The Blue Garden

One of the small gardens within the Walled Gardens of Cannington is the Blue Garden and that's a challenging choice, as 'true blue' is a relatively rare colour among flowers.  You might immediately think of cornflowers, irises and periwinkles, and maybe even the more purple blues of lavenders and pansies.  And I'm sure there's more, but they don't roll of the tongue easily, do they?

WHAT OTHER COLOUR BENCH WOULD YOU EXPECT?

The cobalt blue benches were striking on the wet and grey day we visited.  With more blue flowers in the garden I'm sure it would be a fantastic space.

You forget that rosemary has small blue flowers, but it does, and they were starting to make themselves known.  I bet the garden is also one of most fragrant spots what with the rosemary and lavender.

BLUE FLOWERS STARTING TO SHOW ON THE ROSEMARY

The water feature, which somehow I've cut the top off in my photo, was designed by a student and creates a modern interpretation of a conifer tree.  It's been modified though as it seems that the design also soaked visitors.  As you'd expect the stone wall that it sits around it matches the theme of the garden - blue lias stone - and was quarried in Somerset.

THE BLUE GARDEN WATER FEATURE

THE SILVER BLUE LEAVES OF LAVENDER

There's a lot of rosemary in the central part of the garden, and it was a good reminder of how it can be used sculpturally, adding shape and height.  It also gives me hope for my future rosemary hedges over on the plot.

ROSEMARY USED IN SWATHES OF BEDS

Given that our visit was the middle of March we did well to see the blue flowers we did, especially given the cold weather.  The irises were starting to make themselves known and yet again reminded me that I need to add some to my garden.

DWARF IRISES ADDING A PURPLE BLUE TO THE GARDEN

The board in the garden says it's been designed for year round interest, and it'd be great to see it throughout the year, wouldn't it?

Hello April!

My Papergang box for April is very pink!  And a few days later than usual, April seemed to have snuck up on me.

Once again the stationery in the box is something I'm unlikely to have chosen and bought myself, but like last months now that it's here I'm glad that it is. I think the point of these boxes is the surprise and gift element and if that means pushing you away from your norms and comfort zone.  

It's all pretty and functional enough that it will be used, but that may not be immediately.  I'm fine with that as I often have a stash of things that are waiting for the right occasion.  As well as the usual month card, this month's notebook is a bullet journal, the page is full of dots and so with the rule (which does have numbers on and just hasn't shown in the photograph) it can be kept neat.

My current blog planner is loosely based on a bullet journal, but it's quite freeform and not that pretty, but it works for me, especially as I can tick things off lists.  Some stickers and more uniformity would definitely help, so we'll see how that goes.

That card.  How true has that been so far this year.  There's been glimpses of sun, but the only sure way to have sun lately has been to bring your own.  It's not a bad saying in any case is it?

Also in the box were the stickers I mentioned before, a clear pink pouch which will get used and three chubby pencils. And as you can see with it all piled up, it is very pink.  This box is the last of my Christmas present subscription and it's been a great present. It's been a good reminder that to receive some treats every now and then is a good thing.  

Last month I contemplated extending the subscription for myself, so far I haven't, and I think I'll take a look around to look at other kinds of subscription boxes.  I'm not much into a beauty box, but I've seen some gin based boxes and some craft based boxes which could be more my thing.  If you've had subscription boxes that you've been impressed with then I'd be interested to hear about them.

Inspiration at the Ideal Home Show

One of the challenges about writing a single post about my visit to the Ideal Home Show has been exactly what to put in it.  I mean, there was so much to see, and I tried my best to see most of it, which meant so many photos.  But I think I'm there with a highlights post, though there will be many more posts to come in the coming weeks, because you know how much I like a room set.

In fact I like them so much that the first set of photos were from the Good Homes Magazine room sets.  I might very well have been swayed by this yellowy-goldy-mustard chair in the bedroom room set, but that was my room set of choice. Throughout the show though there were brightly coloured armchairs, so watch out for those becoming a thing (if they're not already).

The picture below is also from the bedroom room set and as well as the pom poms - I've already said here that I expect these to be big this year, and my visit to the Ideal Home Show only confirmed that - there's the mix of textures that just make a room work. The suede footstools, the wooly blanket and the textured rug.  All of these calming colours might not be what you'd pair the yellow chair with, but it really did work. 

I'm also partial to some clever storage and the kitchen room set had this built in on one of the ends of the kitchen cabinets. When storage is functional and stylish then that's a winner in my book.  I'll share more soon, but the kitchen was dark and moody so the copper and metallic accessories really did shine.

The room sets were just inside the main entrance so really were one of the first things you saw as you got into the show, and it was quite a welcome. The bathrooms are often my least favourite spaces as because they're often the most unrealistic space wise - there's a reason that bathrooms are often referred to as the smallest room, isn't there?

This year though I was blown away by the bathroom and it's feature wall -  I later discovered there were extra kitchen and bathroom room sets as a bonus, and I may be changing my mind about them being my least favourite room set.  The patterned feature wall was stunning and would work equally well in a less generous and more usual sized domestic space too, and really give some character to what can often be a functional and formulaic space. 

A SHOWER WALL WITH A DIFFERENCE

Before heading over to the houses to check out the length of the queues there, I found myself at the Furnish Your Home stand, which was full of ideas and items to live up to its name.  I thought I'd choose an item or two from their stand to share with you too, but as ever that was easier said than done.  There were items like these geometric lights which would make a great statement either in a hallway or over a dining area and bring a modern touch to any space. 

Or maybe this sleek and stylish desk which would easily fit into and enhance a corner of most rooms, and double up as a console table when the laptop was put away.  I think it's the type of piece that I'll be trying to accommodate at a future date, as having somewhere so stylish to work could only improve my outputs, right?

I mentioned earlier that feature armchairs were very much a thing, and this bold patterned brass chair, brass unit and wallpaper really made a statement. It really does show that if you go bold, you should go really bold and reap the benefits.  This evokes a vision of a warm, snug and cosy room for me, perhaps a masculine room, but definitely one that would be great for cocktails - make mine a Manhattan!

The other thing I noticed at this year's show was mixed metallics.  There was the copper jars and gold patterned mugs in the kitchen photo above, but also on the Furnish Your Home stand there was a silver mirrored chair adorned with a gold fabric cushion right alongside a rose gold console table.  If you'd described that to me I might have scrunched my nose up, but it looks a whole lot better than I could have imagined.

Leaving the Furnish Your Home stand behind me I finally made it to the houses. The queues were short - phew - and I couldn't help but be reminded of the bubble hedge at Houghton Hall with this one outside the Innovation House with its interior designed by Sophie Robinson.  While it looks real, it's actually faux box and I think is a great way to add interest and kerb-appeal. 

Inside there was a riot of colour,  and I'm saving that for another day. My favourite shot though was this one from the nursery, not quite what you'd call traditional either is it?

Elsewhere around the show there were many things that caught my eye, I've narrowed those down to just four:

1. Fun garden signs, but which would would you choose?

2. An upcycled bench incorporating a milk churn and recycled wood

3. Handcrafted and responsibly sourced Oyster shell lights

4. The stunning designs of the Garden Fireballs

So quite a visit, and that's only part of it - there's much more to come!

This is a collaborative post, but all views and opinions are my own.