The Linen Shed Heaven........

Its lovely to be back and its even nicer to be back to tell you all about the most amazing B&B that we had the pleasure to stay at a couple of weeks ago.

As it was our first wedding anniversary on the 12th July I was intent on finding somewhere by the sea for us to spend a couple of child free days together.  I scoured the internet for boutique hotels and B&Bs to little avail, either full up, way too expensive or just not very nice really. Just when I thought all hope was gone or the Premier Inn was calling my lovely friend messaged me with a link to the Linen Shed.

Her wedding photographer, Emma Case had recently done the photographs for the Linen Shed's new website and boy did she do a good job. emmacasephotography.com Emma equally has a beautiful website and if you are looking for a unique photographer you should look her up.

So.... because my friend knows exactly the kind of style that I like, the minute I opened up The Linen Shed website I knew we had to stay thelinenshed.com - go on open it up and see what I mean!!

I got straight on the phone to the lovely Vickie and with fingers crossed and a slightly increased heart rate I was amazed that they had one room left. WooooHOOOO! The Bird Room is the smallest room but I didn't care, neither did I care that we would have to share their bathroom as the other two rooms have their own bathrooms, I just wanted to go, I mean how often do you use the bathroom really??

The Linen Shed is in the beautiful village of Boughton under Blean near to Faversham, Kent. This was another reason that I knew we should go, I have never been to Kent and I believe you should always visit new places. The fact that Whitstable was on the doorstep with fab beachhuts and antique shops just sealed the deal!

After weeks of waiting the Friday was finally here and without going into details about nasty roadworks, traffic jams and wee stops we finally got there! Vickie and her husband Graham welcomed us like we were old friends with a glass of wine and a seat on their amazing verandah. Oh my goodness I was in actual heaven. The house is just beautiful, my eyes were in overdrive. The garden with its gypsy caravan and gorgeous bits and pieces and the rooms with their genuine shabby chic feel, original features and lots and lots of lovely things made me want to move in there and then.

Vickie had recommended local restaurants which were brilliant, some of the best food ever but we could have quite easily sat on that verandah all night drinking wine and chatting with the other guests. It was so easy to feel at home and Vickie and Graham are to thank for that

Before I forget, the breakfasts were to die for, we had the choice of lots of different options, including local farm shop bacon and sausage, parmesan scrambled eggs, creamed mushrooms, sourdough bread, I could go on but I am really hungry. Dining with vintage crockery and beautiful surroundings is something that everyone should do.

I can honestly say that we have never stayed anywhere as special, not just because Vickie and Graham have clearly put a lot of time and love into their home but because of the warmth shown to us and how helpful they both were for the whole stay. Vickie's style has got her into magazines and home style books and it is easy to see why but the sense of community which they clearly have in the local area means that they are loved by all. We will be back!!!!

I posted lots of photos on my Instagram which don't come close to Emma's but I hope you enjoy them xx

TOTAL HEAVEN X

July Styling the Seasons - Wedding flowers

With my busy working life it feels like I am only using my blog to play Styling the Seasons at the moment, but I am not complaining because it makes me think about each month carefully and gives me a chance to reflect. For that I am thankful. 

July is an easy one for me now because this is the month in which we got married last year and will remain a month of real fondness. For weeks leading up to the wedding we checked the weather report daily and prayed a lot!!! As you can imagine just from this month in England nothing is guaranteed and it did get a bit nerve racking - yes I know a 'wet knot never slips' and all that but I did not want to be a soggy bride. I had waited 38 years for this day and nothing was going to spoil it! 

I had asked my mum to be my florist and she took her role very seriously. She is a brilliant gardener anyway and her garden always looks fabulous but this was a big ask. Especially when you have such a fussy daughter..... I hate yellow flowers and I needed everything to be white, blues and pinks. As the peony season was over I needed lots of roses, sweet peas, hydrangeas, gypsophlia and delphiniums. My mum did me proud and I made mine and my bridesmaids bouquets on the morning of the wedding. 

All of the table decorations were done my me, my mum and my friend Zoe the night before in the marquee and the outside flowers in containers were done on the morning. 

For my July Styling the Seasons I have tried to recreate the table flowers, obviously not everything is the same but this is a feel of the day. I used lots of different containers, including old apple bottles, milk bottles, jam jars and other things found at car boots. I also styled them on my new favourite cocktail trolly, I mean you can't have a wedding without cocktails! My mum also made our favours which were strawberry and elderflower vodka cocktails, these really went down well on the day!!! I do hope you like it, I have had lots of fun today and memories of that perfect day came fooding back xx

Don't forget you too can join in with #stylingtheseasons with @lottsandlots and @aptapothecary by styling a surface in your home and saying what that month means to you x

June Styling The Seasons - Bling.....

It's getting to be my favourite time of year when the sun shines all day and the summer holidays are upon us. However, the weather doesn't quite seem to be on the same page and so my June Styling the Seasons needed to inject a bit of bling and gold into the dining room. When I first styled the mantlepiece I collected my best white and gold pieces which I just feel work so well together . I've got my favourite pineapples and some vintage glasses from the car boot and charity shops. Until yesterday I didn't think to add any colour but then these beautiful peonies came into my life!!! I just love them, all fluffy and pale pink like tissue paper balls. I'm now in love with pink and gold  and I can see that it will be creeping in everywhere soon!

I hope you like it and don't forget you can join in with #stylingtheseasons every month by styling a surface in your home to show what that month means to you @lottsandlots @aptapothecary x 

I've also started my own styling event on a Saturday on Instagram called #cherishedspaces I would love you to share with me your most cherished space in the home or elsewhere. I'm astounded by this wonderful community of blogging and you people on Instagram are just lovely xx 

May Styling the Seasons - Vintage tea party.....

This isn't the post I thought that I would do for May, Oh no, I was going to be posting about cocktails and pineapples!  But that will have to wait until June because when I saw this vintage crate in an antique shop today I knew what I was going to do with it.

For the last month I have been obsessed with the garden, as you know from my last post. Because of my rekindled love for plants and flowers I have found myself basically stealing and foraging them from everywhere! I can be driving along when I have this urge to pull over and grab armfuls of cow parsley and those lovely little purple flowers that you see on the side of the road. My lovely husband never really knows what I am going to come home with next. 

Whilst out today I came across the beautiful mauve flowers that you can see in my pictures and no I didn't steal them from anyones garden they were just in a grass verge (finders keepers yes?) I knew I wanted to style them on my dining room table as a centre piece in my new/old crate. 

May to me means being out in the garden, drinking tea and listening to the birds. I love going out there after work and checking to see what new flowers have come up and which ones I can pick for the house. I love the way that this very impromptu styling the seasons has enabled me to bring the garden into the house. Hope you like it too xx

Why not get involved in #StylingTheSeasons with Katy @aptapothecary and Charlotte @lottsandlots and style a surface in your home to show what that month means to you xx

Garden days........

I have been feeling sorry for the garden for ages now, because of our wedding last year it didn't even get a look in and every morning whilst brushing my teeth I would look out and feel sad that while the house was getting all the love the garden was neglected!!

The bottom end of the garden was an unused space, there was a step down with gravel which not only became full of weeds but also was a pretty nasty space to sit in. I had the idea to deck the whole area and I really liked the idea of having some kind of a pergola for the wisteria to wind its way around.

My lovely husband and brother in law made all of this vision possible and I love the results.

Now then the colour of said decking and pergola was a big source of confusion and brain ache. I knew I didn't want a traditional colour that many of the decking paint comes in and my new found love of grey had me thinking. I did a lot of Pinteresting which you can see on my Garden Days board and I was convinced that 2 colours of grey would be the way to go. So we went with Cuprinol Urban Slate for the fences and Cuprinol decking paint in Silver birch for deck and pergola. I love it.

After all the hard work was done ( and there was a lot of painting ) it was my favourite part - styling the decking with all my best garden bits and bobs. The step ladder was bought last year for the wedding and makes a great feature for planters. The Belfast sink has amazingly been sitting in my 

in -laws garden for years!! Can't believe I didn't steal it sooner. The crates were bought from an antiques fair last year, again they were part of my wedding styling. 

The piste de resistance I think is my new lovely potting bench from Homebase http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/timber-potting-bench-872214

A bargain and after a lick of paint, gorgeous blue, I flippin love it!!! Not sure I will actually pot on it but nevermind....

OH and my other little treat to myself for my birthday was the beautiful COX and COX outdoor lampshade. http://www.coxandcox.co.uk/battery-powered-lacy-lampshade-rose-border

I have other lights to put up but the weather has stopped play for a while. 

You have probably noticed that I will plant in anything so I like the eclectic look! 

SUNSHINE we need you!! Can't wait to get out there with a cocktail in my hand and some friends around. Hope you like it xx