Inside the house at Standen

The house was designed by Phillip Webb (and the tulip festival that was on when visited was in his honour) and according to the National Trust website the house was "designed to look as though it has always been here – almost as if it has ‘grown’ out of the rock face and a part of the landscape" and it certainly looked comfortable in its surroundings. Work began on the house in 1891, but it wasn't until 1894 that it was finished, at a cost of £18,065 with the mod cons of central heating and electricity.  Webb was a partner of William Morris and there's many Morris & Co designs on show throughout the house, we also spotted some similarities to Morris' Red House too. 

The Beale family - James, a successful solicitor, his wife and their seven children - moved in, initially the house was to be their country residence for weekend retreats, holidays and their eventual retirement. That's not such a bad plan now is it?

The Beales were an unpretentious family and wanted a family home rather than a stately home, and while they do have their treasures and rooms we could only imagine having today, the house does feel welcoming and well loved.

MOTHER OF PEARL SIDE TABLE

A COSY NOOK IN THE BILLIARD ROOM

As we left the Billiard room (which MOH was very keen on) the hallway had this fabulous Morris & Co wallpaper on display, and it prepared you for what was to come in the Conservatory, which looked out onto the terrace and south lawn.

COLEUS

GERANIUM

Having been cornered by a NT volunteer brandishing a book of raffle tickets, we did the only thing possible and bought one! I fully expect to be £10,000 better off by the end of November next year...

Yes well, moving on. Leaving the conservatory we were in the Drawing Room and this tiny draughts set made me smile. It was in this room that we first noticed the distinguished lights, but more on those later.

My favourite room was the dining room (and I am starting to worry that I'm obsessing about dining rooms and furniture) and the dark green was the perfect foil to show off the blue and white plates, and that steel fireplace was pretty special too.

It was in the dining room that we learnt more about the lights; they're the originals from when the house was built designed by John Pearson and recently Phillips designed new lightbulbs to be used in them.

Next we ventured upstairs and it was here that it struck me just how many patterns were used in a single room. Often today our rooms are much plainer, I'm not sure if that's because we prefer it or because we're scared to mix patterns. I suspect it's a bit more of the latter, than all of the former!

MORE PATTERNS USED TOGETHER

ORNATE DOORPLATE

GOGGLEBOX'S GILES AND MARY

The attention to detail is amazing - just look at that doorplate.

In one of the upstairs rooms we were met head on with a Giles and Mary Googlebox chair. I've no idea how I didn't manage to photograph it, but am putting it down to the shock. The shock of us both recognising it straight away.

There wasn't the matching wallpaper though and the chair was a different style, but it was definitely this Morris & Co print. 

And in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's Giles and Mary on the right.

Back downstairs and we wandered through the office located at the front of the house - another clever design detail, which meant that anyone doing business didn't need to be in the rest of the house!

Then it was into the Drawing room with many of the collection of William De Morgan ceramics, as well as a vintage copy of the Radio Times looking slightly different to the versions of today. But who knows in years to come perhaps someone will look back fondly on those too!

There's definitely plenty to see at Standen, I've already shared the gardens and tulip festival, but we also spent time wandering around the kitchen garden and taking a woodland walk, where the bluebells were just starting to flower. I'm pretty sure Standen is a National Trust property we'll be back to visit again.

Show Gardens at the Ideal Home Show

Just before Easter I headed off to the Ideal Home Show at Olympia for the first time in many years - and it was the first time in many years that it was there having moved from Earls Court just up the road. I wasn't looking forward to the journey, but travelling via West Brompton wasn't anywhere near as bad or confuluted as I thought it might be.

I arrived just after lunch and remembered the drill from previous years, which is to check the queue at the Show Houses first. They were longer than I wanted to queue for so I found something else to entertain me until MOH joined me after work, which was pretty easy to do. I knew he'd be most interested in the Home Build section (for bi-fold conservatory doors) and the Garden section (for unobtainable Hawaiian style pods) and I was very good and waited for him to arrive before going into either of those areas. I wish though I'd cheated a little bit and spent some more time in these Show Gardens, because they were lovely - and because I'd like to have had more time to take some photos.

The six Show Gardens have been designed and built by students from the top UK horticultural colleges in just a few days as part of the Ideal Young Gardeners of the Year competition. We voted - using the tried and tested green disc method a la Waitrose charity voting - and right now I'm struggling to find out how the garden we liked did.  More on which one(s) we voted for later on in the post.

Each of the gardens have just a 5.5 m x 4m plot and are founded on sustainability and tranquility in urban spaces and this year they have all considered how they can make best use of excess rainwater in their designs. It's the fifth year of the competition run in association with the Prince's Foundation and organised by TV Gardener David Domoney (from Love Your Garden).  So onto the gardens...

1. Splash the Cache, Chichester College

This is designed as a secret retreat and somewhere to unwind from the stress of a busy urban lifestyle. The living roof, water harvesting system, chains and water barrels enable saving water and the plants and structures support garden wildlife too. The planting scheme is simple and the grasses are used to soften the vertical elements.

I like the watering can waterfall but it's unlikely that I'll incorporate something like this into our garden. I'm more tempted by the paving, with the gravel inserts among the blocks. MOH was taken with the simple wooden benches and was seen strolling up and down muttering things like "you could make this yourself" and "it's only bits of wood bracketed together" so now I'm expecting great things, but between you and me I'm not holding my breath!

2. The Shower of Life Garden, Capel Manor College

This garden claims to provide an environment where you can carry out many of life's daily functions, as it's a place to relax, cook, eat and cleanse oneself. I'm less sure about the last one, I must say - an outdoor shower abroad is a much more attractive option!  It's a tranquil garden though with a light and relaxed seating area where you can enjoy the warmth from the fire (and you'll need it after that outdoor shower!)

It was a lovely light garden and I think lighter than I'd want in a garden, I wasn't sure about the metal gabions filled with white stones and plumbing scrap materials, but I did like the vertical living wall behind the fire and we've toyed with something like that before, but decided against for now. The thing I liked most though was the horizontal scaffolding boards to divide the space, along with the bird feeder in the picture above.

3. Regeneration Garden, Shuttleworth College

This garden was designed to bring the countryside to the city and demonstrate how fruit, vegetables and herbs can be grown alongside edible ornamentals and cottage herbaceous perennials to create a haven for wildlife and provide a tranquil space for rest and relaxation.

Of the Show Gardens I think this one is most like a normal garden, and that's not a bad thing. I've got bags of that grey slate (well a tonne to be precise) waiting to be distributed around our garden at some point. I'm also a big fan of the vintage-style table and chairs, although MOH thought they could do with a good rub down, rust treatment and a nice coat of Hammerite - and he wonders why I won't let him near my vintage French table. We bought a set similar to this (but in better nick) at Chelsea a few years ago, but it lives in our Conservatory as I don't want it getting wet outside. Seriously. The French table lives outside though - one day I'll get around to doing it up!

I've also noticed that Birch is becoming quite the thing and I like these ones set at different heights with holes drilled into them for insects and to hold various bird feeders - but can you imagine what fun the wildlife in my garden would have with something like this?

4. Beyond the Wood Garden, Writtle College

This garden was designed for an urban city space and aims to create a green space that reduces dependency on mains water and helps clean the air. The garden has a woodland feel with clean lines and slick materials. It uses millboard - a composite decking - instead of timber for the wall which has low energy lighting as well as feature lighting within it.

I liked the dark walls of this garden, though again I'm not sure that's right for our garden, I love the planting as there's lots of ground cover going on - I like my soil covered - and I like the many levels and the contrast in the materials used for the step. Definitely food for thought in this garden.

5. Go With The Flow, Pershore College

This garden design creates an idyllic urban retreat for the city dweller with an inner circle of peach which is constantly changing. It makes good use of the vertical dimension and provides privacy despite the garden being overlooked. Elements, such as the trickling of water down the chains and the gentle rushing of the bamboo are used to help block out the noise of the surrounding city.

I like the flooring area of sliced wooden logs, which I think would be relatively easy to replicate at home. I'm less sure about relaxing back onto a fish tank though, I don't think I'd ever fully relax for fear of falling through it and in with the fish! That'd be quite a shock for both of us.  

6. Urban Feast Garden, Askham Bryan College

This garden is about growing your own and making that easy to do so with moveable containers to help with space management and garden functionality, and gives you the flexibility to adapt to the weather. The plants reflect those of a traditional allotment and the herbs, fruit and flowers echo a Victorian plot where each plant is displayed for aesthetics as well as selected for cooking or medicinal purposes, and in this garden makes the best use of vertical height too.

I liked the bright colours of this garden, but it was the plants that I was really drawn to here. I think that's because I like to grow vegetables, and in containers too so I'm always looking for new ideas. I can't see us growing veg on the top of a pergola though, but it's an interesting idea. And look, there's those scaffolding planks as a divider again, I think I need some of those somewhere... 

And the winners are... 

As I've written this post I've discovered the awards given to each garden, I've not yet found the People's Choice winner so I'll continue to look for that. And clearly they're all winners, but here's how the awards went: 

• Bronze - Urban Feast (#6 above) and Splash the Cache (#1 above)
• Silver - Regeneration (#3 above) 
• Silver Gilt - Shower of Life (#2 above) 
• Gold - Go With The Flow (#5 above) 
• Gold and Best At Show - Beyond the Wood (#4 above)  

And as promised I said I'd share which I voted for. I used most of my green discs (we had a handful each) on the eventual winner, Beyond the Wood but also voted for Splash the Cache as my second choice and the Urban Feast as my third choice. Unusually there was agreement from MOH who also voted Beyond the Wood as his first choice, so I'm glad it won as it was pretty special. 

There's lots of inspiration though from each of the Show Gardens, which one or parts of the gardens do you like? 

52 Cookbooks #2: Lamb Dopiaza

You know how sometimes you crave a curry, well I had that last week. So we went for a curry and ate out to avoid the house smelling like an Indian restaurant.

While it was nice and made a change we both found our curries incredibly salty, so were both a little disappointed and I'm not sure the curry craving was really quelled...

That's how I chose the recipe I'd cook this week.

That, along with my new Rick Stein's India cookbook and knowing I had half a kilo of lamb in the freezer!

I was a little wary of this recipe because naughty Rick hadn't included a picture of what it should turn out like.

However having eaten one or two Lamb Dopiazas in my time I forgave him. Mostly because unusually for a curry the ingredient list wasn't as long as your arm and the method was three lines long and can be summarised as "put everything in a pot, stir, bring to the boil then simmer for two hours."

It really was that simple, I will at some point during this challenge no doubt pick a right corker of a recipe but for now I'm on one-pot wonders! As you can see it started off quite pale - the liquid is 500g natural yogurt and 250ml water.

Aside from these, the meat and spices you'll need a kilo of onions, quartered.

But as the time went on the colour, and flavours developed. The sauce stayed quite thin though and didn't look like it would ever thicken as described in the brief recipe. So I took things into my own hands and used some cornflour mixed with some of the cooking liquid to give it some help.

I added some spinach, just before serving so MOH wouldn't question the lack of greenness on his plate (and it worked again!).

This is a great curry (despite the thinness of the sauce), it had a beautifully delicate flavour and sweetness from the onions.

There was heat too, and this developed as we continued to eat but was never overpowering.

I'd cook this again as it's impressive but very, very easy!

And as this recipe was sooo easy I cooked some proper, fluffy basmati rice to accompany the curry.

As well as a mountain of poppadums!

Cooking these in the microwave is addictive - I love watching them spring to life as the heat hits them.

Though I think I may have overdone it, this time! But saying that, there weren't any left...