Tuesday 30 October 2012

The New Forest Ponies

My daughter and son in law live in Southampton, a short drive from the New Forest. The promised artic blast fortunately did not get this far south at the weekend and so our planned walk in the New Forest was cold but not bitterly cold. We decided to walk in a different part of the forest this time and started our walk from Burley. We walked the bridle path and were quite surprised that it was not too muddy; our aim was to find some of the famous New Forest ponies.
As always the boys strode out ahead whist Milly and I caught up with all our news ;0) This picture is quite deceptive as although it was beautifully sunny with pretty floating clouds it was cold. Hats, scarves and gloves were the order of the day as well as lots of layers!
We did not need to walk very far at all until we found the first of these sweet creatures.



This one was not too shy at all and allowed us to pet him ;0)

New Forest Ponies do have owners but have an almost feral existence in the forest. Every year they are rounded up and checked. They also have their tails clipped in a particular way which links them to their owners.












On we walked to see how many more we could find.

















Hello little fellow, another real sweetie who was happy to be petted. We also found lots of other wild life on our walk including....













cattle, we did not go too close to this one..we thought that was the wisest thing to do ;0)









Amazing big beetles



and more sweet New Forest Ponies. This little group were very shy, if you look closely there is actually a dapple grey pony hiding on the right here.

We also found some great Sweet Chestnut trees and we gathered lots of chestnuts from the forest floor to take back with us.










We were able to find a whole bag of chestnuts but needed gloves to pick up the very prickly shells.
We then headed back to Burley to look for somewhere for afternoon tea.
















Burley is a pretty little village and the Old Farmhouse is a delightful thatched roof tea house with beams. We found a snug table and ordered 2 cream teas to share between the 4 of us.




Mmmm raspberry jam, clotted cream and freshly baked scone with a warm cup of tea. It was a perfect end to our cold but pleasant walk. By the time we left it was getting dark as we made our way back to the car.









This was the view as we left the village and as we walked along the road we were really surprised to see an old stone direction marker. These are quite rare as many have just eroded but the writing on this one was quite clear and written in old English










"Rest and be thankful" what an apt saying having just enjoyed our afternoon tea.

The clocks went back on Saturday night and we are now plunged into our darker evenings. At 4.30pm yesterday it was already dark. November will have arrive on Thursday and there are only 56 days til Christmas. I am really gearing up my Christmas card making and I will soon start my annual hand made crackers as these do take some time and there will be 8 of us here on Christmas day. My card challenge today features a fun stampendous jolly snowman stamp and a lovely silhouette stamp with Santa and his reindeer from Visible Images.



I stamped the Santa in black and added some holographic embossing powders to make it shine, it's hard to show it in the photo. I coloured my snowman with Promarkers and highlighted them with Prismacolor pencils. I used some more LOTV stamps on the blue back paper and the sentiment  and tags are LOTV too. Everything got a dash of glitter glue and the pearl snowballs were make using a Viva pearl pen.



This card is for sale here in my Etsy shop

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;
The Crafty Pad #194 Christmas is coming
Joanna Sheen Silhouettes my silhouette is the silhouette stamp of Santa in the sky with his reindeer
Dream Valley Glitter and bling #44
Party Time Tuesdays Anything Goes #92
Natalie and Amy #3 colour me happy This is my favourite colour combo of the moment, blue and pink

I would also like to mention that the Ribbon Girl is offering a £15 voucher as part of their new products launch. Do go and check out their great on line store.

I have a rare luxury of a day in my studio today so I am catching up on some bag charm orders and making some more cards. Whilst I am snug in my studio I will be thinking of some of my American friends who may not feel so safe with the terrible Hurricane Sandy hitting the East Coast. Stay safe and my thoughts are with you all that it does not do it's worst.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

32 comments:

  1. Awe those ponies are lovely, quite a good life for them too, all that freedom!
    I love the little Santa stamp but please 'Don't let it snow', pleaseeee !!!! ;)
    Thinking of all those across the pond!
    V xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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  2. They seem very contended Vivienne and some quite friendly too. Tee hee...I agree no snow quite yet ;0) Have a good day, it's lovely and sunny here,
    Jane x

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  3. No snow for sure! Lovely photos of your trip out, we have wild ponies and cattle in our Sutton Park and this is where I normally get my sweet chestnuts from but e coli is in place due to all the animal waste and quite strong precautions are in place, so no chestnuts from the park for us this year. Suzy x

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  4. Hi Suzy...it's sun here today not snow! Luckily these chestnuts are from the part of the forest out of bounds to the cattle and horses...controlled by the many cattle grids we had to step over ;0) Thanks for visiting,
    Jane x

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  5. I loved hearing and seeing your New Forest adventures as it's somewhere I've never been, we really should make some time for it at some point and the idea of 'pony spotting' is great. Lovely card, hope it does well. Bethx (thelinencat)

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  6. Love the New Forest and Burley is our favourite village, always have a pit stop at the old farmhouse!
    Victoria xx

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  7. Hello lovely Jane...First, my Alice in Wonderful bag charm arrived today!!...Thank you Jane. I'm thrilled...it's beautiful and your beads are just gorgeous I must say!
    I've so enjoyed your walk today...the New Forest ponies are lovely (but I don't blame you risking getting too near that strong looking young man there!)
    Love your latest card...especially the Santa silhouette stamp...I'm starting to feel festive here!
    Thank you again,
    Happy Tuesday,
    Susan x

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  8. always love your photo's Jane especially the scone, I am ready for my tea :) love how you have added the silhoette with the coloured image such a change and it works wonderfully, thank you for sharing with us at Joanna Sheen
    Hugs Kate xx

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  9. Hello dear Jane,

    What a wonderful post! I enjoy so much seeing places you visit, it's so interesting to see "behind" the stories. And all that green there with those pretty horses...Looks like summer to me (it's snowing outside!)!

    And that snowman-card...Oh! You know how I feel about them :) And I think it's almost the time to take my snowman-collection out!

    Happy last days of October!

    Yours,
    Mia

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  10. Beth until my daughter moved further south we had not been to the New Forest either. It really is worth the visit.Thanks for visiting,
    Jane x

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  11. Victoria we must have been shadows that have passed ;0) It's a very pretty spot,
    Jane x

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  12. Hi Susan, I'm so glad you are pleased with your Alice in Wonderland charm..I thought the beads very "you". Thanks so much for buying it. I've been in my studio all day and I'm nearly singing Christmas songs ;0)
    Jane x

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  13. Hi Kate I really love my Santa silhouette stamp and use him lots. Thanks for visiting and glad you enjoyed your virtual afternoon tea.
    Jane x

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  14. Ahh bless you Mia, we are still awaiting our first frost here. Keep snug and tell me when you can build that first snowman. Happy Tuesday my dear,
    Jane x

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  15. super cute card :-)
    ohhhhh and I enjoyed viewing your pictures!!! the forest ponies are awesome!
    Sylvia xx

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  16. Great photos & a fab card! Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful creation with us at The Crafty Pad this week in our Christmas Is Coming Challenge!
    Good Luck
    Hugs
    Dawn xxx

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  17. I was thinking nice thoughts about your pretty day and pretty horses until I got to the scone. It makes my mouth water. Mmmm.

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  18. Love all of your photos from the New Forest, especially the wild ponies. I'm glad the weather wasn't too cold last weekend.

    It is windy and snowy here. (Thanks to Hurricane Sandy)

    Your card is perfect for our late October weather.

    I'm off to book club. Happy Tuesday...

    Anne
    PlumCreek22

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  19. Thanks for visiting Sylvia,
    Jane x

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  20. I know Linda....it was as good as it looks ;0)
    Jane x

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  21. Take care Anne, that storm is devastating ;0( Enjoy your book club, sounds fun,
    Jane x

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  22. Hi Jane.. thank you so much for taking us with you on your walk in the New Forest! What adorable ponies! Lucky them to live so free. Love your card. I got my 6 beads in the mail and love them.. now I need to make a necklace using them. I have my PMC class on Saturday! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  23. It does seem a good life for them Teresa...and plenty of fresh grazing. Enjoy your jewellery making.
    Jane x

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  24. Hi Jane! Your weekend much have been wonderful! So beautiful place for a walk and with the best company! I love ponies and horses - do you think the brown in first photos is expecting a foal?
    Your Christmas card is beautiful! This is my favourite till now! x Teje

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  25. What a lovely walk, Jane. The New Forest ponies have always interested me since childhood days...I love how they can just roam free! Sweet little card too...I love snowy themes in designs though not always in reality!
    Have a Happy November!
    Helen x

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  26. Hi Teje, yes lots of the ponies seemed to be expecting foals. It would be lovely to see them when they are born. Glad you really liked my card,thanks so much,
    Jane x

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  27. It does seem very strange the way they wander Helen but they seem to enjoy the freedom. It has turned so chilly today my card now seems very apt,
    Jane x

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  28. Love your ponies post...thanks for sharing.

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  29. Thank you Hula-La good to see you here,
    Jane x

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  30. Nice little snowman card, glad you are working to catch up with Christmas, you are right it will be here soon. Thanks for joining us at Dream Valley this week.

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  31. This is just stunning and fab creation to enter into our Glitter and Bling Challenge!
    Thanks for joining in the fun at Dream Valley Challenges this time!
    Hugs Melly xxx

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Jane x