Category: Adventure

  • Oh dear. Where did all the photos go?

    Well. I’ll tell you where. I changed permissions on Flickr and then changed some back again. And in the process the image IDs changed so the links are no longer valid. It’ll take some time to fix.

  • Never was much of a one for curtains

    These bits of fabric go back to the time I dropped Astrid on her head but at least not down the stairs when we were living in Mt Albert. I think I might, bit by bit, return old blog posts when they are relevant to my writing. Like this one. I still haven’t finished my…

  • Smallable Autumn and winter tops

    Clockwise from top left: Duffle jersey sweatshirt – Mauve by Emile et Ida, Loose-fitting Dress – Charcoal Grey by L’Esprit de Luna, Tomas sweatshirt – Navy blue by Tuss, T-shirt – Old rose by L’Esprit de Luna, Jersey blouse – Taupe brown by Emile et Ida This winter in the Lovely Shops household we are…

  • Looking backwards to forwards

    Being here has certainly given me a lot of headroom. The past few days I’ve not got both girls at school and nursery and the builders seem to not be here quite so much and things can begin to be put in place. Finishing touches. And time for reflection. The snow’s gone now. Thank goodness.…

  • Happy house hunting tips

    Guest post written by Kevin, while I am out at work. We’ve been thinking about starting to look for a house to buy for quite a while now. We have of course moved around a bit recently, but finally arrived at the place we are going to stay for the next few years, so it’s…

  • Camping in Kent

    Last weekend we filled our car with pretty, warm bedding and off we drove, down the M40, onto the M25 and Kentward bound. And because we had filled our car beyond breaking point with pillows, duvets, gumboots and raincoats, we only had a tiny bit of room to fit a small box of food and…

  • The Wilderness Treasure Hunt

    Last weekend we wrapped up warm and headed over to the magical Cornbury Estate for the Wilderness Treasure Hunt. In the lead-up to the Wilderness Festival in August, local residents are invited along to a few special events which are just brilliant for the children – and indeed fun for the grown-ups too. A taste…

  • East London interior design inspiration

    Ten years ago Vincent Cullane, a cabinetmaker and furniture designer observed, that when a new room is being created, an interior designer would complete the designs and a then whole load of different people and companies come in to do the various different jobs – the lighting, the plumbing, the tiling, appliances, furniture – everything!…

  • Dreaming of warm days and country lanes

    We had another gorgeous day today. It just began to warm up in the afternoon. In fact it was an amazing day today. I had three hours of book writing and then as usual I left myself just five minutes to get Edith – from desk to nursery! I usually make it driving like a…

  • Bless this day our daily bread

    White spelt bread – recipe at Lovely Food This was in the back of my mind this morning. And I think it’s not quite the right words for the Lord’s Prayer. Which we used to say every morning at school. But it reminded me to find the verse I heard at the Wynstones open day…

  • Amsterdam to Oxfordshire

    Being here has certainly given me a lot of headroom. The past few days I’ve got both girls at school and nursery and the builders seem to not be here quite so much and things can begin to be put in place. Finishing touches. And time for reflection. The snow’s gone now. Thank goodness. We…

  • Dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot…

    We are stuck in a loop with BT – nobody at their offshore faults centre can understand the concept that the house still has the old phone number and they need to reassign our new phone number, with the broadband package, to our house! It’s been a week with hours a day spent on the…