Gold, frankincense and magazine Christmas gift guides….

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Hurrah! I ADORE Christmas and everything about it. I love getting drunk on hot spicy beverages. I love the cheek-warming fug of central heating and scratchy manmade fibre-d Christmas jumpers. I love all those terrible, dated Christmas songs, tinny and muffled with horribly-ageing lyrics. It was a ‘different time’ …

Lies estate agents tell (part two)

Two years ago, while flat hunting I wrote this blogpost, listing some of the classic lies estate agents love to tell. We’ve just moved house again and so have had to deal with a whole new batch of the cheeky fibbers. I therefore felt compelled to write a new post highlighting some of the gems …

The line of beauty

Since moving to Kew Gardens last year, a fair portion of my life has been spent on the rattly, elegant and idiosyncratic District line. Here is my love letter to- in my opinion - the best of all the London Underground railways. Firstly, the District line is most definitely a railway, rather than a tube. Most …

The hanging gardens of Barbican

Many of London's great landmarks are easy to love. The architecture is straightforward, quite obviously attractive, easy to photograph and aesthetically pleasing without question. The Barbican is a place that my eyes aren't quite sure what to do with. I find it truly fascinating and it's one of my favourite spots in London. I love the …

The loveliness of vintage labels

One of my favourite things about buying vintage is that every piece has a story attached. Sometimes this story is based in fact - when an item's history and era are known by the seller - and sometimes I make up a wild history myself. I just love that each piece has lived its own …

Black tights be gone/an ode to opaques

The time has come to retire my opaque tights for the summer. I know it’s hot and I know it might make you feel hot to look at my fabric-covered pins, but I could wear tights all year round. I would. And I have. When I was about 16 I defied convention and wore black …

The secret wonders of Kew Gardens Tropical Nursery…

Tucked away in a leafy corner behind a pair of Victorian wrought-iron gates lies Kew Gardens Tropical Nursery. It’s a hot, misty place, filled with intriguing and bizarre wonders of the natural world, from the world’s largest flower to the tiniest lily. The Nursery is where Kew do research, conservation work, and look after rare …

Misadventures with a wildflower window box

I had high hopes for our balcony when I started gardening in September last year. I saw our modest concrete enclosure through rose, tulip and poppy-tinted spectacles. It would become an urban jungle, I thought, filled with hanging baskets brimming with trailing ivy and big, beaming flowers, birds and bees making the glorious space their home. It would …

Now playing// Soundtrack to a grey sky summer

When summer arrives, I'm never usually completely satisfied. I have romantic visions of sunny parks brimming with flowers, barbecues and pimms. FRISBEE. The sickly sweet smell of suncream. Maybe even the chance to venture outside without a coat on. I forget the reality. Skin prickled with goosebumps, the sun staying stubbornly tucked under a cloud. The feeling …

Things NOT to take to Glastonbury

Whenever I go to a festival I always ask the Internet what to pack, and the Internet usually obliges with handy blogposts and checklists for me to use as inspiration when creating my own list. Over the years I have managed (despite all that faffing around) to screw myself over in some way or the …