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My English Country Cottage
  • Blog Posts
    • Our Home
    • Interior Design projects
    • How To Create A Cutting Garden
    • Pantry Recipes
    • What Makes an English Country Cottage?
    • Home County Candle Company
    • Their English Country Cottages
    • Country Cottage Creatives Interviews
  • Instagram
  • About Me
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  • Christmas Magazineing

    My goodness, Christmas takes magazine shoots to a whole new level of styling and creativity! I remember last year when Naomi (Jones Homes) and Rob (Sanderson) came to photograph my cottage, I had to put so much more work into getting it ready than the previous summer shoot for Period Living magazine. One has to clean, tidy (hide most of life’s rich tapestry), probably repaint the hallway to cover the…

    December 19, 2021
    Styling Inspiration

  • Get The English Country Cottage look for Christmas

    High on the success of my English Home magazine coup (I still have no idea how we made it into this interiors magazine maven) I thought that I would go through each room with a little more detail as to how we created our cosy cottage Christmas. I spend days decorating our home every year and I genuinely believe that it makes the festivities feel far more special (that and…

    November 14, 2021
    Styling Inspiration

  • Autumn Magazineing

    Yes it’s definitely a verb. It’s officially no going back Autumn. Time to embrace the change, wrap up warm (then unwrap cold) and channel the beautiful Autumnal colours and simply glorious sunlight. Thank goodness both houses for our shoot were close by (I get slightly twitchy when I have to travel further than the postbox at the end of our lane) and that the sun shone in extremis for both…

    October 3, 2021
    Styling Inspiration

  • Marr House Farm

    Their English Country Cottages The very moment the previous owner opened the large oak door, I know it would be ours. Lisa Johnson-Richards The main part of this beautiful cottage is Georgian, dating back to 1710. Originally owned by the Crown it was bought by Sir Henry Vane the Elder, (a Member of Parliament and an advisor to Charles I household) who in 1626 purchased nearby Raby Castle, Barnard Castle…

    August 15, 2021
    Their English Country Cottages

  • The Maltings

    Their English Country Cottages After viewing 47 houses, The Maltings was the one and only house which we both left and said “this is the one!”. Benjamin Gibbons Benjamin Gibbons, his fiance Luke and their two dogs Darwin & Atlas live in this incredible ‘cottage’ – ok I am stretching the term but it is thatched and it looks a bit cottagey? This incredible building is called The Maltings, and…

    August 1, 2021
    Their English Country Cottages
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Latest Posts

  • The third and final instalment of Christmas Magazineing
  • Christmas Magazineing Part Deux
  • Christmas Magazineing
  • Country Cottage Christmas Canapés
  • Sitting Spiritually Blog and Live with….me!!! Hurray!!!

Daily Instagram Blog

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I mean how can you not achieve with blue sky and sunshine??? It turns out that the answer to this is very very extremely easily. I missed a very important teams meeting “Hi, I am trying to join but no luck?”…”It was half an hour ago” ah, yes, erm there is a time lag here? Because the house is so old…er..we are behind by four centuries and half an hour…….? I missed my yoga class and managed to consume the very healthy veggie meal, and the wine and the Brie and then some chocolate buttons that appeared as if by magic. Today will be different, I shall make a difference, surely three days of this weather will have worked it’s magic. I shall have a smoothie, go to Pilates and then sit at my laptop and work very hard. All afternoon. Without a break. Once I have finished the book I started yesterday in despair at missing the very important meeting. Actually none of the other things were invented 400 years ago so I probably can only sit by the fire and read. Drat. The constraints of living so long ago in time… Happy four centuries late Friday x #exteriors #cottagesandbungalows #whitecottage #listedbuilding #cottageinspo #oldhome #periodproperty #bucolic #cottagedreams #countrysideviews #countryhome


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Ohhhhhhh hello my long lost friend!!! Hello my kitchen inspiration! Hello glorious wonderful fabulous sunshine!!!! I shun the remains of the Christmas Pudding (it even has chocolate in it), I laugh in the face of the shortbread tin and avert my eyes from the oozy creamy Brie. I don’t need you! I have sunshine! I have my children practicing “Veganuary”…well “Vegetarianuary” and so tonight I am cooking from this genius book “The Green Roasting Tin” and I am fine with this! I am embracing healthy and enjoying it. All thanks to the sunshine…I probably need a chilled Sauvignon Blanc to go with all this incredible sunshine and I don’t want my sugar levels to drop too low too quickly… Happy thankful Thursday x #kitcheninspiration #cottagekitchen #countrykitchen #kitchengoals #belfastsink #unfittedkitchen #countryinteriors #cozycottage #springinteriors #platerack #cottageinspo #rustichome


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Just off to scrape the inside of my car… Yup, beautiful frosty morning…time to scrape the car windscreen outside and in so that I don’t have to hunch low to peer through the only defrosted section of windscreen at the bottom. Initially I was perplexed, I was working up a glow, scraping away at the windscreen, spraying my little trigger finger sprayer so much that my poor tiny finger began to throb with my gusto. It took a while for my morning brain to understand that there was no more frost on the windscreen outside, I was simply scraping glass. The ice was inside the car. That is why we were late sir, my car has taken on life forms of its own ever since I carted 5 bags of moss around in the boot for a couple of days. The bags definitely aren’t there any more but something living still remains. We had a jolly old time scraping ice onto ourselves before setting off slightly sodden, freezing cold but pink cheeked with laughter for school with only a vague sense of unease as to what was causing the inside frost. The grey days of no inside defrosting nor unknown creature fear were most welcome. Happy warm up Wednesday x #cottagestyle #cottagelife #countrylivinguk #countryhome #thatchedcottage #thatchedroof #mygardenlife #sunriselover #atmosphericlandscape #fieldview #countryescape


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Yes! Real life sunshine!!! Not today obviously! What three days of sunshine in a row? That would be crazy talk! Thankfully the rain held off whilst the plumpling pink flamingo took her first flight (run) of the year. My goodness it was hard. Boldly, bravely, pinkly, plumply she ran (staggered) the fields and lanes (one field and one lane - not too far on the first run of the year). Brilliantly she slip slided through the mud, providing much hilarity for her grinning neighbour on his morning constitutional. Courageously she stoutly swerved the incredibly rude squirrel who positively sashayed across the bridleway as if I were simply an embarrassing apology for a human being and best to just ignore this bright pink, retching mentalist who is almost not moving. I had no idea that inner thighs could weigh so much, I think they actually pulled me towards the floor. I had expected the 86500 mince pies and 85 bottles of Baileys stomach to propel itself up and down with a force outside my command. I knew my extra chin would wobble in time to my strangled intake of breath but I was unprepared for inner thigh drag. I shall remain here today, finishing my wonderful book and resting my heavyweight inner thighs, I am not sure I am strong enough to lift them anywhere today. Happy thickening thighs Tuesday x #kitchendiner #farmhousetable #kitchentable #countrycottagestyle #cottagecountry #cosykitchen #hyggelife #homesweethome #howihome #cottageinterior #rusticliving


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Oh the temptation to post the image after this one on my phone… I flirted around the garden yesterday like a happy butterfly, alighting upon signs of spring and constantly warming my fluttering wings in the joyous sunshine. Then I went inside and was faced with the maths homework from hell. I photographed it to send to another mother who has maths issues (in this case “what is the maths homework please?”). I chuckled smugly- at least we had the homework, ready to complete…now let’s snuggle down and get this answered… Within question two I was yelling like a demented fishwife with a whole stall of stinking fish still to shift “DADDY!!!!!! (issued with a she is your daughter as well screech) Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!”. My husband rushed to my aid and after looking at my daughters face and listening to her saying “I know this because we did it in class but SHE has confused me “ gently ushered me into the sitting room and closed the kitchen door. I had sobs and head banged to table (mainly me) whilst he had chuckles and actual maths giggles. Be grateful that this is just a sunny cottage image and not the maths paper of rounding up or down (to the nearest 1000 round 19998 - so do I ignore the 19 bit??? Arghhhhhh!!!! Look at the pretty cottage, forget the numbers, breathe, inhale the blue sky). Happy no maths please Monday x #wintergarden #cottagelove #thatch #thatchedcottage #17thcentury #theirenglishcountrycottages #countrycottage #englishcountrygarden #winterblues #wintercottage #gardeningismytherapy


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Ahhh! Harkening back to olden days of sunshine….Friday….yup…still refusing to glorify rain shots. A happy day of streaming sunshine and spring hyacinths that are absolutely definitely not causing me to sneeze a little bit more…it’s the dust…it’s not the hopeful floral beauty. I refuse to banish beauty, in fact, I am enjoying the slightly streaming eyes- I can blame hayfever when I well up. Having been put in the defendants stand yesterday by my daughter whilst watching Harry Potter The Reunion : “Mummy!!!!! Why do you always cry at EVERYTHING we watch”????? (I began to explain the quickening of the passing of time and lost youth and the feeling of being part of something very special when it comes to an end- ok- I wasn’t actually in Harry Potter but I was devastated when the three week run in Kings Cross of “The Country Wife” finished (mainly because The Spectator singled me out as fabulous but also for all the amazing friendships that I would never ever no way forget…I am not sure I saw any of them again..). My accusator was having none of it so I pointed to the hyacinths and I was let off with a warning and community service (“Just stop ruining everything with emotion“). I shall spend today weeping by the hyacinths and pointing accusingly at them. Happy spring hopes dashed Sunday x #cottagestyle #beams #oldcottage #traditionalhouse #floralinspiration #colourfulhome #throughmyeyes #hallway #springsunshine #hyacinths #cozyhomes


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Yes, yes, it’s so gloomy today so I refuse to post a photo of grey (also I refuse to go out into the grimble to take a sodden damp depressing shot so I will fool everyone with a shot from Friday. Mwoah ha ha ha). Although I may need to stop fooling myself, if I take this as far as my latest “Be kind to myself” mantra, I will end up outside soaked to the bone having assumed I was stepping out for a brisk frosty walk. I have definitely over kinded myself and it has to stop. I keep gifting myself chocolates, coffee with whipped cream (so kind) and bread with lashings of butter (what a generous self). As I was cleaning up after the de Christmassing (I truly did bring half the garden into the cottage which dried brilliantly and fell in really super tiny excellent millions of bits of green everywhere), I discovered an absolute stonker of a book given to me by my friend “Sorrow and Bliss” by Meg Mason- oh La La it really is brilliantly written- so I had to be kind to myself and sit down and read most of it straight away…surrounded by shards of crisp dried greenery. The house is a disaster and I can’t put this amazing book down. It has to stop. I am adding another new year’s resolution to my “Learn to party harder”, I am adding “Be sterner with yourself”. Although yesterday I managed a Pilates class in the village hall with no heat or light - so so brave. I still feel cold, perhaps I will be stern tomorrow, I think a mocha with whipped cream should warm me up this morning - it’s so frosty out there…. Happy shivery Saturday x #frostymorning #cottage #oldcottage #englishcountrycottage #homesandgardens #cottageexterior #timberframe #wintergarden #mygardenthismonth #cottageliving #oldhouselove



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