March 8, 2013 by naturalbeautycabinet

Inspirational green: Northumberland

Just recently, I’ve been making our 2012 album and going through old photos. I got totally caught up in the pictures from the week we spent in Northumberland in early October. I’d always wanted to visit Northumberland because the word on its own is enough to make me think of faerie and mist-shrouded woodland, windswept coast and endless, epic skies. So we finally went and it didn’t disappoint one bit. We were incredibly lucky to get a week of almost unbroken sunshine which made it even more magical (although I completely get that windswept coastline is much easier to appreciate in gentle sunshine than minus 2 degrees sideways sleet…).

We stayed in Alnmouth, right where the coast meets the estuary and just down the road from Alnwick, home to Harry Potter’s castle (known locally as Alnwick Castle, of course). It was a fantastic base for exploring – everything we saw was less than 3/4 of an hour’s drive away and there was so much more we didn’t get time to see. All in all, I totally fell in love with the Northumberland and if you’re looking for a UK-based destination, you won’t be short of amazing stuff to see and do.

Alnmouth beach

Alnmouth estuary bathed in evening sunshine

The coastline near Craster

The fountains at Alnwick Gardens

Alnwick Gardens

Dunstanburgh Castle

Cragside

Holy Island

Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island

Photos © Natural Beauty Cabinet. Please do not reproduce without permission.

August 29, 2012 by naturalbeautycabinet

Inspirational green: Ivydene House

A week last Sunday, I’d been married for a whole year. So I surprised the Man with the Camera with a night away. He was still a bit exhausted from the Olympics (two and a half weeks away filming the Olympic football at Wembley). I was still a bit knackered from the lingering laziness that descended after my course finished. We wanted somewhere quiet and luxurious for a bit of green, lots of eating and some dozing in sunshine.

We stayed at Ivydene House B&B, easily the best B&B I’ve ever stayed in. It’s tucked away in a village called Uckinghall (don’t say that too quickly when drunk…) near Tewkesbury. And it just gets everything right. There’s two acres of garden, complete with benches, cushions and wrought iron tables (vital for holding the tray of tea and homemade cake we were brought on arrival, after disappearing down the garden path to enjoy some late afternoon sunshine dozing). It’s got a tennis court complete with rackets and tennis balls – which we made use of to justify some more dozing. It’s got a pond, complete with adventurous ducks. It’s got two beautiful guest rooms with all those finishing touches that make a stay away from home truly special. And we ate a truly fab cooked breakfast in the conservatory the next morning, complete with homemade bread, honey from hives in the garden and fresh fruit.

I could waffle on but you’d be better off experiencing it for yourself. If you’re UK-based and fancy a trip Tewkesbury-way, you quite literally couldn’t do better than Ivydene.

Website: http://www.ivydenehouse.net/index/index.html

May 10, 2012 by naturalbeautycabinet

Keeping up with the Smiths: Atzaro, Ibiza

I promised a bit more about our Ibizan hotel and here ’tis. Thanks to a Guardian 50% offer on Mr and Mrs Smith hotels a few months back, we were able to push the boat out a bit on our holiday accommodation. We booked into the Atzaro, located in the North East of the island. It’s inland, so missing the sea views, but it more than makes up for that by hiding itself away in an orange grove. Which is in full blossom in April. Turns out paradise smells like orange blossom. Everywhere we went, we got there through fragrant clouds of citrussy sweetness.

The hotel is my favourite kind of all – the kind that goes out rather than up. No high rises here; just whitewashed villas nestling amongst the trees. Two pools, a restaurant, a spa, an outdoor bar and sushi restaurant (sadly not open until high season starts in June), and endless outdoor beds complete with large cushions, shades and white muslin curtains gently wafting in the breeze. Wherever you go, it’s possible to stop and lounge somewhere about every 10 paces. Don’t try and rush. It won’t get you there any faster!

Because it would have been rude not to, I also treated myself to a massage in the hotel spa; a beautiful complex surrounded by fountains, orange trees and complete with hammam, sauna and the obligatory lounging areas. For a bit more lounging. I’m not a relaxed flier so I was carrying rather more tension in my body than usual (despite the determined lounging). Thanks to my therapist Laura, and a Balinese-inspired treatment comprising both Eastern and Western strokes, pressure point work and joint manipulation, I was carrying a lot less tension afterwards. Although I’d be doing a lot better now if she could have been waiting at City Airport after the flight back…

For more on the hotel, check out their website.

May 6, 2012 by naturalbeautycabinet

Inspirational “Blue”: Ibiza

Perhaps not what you were expecting, right?

I might not be the original club kid (my idea of clubbing is more grungy music, a bit of 70s disco and lots of naff dancing) but there’s a lot more to Ibiza than Sant Antoni (San Antonio).

The Man With The Camera and I just spent a long weekend there in search of some sunshine and a bit of luxury, courtesy of our very beautiful hotel (more on which later). And I feel like we stumbled on a secret gem. With our hire car we could get everywhere inside of an hour and more often than not, when we pitched up at the various coves, beaches and hills that we visited we were either completely alone or sharing the space with just a handful of others. It might not be as warm as some might like in April – try 18-21 degrees with the odd slightly chilly breeze – but the skies were azure blue, the sea was crystal clear and the sun has clearly been taking his holidays in the Balearics recently. Plenty of it to go round and the little bit of rain we got was polite and stuck to late evening or overnight only.

April 4, 2012 by naturalbeautycabinet

Inspirational Green: Ham House, Richmond

Ten days ago, me and The Man With The Camera took ourselves off in the glorious sunshine to Richmond to visit Ham House. Where we indulged in as many simple, English country garden pleasures as we could fit in. We played croquet on the lawn. We ate a picnic on a wooden bench. We strolled through the ‘Wilderness’ – an area of the garden so named because it was very slightly less manicured than most other parts of the garden(!). I imagined I was wearing a 17th century full-skirted dress. I suspect The Man With The Camera did not. We ate cake outside amongst the gentle clinking of tea cups and the happy murmur of happy people. I bought a £1 second-hand paperback from the shelves in the Cafe so I could lie on my front on the grass and read it while listening to the birds.

I loved every minute.

There are not enough days like that for my liking.

Photo(s): ©Natural Beauty Cabinet

November 27, 2011 by naturalbeautycabinet

National Tree Week: 26th Nov – 4th Dec

Yesterday marked the start of National Tree Week, launching the winter tree-planting season. Thousands of people across the country will be getting together to plant about a million new trees. If you want to get involved, you can find out more here, or see the The Tree Council’s events map here.

I’m a bit fascinated by The Tree Council, to be honest. It sounds too Lord of the Rings for words. I so want it to consist entirely of representatives from the major tree species in the UK, a bit like the Ents, talking really slowly about the issues facing UK trees today.

I don’t need an excuse to celebrate trees. They are so incredible. So I trawled back through our photos to find pictures that would help show just how wonderful and varied they are.

As ever, all photos courtesy of The Man With The Camera who fortunately likes to look at the trees as much as I do. Even if it’s through a lens.

Photo(s): ©Natural Beauty Cabinet. Please do not reproduce without permission.

October 25, 2011 by naturalbeautycabinet

Inspirational green: RHS Wisley Autumn Festival

The blog’s been to RHS Wisley before but today it’s going back there for the Autumn Festival. If you’ve been reading my more recent posts, you’ll know just how much autumn brings out a combination of my inner five-year-old and my latent pagan self. It’s just amazing.

Spending a Sunday celebrating all things autumnal, be they colours, foods, plants or rituals was just what I needed to shrug off the work shackles.

Courtesy of The Man With The Camera, enjoy the Autumn!

British pears - currently being discussed at length by Michel Roux on 'Great British Food Revival'!

The most comprehensive collection of apples I've ever seen

Autumn veg - the best kind. Take THAT, salad...

Freshly picked apples being squeezed

Even mini trees go autumnal (Wisley's Bonsai Garden)

Photo(s): ©Natural Beauty Cabinet

September 30, 2011 by naturalbeautycabinet

Inspirational green: mini-mooning in the West Country

After a full-on week of development editing, blog writing and the seemingly endless typing up of course notes, I’ve reached a surprising place where there just aren’t any more words. Not until tomorrow anyway when my course continues!

So I decided it was time for some inspirational green, courtesy of the few days I spent post-wedding down in Devon with my new husband. We stayed in North Bovey on the edge of Dartmoor.

Enjoy. And have wonderful, green weekends.

There were wild ponies on Easdon Tor...

Sitting on the very top of Easdon Tor; we walked up here from the back door of our cottage...

If you sit still, the ponies come to you...

Feeding the birds in the back garden

This is the Dart. We swam in it. It took 3 weeks to warm back up.

Amazing dahlias in the garden of Castle Drogo

Did I mention there were wild ponies? (this is on a different tor...)

The magical and ethereal Wistman's Wood, full of 600+ year old stunted oaks.

September 1, 2011 by naturalbeautycabinet

Inspirational green – Getting married at Bodenham Arboretum

I’m a big fan of trees. And being by water. I’ve always wanted to get married as ‘outside’ as possible but the delightful English weather makes that a calculated risk. I never really thought I’d get all of those things, until me and The Man With The Camera were introduced to Bodenham Arboretum, nestled in a valley in Wolverley, Worcestershire.

It’s a gem of a place, made even more so because of the relaxed, friendly staff. At its core, the Great Pool – a placid expanse of duck-speckled water surrounded by willows and rushes – at the top of which you’ll find the Visitor’s Centre stroke Restaurant; an eco-building tucked into the hillside with a grass roof and a panorama of windows framing that gorgeous view.

We didn’t spend a lot of time making our decision. We ate amazing homemade cake in the restaurant, wandered up a grassy hill to the little brick gazebo at the top, took in the lake, and discovered that we could bring our own booze and they wouldn’t charge us corkage. And we decided we couldn’t think of a nicer place to get married.

The wonderful Jo transformed the restaurant with garlands of greenery and fairy lights and helped put on a gargantuan spread of local produce to rival a Roman feast. James, the owner of Bodenham Farm, lent us his amazing rustic wooden benches and mobilised his sons to get them to the top of that hill, so we could have the ceremony outside that little gazebo. And our guests turned up doling out smiles, hugs and truly awesome dance moves in generous measure.

It was an amazing day. And Bodenham Arboretum is a really beautiful place. If you’re in the area, I’d strongly advise you check it out. Even if just to eat cake by the lake, while drinking in that view.

Find out more about Bodenham Arboretum here: http://www.bodenham-arboretum.co.uk/information.html

Eco-building with our reception going on inside...!

The view from our reception, bathed in sunshine

Our band - The Jazz Ramblers; also highly recommended

A cupcake the size of my head, courtesy of my amazing friend and her White Rabbit Bakery

Me in the dress (all jewellery made by another amazing and talented friend)

May 24, 2011 by naturalbeautycabinet

Inspirational Green: RHS Wisley

It’s been a while since there was any Inspirational Green in my life and I could feel the cobwebs forming. So on Sunday 22nd, The Man With The Camera and I took ourselves off to RHS Wisley in Woking, Surrey for the day. Fortunately the weather was our friend and it stayed sunny for the most part, although the wind tried its very best to knock us over a few times.

I was totally bowled over by Wisley (and that wasn’t just the wind). In fact, I lost count of the number of times we turned to each other and asked ‘Why is it we’ve never been here before?’. It’s a very beautiful and very inspirational place; the flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society. There’s a little bit of something for everyone over a huge site, encompassing a giant rock garden, glasshouses containing the wet-loving and dry-loving species, an alpine-inspired meadow, fruit orchards, vegetable plots, a glorious herb garden divided up into culinary, medicinal and cosmetic zones, a wild garden full of foxgloves and winding paths, a heather garden, a pinetum and a bit more besides that I would go into if this wasn’t already the longest sentence I think I’ve ever written.

We aren’t gardeners. In our garden, things still seem to grow more by luck than skill or toil. But Wisley made me want to be more of a gardener and when we succeed in selling our house and moving onto our next place, I know exactly what my herb garden is going to look like.

I’ve already decided we’re going back. At least once when the rose garden is in full bloom. And again when those amazing fruit trees are weighed down with berries.

Plus there’s the RHS Wisley store where I discovered a couple of new brands for my ongoing blogging quest. On this visit, I discovered Herbfarmacy – more on that to follow.

But for now, pictures, and a little taster of Wisley’s spring colours.

The 'wet' zone

There were dragonflies everywhere...

Indoor desert

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Category Archives: Inspirational green