Being a Tourist In My Own Country - Grasmere

Grasmere is a village at the tip of Lake Windermere, easily by-passed thus making it not nearly as busy as other villages and towns that sit by Lake Windermere. My sort of place. It is colourful to the extreme.

Helped by the fabulous Garden Village that sits at it's heart.

Grasmere is also home to the tiniest shop I have ever visited - The Gingerbread Shop with room for only one customer at a time. Home of a weird gingerbread that is delicious but bears no resemblance to the gingerbread I am used to, more a biscuit than a bread.

Grasmere has huge hills surrounding it but I couldn't get a picture that does them justice. Believe me they are huge.

Wandering around the village I was impressed by shops and the myriad of little streets that all led to amazing views.

This house up one such street looked as though somone had taken a slice off it.

We ate at The Jumble Room a quirky little restaurant with an eclectic theme.

Huge furry cushions sitting on 2 seater sofas, perfect for reclining after eating too much, which I did.
Next time I will show the two fabulous places we laid our weary heads.

Being a Tourist In My Own Country - The Lake District

Seems this year the weather is not good wherever you go. Even Europe is having a bad time. We decided it was time we became tourists in our own country. No kids at home anymore, semi-retired we have the luxury of just packing a bag and going, so we did. Our first trip was to The Lake District and first stop, after drooling over the amazing scenery, was Ambleside for lunch on the terrace of an ancient pub. Perfect!

Though Ambleside is a lovely place it is full of tourists. OK we were tourists but we needed to explore off the beaten track. We had passed Grasmere on the way in and it looked at a distance to be a lovely place. We weren't wrong when we headed back there. We wandered into the Wordsworth Daffodil Garden.

Stepped on the famous Wordsworth poem etched into that famous Lakeland slate.

 The gardens were tranquil and stunningly beautiful in a very natural way

No matter where you are in the Lake District there is a view to take your breath away.

The garden ran alongside the river and glancing across we noticed a beautiful tearoom terrace right next to the bridge overlooking the river.

We sat in the garden with the sound of birdsong all around us and beneath our feet were 

slate paving stones, each and every one with the name and home town of visitors from all over the world.The Lake District is THE most amazing place and made me for the first time in ages appreciate just what we have here in England
Tomorrow I will show you where we stayed, ate and wandered. And over the next few days I will show you around some other wonderful pieces of England.

I Could Do With a Another Pair of These

If only this were me. Not just the amazing body and the fact that I could give her about 40 years but that extra pair of arms is pricless. Would half my workload at least.
Photography by Aleksey Marina

A Swedish Home, Take a Closer Look

This is a bit of a Where's Wally post. This beautiful home in Sweden is filled with clever and quirky details. Take a close look at the images and ye shall find. Found at Hus & Hem

 

Her Curious Nature

These beautiful headpieces are by young UK designer - Sabrina Ismail. Her designs are right up my street and are available via her website - Her Curious Nature and even at House of Fraser. I just need an invite to a wedding and I will be ordering. Shame there is really no occasion to wear such a thing where I live.
Photography by Faye Sampson

Sabrina also does a few accessories

Merci in Paris Goes Online - Hurrah

To say I was thrilled when I found out that Merci, that fabulous shop in Paris, had created an online shop and shipped worldwide, is an understatement. Of course I ordered immediately. The large paper wastebin (only 4 Euros) and the linen knit jacket (below) are now MINE!!! Go and take a look and see if you can resist.

 

Anyone For Tennis and an Ice Cream

I found these images in my inbox the other day and they cheered me up no end. Daphne's in South Kensington has placed this gorgeous gelateria outside their restaurant in  honour of Wimbledon. They will be serving up six Wimbledon-inspired ice cream flavours on two weekends this summer. 

Little Black Book - Rockett St George

 

Back in 2007 I was contacted by the girls at Rockett St George asking for a bit of advice about their new website. I had just sold wheredidyoubuythat.comhttp://www.wheredidyoubuythat.com/ to Bodie and Fou and was more than happy to help them as I totally loved what they were doing.

I remember one of my bits of advice was not to have a black background on their site. Well needless to say they didn't take that advice and even I am pleased they didn't. Black is their look and now it has come into its own in the form of their first catalogue - Little Black Book.

I receive catalogues every day, one of the perks or pitfalls of being a blogger, whichever way you look at it. This catalogue was not going to go straight in the bin for 3 reasons

1. It's called Little Black Book which immediately says CHIC
2. It was from Rockett St George and I am a fan
3. It is full of the most inspirational photographs and quirky products.

So girls, go on not taking my advice you're doing a great job.

Branch Out

Here's an idea for you - next time you are driving or walking through the countryside keep your eyes peeled for fallen branches. The possibilities are endless, as they say, from making a fabulous wall installation like

this one,

 use one for hanging lights above your dining table,

or hang your clothes on one. My preference is for painting them white but of course you can

use colour if that is your preference.

 I have a white tree trunk holding an Alessi colander and it also

supports my breakfast bar.
Image links 1 & 2