A look a like at Temple Newsam.

I will start at dawn as usual. This happens at around 7am. I was up and eating yogurt at about 4am this day. I had a while to fill so I wrote a blog about Milner field and a lost mansion......

 The dawn light finally started to appear and I could hear the birds scares banging very distinctly. Birds circling everywhere this day.....and planes taking off. Very noisy. Not at all the peace I hoped for.

 The old guys were inside the boat house again cooking up bacon for sandwiches....oh what a lovely idea. I was not dressed to go and buy bacon in a fully lit place!!!otherwise I would. by the time I got home I had forgotten anyway.... there were lots of people and dogs out and about early but it was still dark then.
Today I am writing this at 6.45 and there is no signs yet that the day is about to begin. I have made the decision not to go out.....And guess what? I bet I miss a great sun rise......

 We were up too yesterday. Lee had a hospital appointment for a scan and we needed to walk Monza first and be there early for the scan.

Afterwards we went to Temple Newsam House . I had already packed up A 1950's doll to take along.

 The day was a beautiful almost fooling us into thinking it was summer's day. By the time we got to Temple Newsam it was warm. When I went out at Dawn there was a frost covering the garage and log cabin roof. All pretty it was glistening as the light came up. .

This is around the garden side of the house on the balustrades leading to the steps. Looks just as summer, though the light was quite different. very harsh contrasts of light and dark. very cold in the dark bits too!.

1950's Bride doll. A miss Revlon type.

What do I know about this doll? This one is one of the girls from my 1950's -1960's collection that live in my bedroom. This is a Miss Revlon doll I think as she has no marking on her, but when I look them up on google the face is the same. So I will go for her being A miss Revlon bride doll from 1950's. She was a birthday present this year. I had a bingo bonza birty present fest this 57th year and this girl came in a box from California along with some Gene Marshall dolls and Kate Winslet and all her outfits as copies from Titanic movie.

 As far as I can tell I would say that the dress is original or if it is not it is the right style for her.

So off I trotted with this doll in one hand and my camera in the other to the old Temple Newsam house. I had her on a stand....unfortunately this can be seen in the photos. Never mind I thought.....at the time. But it does ruin the pic a bit!

 I have been to this old house many times. These photos are around the side by the fountain in the formal gardens.

 The twisted pearl necklace is a bracelet I found in a junk shop...

I have just now looked out at the sky. I have got to go out and see the dawn......will finish this in a bit........So I changed my mind!

 Revlon dolls were sold between 1956-1960. They were sponsored by Charles Revlon and were specifically aimed at teenagers . The 1950's was really when being a teenager was fully acknowledged. Rebel without a cause and all that. The teens have their own culture and it all began in the 1950s.......Ideal made the Miss Revlon doll and it would be marked on the back of the neck. this girl has no markings so she is a Miss Revlon look alike which also became very popular.

The 1950s were before my time. I was born in 1961! So by the time I was a teenager in the 1970's being a teenager was well catered for!!! back in the 1950s was a unique time for women as fashion became an interest to all and so many thing were new.....like the invention of vinyl and manmade fabrics. This reflected into the doll world and teenage dolls were made using vinyl and real looking manmade hair which was rooted into the dolls head. Saran hair could be washed and restyled easily. And the dolls had realistic figures (well......very slim but real enough!)

 I have just been poking around on the net and discovered patterns to make her more fashion clothes from the 1950's. ....so that is what I will be doing this afternoon. 1950s here I come. I know I have the "Grease " movie some where and some James Dean......

 Temple Newsam. Always a treat and a real fave to visit when ever I can.  This was called " The Hampton court of the North" and was the birth place of Lord Darnley, who became the husband to Mary Queen of Scots. She had him murdered by a man who then went on to rape  and marry her under duress. He ended badly in a dungeon prison in Denmark where he went bonkers chained to a post in the dark. Oh yes! I love this period of history.
So this day I walked the formal gardens with my Revlon doll in the warm sun. I had to be quite quick as Monza and Lee were waiting for me in the Fonz car.....

 So formal gardens and monster fountain.....

 Walk way in autumn.....

 The bible quote you see around the top of the building is much later......1800s I think if I remember what the guide told me......

 There was a chapel inside this house. I have been down in the cellars on a tour and it is used as a store room.....the stained glass is still visible though.

 This is the main court yard and the door which leads to the great hall.

 This site was originally owned by the Knights Templar. hence the name,,,Temple Newsam.

 My last shot of the old house through the trees.......always rather sad to walk away. I want to stay and go inside. Still it is another house that is not mine! what would I do with it if it was????

 The woods in Autumn.....

I wanted to get Monza dog out of the car. The idea was lovely. The reality was that he saw other dogs walking towards the house and went ballistic barking and rocking the car. When he gets like that there is no reasoning with him and he will not stop either!

So we opened up the boot and let him have a good look. That is another great feature of this Fonz car that has been blown up and looks like a wreck! the boot can safely be opened at the top to let Monza see out and have a good look with out danger. great little Fonz car for dogs.

I found this book. 

AND....

I have just bought this pattern from ebay. It is a copy of an original . (i do not need an original!) I am only going to cut it out and use it to make these clothes after all. 

So I will be looking now for 1950's inspired fabrics for this project.

Yes! I did go out this morning. And here are the photos before I head off to Otley for my Friday root through the junk shop. It is such a beautiful day again that I am insisting on lunch in the market square.

 Same place. very different day.