the ethicurean & barley wood walled garden

Last Sunday the sun was shining so my boyfriend and I went on a little road trip to the Ethicurean  restaurant and Barley wood walled garden near Bristol. We've wanted to visit for ages and as you can see it's a pretty amazing place. We spent the whole day wandering around the gardens and through the cider orchards, taking photos and drinking tea on the lawn and then enjoyed a delicious long lunch in their restaurant.

Love this idea of vintage cutlery hung up with brown string.


The best welsh rarebit...I could eat one right now..

a trip to sussex (part one)

Just got back from a lovely week in Sussex. We were staying on a beautiful organic farm called Hawthbush Farm, in the depths of the East Sussex countryside, surrounded by wild flower meadows, woodland, cows, sheep, butterflies and birds. It really is a magical place.

 

We were staying in the Piggery, which I could quite happily move into. 
Every morning we would wake up to these ladies.

 

We wanted to stay a few nights in one of their shepherd huts but they were all fully booked. There are a few to choose from dotted around the farm with views over the meadow. This one was my favourite with its little stove, lanterns and vintage pictures, maybe next time...

We also visited Lewes for the first time which is really pretty, lots of lovely shops and cafes and Brighton which is always full of inspiration.

I'm still editing lots of photos of the beautiful gardens and houses we visited, so more to come!  

a trip to the palace

 

On Sunday I visited the new Oxfordshire crafts gallery at Blenheim Palace to see my work on show along side other local artists.

The new gallery is a lovely space full of inspiring pieces, from textiles, ceramics and jewellery. I'm sure it will be a success.

 

We also had a wander around the grounds, which looked beautiful in the hazy afternoon sunshine. Still to early to see any spring flowers, but the box hedges and trees looked serene amongst the statues and fountains.

market day

Last Sunday we took a little trip to Bath's Vintage and Antiques Market, which is held on the last Sunday of every month. It's a really lovely market with lots of different stall holders. I came home with a beautiful crochet blanket, a 1950's straw basket, which is a great size for shopping and a kitchen stool.

I also bought a pretty little china pot. I love going to flea markets, you never know what you will find...

eat london

I’ve had a few days off work to get ready for my exhibition, which started on Saturday at West Ox Arts gallery in Bampton, pricing and labelling always seems to take forever.

I did manage to squeeze in a trip to London though, my boyfriend has just bought the ‘Eat London’ book and after flicking through pages of amazing cafes and restaurants, we thought we would check out Pizza East in Shoreditch. I love this area of London; the pizzeria is an old tea building and as you have probably guessed serves great pizzas, yum!

The rest of the day we wandered about the old streets of Brick Lane popping in to little shops and cafes

Now I had better get on with some proper work…..

petersham nurseries

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, last week just flew by! I hope you all had a lovely Easter.

I wanted to show you some photos of our trip to Petersham Nurseries in London, it really is an amazing place. We had lunch in the beautiful greenhouse restaurant, which was filled with ferns, lemon trees, tulips, roses and blossom flowers. I loved the whole feel of the place and have been inspired by their displays for my own open studio exhibition, where I  exhibit my textiles in a garden summer house. I have already bought a few ferns. We walked around the nursery getting lots of ideas, buying herbs and taking photos, then walked across the meadow back into Richmond and dreamed of living in one of the big houses overlooking the river....

escape to the city

Last week my boyfriend and I went to the National Portrait Gallery in London.
I hadn't been there for years and there was something amazing about walking through room after room full of grand portraits, all these famous men and women throughout history looking down on you. Some of the paintings were enormous, the size of the room, with elaborate gilt frames. I came away with a few postcards, the lady in black 'Lady Colin Campbell' was one of my favourites, painted in 1897.

We thought we'd check out Mishkins for lunch, after reading about it on 'Miss Pickerings' lovely blog. It was exactly as she had described it. I recommend the Brick Lane salt beef with Colin's and pickles, with a Gin Rickey served in a jam jar.

I always make a quick stop at the Cloth House haberdashery on Berwick Street. I love their displays and they have a great selection of trims and buttons.

I also saw some beautiful furniture in Liberty's, but completely out of my price range, so now I'm on a mission to find something similar....