October 2025

The highlight of October for me was most definitely my trip to Copenhagen which you can read about in my Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen post. I would wholeheartedly recommend this city for any short break, or even longer break, we both loved it. The chest infection I ended September with thankfully abated for our trip but unfortunately returned with a vengeance once we returned home and the aftermath left me with a hacking cough. I'm feeling much better but the cough is still ever present.

I also wrote a post about our visit to Fountains Abbey to see Helios, and we've had some other wonderful days out this month too. We've visited the market town of Helmsley many times but we've never been in the castle before so that was something we did this month. The ruins aren't quite as impressive as Fountains Abbey but it's an interesting place with good information and more to see than I expected. We also visited Nunnington Hall, one of our favourite National Trust properties.

I've read three books this month.

No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara is about two little girls who jump on the tube ahead of their mum, the doors close and they head off to the next station. By the time their mum catches up with them there's only one child waiting for her, no one saw the second child, she seems to have vanished into thin air. This storyline sounds right up my street but I found the characters unlikeable and one dimensional, the writing wasn't up to par, it felt as though the author was trying to create tension but the cliffhangers were most definitely lacking, and I'd guessed the outcome at the start. Not a book I'd recommend.

I'd seen Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout when looking around Waterstones, I nearly picked it up there and then but decided to order it from the library instead. It was only once I started reading that I discovered the book is part of a series. It was an okay standalone story, not quite what I was expecting really from the blurb, but I think you'd probably get more out of it if you'd read the other books in the series first.

The eleventh book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths is The Lantern Men. I can get through these books quickly, I enjoy them so much. This book finds Ruth with a new job, a new home and a new man, but it isn't long before she's back with Nelson, in more ways than one. Another great read.

Do you watch The Traitors? I've never watched it before but I saw that a celebrity version was being made. I happened to turn the TV on when it had just started, I hadn't planned on watching it, but I noticed some celebrities I knew as opposed to most other celebrity versions of TV shows when you haven't a clue who any of the, so called, celebrities are. There's Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry, Charlotte Church, Claire Balding, to name just a few. Of course, there's others who I don't know, but I started watching. Half way through I told Mick that I didn't know if it was for me, but I continued to watch and I really got into it. I've enjoyed this so much that I thought I'd give the very first series a go but it just wasn't the same and I won't continue to watch. I am looking forward to the final of this celebrity version though which is being shown next week.

I've managed to get a couple of woollies finished for Jack, a jumper and a cardigan. I actually knit both in larger sizes so that they'll last him throughout winter, they're a little big on him at the moment but he'll grow into them. I've used both patterns before, the Baby Aosta Cardigan by The Knit Purl Girl is my go to pattern now for babies and this one is the eighth I've knit for various babies. This is the second Marienlyst Sweater by Guri Pedersen that I've knit, the first was in a size 3-6 month for Jack and he's worn it and worn it so I hope this one gets as much use. I love this sage green colour.

I had a lovely surprise when I watched the Franny Do Makes podcast, I'd won a prize in the Spring Shawlathon. I'd cast on the Vertices Unite by Stephen West, and though I still haven't finished the shawl, I will do eventually. It's such a lovely pattern. Fran who hosts the podcast lives very close to where I live, walking distance in fact, so we decided to meet up so that she could give me my prize. We went for a coffee (tea for me) earlier this month and we enjoyed a nice chat. The prize was a gorgeous sock set from Bellica Yarns, such a pretty colour. There was a project bag from Hannah's Happy Space, a yarn carrier and also some project cards which Fran sells in her Ko-fi shop. A wonderful prize.

Today is Halloween so I thought I'd show you my own little Halloween pumpkin. Eleanor and Jacob had taken him pumpkin picking and he had a whale of a time pushing the wheelbarrow, climbing on the tractor and generally running amok! I knit one of these hats for him last year, it's the Sweet Pumpkin by Drops Design. Obviously, he'd grown out of that one so I knit him another to wear this year, the same pattern. While they were there, the mum of a baby of a similar age to Jack asked Eleanor where she'd got the hat from, when she told her that I'd made it she said it was the best pumpkin hat she'd seen. That made my day!

You can see the hat a little better in this photo. Jack had just fallen in the mud!

It's hard to believe that there's only two months left of the year, time is passing by so quickly. The clocks have gone back now and the evenings are so much darker. I usually hold off putting the heating on for as long as I can but having Jack here at 7am some days means it's been put on earlier than usual this year. Winter is definitely not my favourite time of year but we've got Christmas to look forward to yet so that's keeping me going for the time being.

Helios

We had another trip to Fountains Abbey a couple of weeks ago. We've visited this National Trust property many times but this was a trip with a difference, this time we were going to see Helios, the new artwork from Luke Jerram. He's previously created Museum of the Moon, Gaia, and Mars, large scale models of the moon, the Earth, and Mars. Helios, his new art installation, is a large scale model of the sun.

You could see Helios in the abbey's ruins during a regular visit or you could visit out of normal hours and see Helios by sunrise or Helios by sunset, we opted for the latter. We thought it would create quite the impression in the night sky and we wasn't wrong. You could see it glowing within the abbey.

In Greek mythology, Helios is the sun god and this is who this artwork is named after. It was suspended in the centre of the Nave in the abbey ruins.

Helios has a 7-metre diameter and each centimetre represents 2000 kilometres of the sun's actual surface.

Fountains Abbey was the perfect place to view it, especially at night. The open aspect of the abbey gave a great atmosphere, especially as there were sounds of the sun recorded by NASA being played at the same time.

The 360-degree viewing experience allowed a closer look at the whole surface of the sun, including sun spots and solar flares. It was fun looking at it at different angles through the ruins.

Fountains Abbey itself has a totally different atmosphere at night.

We took the opportunity to wander away from Helios and look at some other areas.

The Great Cloister is my favourite place in the abbey, it's so well preserved.

The abbey was built in the twelfth century and the sun played a vital part in the lives of the monks who founded it.

I missed Luke Jerram's other art installations when they toured but I'm glad I managed to see this one.

Malmo, Sweden

Following on from my previous post when I told you about our trip to Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen, I thought I'd tell you what we got up to on our second day there.

You may know that Denmark is connected to Sweden via the Oresund Link. This comprises of a tunnel which goes under the Oresund Strait which then emerges onto a manmade island before continuing across the Oresund Bridge. You can travel between Copenhagen and Malmo by road or rail. The photo above was taken from the top of the Round Tower in Copenhagen which you can read about in my last post. In the distance you can just see the Oresund Bridge. Being so close to Sweden, we decided we should take the opportunity to visit.

The rail journey took about forty minutes from Copenhagen's Grand Central Station to Malmo and cost about £23 for two tickets. Coming back from Malmo to Copenhagen, two tickets cost about £19. It was so easy to use the train, purchasing the tickets from the machines was simple to do and the trains run so regularly that we didn't have to wait around at all. We also used the train to and from the airport, again, without a hitch.

The first place we came to was Stortorget, or Big Square. The Town Hall is situated here and there's also a fountain commemorating the recapture of the region of Skane for the Swedes from Denmark.

The signpost displays the distance to major cities around the world.

Further on and we came to Lilla Torg, or Little Square. It was originally a marketplace but it's now a place for socialising as the buildings are mostly cafes and restaurants.

There's some beautiful architecture here with some of the structures dating back to the sixteenth century.

We walked through Kungsparken, a lovely park in the heart of the city, where we came across this statue of the Roman goddess Diana surrounded by deer.

Coming out of Kungsparken at the opposite side, we came to Malmo Castle. Built between 1526 and 1529, it now forms part of The Malmo Museum. We didn't go inside but we had a walk around the grounds.

The Castle Mill was built in 1850 and put into use from 1851.

Turning Torso was the tallest building in the Nordic region until a few years ago. It stands at 190m (620ft) with 54 stories. We could see it from the castle but we didn't venture any closer.

On our way back to the station we came upon St Peter's Church. It didn't look very grand from the outside.

Inside is another matter though, my photos don't do it justice. This is Malmo's oldest church and it's absolutely beautiful.

The altarpiece was made in 1611 and is one of the largest in the Nordic countries.

I had a pen pal from Sweden when I was a child and I've always wanted to visit the country, so that's something crossed off my list. I enjoyed our day in Malmo but it isn't somewhere I'd visit for a second time, though I would like to see other areas of Sweden.

Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen

I left my last post on a bit of a cliffhanger saying I had something very exciting coming up. Well that something was a short trip to Copenhagen, somewhere I've wanted to visit for a very long time. We had an early flight on the 2nd and our return flight was very late on the 5th, so we had four full days there.

We stayed in a lovely hotel not far from Grand Central Station, so we were quite central and certainly within walking distance of all the major attractions, though we worked out how far we had walked over the four days and it turned out that we'd done over thirty seven miles, so the steps rack up even when you're quite close to everything.

Furthest from our hotel was the statue of The Little Mermaid, so we decided to visit that on our very first day. The bronze sculpture by Edvard Eriksen is based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen and sits on a rock by the waterside. I'd heard people say how small it is and that it's rather underwhelming so I must admit that I was expecting it to be smaller. I think it's quite charming and I don't think you could visit Copenhagen without seeing it.

Nyhavn, which means New Harbour, is famous for its 17th and 18th century colourful buildings which stand by the canal. Hans Christian Andersen lived in three of these houses and wrote some of his famous fairy tales whilst living there. It's a gateway from the sea to the inner city which was used to bring cargo and for fishermen to unload their catch. Now it's lined with bars and restaurants and it's a place to which tourists flock to get a photo of the picturesque houses. 

There's other colourful buildings around the city too and some beautiful architecture.

Amalienborg Palace is the official residence of the Danish Royal Family. The flag indicates that a member of the royal family is in residence. It's actually a complex comprising of four palaces built around a courtyard.

We stopped to watch the soldiers on sentry duty, we'd missed the changing of the guard which happens at noon.

In the middle of the courtyard stands a statue of Frederick V and beyond that, you can see Frederik's Church which is commonly known as the Marble Church. The church isn't entirely made of marble, though this was the original plan. The foundation stone was laid in 1749 but the court architect died in 1754 whilst the church was incomplete and the project became abandoned. It stood, half built, for over a hundred years. In the late 1800s, the ruins of the church were sold on the condition that a church was built on the site following the original plans, however, due to lack of funds, much of it was built in limestone blocks rather than marble. The church finally opened in 1894.

The dome is said to be inspired by St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City and with a span of 31 metres, it's one of the largest church domes in Northern Europe.

There's many squares in Copenhagen and lots of green spaces too, so many places to sit a while and people watch. 

The Round Tower or Rundetaarn is Europe's oldest functioning observatory building, the construction being completed in 1642. Though it was on our list of places we wanted to visit, we came across it by chance as it's set in the heart of the city.

The tower itself is 35 metres high.

Inside, there's a ramp rather than steps which allowed a horse and carriage to transport books to the library which is built above the church, part of the complex, and equipment to the observatory. The ramp spirals 7.5 times before reaching the stairs which lead to the observation deck, and is 209 metres long.

Towards the top of the ramp is a recess where you can view the hollow core which extends from the bottom to the top of the tower. There's a glass floor which you can step on to but there was no way I was doing that, leaning over it was enough for me!

The observation deck gives a 360-degree view of the city.

It's fun looking for the buildings you recognise.

A narrow staircase takes you from the observation deck up to the observatory. It's manned two evenings per week between October and March. It was unmanned when we visited but we were still able to go up to take a look. Don't miss the Round Tower if you visit Copenhagen, it's such an interesting place to visit.

Obviously, many Danish pastries were consumed while we were there, we were in Denmark, it would be rude not to partake. They come in many different varieties, there's something for everyone.

What I didn't know about Copenhagen, or Denmark in general I believe, is that hot dogs are very popular there. They're actually elevated to another level from the humble hot dog we get here in the UK by the addition of distinctive sauces such as remoulade, a mustard mayonnaise, pickled cucumber, pickled red onions and crispy fried onions. They're delicious, let me tell you!

I think everyone must own a bike in Copenhagen, all the roads have bike lanes and there's a constant stream of traffic using them. You often see huge groups of bikes parked together like in the photo above.

We had hoped to visit Tivoli Gardens while we were there, it was a stone's throw from our hotel, but day three when we hoped to go was the day that Storm Amy hit. It was very windy and we got lashed with rain, and though we didn't visit Tivoli, we did still venture out around the city. Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park and it's believed it inspired Walt Disney when he came to design the US parks. It was closed when we arrived in Copenhagen as it was being prepared for Halloween, but opened on the 3rd all decked out in pumpkins. It's a shame we didn't make it but I don't think it would have been fun walking around it during a storm. We'll make sure it's top of the list when we visit again.

Yes, we're already talking of going back. We loved what we saw of Copenhagen and we feel we only just touched the surface, there's so much more we want to see. One thing I'd say though is that you need plenty of spending money as everything is so expensive. So, we'll save up and return one day. But wait, I've only mentioned what we did on three of the days we were there. On day two we ventured over to Sweden, but I'm sure you've read enough for one post so I'll tell you all about that next time.