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.

Happy Newyear

Our best wishes for 2016

We enjoyed Christmas Eve with the family. Peter & me were surrounded by loved ones..we didn' t need more....It was perfect in all it's simplicity...

 I want to wish all my readers all the best for 2016. 

We are grateful for all the great comments during the past year and we are fortunated to be able to work for all our customers, both new and old.

MY WISHES FOR 2016:

I hope you will have a wonderful year

That you'll dream dangerously an outrageously

That you'll make something that didn' t exist before you made it

That you will be loved

That you will be liked

That you will have people to love and to like in return

and, most importantly,
because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now,
 that you will, when you need to be, be wise and that you'll always be kind...

Neil Gaiman

I want to share some pictures of our Christmas and new years eve...hope you enjoy

Lots of love

Sabine

XXX

New years eve