This is going to be a ‘hey I went on holiday’ sort of a post so sorry about that if you’ve had it up to here with it on Facebook and Instagram during the summer. We spent a week on Sao Miguel the largest of Portugal’s volcanic Azores...

Imagine, Bargain Hunters, a city filled with junk for sale, laid out on blankets and wallpapering tables on every boulevard, square and side street. Imagine this city appears just once a year, like a flea-market Brigadoon. This tat-hunter’s...

I?m starting to see overarching trends emerging in this lockdown period and I thought it might be useful to offer them up to a community of ? our Mums (nobody reads this anymore, but those two probably forgot to unsubscribe). I know what you?re...

Remember a simpler time, when we regarded our houses as places to get away from everybody, rather than investment vehicles" When a chill-out zone was two bean bags and a plastic Buddha" When a man in an open-to-the-waist floral shirt could be a...

Straight up I’m going in with trend. Hey hello, after a short break of a year-and-a-half, it occurred to me to blog. Are blogs still going" I’m a born again interior designer, so I’m not totally sure. Ros is away writing novels. I wouldn’t...

Well it’s been years since I went to the cinema, but last night I stepped out to watch Mother!, the latest from the director of Black Swan. If you have even a passing interest in movies you’ll know that this film has had somewhat mixed reviews,...

A little late, here is a report on my recent trip up to the Highlands in search of that dream cottage of my childhood imaginings. And, yeah, good news is I found it. Uags bothy is only a 2 and a half mile walk from the nearest little village, but it...

A couple of months ago my wonderful sister-in-law came to visit, without brother, from Tokyo. We had a lovely chilly time here, and we also called on my friend at the other end of the terrace, where sister-in-law spotted her wooden doll, brought...

Red granite, green metallised concrete, the green-blues of nickel and plenty of grey, grey, grey concrete – these are the colours of the enormous geometric relief sculptures that artist and sculptor William Mitchell– now in his 90s – made...

Did I not mention that I did actually finish the front door" Last time we conversed about this – I say conversed as you were quite forthcoming with the mostly helpful comments – I was flapping on about whether to paint the porch brown. Well....