Bath to Shaftesbury - two days in the country

Last weekend we had a reason to go to Bath and via the power of Instagram and friends who I have met through that community, I made some pit-stops to some wonderful places.  I thought you might like to see what I discovered. 

In Bath we were recommended to eat in a cafe called the Foodie Bugle  Placed in a cute row of lovely shops in Margaret's Buildings, the food is lovely, and the shop has great things for the home and kitchen, I picked up some lovely old fashioned wooden scrubbing and pot brushes, so much nicer than the plastic ones.

Bath is filled to the brim with all the best stores like Anthropologie, and while I did pop there for a few things (their cupboard door knobs are the best), I was more interested in the out of the way places.

So we made a few detours on the way home to Buckinghamshire via Mere and Shaftesbury.

Sprout And Flower is the most wonderful shop and I so wish it was on my doorstep.  Selling a combination of food and flowers, styled most impeccably and extremely reasonably priced, their choice of flowers and plants is amazing for such a small shop.  I bought some lovely bulbs which I planted up in a wooden trough with moss, a hellibore in an old tin can, some hyacinths in lovely vintage terracota pots and lots more.  There isn't much else in Mere but Sprout and Flower are most definitely a destination shop.

Next on the list of places to visit was Shaftesbury.  Since the Hovis bread advert in the 1970's, the steep cobbled hill lined with gorgeous traditional cottages was put firmly in the nation's hearts by this tv ad. Gold Hill still attracts visitors to the town, which has some lovely cafes and shops as well.  We met up with fellow instagram stylist and candle maker Amalia whose account is called __apothecary__ and her photos are a real delight. Amalia makes fragranced candles in lovely old blue glass Ball jars which I like to keep in stock at home. 

Amalia also took around two great antique emporiums, Kingsettle and Dairy House are next to each other in Station Road, just a little way out of town.   For fabulous authentic rustic country, you can't get better than these.  I found a few things that I've had an eye out for, a really old large chopping board and the wooden trough, both pictured above. 

The road home took us past Stonehenge which I snapped from the car. I always want to quote the film Spinal Tap whenever I hear the word Stonehenge ... don't get me started.

Hope I have given you some ideas of places to visit, we will most certainly be heading back this way again soon.  I'm quite falling in love with Wiltshire and Dorset.

Urban Jungles and Resolutions

Feeling slightly deflated as the start of this week leaves us with the loss of a very important part of our lives.  Goodbye to Mr. Bowie, the world feels strange without you.

And if the loss of someone, although not close but an important part of musical history, were to teach us nothing else, than to leave a mark on the world and not to fade into the background. David Bowie was a man who created the soundtrack to the youth who grew up, like me, during the 1970's.  So it is poignant that at the time of year when we are making our resolutions, that his leaving should be a reminder to do it now and pontificate no longer about how your life should be.

There's no easy segue from that to my post about plants in the kitchen, so I won't even try. 

I have had a rush of energy during these first few weeks of January to get the house, clean, tidy and refreshed. Although I constantly change the way it looks and paint walls often, I did feel a little de-clutter and re-organisation was a good idea. So I set about to find a new colour paint for the kitchen and lounge.

The poster calendar has been fixed to the kitchen door as a reminder to not waste time.  

 I don't have great light in my kitchen and the size also makes it tricky to photograph so these photos don't really do justice to the subtlety of the colour I chose from Benjamin Moore's range of high gloss paint. Influenced by the Pantone colours of the year, pale pink and blue I decided to try these, plumping for the blue in the kitchen and mixing my own shade of pink using Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan, for the lounge. 

I feel you have to be quite careful with pink, usually considered 'girly' and quite a bedroom sort of colour, it does act as a great balance to masculine items such as the leather chairs. 

While sorting and re-assessing what I had and what I didn't need any more I realised that some of my father's finds from the Souk of Cairo were deserving of more space and prominence. I took a collection of Zar Amulets (above) and framed them for the chimney breast wall.  

Many of you will not have heard about the Zar Cult religion before, it is practised along the Nile delta but more prominently in Ethiopia. Mostly by women, the Zar Cult deals with spirit possession and a ceremony which involves dancing and drumming, the high priest will make an amulet for the inflicted person to wear at all times to protect them from the spirit.  As this is in conflict with the Islam religion the reverse side of the amulet has a verse from the Koran and this faces outwards. You can't see it in this photo but the engraving on the discs is of figures, animals and plants.  I plan to do a blog specifically about these and some other jewellery I have from that area of the world.

Our topic this month for Urban Jangle Bloggers is to show the plants we have in our kitchens.  The great kitchen window sill has long been considered the place to raise cuttings and grow herbs.  Mine is no exception, the Swiss Cheese plant grew after I cut leaves from one that was straggly, I put them in a vase as it seemed a shame to throw it away and a few of the leaves grew roots.  I popped them in a planter and it is continuing to shoot and thrive.  

January is also the time for bulbs, in our hurry to rush towards Spring, which mother nature has taken upon herself to do for us this year, I love indoor hyacinths and there are pots of them everywhere. Their smell in intoxicating and a great way to make the house smell fresh while it wears it's new coats of paint. 

More of my home improvements will feature soon on Abigail Ahern's Blog, I will keep you up to date with when that will run.  Until then, strap on your apron and get a move on, time waits for no man.

New Year Ruminations and Resolutions

The New Year is upon us and during this time after Christmas and before we all start the next year there is time for both reflection and planning.

The cold months renew my interest in knitting, every year I try to learn a new style or pattern, usually spurred on by my desire to wear the item.  From the start I always wanted to learn fairisle, and wear it, so one of the very first things I taught myself was to work with several colours and follow the graph pattern.

I learnt to knit about six years ago by watching You Tube videos, every time I didn't understand an instruction I would just look up a tutorial.  

While in Sweden this year I hunted down some local wool with the plan to make traditional Scandinavian mittens.  There are lots of patterns on Ravelry but as usual, I find that the free patterns from Drops/Garnstudio are both the easiest to follow and the best illustrated.  Often with Fairisle I make my own design by taking parts of several different patterns. This wool is quite rough and thin, ideal for this project as gloves need to be hard wearing, and it has a type of water repellence to it.

Another job to do at this hiatus between events is to take the decorations down and have a clear and tidy.  Maybe even contemplate some decorating and garden faffing.  

As a photographer I try to see the beauty in everything, perhaps taking longer than is normal to look at the everyday details.  The art of slow living is perhaps one way to describe this. Having moved away from the fast pace of London and going into semi-retirement from work gives me the ability to practise this discipline without any real effort. 

Photography definitely makes you look at the world differently and the inspiration I get from other photographers on Instagram is hugely fulfilling.  It's like meditation, and a way to appreciate the miniscule, finding beauty in every drop of dew, dried twig and petal.

poster calendar from The Future Kept

Even if you only take photos with your phone, why not take a break every day with a cuppa and play with making a cute photo. Learn as much as you can about how to work in different light and mood and if you start to really enjoy it then try an online tutorial. 

Perhaps this should be your new year's resolution ... take photos every day, make it a part of your routine, a few moments to yourself to focus on just a small detail of your everyday.  It's a beautiful thing to awake your inner creativity and a very nurturing thing to do. 

I wish you all a very happy new year, may it bring you all you wish for.  I'm preparing my home to feature on a rather fabulous blog soon and I seriously need to clean and tidy my studio for a fresh start.

Lots of love to readers of this blog, thank you very much for your support during 2015, I wouldn't be doing this without you. Janice.

Styling The Seasons December

Styling the seasons for December couldn't be easier really, it's something we all do, although some of us tend to continue the idea for the rest of the year in some form or another!  Set up by Katy and Charlotte it's been such a great community to be involved with and another thing that I have Instagram to thank for bringing us together. 

Luckily for me as I live in the countryside there is enough greenery in my garden and around where I live to supply me with some seasonal essentials - holly with berries and pine cones. 

So here's what Ive done to decorate the house this Christmas.

I like to group the mercury glass on this old over mantle. The mirror back is great at throwing the candle light back around the room for a soft mood.

I treated myself to some beeswax candles.  I have become a bit candle obsessed and along with a real fire, I like to have some nice smelling ones burning during the day. My absolute favourites this year came from Amalia who writes the blog "these small finds" and can be found on instagram as _apothecary_ .  Amalia found some beautiful blue bell jars from the USA and filled them with soy wax candles, she finds the most lovely containers including the little cake tin ones on my mantlepiece. 

These cookie hearts came from a supermarket in Sweden.  I added a bit of icing to them.  They are called Pepparkakkor and have a lovely gingerbread smell. I included them into my banister arrangement.  Im so happy to finally have a house with open wooden banisters on the staircase, for no other reason than to decorate it in December.

Some of my Swedish lights for the front window combined with the paper stars, bringing a bit of that beautiful place back home with me.

I didn't decorate this gingerbread heart myself, it was already iced with Kurbits decoration from the Swedish supermarket and luckily made it home in one piece.  The top garland is from an online dried flower company and made from cotton pods, I've never seen one before but I absolutely love it.

The design motif called Kurbits is traditional in Sweden and can be found on many things. It is a style of painting normally, based on vegetables and floral organic shapes, it was originally a fertility symbol.  You can find it on the little wooden Dala Horses, embroidered onto clothing and painted onto furniture.

In a nearby village there is a Christmas barn which opens at weekends in December, it is the most stunning Tythe barn you have ever seen and is full to bursting with decorations and presents.  I topped up on a few new pieces like the string of bells and the metal birds.  They also have candles from the candle makers St Eval which are great quality.  The Tythe barn in Haddenham is the perfect place to get you in the spirit and mood for a time of cozy evenings with friends and family, a sparkly and fairy like grotto which can be recreated at home. 

I wish you all a healthy happy holiday with good food and warm drinks to help you relax and have a few days of nesting in your very own grotto. Sending you love and peace from my little village in Buckinghamshire. 

Christmas colours of Sweden

Sweden is such a beautiful country, yes sure it has it's industrial areas and shopping malls like everywhere but the houses are such a multitude of traditional and unusual colour combinations and at this time of year, when everyone has lights in the windows and on the porches, it is picture book perfect. 

Maybe because the houses are mostly wooden cladded this has led to the whole house needing paint but the array of different colours used makes for the most beautiful look.  There is of course, the traditional red houses with white and yellow windows but look at the details and you will see that there are other things coming into play here. Usually choosing two tones but sometimes with another added for highlighting details like the window frames.

Not only are all the windows decorated with lights and Yul objects, but there is also the tradition of having a candle lit outside our door to welcome guests.  All the shop owners do this and it makes for the most magical look.  

We visited our favourite Christmas market in Sigtuna, this is such a gorgeous place, set on a lake and one of the oldest towns in Sweden. The market is a mixture of handicrafts and food.

If you are wondering what this is above, well meet Tomte a Swedish house gnome which also replaces Santa in some houses, the cute little fellow has been given a new twist here, depicting him in greenery. This Tomten lives in the forest and likes to be fed porridge!

My bag came home full, with a mixture of old and new. I found lovely knitwear in my favourite shop called Indiska. Lovely quality fairisle style cardigans and some cups from their new range. I also managed to pick up some Swedish made wool while we were in Sigtuna and intend to knit some Nordic mittens in black and white. 

No trip would be complete without a good rummage in second hand shops and a large haul of old cake tins and some mini candlesticks ticked off more on my wish list. These will all feature over on my Instagram feed over the course of this month. 

I do of course bring home many of ideas and inspiration for lights and candles, my home will feature the classic candleabra lights in the front window, stars and wreaths and decorations made from Pepparkakor (gingerbread) and folliage.   I hope these photos will help to get you in the mood too.  

A child's Christmas in Wales

When Dorian invited me to stay at his cottages in Wales I couldn't wait.  In my life as an international promotions manager I visited countries around the world, continually on the road traveling with artists, in all those years I was hardly ever home in my London flat, I was in Japan, South America, Hungary, Mexico ... you name it, I went there. 

Two things happened as a result, when it finally stopped I wanted to be at home as much as possible and the thought of getting on an airplane was about as exciting as getting on a hopper bus. The second thing was a longing to explore the UK more. Also now bored to death of hotel rooms, I find myself a rather curmudgeonly guest if the service isn't brilliant and the decor is drab.

For me now the absolute ideal is to have a beautifully decorated, tastefully and sensitively adorned, home from home, why would I want to stay somewhere that wasn't as nice as my own house? Well, at times it's necessity so cost and surroundings reach a compromise, but then that is just a place to sleep. What I really yearn for is an experience. I want to be impressed, I want to be romanced by my surroundings. I want the possibility to explore a new area, to take photographs and be educated by the history, this to me is the only sort of 'holiday' that makes sense.  Hell for me would be to be on a sunbed in a resort full of English people. 

I knew, I just knew, that the Welsh House would be perfect, I could see that it ticked all the boxes and I wasn't wrong. I had the idea to do some Christmas styling so packed up a few decorations and off we trotted.  

I don't know a great deal about Dylan Thomas and this is something I intend to rectify, so when Dorian produced the most beautiful edition of "A child's Christmas in Wales" the last piece of the puzzle fell into place.  Influenced by that idea I bring you these photos and some quotes from Dylan Thomas 

I found some beautiful music to accompany this post ...

"One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six ..."

one of my hand knitted socks, my favourite thing is to knit socks

"All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and headlong moon bundling down the sky that was our street; and they stop at the rim of the ice-edged, fish-freezing waves, and I plunge my hands in the snow and bring out whatever I can find"

don't forget to leave out mince pies and milk for Father Christmas

then off to bed you go and try to sleep

"Looking through my bedroom window, out into the moonlight and the unending smoke-colored snow, I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long, steadily falling night. I turned the gas down, I got into bed. I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I slept."

“I think, that if I touched the earth,
It would crumble;
It is so sad and beautiful,
So tremulously like a dream.” 

And I rose
In rainy autumn
And walked abroad in a shower of all my days...”

outside the fairies live, dancing in the moss and lichen, vibrant greens and leaf strewn paths invite you to a magical world

There is magic inside this place, it feels other worldly. It is a place where your mind can be free to dream, like a child waiting for Santa.

I'm not going to write here about Dorian's work here because you should go for yourself, sit and read the cuttings from papers in his folders of information.  Photos from a re-enactment where dressed in traditional Welsh costume, Dorian and surrounding neighbours built a traditional house in one day.  It is a work of brilliance and no words or photos can do it full justice. 


Quotes by Dylan Thomas. Photos by Janice Issitt. Location - The Welsh House, blankets from Holy Cow Home