Hedge veg

One of my favourite things about walking along the narrow Guernsey streets was coming across 'hedge veg' - wooden boxes or plastic crates selling fresh local (excess) produce such as fruit, vegetables, eggs and flowers. There was something very quaint about the handmade signs and the use of piggy banks, enamel mugs and jam jars as honesty boxes. It was exciting to spot a box in the distance and find out what was inside.....the small pleasures!

Garden fonts

Some more pics from Alexandra Nurseries - focusing on interesting fonts and typefaces I saw. Painted, drawn, chalk-written, block-printed, etched and scribbled on wood, card, slate, blackboard, metal and paper. Not forgetting the playing-card toilet sign!

See my first post here.

Well-styled plants

My favourite new (local) place to visit is the recently opened Alexandra Nurseries in Penge, South-East London - an independent garden centre, cafe and vintage homeware shop. The nursery is run by two professional gardeners, who have restored an old caretaker's office and maintenance workshop that had stood empty since 1970, and created the most beautiful and visually-enticing space as an alternative to big commercial garden centres;  focusing on British grown plants, handmade planters and garden accessories, and selling work by independent craftspeople alongside vintage home and garden ware.

I love the use of old garden and agricultural equipment, tools, furniture and kitchen paraphernalia as quirky plant holders, shelves, and notice boards. There were plants in teapots, climbing up church pews, growing in old storage boxes and recycled tyre planters, sitting on old mangles and brightly-painted stepladders, inside cast iron oven trays, and peeping out of old-fashioned lawnmowers and typewriters (final picture taken from the website).

I have two more posts from Alexandra Nurseries to show you soon, so please come back and see!

Henley highlights

A few snaps from a recent day trip to see The Vintage Bride and baby M in their new (gorgeous) cottage in Henley-on-Thames. The day was gloomy and wet but I was happy wondering around the house and just being nosey!

Fun at the farm

We've just spent a week in the North-East with family and had lots of fun. We loved our day at the farm with beautiful rural views (even the pigs had a great vista!), and we spied a quirky fire station rabbit hutch, foil windmills in a cardboard house, and cute packed lunches on hay bales. L loved milking the (plastic) cows and for an extra treat we found a huge soft play area in the barn, yay!