history – GWENNIESGARDENWORLD

April 10, 2021April 10, 2021

TULIPS FROM AMSTERDAM

Well, not really from Amsterdam, I got them from my son. But tulips are known to come from Holland. They originally came from Turkey I think. But there was a time only the very rich could buy 1 or 2 bulbs, they were worth their weight in gold. I think at the moment they are the biggest exporters of tulips and bulbs of all sorts. As we live at the border with the Netherlands I go there often for shopping and flowers , food and clothes are a lot cheaper in The Netherlands. Alas alas in this covid era we are not allowed to cross the border just for shopping and I miss that a lot.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND !!

October 8, 2019

THE ARDECHE IN FRANCE (3)

The village in the Ardeche where we spent our holidays last month was called Vals-les-Bains, it has only about 3500 inhabitants but it was once very famous for their water that has good influence on your health and the spa’s they had, it was like the spa’s we have now, only less modern. They once were visited by the rich and famous, we were told even King Louis the 14th came to Vals with a horse and carriage to improve his health, today they just have normal tourists from all over the globe.

They have an old natural source in the middle of a park that is spraying every 6 hours. We went to see it one day and it was quite fun, we were all waiting for the water to start spraying, lots of people got wet ofcourse as they came too close to the spray.

**AND IT GROWS UP TO 6 METERS HIGH, SOMETIMES EVEN TO 8 METERS HIGH**

If you know it started spraying for the first time about 200 hundred years ago I think it is quite amazing.

Have a fun week and thanks for stopping by.

April 27, 2019

BRUGES BELGIUM (2)

Today I want to show you more pretty sights from Bruges, world famous for it’s handmade lace and visited by people from all over the world. When you walk arround in Bruges you hear so many different languages.

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THEY HAVE LOTS OF TRUNCATED TREE’S

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A PLATAN WITH NEW LEAFS AND OLD FRUITS, IT’S FRUITS ALWAYS REMIND ME OF LITTLE MEAT BALLS

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THE BOAT TRIPS ARROUND THE CITY CENTER ARE ALWAYS VERY POPULAR AS YOU GET TO SEE BRUGES FROM ANOTHER SIDE, BECAUSE OF THIS BRUGES IS ALSO CALLED “VENICE OF THE NORTH”

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HANDMADE LACE, FOR CENTURIES MADE IN BRUGES BY WOMEN, YOU CAN STILL LEARN HOW YOU CAN DO THIS BUT IT IS COMPLICATED !!

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AND OFCOURSE FOOD AND DRINKS ARE VERY POPULAR IN BELGIUM, WAFFLES, CHOCOLATE AND BEER

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AND OFCOURSE BELGIAN BEER IMG_4331 (2)

There is a shop in my village that sells over 1500 different sorts of beer, not only Belgian beer, but 1500 different beers; I think that is a LOT !! Mind you I don’t drink beer, I don’t like the taste of it.

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WE ALSO VISITED THE BEGUINALE HOUSE IN BRUGES

There are no beguines anymore, their houses are rented out now.

BEGUINALE HOUSES, THEY ALL HAD A SMALL ROOM AND ALL THEY DID WAS PRAY, WORK, SLEEP….

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WHEN THERE IS WATER YOU HAVE BIRDS.

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AND IN SPRING YOU HAVE CHICKS

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AND IN BEAUTIFUL PLACES YOU HAVE PAINTERS

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AND ART EVERYWHERE , NEW

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AND OLD

Have a great weekend all !! And thanks for visiting.

April 18, 2019April 18, 2019

BRUGES BELGIUM (1)

We had a day out in Bruges (Belgium) this week, it is a very old small city that attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world. I intend to do a few posts about Bruges and this is the first one. I’ll show you a bit of old church art. There are lots of churches in Bruges, all well kept and filled with old art.

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ONE OF THE MANY CHURCH TOWERS

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WE FOUND ONE PIECE OF NEW ART IN AN OLD CHURCH, A FONT

IMG_4337 (2) A PIECE IN BLACK SILVER AND GOLD

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A CLOSE UP OF THE ABOVE

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THIS IS THE TOP PART OF A PULPIT CARVED IN WOOD

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THIS IS THE LOWER PART OF THE PULPIT

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PART OF A VAULT COMPLETELY MADE OF STONE( this church was build in 1762)

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THIS IS A LARGE POT WITH A SILVER LAMB ON IT

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A VERY OLD PAINTING OF JESUS IN GOLD AND A SILVER CROSS NEXT TO IT

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MOTHER MARY AND HER SON JESUS WITH A FEW GOLDEN ANGELS

I hope you are all well and happy.

October 2, 2017

LA DOUCE FRANCE (4)

Today it is just some pictures I made whilst in the South of France.

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Have a great week all ! And thanks for visiting !

September 28, 2017September 28, 2017

LA DOUCE FRANCE(3)

This one is about some of the art we saw on our travels through the Provence.

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MURAL

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OLD ART IN A CHURCH

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AND NEW ART IN GARDENS

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In France you find art where ever you go, old, new, you name it , they got it !

Thanks for visiting, have a great day !

September 19, 2017September 19, 2017

LA DOUCE FRANCE (1)

We just came back from a holiday in the South of France. France is one of our neighbouring countries and to go there is about 1100 kilometers.I would advice you not to go there in July and August unless you really have too as it is the summerschoolholiday for the whole of Europe then. But France is amazing and I am not surprised it gets the most tourists in the whole world !!! Personally I prefer the South, the Provence and the Cote d’Azur.

But hey, I think you want the pictures, not my bragging. So here they come.

We visited a special garden, it was the garden of a monastery in Mane ; Jardins de Salagon.

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FROGS IN THE POND

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PART OF THE OLD MONASTERY

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DETAILS OF THE WALLS

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THE FOLLOWING PICTURES WERE TAKEN IN THE GARDENS

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IT WAS DEFINITELY PUMPKIN TIME IN FRANCE, THEY WERE EVERYWHERE

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FIGS EVERYWHERE IN THE SOUTH, REALLY EVERYWHERE !!!

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THE WILD PIGS RUINED ALL THE GARDEN PATHS THE NIGHT BEFORE OUR VISIT.

As you can see is was definitely Autumn in the South of France, earlier than usual cos of the severe heath and drought they had for months on end. Here too we have an early Autumn.

There is more to come about our vacation in France so if you are interested watch my blog.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.

August 11, 2017

A SHORT VACATION (3)

This is the 3rd and last post about our trip to Scotland. Edinburgh was our destination. A beautiful and buzzing city.

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THE SUMMER FAIR

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A BEAUTIFUL OLD BUILDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY CENTER

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AND ANOTHER ONE

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GRAFITTI ON THE WALLS DSC05355 (3)

BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS DSC05356 (2)

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FLOWERS IN PEOPLES FRONT YARD

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A CHRISTMAS SHOP THAT WAS OPEN ALL YEAR !!

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STREET ARTISTS

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BRIDES

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UNUSUAL HAIRDO

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AN SCOTTISH TERRIER, THEY HAVE THEM IN BLACK AND WHITE, WE SAW LOTS AND LOTS OF DOGS, IN ENGLAND AS WELL AS IN SCOTLAND

A CHANDALIER MADE OF WINEGLASSES IN A RESTAURANT

ON OUR WAY TO THE FERRY WE WENT TO SEE THIS CASLE AT BAMBURGH

THE END

We had a lovely short break, saw many interesting things, and we were lucky with the weather, what more do you want.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by !

August 3, 2017

A SHORT VACATION (2)

From Windermere we drove to Gretna Green, worldfamous for being able to get married without permission of your parents, even as young as 16 ! . I don’t now if you still need the permission of your parents these days but a long time ago you did. It was very busy over there and we saw at least 5 weddings in the hour we spent there….But I enjoyed looking arround, to the people, the little shops and the many dogs who were on vacation with their owners.

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ALL THE SHOPS ARE BUILD ARROUND THIS BLACKSMITHS SHOP WHERE THE WEDDINGS TOOK PLACE IN THE OLD DAYS BUT NOT ANYMORE, THERE IS A WEDDING OFFICE NOW

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WE SAW OUR FIRST SCOTTISCH BAGPIPER THERE, A MAN IN A SKIRT, I LIKE IT !

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THIS STATUE STOOD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MARKETPLACE, IT WAS A HUGE BOW WITH THE HANDS ON TOP

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THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN BY MY HUSBAND (CAN YOU TELL WHO IS THE BOSS IN THIS RELATIONSHIP ??)

Our next visit was to Edinburgh, the photo’s will follow soon.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting !

December 13, 2016December 13, 2016

ART CREATED BY NATURE

I love gemstones and fossils and I find it fascinating how incredibly old they are and how they were made by nature.

On our travels in Arizona last March we found this museum in a cacti garden somewhere and it was awesome !

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Category: history