UK Trip Instagrams

Alright, it's time for my last UK trip-related post. Thanks for indulging me – you've all been very patient! I might not have taken that many photos of Brighton during our stay (or London on the few times I visited, for that matter!), but I was posting photos to Instagram fairly regularly, and thought it'd be fun to collage some of those shots together, roughly in the order I took them. It's interesting to see how the weather changed during the month we were there, from cold and grey on our arrival to beautiful blue skies nearer the end, and to see how this has affected the colour and light.

I hope some of you have found these UK posts interesting, and if you are heading to Brighton or London anytime soon and have any questions about things to do or places/shops to visit, just let me know! I'll be bundling all of these posts together and popping them on my travel page soon too, so they'll be easy to find.

It's been a bit of a challenging week for me, so I'm very much looking forward to a relaxing weekend and hopefully popping by the Markit handmade and design fair at Fed Square on Sunday. How about you – are you up to anything exciting this weekend?

Holiday Loot

Okay, I'm almost there with the UK posts, I promise! I thought today I'd share the loot I gathered together when I was in the UK. To be honest, I think I was pretty restrained on this trip. Maybe this had something to do with me contemplating almost every purchase I make, and thinking more and more about whether I really need something (especially on my freelance salary!), or maybe it had something to do with the fact that you can get most of this stuff in Australia now anyway — I'm not quite sure! Having said all that, I don't tend to make that many gratuitous purchases when I'm at home so I like to let loose a little when I'm on holidays (woo!), and find it's always nice to associate a treasured item with a particular holiday or trip. Do you do that too?





So here's what I got: a couple of Orla Kiely tins from Bert's Homestore (I love this shop – there are three locations in Brighton and Hove, so if you're ever in town do check it out!), a couple of fat quarters from Ray Stitch, a beautiful bowl and pot holder from Anthropologie, and a couple of bright nail varnishes from Topshop. Not bad, eh? I could have gone crazy buying more Orla tins (which seemed cheaper to purchase in the UK with the stronger Aussie dollar), but I held back, as I probably have enough kitchenwares for the moment! The lovely Anthropologie bowl is now storing some of my brooches, I couldn't resist the anchor print pot holder and the bright nail varnishes, and I'm not sure what I'll do with the fat quarters yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Any ideas?

Scenes from Brighton & Hove

Browsing through my photographs post-trip I realised that I didn't actually take that many of Brighton & Hove. Maybe it was because I used to live there, and so was more concerned with catching up with people and soaking it all in? I'm really not sure. But nonetheless, I thought I'd share a few (kinda random) snapshots from around town.







Above: Palace (Brighton) Pier, Palace Pier again, West Pier, North Laines, Hove beach huts, Brighton Wheel

Adam and I had a lot of fun exploring town, as well as our old neighbourhood, Hove, and seeing how it had grown. I loved seeing the many new small businesses that have opened up since we left — a welcome surprise seeing as how every spare bit of real estate elsewhere seems to have been filled with those horrible mini Tesco's and Sainsbury's. We had a nice coffee in Ground, walked down our old street and strolled into town via the seafront. Reliving happy memories.

LoveHate

LoveHate is a Melbourne design label launched in 2002 by Geneine Honey that produces homewares, clothing, hosiery and accessories. Geneine has some beautiful jewellery items in her collection (and I have been coveting these diamond tights for a while now, and might just have to give in now that winter is coming!), but I specifically wanted to share these ceramic vessels and diamond planters with you today. Aren't they great? And affordable, too!




Geneine's vessels come in three sizes and colours, and her planters come in four colours and shapes. I'd love a little planter/succulent combo on my office desk. To see these, and the rest of Geneine's work, pop by the LoveHate online shop, or visit the retail outlet in person at 26 Gilbert Street, Preston, Victoria.

1066 Battle of Hastings Abbey & Battlefield

During our visit to the UK Adam's parents took us to visit the 1066 Battle of Hastings Abbey and Battlefield, located in the small village of Battle in East Sussex (there were plenty of lame jokes about 'going to battle' and 'heading to battle' in the car journey on the way there – yep, we are that lame). The Battle of Hastings is probably the most famous battle in English history and took place on the grounds shown here, and a few years after the battle William the Conqueror founded the abbey out of gratitude for his victory.

We visited on a sunny day and the daffodils were out in bloom making the scenery feel pretty idyllic, but the audio guide you get when you go in recalled all sorts of gory details about the battle and history about the site. Although part of the field was blocked off on our visit we still had a good walk around and spent a few hours exploring before heading into the village for a pub lunch. (So far I've made it sound like all we did was visit pubs on this trip. This is only partly true.)








All of the above images are of the abbey and battlefield, apart from the last image, which is the view of Battle from the abbey walls. Totally worth a visit if you're ever in the area, and I think it would also make for a fun day out with the kids.

[All photographs by me]

Wishlist: Blankets & Throws

I know this post might not be time-appropriate for my northern hemisphere friends, but those of us down south are starting to feel the cool change in season. This week has especially become chilly in Melbourne, with snow falling in Victoria's alpine region, and I am dreaming up ways to keep our little rented weatherboard house — which doesn't have proper insulation and central heating — warm (it's often warmer outside than inside, so if you have any top tips for keeping a house warm please do let me know!). I'm not sure that I'll have much success in warming the whole house up, but one way we can keep warm is under layers of blankets and throws! These are the blankets I'm dreaming of getting wrapped up in, while sitting in front of a fire with a nice glass of wine.


1. Anna-Lisa blanket in grey and white from Brita Sweden > 2. Cross blanket in grey from Pia Wallen > 3. Rainy Day large throw in grey from Donna Wilson > 4. Marlow throw in charcoal from Freedom Australia > 5. Henrika throw from IKEA > 6. Hirvi wool blanket by Marja Rautiainen, from Lapuan Kanhurit > 7. Karin blanket in black from Brita Sweden > 8. Remix blanket in grey from Ferm Living > 9. Twist a Twill blanket in light grey by Tina Ratzer, from Finnish Design Shop > 10. Oki blanket from Country Road > 11. Rasat wool blanket by Marja Rautiainen, from Lapuan Kanhurit

It wasn't until I started gathering together the images for this post that I realised all of these blankets and throws are either grey or black! There must be something about this season that draws us to darker colours. Right, I'm off to make myself a hot water bottle...

South Downs Walk

Back to my UK trip posts today, and another favourite Brighton family excursion is to go for a walk along the South Downs and then finish off with lunch at a country pub (yes, again). So, one day we gathered a little crew together and headed out for a walk along the muddy path. Here's a taste of what we saw along the way.






Beautiful views, and such a nice way to spend a sunny day!

[Photographs by me]