Ta dah dah dah dah dah daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
And the winner is: @nightingales__nest !!!!!!
Congratulations you have won the English Country Cottage dried flower bouquet from @gonetoseed.co.uk
This is not the post I prepared- for some reason that has gone straight to reels and not my grid. I may have had my fill of this malarkey.
It was probably the best reel you would ever have seen and very very very funny…ok?!!!!
Thank you to everyone for entering and for being so utterly lovely and thank you so much to @gonetoseed.co.uk for being so so wonderful to work with - you have a truly wonderful company.
Happy winner Wednesday. X
#cottagecoreaesthetic #cottagecore #cottage #englishcottage #blossom #springvibes #springstyle #springgarden #cottagegarden #englishcountrycottage
Ahoy me hearties!
No…no I wasn’t on a Caribbean cruise for a week - I did manage a boat trip though.
We have returned refreshed from a retreat in The Lake District…not intentionally..we didn’t know it was a retreat when we booked it with friends, we were sidetracked by the sauna and hot tub so clearly missed the “retreat” blurb.
It was only on spotting the free roaming healing crystals and piecing together the at liberty animals and beautiful pink haired creatures in tie dye clothing and ethereal glances that our walking booted rucksack clad group began to put the clues together.
The very well endowed fairy statues slightly threw us but the calming waters and prolific Buddha appearances in pictures, statues and carvings sealed the deal.
It was actually fabulous and I think all our chakras are very balanced and I have a new respect for the larger fairy variety.
Now it’s heads down and a massive re readathon in preparation for our next Book Live on Wednesday (reminder below). I have been working with our fabulous sponsors @gonetoseed.co.uk to create a stunning (if I say so myself) My English Country Cottage dried flower bouquet for a glorious giveaway on Wednesday so sharpen your comment fingers, have a peek at the books and prepare to view a whole new zen goddess me chatting with Rebecca Fletcher and author Claire Fuller on Wednesday at 7pm (minus the big boobed fairies).
Happy ethereal Easter Monday xxx
#windowview #windowviews #driedflower #bookclubforintroverts #springview #springdecor #bookholic #bookjoy #driedflowerbouquet #sustainability #countrykitchen
In like a lion and out like a lamb?
Check. Well done April, excellent start. Cottage shaking, tulip bursting, chairs across the lawn lionesque winds. Good job.
I have donned my Victorian Lady Botanist bustle for this shot (which is lucky, the bustle is acting as extra ballast along with my still not given up the Jaffa cakes or coffee in cream new puppy syndrome). I am documenting the blossom before we go away.
We leave today and admittedly it is only for a week but blossom can sneak in and be blown to smithereens by the proverbial lion so I would quite like to see fresh blossom on my return. This is currently the state of the “Orchard” (self set damson trees that we pretend to ourselves that we planted and are therefore excellent arborists). Nine blossoms. That is not a Damson jamathon glut. I need more by the time I return thank you trees. It is noted and will not be forgotten.
See you in a week for blossom a hoy! Dottie? Oh we are just leaving her here…well not in garden..one of her amazing dog trainers from puppy training is coming to stay- house sitting and puppy training??? It is possible I may never come home. Who needs Damson jam? I shall live in champagne and kippers (I don’t actually like kippers but it sounds decadent and holidayish and I imagine the Lake District is teeming with kippers).
Have a lovely week and hurrah it’s finally Friday! Xxx
#cottagegarden #orchard #damsontree #blossomwatch #cottageescape #ruralliving #countrylivinguk #cosycottage #cottagelife #thatchedcottages #springvibes🌸
Scientific findings recorded: - I am being very brave and have recorded a highly scientific video to camera about my truly fabulous @woolroom bedding.
It does exactly what they promised it would do! It is hypoallergenic so both our noses are clearer in the morning (obviously I don’t snore….), it does stop the nasty hotness and you do get a better night’s sleep.
Clean sleep has really resonated with me – the organic wool from the happy sheep feels wonderful and the bedding even offers heat regulating benefits. It keeps me sleeping far more deeply (normally I am awake way before the alarm, but the alarm is now vying for my attention along with the pheasants) and I have more energy - I even managed to beat the pheasant determined to race me on my run! Boom!
Thank you @woolroom. You are sleep scientist magicians.
Happy thoroughly well slept Thursday x
#CleanSleep #Woolroom #woollove #organicbedding #sleepwell #sleepwellness #goodnightssleep #sustainability #sustainablelife #naturalbedding #cosynights
Are you sitting comfortably?
Actually, I am, the beautiful cherry tree is sheltering my bookish form from the April winds that are handily moving the clouds along at a rate that makes it look spring-like & not overcast with hints of “take the shot quickly sunshine”.
The blog is up on my website with this months wonderful books around the theme of “Rural Landscapes”.
A huge thank you to our sponsors - the fantastic @gonetoseed.co.uk - specialists in beautiful dried flowers from glorious bouquets to recycled bud vases of the sweetest posies.
Elly and Luke’s wedding was rearranged three times but from this heartache arose a brilliant & beautiful new business. Eventually allowed to organise a small winter wedding, they resorted to foraging and dried stems et voila! Hello Gone to Seed!
Head over to my website to fall in love with their gorgeous florals & 3 absolute gems: “Unsettled Ground” by Claire Fuller - I have fallen completely in love with this book, the incredible characters & the wonderful depiction of modern rural life. I devoured this in 2 sittings - my husband made me switch the light off!! It won the Costa awards Novel category this year &…trumpet herald excitement…. the author will be joining us on the Live in 2 weeks!!! Woooohoooo!!! Read it immediately & please dm with questions for her so I don’t have to resort to “do you like writing?”.
The second book is the modern classic “A month in the Country” which looks at a post war England.
The wildcard is “Dear Reader” by Cathy Rentzenbrink” which has blown me away. An ode to reading. The books of her youth are mine too & many of my adulthood although voracious reader doesn’t do her justice. This is a must read about reading!
I will stop, turn on the reminder, head to the blog, read Rebecca F’s way more professional synopses, ogle the beautiful eyeball joy dried flowers & then join in with a real life author on the 20th April.
Happy will we be sitting comfortably then Wednesday?!!! X
#bookgroup #recommendedbooks #rurallandscape #areyousittingcomfortably #situnderatree #springvibes🌸 #cherryblossom #readingismyhappyplace #readingforpleasure #ruralengland #bookclubs
I love this bit!
The moment before the garden bursts into life. The anticipation in the air, the trundle of tractor and the bark of friendly yet lawn mower hating pup.
The cow parsley is beginning to stretch its green necks out of the wintry ground, ready to froth and foam as the horse chestnut tree blossoms fall - the ones I can’t reach to cut for decoration purposes and “oh lawks so many conkers…how did the squirrels plant so many last year? Well not this year buddies, nuh uh, your environmental credentials are excellent but I am not having a massive conker tree smack bang in my night scented stocks containers or my hydrangea bed!!! Stop trying to garden and stick to one flipping storage unit.
I accede the fairy garden : lovingly created several years ago and now an abandoned wasteland of upside down fairies and a bodiless unicorn). Bury your ill gotten gains in this deathbed of dreams - I mainly built the fairy garden with romantic notions of Cicely Mary Barker beauties and The Cottingley fairies actually being real and taking magnificent photographs for all the world to cheer. “We” created tiny treehouses, a fairy playground, a blue glass stone fairy pond and even a hippopotamus rockery (they were all the rage back then) : nothing. Nada. Not one real life fairy sighting. It was most disappointing (mainly for me).
So have your fairy garden larder squirrels and leave my pathetic few areas of actually gardened garden to me.
Happy still secretly hoping for magic Monday x
#springtree #springtrees #oldcottage #englishcottage #cottagehome #cottagehouse #theirenglishcountrycottages #englishcountryside #englishcountrygarden #horsechestnut #cottagefarmhouse
Sunshine on ceiling beams. What a title! What a capture!
It’s all I have! I am spent! I am up and down to the doors leaping with joy when the sun shines, pulling on my shoes and running out into…the very very cold.
I also can’t help leaping up every time there is a small flurry of snow. I have already expressed my feelings on the late arrival of this long hoped for loveliness, it is far too late and I have moved on, but the small girl not far from the tired middle aged exterior can’t help but skip to the doors with excitement ready to hear that exquisite silence and watch that floating drifting beauty.
I am exhausted, my ham strings and quads actually hurt. I must curb my spring leaps and employ a sedentary state from my sofa. I will be here all day. Well done me.
Happy sedentary sofa Sunday x
#cozycottage #cosyroom #cozyhomes #cozyhomedecor #cushionlove #colourforcreatives #colourfulhome #cottagestyledecor #interiorlovers #beams #springdecor
I am not warm.
The sun maybe shining, the walnut tree maybe dancing but I am actually shivering.
When will this maelstrom of malevolent weather end? When will April smile sweetly upon our winter weary heads and lift this glacier air? When will we run through this paddock, sun hats flying, cotton dresses floating and bare feet…trying to avoid the puppy poo? Hmm not quite so romantic.
Dear April, please may we have some sunshine that is warm, without snow, or hail? Just spring sunshine? I promise swear to pick up all the poo that I keep putting warning triangles of sticks around but neglect to return with poo bags and clear. Thank you very much kind and lovely and also very beautiful April.
Happy shivering Saturday x
#paddock #gardenhope #gardenjoy #greengrass🌱 #cottage #barebranches #cottagelife #cottagesandbungalows
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas..just like the one…”
Yes Bing! Me too! Oh lovely. Snowy scenes outside church as we clasp our candlelit oranges (minus the already consumed sweets) close to our shivering but heart warmed chests.
BUT NOT NOW BING!!! It’s too late!! That winter dream melted into a tiny soggy grey disappointed day…with a lot of family, fizz, games and presents so I probably just about managed.
But I am not and will not dream of a white spring. This is absurd. April do not be absurd. Deny thy snow and refuse these cold temperatures and I shall forever be an Aprilet.
Tis but thy cold that is my enemy, That and the blossom killing, blue hand inducing, rush to make cakes and drink hot chocolate with cream and a bit more cream to cool it down.
Thou art thyself though not winter. What’s winter? It is not hand nor foot. Nor arm nor face nor any other warm part of a woman.
Oh be some other season…SPRING!!! Please please April be spring.
Happy thoroughly over winter Thursday. X
(Some readers may find this image of spring disturbing- I refuse to look at the frost out of the window and admit winter has returned. I shall stick to yesterday thank you.)
#springvibes🌸 #springjoy #springgarden #springblossoms #cottagegarden #williamshakespeare #oldhouses #cottagegardenlove #springisnear #cottagecore #homesweethome
RETREAT!!! Retreat!!! Go back in!!!
The beautiful pink ornamental blossom really couldn’t have picked a worse time to bloom!! Snow on the weather forecast? Rain? Coldness? Nooo!! Go back into the branches little blossoms. Then I will hairdryer you out once the snow is over.
I was so looking forward to a dusting of snow this winter. I am not any more. It’s too late, you had your chance snow and you blew it! Or didn’t blow it, didn’t even attempt to blow it. Just didn’t even show up to the party. Well you are uninvited. My blossoms, my seedlings and my containers of spring joys are very happy without you thank you. Now go away and don’t come back until Christmas Eve…once we have got back from church because I really hate driving in snow. Goodbye! Slams metaphorical weather door and waves the warm spring sunshine into our hearts and gardens.
Happy too much to put a blanket over my precious blossoms Tuesday?!! Xxx
#blossomwatch #countryidyll #cottage #springmorning #springaesthetic #cherryblossomsafterwinter #pinkblossom #countrycottage #timbercottage #listedbuilding #oldhomelove
Hello hands that don’t look like “Moth’s hands” - yes- the traditional “Moth’s day” handmade card was presented to me yesterday by my son - this year the joy had been upped with the addition of “You”re not quite old enough to be a moth yet”. I took this as a positive but did question my ageing state.
Hands! Hands are the giveaway so thank you wonderful @tammasonscrubs for sending me the most delicious lavender hand scrub and fantastic new hand oil (it only came out a couple of weeks ago but all the famous beauty people are raving about it even Jo Fairley of the @beautybibleofficial says it gave her hands an instant makeover!!!).
I need these, ok my skin may be parched from over sauvignoning yesterday (well it was Moth’s day) but they have taken a battering with the recent addition of an extremely mucky puppy (ahhh! Now I get the mucky pup expression!!!).
It’s divine, it looks beautiful, it smells beautiful and now I am moving away from a drying Havisham inspired moth corpse hands and making my way through towards emerging into a younger,smoother, so much softer and less lined butterfly! They are genius products. They work! Thank you so much Tam Mason!
Handmade in Somerset in small batches, these are a joy to use and my hands definitely look better. Thank you so much!
Happy no more moth hands Monday!! Xx
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Not only have sarahravensgarden sent me the most beautiful container of tulip dreams but I have also found one of my “I spent days planting those wretched bulbs ...where the heck are they?” daffodils.
Ages ago a gorgeous neighbour gave me a bag of daffodil bulbs as a thank you present, I was excited, I waited, I planted, nothing, nada. I was sad. I had failed at daffodils.
Last year I spotted Lady Hyancinth (my prize Hyacinth from three years ago but disappeared in mysterious circumstances) in the lane verge looking fabulous. Here was my first clue, Marple like I have slowly formulated a scenario that this spring has been brilliantly brought to a thrilling conclusion: “I have gathered you all here today in the library to…” (ok more Poirot than Marple) THE SQUIRREL DID IT!!!
Daffodils are popping up willy nilly, in dug over beds, in the verge, in the paddock. I have been undone by a squirrel.
Yet I have laughed! Laughed with gay abandon! I don’t care! Sarah Raven has sent me the most beautiful planter with the most beautiful tulips.. I AM FINALLY IN THE TULIP GANG!!! Yeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Happy…sow and the squirrels shall reap Sunday and a happy Moth’s Day!!! Xxx
COUNTRY10 for 10% off the fabulous @sarahravensgarden x
Thank you so much to Sarah Ravens Garden for the beautiful surprise gift, to Dottie for the excellent recyclable packaging styling addition and to the squirrels for spreading the daffodil love x
#tulipseason #englishcountrygarden #sarahraven #sarahravensgarden #springgarden #tulips🌷 #countrygarden #countrycottagegarden #countrycottage #motheringsunday #springflowers
I present to you My English Country Cottage Live from the BBC!!!
Well..ok…it was pre-recorded and went out on television on Tuesday on Look East breakfast, then lunch and then the double whammy of Look East east and west evening news! Boom! Two centimetres of the map cottage cored!
Happy sorry still not over it Saturday!!! Xxx
#bbcinterview #bbcnews #cottagecore #cottagelove #tvinterview #homesweethome #interiorstyling #cottagedesign #stylishhome #homestyledecor #cottageinterior
Hallo, welcome, don’t be afraid, it’s just my laboratory coat, yes I am donning my latest role of sleep science lady.
Prepare to be blinded by my knowledge: wool bedding can actually help provide up to 25% more stage four regenerative sleep! I know! So sciencey! Ok, I didn’t actually know about sleep stages but I bravely pulled on my lab coat and hugged my clipboard close.
Woolroom has worked really hard to create organic, traceable, soft as clouds (also researched by me so this is a fact) bedding. Each slumbersome pillow, heavenly duvet, mattress protector (“It’s like having a snuggle from the underside” Source: My astonished but not very science speaky husband) has its own QR code (please don’t be scared), you can trace it back the actual sheep!!
It is truly amazing - no snoring - my poor husband is a teensy bit allergic to Dottie and other nasties (ok she isn’t nasty!) but the wool is hypoallergenic. We slept amazingly because it regulates body temperature and even more exciting for me (more exciting than the perfectly weighted duvet and underside snuggling mattress topper which is like having a brand-new mattress) is that the wool is removable from the pillow so you can plump or reduce as required - perfect for my newly acquired science brain.
Happy organically farmed sheep, happy organically slept humans equals @woolroom - this is scientifically proven (by me and some other real-life scientists who probably use computers rather than clipboards).
Happy Thinking brain Thursday x
#ad #Woolroom #cleansleep #sustainableliving #organicbedding #sleepwell #sweetdreams😴 #bedroomstyling #bedroomstyle #organicliving #agoodnightssleep
Euphorbia is..well..euphorberising (it’s a very technical gardening term).
The ornamental cherry plum tree that refuses to be categorised by trying it’s darnedest to push out some sort of fruit every year is just about to spring into indeterminate colour.
The grass is spring green and almost over Dottie’s head yet I am going to studiously ignore the lawnmower and spend today gazing at my garden and being grateful for an incredibly kind interview on the telly yesterday.
Other than my letting the cottagecore side down with a truly remarkably shiny face and pinkened cheeks, I was very grateful for how calm and lovely the BBC team made the cottage look in the segment. Thank you so much wonderful @thepeartreefarm - shall we film your beautiful cottage now and I will interview you?!!!
I was a teensy bit concerned when immediately after the broadcast a cemetery started following me but brightened once a bridal boutique showed up to the party. Unless I came across as some sort of corpse bride?
No matter, spring is alive and well in the garden and I shall enjoy some peace and quiet with my pup…actually where is she? Dottie! Dottie?! Lost in the long grass..ok..I will go and get the mower.
Happy dewilding Wednesday xxx
#cottagedreams #cottagelife #cottagegarden #cottagegardening #homesweet #hearthome #happyplaces #sunnyspot #springgarden #springgardening #thatchedcottage
I am on the actual real life television!! Yes!!! Actually for real! On the BBC!!! This morning!!
The last time that I was on the telly was when I was pregnant with my son playing a distressed housewife yelling for help in a fire safety advert. We filmed at night so I was asked to yell silently for fear of upsetting the neighbours…they didn’t cover silent screaming whilst 7 months pregnant at Lamda so I was a little out of my depth.
The advert was remarkably successful (I am not sure how they measured this success- less pregnant ladies mouthing silently in house fires?) so I am hoping that todays three minutes of cottage core fame and fortune on BBC Look East - east - will be just as successful and that I didn’t spend the limited time mouthing silently and gurning.
You can watch it on @bbciplayer from the Look East 6.30 breakfast news. Eeeeek!!!! Thank you so much Felicity @thepeartreefarm for asking me to take part in something so exciting. It was a wonderful day and you couldn’t have been kinder or more patient “you want me to speak into the camera???? Look at the camera? But where is the fourth wall darling?”. Blimming actors.
Happy televisual Tuesday x
#tvinterview #bbcinterview #curtaindesign #cottagecore #myvintageabode #englishstyle #englishinteriors #maximalism #cottageinterior #cosyliving #interiordesignideas
My glorious sarahravensgarden amaryllis has flowered spectacularly.
“Mind the amaryllis” are not words I expected to shriek but I now utter them on a meal time basis. My son’s head is either in the clouds of awful computer games and working out his opponents weaknesses or currently in his riding technique which he finally mastered last week.
“I worked it out Mummy: I am in charge of the pony”. Now this seems pretty basic and to small Thelwellian gals is laughable as they have been in charge since they could plait their own hair (age 3) but to my dreamy plodge happily around the school son was a lightbulb moment.. ”I tell Simba when to jump”. I bit back “er- yes!!!” in a really patronising voice and managed a wise nod. Yesterday he returned grinning from ear to ear and begging to go back the stables for more jump joy. This is my son, he is a dreamer and a thinker. He is not an in the momenter. He is renowned for falling over or walking into things - because he is not really there, he is in his head (“I didn’t see that wall” - the wall that has been there for 400 years my darling?) so a huge amaryllis in a beautiful terracotta pot holds grave danger to us all.
Each meal time I am forced to utter the warning shriek and as he brushes past the suffering flower he withers “yes, I know, I am perfectly capable of seeing the enormous amaryllis and avoiding it”…I have to also bite back “but you didn’t! That’s why it is shuddering! You almost knocked it over ..AGAIN”. But I keep quiet, I am perfectly aware that I am complicit in this Groundhog Day scenario and could easily move the plant to safer ground but it is so pretty here and almost the only place in the kitchen that Dottie can’t jump up and reach!
Happy sit down carefully Sunday x
10% off @sarahravensgarden with “COUNTRY10” xxx
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Boom!!!!! First waft of the year!!!
Lisa Taylor you are a silky wafting genius!!!
I am totally in love with your Jonie Recycled Sari Dress. It is just perfect. Pockets? Yes of course? Lined? Yuh huh. Swishy? Heck yes!!! Hides the accidental Jaffa cake consumption? Ohhhhh yessss!!
Each Jonie is created from a hand-sourced vintage saris, crafted in India and completely unique - a piece to be treasured and loved for years to come. Lisa forgot to add “and is silky delicious to slip on and hides a month and half of no exercise and waaaay too many chocolate biscuits, coffee with cream (so tired - I needed it, yes my puppy sleeps through the night but she might not so I need to keep up my energy) and wine just to make sure I sleep at night…” Not sure why she missed that out on the description but head over to her amazing account and snap up one of these spring perfect, winter foraging forgiving designs.
@lisataylor_design you are one clever lady- oh and super talented- and thank you for the pocket addition!!!
Happy spring waft Saturday xxx
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Is it? Is it really? Golly this has passed me by…really only just over a week until Mothering Sunday?!!!
Well blow me down with a rose petal. Who knew?
This? Why this is just a bit of Friday Floral fancy. Just end of the week flowery frippery.
The paintings? And the cards? Oh sure, yup, these are @emmaperringpaintings Mother’s Day offerings but I am just the vessel. I haven’t even thought about Mother’s Day on Sunday the 27th March.
Happy here’s my massive list that I have just thought of on this remarkably floral Friday. X
Emma is donating 10% of all Mother’s Day cards, prints and paintings to The British Red Cross Ukraine appeal. Head over and treat your mother..or just yourself!! Xxx
#fridayflorals #floralfriday #floralfantasy #fridayflowers #flowerpower🌸 #floralinstallation #shabbychicstyle #shabbychiclover #shabbychic #floralpainting #florallove
The moat (ditch) is close to over flowing - which would be less concerning if it was a moat rather than an “eugh what the heck is that in there” ditch that surrounds our cottage.
Please lovely kind friendly March sunshine who is nothing like the mainly absent February sunshine, please stay, please dry up the dead animal infested poo channel (now you see why I try to pretend it is a moat).
I am feeling the urge to waft in floral dresses and it is proving quite hard whilst wading through bog and quagmire and I hope that is an unusually massive wormcast.
Happy think sunny thoughts Thursday x
PS Thank you so much to everyone who watched the Live last night - more crime fiction suggestions will go up on the blog on Friday. Thank you so much xxxxx
#magicalplaces #cottagedwelling #cottagecoreaesthetic #countryhomes #escapetothecountry #countrylane #oldhouselove #periodproperty #thatchedcottage