of the last ten months or so, but I can't help feeling a bit short-changed. 

I'll be telling you all about what we did during our holiday over the next couple of posts, but let's make a start by getting those first two weeks of June out of the way, shall we?

Actually, I've just realized that I didn't include May's final day in my previous post, so here's what I wore on Saturday the 31st. 

The day's highs of 28°C made me scramble around in my wardrobe for suitable Summer tops, unearthing this vaguely mid-century patterned one I charity shopped last year. Don't worry, I've added plenty of close-ups where you can actually see its pattern below.

It originally had some rather fiddly ribbon ties at the neck, but I snipped off the offending things and sewed the ends together, creating a kind of keyhole neckline, which I thought was much better.

Its companion was a vintage cotton button-through skirt, an old Think Twice find which has been in my wardrobe forever. I included a close-up of its print as well, making it clear that it's daisies and not polka dots it's sprinkled with. I'm sure you won't be surprised if I tell you that the three rows of white rick-rack near the hem were one of its selling points!

I picked orange as the main colour for my accessories, which included yet another one of my glass rings!

Our plans for the day were somewhat thwarted as it was too humid to go for a walk, so that we briefly nipped into the charity shop near the park instead. 

Here, a quick trawl of the aisles yielded these two skirts, one of which you'll get to see me wearing very soon!

Sunday the 1st of June brought a mix of clouds and sunny spells and a drop in temperature to 21°C.

After our usual Sunday morning chores, which included changed the bed sheets and vacuuming and mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors, I took a walk down the garden path to take stock of what was happening in the impenetrable jungle which currently constitutes our garden.

Then, after lunch, we returned to the park in Duffel as we were sorely in need of stretching our weary limbs and breathing in a couple of lungfuls of fresh air.

Gone was Saturday's cloudless blue sky, replaced with a canvas of smudged, moody greys, which now and then parted to reveal swirls of palest blue. 

If you guessed I'd be wearing the pleated green and white zig-zaggy skirt I'd scored on Saturday, you were spot on! It's from a French label called An'ge, which was born in Paris in 1985.

The grooviliously patterned top - long-sleeved this time - was another one which winged its way into my wardrobe from a charity shop last year. The green bits in its pattern matched the skirt's colour almost exactly, while I matched my accessories to the tiny bits of pink. 

Brooch: flea market

Belt picked up from the high street

Translucent beaded necklace: charity shopped 

The park's vegetation is at its lushest in June, the various shades of green still having a freshness which will soon fade in the relentless heat of the Summer sun. There were forget-me-nots a-plenty, offering a delightfully contrasting chorus line for the yellow flag Irises which were dancing  among the reeds.

We circumnavigated the biggest of the park's ponds, crossed one of the reed-choked rills and listened to the calls of the birds high up in the Jack-and-the-beanstalk trees.

But then the quiet and solitude were rudely interrupted by the arrival of a group of loud and boisterous youths, which made us cut our walk short and return to our car.

The weather gods clearly couldn't make up our minds during the working week ahead, treating us to grey skies, sunny spells, lots of wind, and heavy showers, often within the space of a couple of hours.

I needed to run an errand near Antwerp's Central Station, about 1,5 kilometers from the office, which I finally managed during an unexpectedly sunny lunch break on Wednesday. Admittedly, in order to save time, I took a tram part of the way instead of walking the length of Antwerp's main shopping thoroughfare, 

Afterwards, I hopped into the Central Station to admire its rich interior lavishly decorated with more than twenty different kinds of marble and stone. The station building was built in eclectic style between 1899 and 1905 by Louis Delacenserie, who was inspired, among other things, by the Pantheon in Rome. The highest point (75 meters) is a large dome.

Being dubbed the "Railway Cathedral", it has been voted one of the most impressive railway stations in the world on several occasions by the likes of  Newsweek, Mashable and The Telegraph. 

Let's step outside onto the square called Astridplein and have a look at its exterior, shall we?

If you are wondering what the man riding a camel is all about, the station is right next to another one of Antwerp's marvels, the Zoo, established on 21 July 19843, and one of the oldest and most famous zoos in Europe.

I actually can't remember exactly when I last visited here, but I think it must have been on a day out with my then boyfriend in the early 1990s. Obviously, I visited a couple of times with my parents and grandparents when I was growing up, most famously when, as a two-year old, I accidentally dropped my dummy in the sea lions enclosure. As apparently I was inconsolable, my parents were obliged to ask one of the zookeepers to retrieve it. I just hope it was thoroughly cleaned before it was returned to me, but I can't say I remember that part ...

As the week was trundling towards its end, it was clear that Jos's nerves were totally frayed at the thought of our upcoming trip to the UK. As this resulted in loss of appetite due to which he had to force down the merest little mouthful, we ultimately had to take the heart-breaking decision to cancel our UK holiday. 

But I already told you about this in detail in a previous post, so we'll leave well enough alone.

Instead, let me show you the results of our charity shopping trip on Friday the 6th of June.

And no, it wasn't a reflection of me feeling a bit blue that made me reach for these blue suede Italian made sandals and blue Japanese style King Louie frock!

My other, differently coloured finds, were a short-sleeved exotic print maxi dress and two funky blouses, the one on top being another King Louie and the one on the bottom being from the Danish Vero Moda label.

My saviour that final week before the holidays was this novel which had been residing in my neverending reading pile for a while. And it was one of my best reads so far this year! 

Intertwining the lives of two very different couples during World War I, this epic novel follows army soldier Riley as he fights for the love of Nadine despite a terrible injury, and his commanding officer Peter Locke, who returns home from the war a bitter and scarred man - one his wife doesn't recognize.

So, that was it from me for now. I can't wait to make a start with my mini-travelogue! Let's meet again in a couple of days.