Interesting places around us - Prettiest village in England

Exciting, interesting and a little bit strange are elements that travelers are currently seeking in their vacations, travel experts say.

'Castle Combe' is one of those destinations which is exciting and interesting as it has been called 'The Prettiest Village in England'. 
Castle Combe is a tiny village in Wiltshire, England, with a population of about 350. It is renowned for its attractiveness and tranquillity, and for fine buildings including the medieval church.The village has twice played host to the Combe Sunday event, a music extravaganza which attracted 4,000 visitors to the village in 2006.

Visitors have been coming to enjoy its charms for at least a century and the small street leading from the Market Cross down to the By Brook is as picturesque today as it ever was. Castle Combe is situated on the southern-most edge of the Cotswolds and is approximately 12 miles from the Georgian city of Bath. Nearby there are many sites of historical interest such as Avebury, Stonehenge and the Wiltshire White Horses. There are also many wonderful walks in the area.


Castle Combe, Britain Known for its picturesque scenery, Castle Combe in Britain's Wiltshire County about 20 miles east of Bristol was named the country's prettiest village in 1962 in a national poll conducted by British Travel Assn., precursor to the British Tourist Authority.

Brief History of 'Castle Combe':
Castle Combe's long history extends back to Roman times when its namesake, of which little remains, served as a fort. It played a role in the cloth industry in the 16th century. In the 1940s, it was put up for auction. Today, the village has a luxury hotel and a motor racing venue.
This tiny typical English village is one of those place where it seems that the time is still and that the people live exactly like they did some centuries ago. All the houses are made of stones and the atmosphere is really unique.

More at: http://www.castle-combe.com/
*    'LA times'

Interesting places around us - The Broken Crockery House

We throw away the broken crockery and it is the only way to get rid of this kind of trash because recycling of broken crockery is difficult or impossible. How about using this broken crockery for the decoration of house?
In France a farmer used this trash to decorate his home. Following pictures say the amazing work he had done with his home.


The Broken Crockery House or La Maison a Vaisselle Cassée , is a very special place located in Louviers, France. This was the home of Robert Vasseur and his wife, who abandoned wallpaper and painstakingly decorated their home with mosaics made from broken crockery, seashells, twinkling china and glass.
Vasseur was a milk transporter and also worked in textiles. His strange passion for mosaic decoration started in 1952 when he first got the idea while doing repair work in his kitchen. He embellished an old cement kitchen sink with broken crockery mosaics. Starting with that old sink, he expanded his idea to the interior of his house, the backyard, then the garden and later even the dog house. This went on for the next 50 years or so.

How the broken crockery was collected?
In order to keep up with his decorating hobby, Vasseur requested the local garbage man to put aside broken pieces of crockery from the collected trash. After cleaning the pieces thoroughly, they were put to use in his home décor ideas. Neighbors also helped Vasseur and his wife by bringing them empty bottles and broken crockery that they could no longer use.

Vasseur died in 2002, but the unique broken crockery house is still being looked after by his son Claude, who likes to work on restoring and developing the creative work of his father. He has even made tours of the house possible to those who are interested in viewing the unique property. The colorful Maison a Vaisselle Cassée has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Louviers, and even all of Normandy.

Source: 'Oddity Central'

Interesting and unique uses of pencil

http://www.georgehart.com/sculpture/pencils.html

A pencil is a functional and very commonly used tool for writing or drawing. There are many kind of pencils like copying, drafting, woodless, colored(for water coloring), checking, highlighter pencils etc.  Many people collect different kind of pencils and it is called pencil collecting hobby. You can find variety of pencils with different colors, sizes and material with attractive designs. There are also people who love to create crafts with pencils or lead.
You can make pencil decorations or toppers to create fun and crafts projects.
What other uses of pencil you may think of?

 How many uses of pencil can be?

A very creative use of pencil is to start plant. Made from the wood of bug-repell ing incense cedar trees, a pencil jabbed into the soil is a durable support for small plants. 

You may use pencil in many ways such as:                                   

• Drumming with Chewing on
• Throwing when frustrated.
• Finger exercise Pendulum
• Two pencils = chopsticks
• two pencils = pontoons for a small watercraft
• Door stop
• Two pencils = a way to move heavy objects
• Keeps two painted surfaces from touching while they dry
• chase game in swimming (pencils float)
• Dig mud out of tennis shoe treads
• Exercise device to build dexterity by twirling it from finger to finger
• Pencils can be used as the frame for a small teepee
• Measuring device
• Sobriety testing tool for police
• Used to induce hypnosis 8
• pencils can be used to hold toes apart while polish dries
• splint Garden stake
• Tool to pick up things you don't want to touch
•  good to rub on the ends of a rechargeable battery before recharging. (the eraser that is).
• Rub on a key before inserting the key into a frozen door lock. (The grafite is lubricating).
• Balance on your ear.
• A great conductor's baton alternative.
• Great for lubricating small joints.
• Great for starting a fire in your fireplace.
• Sharpen both ends, use it as a part of a circuit.
• Punch a hole in plastic wrap around various things, such as ink cartridges, computer accessories.
• Punch a hole in soil for planting seeds.
• Plug up a hole Use as a dowel
• Use the graphite to lubricate door/drawer edges
• Stir drinks
• Start a fire with it.
•  Push stuff down the kitchen sink if it gets caught in the drain
• Hold hair back in a twist Straight-edge
• Miniature sundial
• Anchor on which to start a small vine plant
• Cat toy                                                                                 
• ice remover
• cutting dabber
• long dice
• tracheotomy maker
• arrow to tap on a window
• to play pick up sticks with (will need a whole bunch!) to push buttons with to prop
• something up with as a ruler to draw a straight line (but not with the pencil!)
• mast of a toy ship to scrape mud, dirt,
• dried grass from shoe bottoms
• pinpoint graphite lubrication eraser end for removing corrosion from flashlight terminals
• balancing exercise "charcoal sketches" metal fabrication layout lever to pry out fuses from fuse blocks,
• safely Conductor's baton Skewer
• Mini swords for a mini sword fight
• Magic wand To reach something in tight spaces
• Foot scratcher so you don't have to take off your shoe
• Time passer/anxiety reducer (i.e., finger spinning, airplane noises, bouncing on the eraser)
• Making crossbow with pencils

This list is not complete and may be you can think of more uses of pencil. Isn't it?

Links to more sites:
* World's Largest Pencil

* Uses for a Pencil Other Than Writing

* Parable of the Pencil

* 10 Uses for the Pencil

* Inventing a New Kind of Pencil

* Site about pencil 'Pencil revolution'

* Creation of crafts with pencil lead

Interesting places around us - Magic Mountain Lodge

I am starting a new series which is about 'travel' and it is about interesting places around us. Internet is doing the good job of 'tourism development' as by the click of the mouse, we can get a glimpse of unique, interesting, unusual as well as attractive destinations around  the world.

I am selecting the places or destinations which are unique or attractive like today I have selected 'The Magic Mountain Hotel' which is located in Huilo Huilo, in Los Rios, Chile'. Unique feature of this hotel is it's design which resembles to fairy tale place.

The hotel was built by traditional artisans who used locally-sourced materials and was voted “Most Sustainable Tourism Destination in Chile."

Visitors enter the hotel on a suspended rope bridge and are greeted by a cascade of water coming down from the cone shaped green roof. From the top of the Magic Mountain Lodge, a waterfall streams down past the bedroom windows. Not only do guests get the experience of living inside of a mountain, they also get to peer out from behind a waterfall. This is how the hotel rightfully earns its title as a Magic Mountain.

The hotel is cone shaped with dormer windows peaking out of its vegetated and stone façade. A water spot on top pours over the roof, drenching the plants and anyone at the base of the building.

Inside the logde                           
The 13 guest rooms are simple and cozy. This design of the building is connected with a local legend about the existence of these forests, magic mountain, performing the requirements of any who would be on it
Wood and stone spiraled staircases as well as wooden walls and furniture are just some of the natural decorations you’ll see in and around the hotel.

All of the rooms have large windows that overlook Chile’s majestic rain forest and its wildlife so you have a constant reminder of your peaceful surroundings.

Seeing as the hotel’s design is based on the shape of a mountain, this is what dictates the interior layout. The size of the nine rooms, each named after a local bird, gradually decrease in size as you move toward the top, or peak, of the hotel. Guests access their rooms via a spiraling central staircase built with local stone and wood, while the main access to the hotel is a suspended wood and cable bridge. The interior of the rooms are in keeping with the hotel’s blend of elegance and ecotourism, and feature rough-hewn planks along the walls, as well as other finely crafted wooden furniture.

Read more: 'Entertainment Designer'

Feng shui tips-To make your bedroom the best it can be

Whether you believe in feng shui or not, everyone has had the experience of walking into a place that 'feels good'.
Do you feel the same when you come to your bedroom?
Can feng shui help us make bedroom the best it can be?
Feng shui can help us create the space around our house the best it can be, including our bedroom.

What is a feng shui bedroom?
A feng shui bedroom is cozy, comfortable, intimate, serene, sensual and deeply restful.
Feng shui for the bedroom focuses on serenity which can be achieved through subtle lighting, peaceful colors, and comfortable furnishings.
A good Feng Shui bedroom is a bedroom that promotes a harmonious flow of nourishing and sensual energy.
It is a bedroom that invites you, lures you in, excites and calms at the same time.
A good Feng Shui bedroom is fun and pleasurable to be in, either you are there for a quick nap, a good night sleep etc

How to make your bedroom the best it can be?


These feng shui tips can help you create a dream come true bedroom.


Bedroom Fengshui 

1. When thinking about the bedroom, one of the most important principles is determining the placement of the bed in the command position, a power position that provides a view of the door, 
2. prevents surprise, and gives control of an environment. 
3. Decorate your bedroom with pairs of objects.
4.  Mirrors are not the ideal piece of furniture for a bedroom. If you have some in there already, then cover them up. Never position a mirror anywhere it can reflect your bed. This can create relationship problems caused by a third party.
5.  Televisions can also lead to infidelities, so move that TV out of your bedroom.
6.  Avoid positioning your bed inline with your door or under a window. You should also have one side of your bed supported by a solid wall in order to get a good nights sleep.
7.  To promote a healthy relationship, or to attract a new partner, place your bed so that it is accessible on three sides.                                                                           
8.  Keep objects that don't have to do with romance out of the bedroom. This includes exercise equipment and work-related items. Instead, decorate the room with lots of pictures of you and your partner.                                                                                       
9.  While pink, white and red are the key colors associated with this gua, red is also the color of anger. If you choose to decorate your room in these colors, go light with the red. In particular, avoid red bed sheets. Feng shui is not just about redecorating; it is also a way of life. If you would like to know more and understand feng shui better, then consider taking some feng shui courses.
10. You shouldn’t sleep with a beam or with another objects such as a wind chime or threshold light place right too deep. This will cause anybody to have unwell sleeps. Staircases are just like beams; as a result it is deficient for door to take care of a stairway directly. This could have an impact on family harmony and financial circumstances.
11. Ideally the bedroom should be at the back of the house with no strong energy. Wherever your bed is placed you should be able to see the door of the room, and should not see a sleeping image of yours in any mirror in the room. Keep only a single book that you are reading on the bed side table.
12. Keep clothes nicely folded and kept inside cupboards. Do not stack too many items under the bed as that gives restless sleep at night.
13. For inviting romance in your life, paint the room in shades of pink or keep more objects of pink in your room. Do not paint it peach as that invokes infidelity. Nice candles and items in pairs, like decorative statues and beautiful masks are ideal and so are keeping your head towards a wall while sleeping
14. In general, pink is considered to be one of the best colors for the bedroom because it is the color associated with relationships.   
15. Light blues and light greens are positive colors for a bedroom as well as small accent colors of red. Green represents tranquility, hope and freshness as seen in spring growth or that of a new plant or leaf. 
16.  Many Chinese stay away from having white blankets on their beds because it is similar to the shroud that covers the dead and fear sleep will seem like death. Although, plain white sheets or white sheets with flowers or colorful designs are fine. 
17. The use of pink or red sheets and blankets are used by those seeking to get married or by newlyweds to ensure wedding bliss.

Feng Shui is not only furniture placement and interior decoration but knowing your universe and surroundings better to get positive changes from within.

Source: www.kenlauher.com/feng-shui-tips

Useful links:

* Good Feng Shui bedroom

* 'Feng shui for home'

* Feng Shui cures to encourage positive bedroom Feng shui

Feng shui tips- To make your home the best it can be

For thousands of years the Chinese have applied the principals of Feng Shui to create auspicious energy flow within their surroundings. Feng shui shows us how our spaces can be designed and re-arranged in order to provide us the right balance and harmony.

This ancient Chinese art helps you live in harmony with your surroundings. Placing particular elements and colors to achieve positive and negative (yin and yang) flow in certain areas of your home or office to achieve the balance of energy (also called the flow of chi) in any given space.

In house Feng Shui, good chi has good health, powerful and balanced. Poor Chi is vulnerable, sickly and imbalanced. By changing or modifying furniture placement at our houses, we can easily improve Chi. Therefore we can balance and enhance our life circumstances minimizing stress and hassle.

Feng Shui can facilitate the balance of issues such as: health and family, wealth and prosperity, fame and reputation, love and marriage, children and creativity, helpful people, travel, career, knowledge and self-cultivation.                                                                                
Feng shui tips- "To make your home the best it can be "

•  Creating a warm and inviting front entrance. Not only will this help you feel happy to be home, but it will also help your guests to relax when they come to visit.
•  To help energy flow more freely through your entranceway, keep all shoes and slippers away from the main door.
•  To add the illusion of more space to your living quarters, hang a mirror on the wall. This will also help to invite endless opportunities into your home.
•  Keep things fresh in your home and help the energy to flow by changing the position of your furniture periodically.
•  It is not just rooms that have an element associated with them, but also objects. If you want to avoid disagreements within your family, then consider moving your stove so that it is not across from the refrigerator, a washing machine, a sink or a toilet.
• Colors in Feng Shui should be soothing rather than restless. Painting the walls in softer blues or greens both balances out your chi and improves your focus. Artwork and photos  should ideally have gold or silver frames rather than black ones. The direction your wall hangings face should often be facing north or west according to your chi number.
• The right Feng Shui arrangement at work can improve both your productivity and positive energy. One good habit is to clear away extra clutter on a regular basis. A clean work space eliminates distractions and can help to reduce stress levels.
• Plants have an important role in a successful Feng Shui arrangement at home or at the office. They help to balance out energy disruptions that can result from electronic devices. Although a recommended Feng Shui practice is to work away from computer monitors, this is not always possible in many office environments. An additional item to include in a successful Feng Shui arrangement is water. This element represents flows of both wealth and spiritual harmony. A water element of Feng Shui can be a photo or painting of a waterfall, a small stone fountain, or even a bowl of clear water placed in a patch of sunlight.
• Another simple step for Feng Shui is to place your primary work desk or table so you are facing an open door or window. This practice allows ideas to come to you easily. Natural sunlight from a window also has a rejuvenating effect on the mind.

Useful links:

*  Feng Shui tips for your home

* Feng Shui with Color & House Cleansing

* 'Feng shui for home'