Remember me...?

(Lovely mini bird cage from a flea market in France for € 1 (!!) and a sweet 

little tea light holder from a sweet blog reader - thank you Claudia!)

Well, since I hardly remember myself... (!), or at least "whether I am coming or going" as the expression goes, I thought it would be about time I reminded myself, and those of you who might still be stopping by here, that I am still alive, even if ridiculously busy with this, that and the other...

A stroll in the rare, but oh so lovely, sunshine a few weeks ago, after a rainy week that made for some - shall we say - challenging terrain around the back of Lacock Abbey. But worry not, a stile a little further to the left (out of sight here) enabled us to not have to show off our swimming skills that day.

There is something so wonderful about skipping, strolling, or in any way moving across these great green farm fields, and to see the children take full advantage of the vast openness before them to run, run, run until they can run no longer, or until they stumble over a sleeping sheep - whichever comes first... We only use public footpaths, of course, and luckily there are a lot of them around here!

So what else have I been up to in the last few weeks, except skipping across green pastures, humming Sound of Music tunes? Well, a few very exciting things, of which two have involved my passion for styling an environment or image that is - hopefully - pleasing for the eye. In one case, it involved helping a client with some finishing touches in an already beautifully renovated and stunningly decorated old cottage. In the other case, I had the pleasure of working with some of the gorgeous and wonderfully cheeky bird personalities that characterise ceramicist Hannah Turner's decorative items and tableware.  Very soon, when Hannah's new collections are available in store  (and on her website), I will show you more of the photos from my chirpy day in the company of her funky ceramics!

Having no new vignettes to show you, I will, again, recycle some from last year. I feel these really capture well "who I am" at the moment. The colours, the materials, the shapes...

I just realised that perhaps that goes deeper than just my taste, 

perhaps it reflects quite literally who I am...? 

A little rusty, a little scruffy, a little round... ☺ 

 

But now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time for... CHRISTMAS!

Drum roll.....

Norwegian interior styling, writer and photographer Franciska Munch-Johansen has just published her new book, Sanselig Jul (Christmas For All the Senses) and it a very beautiful compilation of her own photos and ideas and those of a number of bloggers. To find out where you can buy it if you are interested, click here.

To tempt you , here are some pages from the book (click to enlarge):

... a few photos from an - unusually snowy - England from yours truly...:

***

Mummy's Own is a lifestyle and inspiration site for Mums - created by Mums, aiming to offer inspiration through for example blog recommendations, recipes, fashion and articles about well-being. The ladies have just relaunched the blog in English, and a couple of weeks ago The Swenglish blog was their blog recommendation - thank you so much, Camilla!

More blog love has come my way through no other than the lovely Henrick Eriksson (with the informative and inspiring blog Kråks Stuga - formerly known as "Henricks Tankegångar"), whose styling skills,  knowledge of interior design trends (and much more!) make for very pleasant reading indeed! Thank you so much, Henrick, you made my day! Yes, I know, to some of you this may sound a little like a ping-pong game of reciprocated back-scratching, but I would happily have written this completely unprompted and I believe spreading some blog love is spreading good vibes, and good vibes are great fuel for the soul, whether blog related or not!

***

Phew, there we are. Are you still there? If you did not give up half way through what in the end became a very eclectic and very long blog post, then let me finish by wishing you a  lovely last few days of October!

All the best,

Helena

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

Featured in...

Dear blog readers,

Just a quick hello to say thank you to Silvia with the lovely blog Shabby Soul in Italy, who today posted a large feature about The Swenglish Home. Silvia is a lovely lady who is also very creative and for those of you dreaming of turning your bedroom into a romantic haven, do check out her bedroom transformation!

All the best,
Helena

Summer outside and in...

Just after I took the photos for the last blog post, 

the rain clouds drew closer and I decided it might be

 a good idea to move summer indoors instead...

Garden-harvested white beauties, pretty even as they are wilting...

And what if we check out a different angle of the room...?

Well, then we find the slightly "overbearing" former TV-cabinet, now housing a sowing machine and all sorts of craft material. Next to it, one of my grand-parents' old chairs, recovered in a cushion cover from H&M, in front of which lean some of my wooden trays and bowls, awaiting their next "assignment"...

***

Another guest appearance...

The Swenglish Home is today featured on the life style website Mammas Egen (Mum's Own) in their series "Room of the Week": http://www.mammasegen.com/material/otroligt-vackra-hemmet-i-danskfransksvensk-countrystil. Thank you, Camilla, for asking me to contribute to your site - I feel honoured!

***

Wishing you all an invigorating day in the sun!

Helena

Proudly presenting...

Dear blog readers,

Can I share something with you?

Something which I am so proud of and which seems to have put

 a permanent smile on my otherwise still winter-gloomy face?

Those of you who are familiar with the gorgeous Norwegian magazine Vakre Hjem, will most certainly also know Franciska Munck Johansen, a wonderfully talented interior journalist, stylist and photographer. She writes for other magazines too, and is now publishing a book with inspiring summer images and ideas. It is called Sanselig Sommer ( Summer For All the Senses) and packed with her own stunning material as well as photos and ideas from a number of selected bloggers.

I was incredibly flattered when Franciska contacted me to ask me if I would like to be part of this book and can now proudly announce that some of my summer-scented images will appear in Sanselig Sommer! The book will be published in April and you can find out where it will be sold here .

Those of you who are readers of Vakre Hjem might also recognize some of my photos in the next issue of the magazine, in a feature about the book.

I know it is very un-Swedish of me to blow my own trumpet like this, but please allow me a small tooot - tooot to celebrate my joy and delight over this, at the same time as toooting to thank you for making blogging so enjoyable and contributing to my wanting to explore new creative paths and ideas. Let the trumpet tooot-tooot also represent the amazing opportunities that are out there for all of us, if we just dare to dream and to pursue the passions that fuel us the most.

Thank you all and thank you, Franciska!