Seven days in Corfu Corfu or Kerkyra, an island off Greece’s northwest coast in the Ionian Sea, is defined by rugged mountains and a resort-studded shoreline. Its cultural heritage reflects years spent under Venetian, French and British rule before it was united with Greece in 1864. Corfu Town, flanked by 2 imposing Venetian fortresses, features […]
Grass Borders
An inspiring trip to Trentham Gardens in the summer of 2016 gave me a solution to an increasingly devastating problem in my garden, which had been lurking around and slowly killing woody shrubs in one particular flower bed. Well established Solanum ‘Jasminoides’, Euonymus ‘Elatus’, an unidentified Hydrangea and a Buddleja all eventually succumbed to what I […]
Cobbled Formal Garden
After a year so or of living in our new home, we decided to create a more formal area of garden and a vegetable garden. The veg garden comprised of 4 L-shaped raised beds around a central bricked square with terracotta pots. The edge of the area was cobbled and the paths were filled with gold […]
How to Make a Roman Blind
My favourite kind of window dressing; not only because they offer a fuss-free simple alternative to curtains, but they’re also much cheaper as they involve considerably less fabric! I am not a big fan of short curtains and long curtains usually get in the way of radiators, which are invariably placed underneath windows. On first glance, they […]
Goats Cheese Grape & Walnut Salad
Creamy, nutty and fresh salad, perfect for an elegant summer lunch The inspiration for this salad came from a very memorable lunch in a cafe in Amsterdam. Food always seems to feature heavily in my fondest memories! I had never eaten anything like it before; the combination of flavours and textures blew me away, yet […]
My Garden…
…the story so far. I got into gardening when we bought our first home in 2000; a very small 3 bed detached house on a new build estate. It was on a steep slope, so we created 3 tiers, including a patio and transformed the mud bath into a half decent garden. I say half decent, as […]
Berry Pots
These quick and really simple little berry pots are perfect styling additions to your décor scheme. Choose colours to complement your room; cream or green would work well with most neutral schemes. The choice of bowls/pots available is vast and this method could be used to create a larger berry pot if desired. I chose two small […]
Lemon Cheesecake
A fresh yet indulgent party dessert This creamy and zingy lemon cheesecake recipe has been a family favourite since before I was born (ahem, 41 years ago). I have adapted the original recipe to add mascarpone, which improves both the taste and texture. The cheesecake topping has a mousse-like light texture, yet velvety and smooth. It differs […]
Chocolate Brownies
Officially the Best Chocolate Brownies I’m not a big chocolate cake, brownie or dessert lover…but I love these. I have a family of keen testers who have helped me develop this recipe, which has just the right balance of dark, dense chocolatiness with a slightly spongey cake texture. Perfect on its own, or warm with ice cream. […]