Browsing an actual shop

I know, what a novelty. Last week we were away in Norfolk staying in a beautiful, but tiny, cottage close to Holt. More on the cottage another day, it was stunning. But then again, so is Holt - it’s one of my favourite Norfolk towns. We’ve only been to Norfolk three times this year - thanks 2020 - but hadn’t managed to get over to Holt, until this visit. It has some great shops, and it felt almost decadent to be in them, looking around, albeit with face coverings and social distancing, of course.

So today, join me for a wander around the shops, and see what caught my eye.

Holt has plenty of small yards, which are packed full of shops to explore, and we started in Follyology, a new-to-us shop, both of us drawn in by the garden ornaments. The wall art below was very well strategically placed, and caught our eyes. It is stunning, and realistically priced at about a hundred pounds ( I think from memory - sometimes it’s good not to know, or remember, isn’t it?)

From what was on display outside I was keen to see more of the shop inside. That didn’t disappoint either. It was full of colour.

As well as items which I’d not considered before, like these pretty ceramic teaspoons,

Downstairs there were homewares, upstairs clothes and accessories. And it was the latter, on a table in the centre that was my focus, with a number of decorated velvet pouches.

I resisted at the time, but resistance was futile and a day or so later returned to purchase one of the small pouches - you might have already seen which one on Instagram?

Feeling more normal, despite the masks, next up was a wander around the nearby streets and yards, and a pop in to Bakers and Larner’s food hall for something for tea. Another fabulous shop, which seems to have a never-ending series of departments, though in Covid-19 times there are designated entrance and exits, as you’d expect, but which made me realise I knew more of the shop’s layout than I realised.

Around the town I spotted a couple of penguins in one of the shop windows. Clearly not real ones, but they were rather cute. I think MOH was glad these weren’t the things we popped back to Holt for.

Well, not that time anyway.

Maybe my attraction to Holt is its colourfulness, maybe its quirkiness, who knows?

But what was clear was that it felt good To be back, even just for a short while.

Colours of London

You'll know that I'm a fan of colour, but even I was surprised by just how much colour there was in the shops when we were up in town on Saturday.  After some functional shopping - a new duvet cover and some makeup from John Lewis - it was time for something I don't do much of, or as much of as I'd like at times.  A mooch around London's streets, I had a rough route planned to get us from Oxford Street to Piccadilly, and plans for some window browsing along the way.

While I love London sometimes and in places the crowds are too much. One of the junctions I avoid wherever possible is Oxford Street and Regent Street, much preferring to nip through the side streets and Hanover Square.  In fact there are plenty of squares in this part of town and many are worth exploring, but not on this trip, this trip was as it turned out, all about colour.

I mean, when a window display is as colourful and pattern-clashingly-fantastic as this one at Tory Burch, you start to get what I mean. 

All of the prints, patterns and colours were great and my eyes didn't know quite where to look first. I'm not sure I would have put them all together in one piece, and I'm not sure many people could pull it off, but it was a feast for the senses.  In some ways it's no different to a patchwork quilt, just a bold and dramatic one. 

What do you think?

But colour in the shop windows of Regent Street wasn't just limited to clothes, further along these garlands of marigolds were just as impactful.

And the shoes too. There's nothing - other than tradition - that says men's shoes need to be dull is there?  I suspect though, that like the outfit above, only the most flamboyant and/or fashion conscious would feel truly comfortable wearing the pair in the centre, although on the plus side they would go with everything wouldn't they?

To highlight that colour was the order of the day, I turned around at one point and spotted this multi-coloured bike against a post. Perhaps the rider had it to match the shoes above?

Arriving at one of our planned route stops, it no longer surprised me to see one of the windows full of colour. This time in the shape of a tea pot, and with a party in every cup there was plenty for dad's reflection to admire!

It also looks as if I've loaned my legs to the teapot, which gave me a smile when I looked back over the photos.  Inside Fortnum & Mason, the colour continued and these simple but colourful chocolate bars were very tempting.

We found ourselves in the stationery department - and I escaped from there without a purchase, although there were many tempting items. In truth, it's a department we'll be going back to and I've a feeling that it's unlikely to wield the same result.  On this visit though I found myself snapping the colour, from this little bird garland to confetti and a first for me, confetti crackers which do sound an awful lot of fun, as long as they're pulled somewhere out of the confines of my house!

IMAGINE THE FUN - AND MESS - THESE WOULD BRING!

There was the more traditional confetti in boxes but also contraptions to "release the sparkle" which again would be designated not in my space.  The glittered letter garland also looked promising but also fell into the the if-you-pick-it-up-you're-making-a-potential-commitment kind of purchase, and I've long since learnt that these are served best with a photo only. 

At the end of this section there was a display of colourful (what else?) paper plates and partyware of all designs, but of all of them it was these small square ballroom scene ones that took my fancy.  I very nearly left with these, of course I didn't need them and had no idea what I'd use them for, but they were like nothing, and certainly not like any paper plates, I'd seen before.

The other item that seriously tempted me, and got past the do-I-pick-it-up-test was these tiny, tiny cards.  Complete with envelopes I was trying to work out if with these I could become the best correspondent ever, sharing little and often or look like the biggest cheapskate ever?  The other thing that struck me was you could only send these to people with a short address, and the fancier, larger stamps would be out too.

But then again, if these were sent in the post that would actually involve using them. I decided they were far too pretty for that and returned them to the shelf.  I didn't leave completely empty handed though, you may have already seen my Spring decorated fairy cakes from yesterday's post, and I've a feeling that we'll be looking for seasonal cakes every time we visit now!