Flower power in the family...

Dear readers,

After days and days of endless rain, I think a blog post filled with floral delights is in order...

... so today I invite you to take a stroll with me through the lovely garden of my sister-in-law.

This tranquil and inviting floral haven is in Oxfordshire, and the other day when we "popped in" for a cup of tea, I declined my cup (I know, I know, terribly un-English of me!) and asked if my camera and I could instead explore her beautiful garden...

As you may see in some of the photos, we had a few - and oh so cherished - minutes of sunshine, before the heavens opened again and emptied what seemed like every rain cloud in the county...

This is a wonderful "come-and-explore-me" garden. Even from inside the house you are drawn to the circular gravelled path at the other end of the garden. Where might it take me? What secrets lie beyond?

And you will not be disappointed. A small pond, surrounded by marvellously  mossy stones, and an old wooden bench, whispering "Come hither, sit down, why don't you? Together we can contemplate life for a moment..."

But I did not listen to the bench this time. There were simply too many flowers beckoning me, tilting their little petal heads to look pretty for the camera. So I listened to them instead...

... and said hello to a thousand little forget-me-nots, all enjoying the company of wonderful light-green foilage friends and pretty purple neighbours.

Thank you, Eve, for letting me explore your little piece of paradise!

Wishing you all a wonderful, flower-powered weekend!

Helena

***

Update: Since I published this blog post, I have learned that in addition to my sister-in-law's own ideas and wonderful work with her garden, she also had some help from Andrew, a garden designer with the lovely  company name Go Wild Landscapes. If you live anywhere in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire or Bucks., like what you see in this blog post and need a little help creating your dream garden, they are the ones to call! (Clicking on their company name above will take you to their website).

***

Water, water everywhere...

Just a 15-20-minute drive from where we live is the beautiful little town of Bradford-on-Avon, which, as you may have gathered from its name, is on the river Avon. A stone's throw away from the river lies the canal, which runs from the Severn Estuary in Bristol to The Thames near Reading. The 200-year-old canal has more than 100 locks (!) and was, in 'olden times', used for transport.

If you stroll along the canal, which here runs parallel to the river, you soon come to Avoncliff, where you will see this old stone bridge over the river (you may spot it behind the weeping willow in the first photo above, and in the one below I have played a little with the photo on the computer, as the colours were a little  dull...).

But what do you think you might find on top of this bridge...?

Yes, the canal! This stunning aqueduct really "did my head in" the first time I saw it, water going over the bridge over ... the water (and railway)! It is a beautiful area to go for walks, and many people take advantage of this lovely setting to go canoeing on the canal, or rent canal boats. 

My family did not quite understand why I would want to take a photo of this old military "bunker" by the canal, but I thought the colours and the water reflection in this image made it a potential motif...

Many are the old stone bridges over the canal...

... and last summer we explored them a little more closely, when we rented a canoe and ventured out on a paddling expedition. (Image above and the two images below taken then.) As we pulled up close to the side of the canal to eat our paddling picnic sandwiches, a house boat went past us. There are many of these lining the canal, and many of them boast quite spectacular "gardens" on the roof of the boat (not the one above, though).

With young arms in charge of the paddles, this is a perfect place to perfect 

steering and paddling skills, as there are no waves to negotiate.

  

***

Featured in Wiltshire Magazine

For those of you who happen to come across the regional magazine Wiltshire Magazine (link to the magazine website, but I don't think you can actually read any articles there), you may see a familiar face on a few pages there in the April/May issue. A "Through the Keyhole" feature from our home and a page with my offering ideas and photos of how to "bring nature inside" when decorating our homes.

I feel very honoured they asked me to provide ideas, photos and 

texts for their magazine - thank you Kate and Alex!

All the best,

Helena

To those of you in need of hope...

(Perhaps particularly my dear Scandinavian friends, wading - again - in slushy snow...)

It can take a blue form...

... or lean more towards pink...

But most importantly: spring will come, and with it, 

a delightful promise that things will grow again, and that all will be good in the end.

I have just returned from a couple of weeks away over Easter, and even though the winds still sing the tune of their northern cousins, the floral explosion is a heart-warming and very welcome guest. These are photos from a walk earlier today, with the oh-so-essential ice-cream stop here in Castle Combe.

Thank you for stopping by, and a special thank you to those of you having left such wonderful words on my last blog post. Every word is precious - thank you!

Wishing you a lovely start to the new week!

Helena

Having the Easter blues...

Fewer and fewer are the new decorating details that come over my threshold these days... I like to try to either recycle/upcycle  - such as this former sweet corn tin, now with a new coat of a magnolia paper napkin glued on with découpage glue - or find second hand treasures to play with...

... or simply find pretties in Mother Nature's own treasure chest to decorate with...

However, I must confess to having a certain weakness for pretty tea towels, and when I stumbled upon this blue hen towel, my heart started beating fast enough for my wallet to jump out of my bag and land on the shop counter, just next to the money-hungry till...

After a quick deliberation, the banana bread jury also gave the thumbs up to this new member of the Swenglish tea towel family, and as you can see, this particular banana cake seems to enjoy being snuggled up in the cosy, clucking embrace of its new blue coat.

(For those of you wondering just for how long this banana cake was allowed to stay wrapped up like this before passing through the greedy jaws of yours truly and her offspring... well, I could not possibly reveal that without tainting my reputation...)

Having seen many different and creative "eggventions" in magazines and blogs lately, I thought I might have a go at a particularly cuddly, fluffy one (inspired by Hanna at Sjarmerende GJENBRUK, made from catkins), but I think my patience was not doing me any favours that day, and the result was not nearly as fluffy and fine as Hanna's. Next year I think I might try her pretty "popcorn eggs" instead. At least I can then eat any "failed attempts"...

The same napkins (as above on the tin) were used two years ago, 

also then involving Easter decorations...

And with these photos from our little town...

(Click on the images if you want to see them larger and sharper.)

... and a particularly pretty blue beauty...

I wish you a peaceful and lovely Easter weekend!

Helena