Getting some interiors inspiration at Snape Maltings

We recently stayed in Suffolk basing ourselves in Framlingham for a couple of nights. We’d stayed relatively close by when we last visited back in 2017 - I’m not sure how it was this long ago though, but it was good to be back and we were keen to take another look around the interiors shop at Snape Maltings.

I remembered it being a large place, full of inspiration - and I wasn’t disappointed.

Since we’ve been back it’s been fun to look back at the 2017 post, and we do indeed now have a mustard velvet sofa and it is not a corner sofa! Sometimes the inspiration sticks, but adapts doesn’t it?

Colourful accessories, including table dressings are clearly a staple for the interiors shop there as there were many to choose from, even crocheted ones. I looked at both of the versions below and admired them, but in reality we have table mats we use all the time, which we love and are a lot plainer than these. While a nicely done table does look good, for me it’s all about the food and how that tastes more so.

I was quite taken with the folded paper heart garland though, but realised that I’d need one much larger than that on display for it to have the same impact in our living space, and also that I could probably make one myself - though I have resisted putting it on my list. My guess is that if I want one badly enough I’ll find the time to make one - or more likely, there’ll be an occasion that I think that’ll be nice to decorate with a heart garland and then I’ll go at it all guns blazing right at the last minute! There’s something about knowing yourself isn’t there?

I also spotted this jigsaw, which if I could tolerate jigsaws would be just the thing. I can’t abide them though so it was safe on the shelves, and I was happy to admire it and the people that spend time putting them together to immediately dismantle them!

There were cushions everywhere, and it’s just as well I don’t need any or otherwise at least one (maybe two) might have made it home with us. Instead I was able to enjoy their wonderfulness.

This urchin jug was harder to resist, but I managed that too. I mean I like a nice jug and this would be a great addition, but I really don’t need any more jugs either for holding liquids or displaying flowers, so it too stayed on the shelf. Though at £40 that was relatively easy to do, but it is gorgeous - just not gorgeous enough for me right now.

The rug area was a real treasure trove of colour and textures, and I do love a rug or two. But with mostly carpet in our new house I’m struggling to make use of and justify keeping the rugs we brought with us.

Side tables also appear to be a thing of mine, some featured in the earlier post too, and since we’ve been here I’ve bought more than we’ve ever had, and I am on the lookout for one to go in between our two sofas, but these weren’t them. Sadly, I love the texture on them.

Like a magpie I was drawn to a brighter corner of the shop. And sigh, these were gorgeous, but phew thankfully I’ve only recently made myself a new dressing gown, otherwise I’d have been seriously tempted.

I do love a mooch around a good interiors shop, and the one at Snape Maltings is most definitely that.

Topiary in the Potager at Helmingham Hall

It’s been a while since I’ve shared some topiary, so when I stumbled across these photos from our visit to Helmingham Hall back in 2017, I couldn’t wait to share them. I think my favourite is the sombrero, mainly because, why wouldn’t you love a topiary mexican hat? The Japanese anemones dancing against the brick wall help too.

SOMBRERO?

And I suspect you’re already realising this isn’t just any topiary. With Helmingham in the background, with its chimneys-to-die-for, I present a snowman. Surrounded by acorns. Just imagine the work keeping this garden tidy and in shape.

A SNOWMAN, WITH ACORNS ON THE RIGHT

The topiary is part of the Potager, which is always an area of a garden I’ll head to and one which MOH struggles to get me out of. I think here he was just resigned to his fate. I mean, a walled potager and topiary, he stood no chance!

A SNAIL?

A FROG, OR A PRINCE?

The frog, or is it a prince above, is why there was some hesitation about claiming the sombrero as my favourite. There’s so much work in all of these, and for them to be instantly recognisable as the shapes they were intended, is a real skill. The frog, as you can see is starting to grow, and with so many sculptures in the garden, I’m sure whoever manages these must walk around the garden with their topiary tools in their pockets, at the very least.

Which is your favourite?

The parterre at Helmingham Hall

We’re getting about a bit this week with the posts I’m sharing, so in between quick visits to Lisbon on Tuesday and Italy tomorrow, today we’re somewhere a little closer to home and have landed in Suffolk. In the parterre at Helmingham Hall to be precise. It’s a great garden to visit, another independent garden where you’re never quite sure what you’re going to find.

We visited during our Suffolk break, and I was surprised to see I’ve only shared a single post from our visit so far, and if you’re a fan of knot gardens, then this is worth a visit if you’re in the area. I originally planned to share photos from the Potager, but somehow my fingers had other ideas, but who am I to argue?

While first off this garden might look very traditional, and its choice of plants - box hedging and santolina, it’s not quite as traditional as you’d expect. It’s in good company as that’s the combination used in the formal gardens of Chenonceau too, though the santolina (the light coloured plant) was more densely planted in Suffolk, which brought a bolder ‘stripe’ to the parterre.

The other less traditional thing, but gorgeously so, are these pink cosmos which on our visit were used in the central bed.

From a distance, I assumed they were roses, so it was quite a discovery when I got close enough. While I’m converting to roses, i think because these weren’t roses, it was even more of an exciting discovery. It’s quirks like this, or the plant you don’t expect to see that makes a garden a garden and not a forumaic reproduction of what we know works.

It’s a great space, calming and viewable from the house across the moat - which if I’ve not mentioned before is pretty and fascinating, though sadly not open, but I mean, it has a moat. And surely that means you can imagine anything you like about the place and the reality would never match up to it.

The other thing this garden has, which appeals to me, is those gates which lead to the Potager. So soon, I’ll share more of what’s behind them as I’m rather partial to those too, as i discovered at Cheverny.