My name is Poppy, and I live with a little family in rural Hampshire. I am an extraordinarily well bred Cairn Terrier! This is Labrador land – so I am a bit of a novelty around here…. My proper name is “Elite Charm Angels Delight”, but please feel free to call me “Poppy”. My mum calls me all kinds of other names – “Gorgeousness”, “The Popster”, “Poplet”….sometimes she calls me “Bad Dog” but I don’t take much notice when she does.

Mum and I walk every day (sometimes we skip it if it’s raining – rain is  sure to bring on a “Bad Hair Day” – to which both of us are susceptible!). My best walks are when Dad and T come with us.

More often than not, we walk up our road, which is a really pretty road.

At the top of our road is The Park. It’s where I often meet some of my buddies. There is some cool stuff for T to play on as well. Sometimes on a Saturday afternoon, the Upham Harriers come and play football here – I wish I could play with them, but I’m not allowed to. I get my lead taken off here!

And I’m free!

After we’ve crossed the football pitch, we head out into the fields. My family love to admire the view.

Upham is built on the top of a hill, so you can see for miles.

During World War 2, there was an observation point in this copse of trees. Soldiers were permanently stationed here to keep watch for planes coming over the channel from Europe.

My Mum loves the red berries on these trees, I don’t really care about them, because I can’t eat them…

I love this section of the walk – it’s often where we come across pheasants – and I chase them! I’m not really supposed to……Mum is a bit scared of the gamekeeper …..but that’s her problem, not mine!

A little later on, we turn up and walk adjacent to the pigs. They are much, much bigger than me, so I generally leave them alone.

Next is the really scary part we have to walk through – there’s a massive bull…..

Did you see him? Did you see him? He’s enormous! But whew, we do manage to get past him ……

And then we head back up our road – almost home….

The rest of my day is spent lounging around, sleeping, chasing the squirrels or pigeons that dare to enter my garden and hoping that Mum might leave a pair of her leather boots around for me to chew on….!

I’ve just heard that my daughters school is going to be closed again tomorrow. I’m so pleased that I work from home right now, I would hate to have to get in the car and drive anywhere, so I do sympathise with those who do have to ………but I do really LOVE the snow!

We’ve had loads, and what else can you do but enjoy it! I’ve taken Poppy out for a walk today. At some places she has barely been able to walk and has bounded her way through – it’s been an adventure.

Tessa and Charlotte have built a massive snowman.

Brush Cottage looks magical!

The tree is decorated…….

It’s cold outside, but warm and toasty in here……

The cake is made and decorated…..

Presents have been wrapped……

The Wreath is made and is on the door…..

Sleeping dogs have been left to lie…..

I think I’m ready for Christmas……

Come On!

Every year I buy myself a couple of new decorations – that I delight in seeing year after year at Christmas time. I am not in favour of buying completely new decorations every year!

This year, in Cologne, I came across this beautiful shell pearl bauble (Note the Twinkleberry pink and brown colours…)

I could not resist this delicate little felt Pansy Fairy…..

But the star of the show has to be this glamorous reindeer!

We’ve just come back from a marvellous trip to Cologne! I love Christmas – I think I might have already told you that…? And I had heard about the German Christmas Markets, so when my Aunt told me she was coming to stay for December I started looking around for something special for us to do. Cologne is apparently one of the best places for the markets – there are 7 dotted around the city. We travelled over by Eurostar and ICE. The first thing you see when you leave the train station is Cologne Cathedral.

The Cathedral is one of the world’s largest, took over 600 years to build and is the biggest Gothic church in Northern Europe.  It dominates the city and I was astounded that is still stands after the pounding that Cologne took during the second world war.

While the outside of the building is dark and brooding, the interior is architectural perfection, with light streaming though the myriad of windows.

There is a market right  beside the cathedral, as you walk through the stalls you are tempted by the most wonderful things to eat and drink, Gluhwein and traditional German foods, French crepes and Belgian waffles – for us – the caramalised nuts were irresistable!

You could skate under the sparkling lights……..

Or have a wonderful, wacky hairdo!

You could watch a sculptor carve an owl, out of a chunk of wood, sparks flying and the scent of pine filling your nose ( no Health and Safety here!)

The gnomes and other magical creatures keep an eye on you………don’t forget to look up to catch a glimpse of them!

You can buy the most delicious Stollen from this lovely lady:

and even meet a handsome man!

No, you can’t have that one – he’s already been taken!

Cologne is a wonderful city to wander through. It was devastated by the bombing during the war, but every now and then you come across beautiful buildings, full of architectural detail that holds the eye. The people are friendly and welcoming – the climbing frames are great!

We came across this little library, that borders a huge park and play area – what a cool place for a library!

Saw ancient jewels, that make your heart skip a beat……….

And at the end of the day, when you are tired, cold and your feet ache, a beer hall is the perfect place to recharge your batteries! For traditional food and Kolsch – served in uncharacteristically delicate glasses!

Wonderful!

After our 5th hour of walking The Louvre, Tessa turned to me and asked “Mummy, do you and Daddy ever get tired of looking at paintings?”  We don’t really,  David and I both love museums and galleries and we have always tried to instill in Tessa a love of art and things creative, but I think that after another full day of art the poor child had had enough!

We had started our day at The Orangerie, which is where Monet’s Waterlilly paintings are housed, 8 massive paintings hang in 2 specially built oval rooms, with natural light from skylights – it  is the most incredible sight. I love the waterlilly collection, the colours and story behind them are inspirational and when you are in this space, surrounded by the paintings, you feel as though you are almost in them. Absolutely worth going to see!

After The Ogangerie, we walked up the Champs Elysees to see the Arc d Triomphe, and watch the seemingly chaotic traffic which whizzes around it. And then – on to The Louvre. We went to see Michaelangelo’s Slaves, all the Leonardo’s and of course, the Mona Lisa,  the Rembrandt’s, it’s a real who’s who of art ! and impossible to see everything…..

I LOVE I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid, the juxtuposition of the modern glass and steel structure and the incredible architecture of the old buildings is inspired! As we were leaving The Louvre at 10pm ( they stay open late on a friday night) the moon was rising over the building – it was magical.

On our second day in Paris we used the Batobus to get around, it’s a great way to travel the city. You can either buy a ticket to wherever you are going or a hop on hop off day pass. Our first stop was the D’ Orsay Museum. What an amazing space – a former railway station provides a home to an incredible collection of impressionist and post impressionist paintings and sculpture.

The massive roof is constructed entirely of glass, so the light coming into the main central space is wonderful. One of my all time , most favorite scultures is this one by Camille Claudel, I first saw it 20 years ago and so it was very special for me to see it again.

I also love the Degas Ballerina paintings and bronze scultures, This one I think is particularly beautiful.

After the D’ Orsay we went to the Rodin Museum. The collection is housed in what was originally Rodin’s Paris home and the light open rooms and gardens are the ideal space for what are some of his best and most important works. Once again, it was very moving for me to be here again after 20 years. The Burghers of Calais still brings tears to my eyes.

And one cannot help standing in awe of his sculpture of Balzac.

Our day ended with a trip to the Eiffel Tower. David doesn’t like heights, so we walked up to the second platform and then the fearless thing that is my daughter co-erced me to take her up to the very top – some 324 meters from the gound…………

David, Tessa and I went off to Paris last week. We’ve never used the Eurostar before, so it was a bit of an adventure! We loved the new St Pancras station, what a sleek, elegant and modern station – Gare du Nord pales in comparison – Yay! 1 to the U.K.

Our little hotel was in the Latin Quarter, we were a bit nervous as we thought that it might only have play play stars….. and it was an old building and a bit run down, but they would allow Tessa in the room with us and were such very nice people and most importantly- it was wonderfully situated – literally 5 minutes walk from Notre Dame. We left our baggage in our room and wondered down to the Cathedral. What an amazing building, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, which took over 2 centuries to finish with a sense of lightness and grace that comes from it’s flying buttresses and remarkable filigree work. We climbed the 400 steps of the bell towers for the view over the City – and what a view! Paris is a breathtakingly beautiful city!

Then we went off onto the other island, to Berthillion, for what is renowned as being the best ice-cream in France, and it certainly earns it’s reputation – I had a scoop of coffee and a scoop of chocolate and it was delicious.

We wandered up through the Latin Quarter, to the Jardin du Luxembourg , passed the beautiful Pantheon and then went for dinner at Les Fontaines, where we had a delicious meal – I know David and I both had fish, but my french is non existant, so who knows what fish it actually was! Our waitress was very kind and tried to explain the menu as best she could, but a lot of it was down to sign language and animal sounds……..

During the day, Tessa and I did get up close to one of those gorgeous frenchmen you hear all about……..

We’ve just finished watching the DVD of The Illusionist. It’s a story of love and magic , intrigue and mystery – with a wonderful twist – and we loved it!

I’ve just finished reading a book that I think is fantastic and so would love to recommend. It’s called A Fine Balance

by Rohinton Mistry. I found it quite daunting initially, but quickly found myself entirely engrossed and unable to put it down.

The book weaves the story of 4 individuals from the indian caste system during the 70’s.  I felt that I was  given insight into the political and social situation affecting the characters as well as the minutae of their daily life.

I’t’s an incredibly sad narrative, but I also found it moving and uplifting  that people who live in such appalling conditions can still find happiness and joy in their circumstances and surroundings.

If you read it or have read it please let me know what you thought.

The Twinkleberry site is at long last being redesigned!

Of course, Mr Perfectionist (aka Captain Slow) is building it, so it’s bound to take quite some time to finish………..but it’s looking lovely and I am very excited!

One of my very best things must be getting into bed when I have changed my linen. I am a bit of a purist when it comes to bedding and have always only ever bought white pure cotton linen.  I iron all our linen myself ( I know – it’s crazy – but there you are) and both David and I delight in climbing into bed and enjoying the feeling of fresh white cotton, so I was really suprised when I came across Bella Notte Linens and was temped by the most sumptuous, colours and fabrics – I might need to rethink my dedication to white cotton…………

Image courtesy of Bella Notte Linens

I didn’t really know what all the macaron fuss was about……

Until a friend bought a box for me in Paris this weekend

Oh dear…….now I know what all the Macaron fuss is about……..

We are in the middle of the English Asparagus season, It’s one of my favorite things to eat and so my friend Jane and I drive to Durleighmarsh Farm near Petersfield every week to buy boxes of these delectable spears.

I’ll eat them any which way I can, whether its wrapped in smoked pancetta and roasted, dipped in hollandaise or smothered in risotto.

More often than not, we gobble them, lightly steamed, dressed in olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkled with shaved parmesan – delicious!

What’s your favorite asparagus recipe?

The petals from our apple trees are all gone now, I should have done a post called “Poppy the puppy in the petals” as for a while there was a carpet of petals under the trees. Linda sent me these photo’s of her beautiful tamarix tree, one in bud and one 1n full flower, truly magical! I think that this must be my favorite time of the year and I can’t imagine a nicer place to be than England in the spring time. I am loving the wisteria and the lilac trees that are in bloom now.

Images courtesy of Linda

When I wake up in the morning

and open my curtains

I am greeted by the most glorious sight

My entire bedroom window is filled with the softest pink apple blossoms. It’s a view that I look forward to and never fail to appreciate when it arrives.

What’s your favorite view?

Poppy arrived on the 30th of March and our lives appear to have changed immeasurably! Things like slippers and socks are no longer safe and shopping involves debate on bling collars and safe chewable options. There is nothing like a wagging tail to greet you in the morning though. She is a happy, friendly, playful pup and we are completely besotted!

We’ve decided that it’s time to get a puppy. We’ve our hearts set on a Cairn Terrier and so today we are driving to Derby. Will Poppy be for us and we for her?

I love living where we do, which is in a very beautiful, small village in Hampshire for many reasons, but it’s also perfectly positioned as it’s only an hour from London (by train  that is – about 2 hours by car). I LOVE London! From the minute I arrive in the City I go into complete sensory overload and am aware of all the wonderful things I miss out on by living in the country……..

We went over the weekend, one of our clients – Auditel Franchise -  was nominated for a best website award and the award ceremony was on friday night  and also, my sister Rosy was arriving for a visit from Australia.

Tessa’s only request for the weekend was to go to the Tower of London, which we did on Saturday. What a beautiful day it was, we have been treated with some glorious days lately and it was perfect to be wondering around a place of such historical importance.

When visiting the Tower, you can join one of the tours which are given by various Yeoman of the Guard. This is well worth doing – the Yeoman are interesting, full of  fascinating details and entertaining too. Our guide was Chris.

Now, I know that sometimes I do ramble on about things unrelated to jewellery, but this is not one of those posts because the Tower of London is where the Crown Jewels are kept!

Chris, gave the girls in the group this advice regarding the Crown Jewels:

” Take a long look at those massive diamonds, look into your husbands loving eyes, look back at the Crown Jewels, look at the minuscule diamond ring on your finger and then slap your husband!“

I know that spring is on the way when little daisy princesses appear in my garden!

Kirstie Allsop – from “Location, Location, Location”  has lost her engagement ring and has set up a website to try and find it.

I know I would be devastated if I ever lost my wedding band. When I got married we couldn’t afford a diamond engagement ring and it never really bothered me as I prefer coloured stones ( I can’t tell you how happy David was about that!). For our 10th anniversary David designed the most beautiful ring for me as a surprise, it has 40 small diamonds set into a rose gold band – I could never imagine a more beautiful ring. Isn’t it funny how there are some things that are so precious and sentimental.

Kirstie, I hope you find your ring.

Have you come across Bookmooch.com yet? If, like my family, you are readers then it’s worth looking in to.

Bookmooch is a site, where you can list books that you own, but no longer want. Other members can then “mooch” your books from you and you can “mooch” any books you might want. It is all based on a point system, so if you mooch from someone in you own country, it costs you a point, but if you mooch from abroad, it’s costs you 2. If someone from abroad mooches from you, you get 3 points.

You don’t have to agree to post abroad, set up your profile carefully as there are various options you can choose.

I have been a member now for a couple of years and love it.  We all read a lot and while I think the library system is amazing here, sometimes I like to keep a copy of a book. I earned a lot of points posting abroad – I always say  that I will only post by surface mail, as it’s much more affordable and that postage will take 6 – 8 weeks but  it’s been lovely to see more people from the UK joining and using Bookmooch.

Dave took me to dinner this week, at a very special restaurant in Winchester called Chesil Rectory. The building that houses the restaurant is the oldest house in Winchester, with many of the original features.

Now, while I love globe artichokes, I am a bit nervous about Jerusalem artichokes.

However the starter that I had at Chesil Rectory was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten, a winter salad of green leaves, Jerusalem artichokes, dried tomatoes and rosary goats cheese, embraced with a heavenly dressing.

Does anyone out there know the Head Chef – Damian Brown? Because I am begging for the recipe!

Linda, very kindly shared some of her photo’s of this weeks snow with me. I have to post them as I have just loved seeing them.

This one is exactly as I imagine Narnia to be…..

These must be the best snowmen I have ever seen. Linda and Sue don’t know who made them, but I think they are awesome!

Linda and Sue are from St Neots, and have enjoyed this weeks snow as much as I have.

Images courtesy of Linda and Sue

The UK is experiencing the heaviest snow falls in decades. The economy – already fragile – is losing £billions a day, schools are closed and public transport has come to a standstill. There is nothing else you can do, but bundle up, and go out and enjoy it! Dave and I went out this morning for a walk, come along with us……..

The cottage at 9.30 am, surrounded by pristine whiteness and us without a toboggan…….

There is a lovely walk we do, which takes us out of the village and through the fields and woodland, we thought it would be the perfect walk to do today.

I love the way the snow collects on the bare branches.

We are lucky to live in a village which is surrounded by farmland, this field is covered with inches of snow and the backdrop of this row of trees is a spectacular sight.

There – you see, I did actually venture out of the house!

And so, whew, an hour later, here we are back in the village, at the duck pond which has frozen over.

Poor ducks!

I’m not having a very good morning! What I really feel like doing is stamping my foot in frustration, however that doesn’t really work for someone over a certain (say 10!) age.

My trusty, well used, coffee pot has come out for the second time today. I LOVE coffee – but too much is bad for me, I get all trembly and that’s not a good way to work – but hey? What’s a girl to do?

And then really – a mince pie? of course! It has been a bad morning and I do need a little pick me up!

Is chocolate going too far do you think?

Okay, I admit, it’s probably a little bit sad, but indulge me please!

How can you resist this lovely chocolatey brown…………

or the clever stitching detail?

I LOVE my new boots!

I am so enjoying these last couple of days of sunshine, why is it that the blue sky and warmth of the sun makes such a difference? I know that I feel so much more positive and energetic when it’s clear and sunny. Living in the U.K. makes you appreciate these glorious days.

I couldn’t resist these photo’s this morning – the view from Brush Cottage.

A weekend to London is never complete without stopping in at Borough Market on a Saturday morning. You might think that it’s the freshest of fresh vegetables that would catch my eye, or the selection of freshly baked bread, the tastiest olives? no………..it was this veritable mountain of chocolate brownies!

I met Corrine Wright last year, she is a potter/ceramist who lives and runs her studio in Botley, Hampshire. I particularly loved her range of “ladies” – these little figurines are whimsical and dreamy and Corrine puts such a lot of thought and love into them, each one is a little individual.

Corrine was kind enough to souce a “Twinkleberry” pink for me and so my Twinkleberry lass is just gorgeous and I used her a lot to display my jewellery on during the christmas fairs. I was tempted to commission a range to stock on the site, but decided against it as they are fragile and I just could not guarentee them surviving the post…..sadly!

Three times a week, come rain (yes, honestly, I have even run in the rain) or shine, I go out for a 3.5 mile run through the fields surrounding our village. Up until now it’s been a very relaxed affair, with no pressure, just a little “me time”.

But recently I realised (with a bit of help from my quite competative husband David) that to take up to 45 minutes to run 3.5 miles is pretty pathetic. So, no more gentle jogging, no more taking time to smell the flowers – it’s serious!

I’ve been working really hard to get my time down to 35 minutes – which is a fairly acceptable 10 minute mile and today I did my best time ever – 33.36!

I love this time of the year, when there is so much springing to life, colour and shape, things seem to change and grow overnight.

I like Honeysuckle but I almost prefer the buds to the flowers. Look at the organic and sculptural shapes of these buds that are almost, but not quite open.

Have a lovely weekend!

Inspired by the tempting creations at The Cupcake Company, I thought I would give it a try for Easter……How hard can it be? (You might well ask yourself?) Harder than you think!

But one small 9 year old thinks she’s died and gone straight to heaven…

One morning, during the very short summer, Dave and I were sitting outside, basking like lizards in the sun. We noticed a pigeon, flying in and out of a bush right by our front door. She was building a nest and we both were very skeptical about the possibility of her laying her eggs in such an unsuitable place. The bush is not terribly dense and we are in and out of this particular door all the time, but she persevered and was soon sitting on her nest peering down at us peering up at her.

2 babies hatched and grew at an amazing rate and before I knew it, they were leaving the nest. I managed to get a picture of them just before they left for good.

The last clematis petals have dropped sadly. I am always amazed at these brazen blooms that burst from a spindly, scraggly tangle of stems.

I never know quite what to do with the plant. Do you prune it or leave it alone? It looks quite untidy during the winter months, dry brown stems wrapped around our pretty white trellis. But when spring comes, light green leaves arrive, and not long after we are blessed with these gorgeous flowers.

We have 2 ancient apple trees in the garden at Brush Cottage. In the winter they look like gnarled sculptures, especially when the snow lands on them.

In the spring though, the branches come to life with an abundance of blossoms and when I open my bedroom windows to this beautiful sight it feeds my soul and reminds me that warm weather is on the way.

The trees produce an abundance of fruit and I hate to waste it. This year I am after the perfect Apple Pie recipe… Do you have one for me?

Our local farmer has planted 3 huge fields of Borage around Upham. They are now in flower and are magnificent! The blue/purple flowers contrasting against the green hedgerows and blue skies are a sight to behold. I asked George’s wife – Gina what he had planted them for and she told me that they are used in the making of Starflower oil. I had a look on Google to find out more about Starflower oil. It is used as an alternative to Evening Primrose Oil and can be beneficial in the treatment of skin disorders, PMS and other hormone related disorders. I think I feel better just looking at these gorgeous fields!

Twinkleberry all happens from a studio in my cottage in Upham. To find it, you have to navigate a narrow, leafy, pathway and before you know it the foliage opens and you arrive at Brush Cottage! It’s a typical, pretty English cottage and I love that we are hidden away from the rest of the village.