juergen teller

Australia, 1990

hydrangeas for a thursday morning

from sweden with love

I most certainly do not wear this Acne scarf often enough. A dire shame really, considering its beautiful antique map design. (A map of Sweden, naturally!)

feu de bois

Diptyque's Feu de Bois 'recalls the warm, familiar, sophisicated accord of rare woods throughout the long winter days'. My favourite scent for autumn.

marvellous kale

to have & to hold

A Study of a Candle’s Shadow I, a piece by the artists James Plumb, currently on show as part of the couple's new exhibition, entitled To Have & To Hold, at the House of St. Barnabas in Soho. A real must-see.

wet, windy wales

I spent a few days in Wales last week. (You know, I've only ever been to Wales twice in my life.) The weather was grey and cloudy, and it was pitch black outside when I woke up both mornings, but it felt positively magical. In fact, I'm rather fond of the short days and long nights at this time of year. Dark navy skies at 6am, the rising sun, crisp, cold mornings...

Oh, and we had porridge with these freshly picked raspberries for breakfast.

double, double, toil and trouble

I am absolutely taken with this illustration, which is currently being exhibited at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter. (We paid a visit a couple of weeks ago - I spent most of the trip in hysterics due to an incredible level of overexcitement.) This drawing shows Dumbledore's lectern, complete with owl and candles. It was designed for my favourite HP film - The Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

english heritage and little greene

We've decided to paint all (all!) of the walls at home, and we are thinking of using colours from the English Heritage and Little Greene paint collection. The colours are the result of combined research to discover the true historical colours used over several key periods in historic decoration from early Georgian right up to the 1970s. Whilst we try out a few samples, our walls are a riotous patchwork of colour. The agony of choice...

figs & burrata

Lunch at The Wapping Project yesterday. What a beautiful plate of food - the rich, warm red of the figs against the milky, pure whiteness of the cheese. Heaven.

conkers on england's lane

talks to boys

I picked up this rather intriguing old book (it was written in 1890), entitled Talks To Boys, when we were in Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago. It is a manual, as described by its author, Eleanor A. Hunter, teaching 'how a boy may train himself day by day into a nobler life'. The 'talks' contained inside are very amusing indeed, and there is seemingly one for every kind of boy possible. There is a talk to poor boys, a talk to rich boys, a talk to shy boys, and even a talk to awkward boys...

mussels

Gorgeous mussels for supper, with Suffolk cider, bacon and cream.

babel

Out today!

somerset

Glastonbury Tor.

Wells Cathedral.

It got to around Thursday last week, and due to feeling very tired of London, tired of grey clouds and tired of wet pavements, we booked a last minute trip down to Somerset. Somerset is one of my favourite counties - in fact I am in love with the whole of the West Country and I will make up any excuse to pay the area a visit! We caught the midday train to Castle Cary on Friday and carried on to Bruton, a delightful little town and home of At The Chapel - a converted chapel (naturally) on the High Street housing a bakery, wine shop, café and restaurant. We've been there before and I adore the place. We decided to stay in a B&B not far from Bruton, owned by the most fabulous couple I have met in a long while (one is a garden designer and the other a painter). Their home is filled with wonderful antiques and the garden is simply a dream. We spent Saturday exploring Glastonbury and Wells in the blazing sunshine, and were back on the train by noon on Sunday. Short but incredibly sweet.