Summer Loving

We have had a lot of rain lately but for the past couple of weeks the weather has been lovely, it hasn't been one of our best Summers so I'm really enjoying what left of it before the autumnal weather kicks in.

An English summer to me is tea and a favourite magazine in the garden.

Strawberries with cream and roses.. (Sombreuil Tea Rose)

Always fresh flowers for the house.

This is Campanula Pyraidali 'Blue Diadem'

I'm not a garden that's out in all weathers, it has to be a nice day and then I potter really but recently I have made some changes.  A neighbour was knocking down an out building in his garden and kindly let me have the lovely old bricks, so I decided to lay a path which I will fill with pea shingle/gravel.

I have also moved my metal arch to create a little seating area, which I've planted with lots of scented plants, Roses, Jasmine and lots of Lavender

Favourite plants in my garden at the moment Sedum (not in flower here) and Verbena Bonariensis.

 

Today I am linking with Sarah over at Modern Country Style for her 'Summer Loving' link party

New Additions

I have been out of luck with vintage finds recently but here are a few additions that I have added to my home recently.  This food cover came from my favourite little french shop 'The Bell Jar' I have seen the silver coloured ones about but I like the patina on this one so it came home with me.

I have been looking for some large vintage sweet/storage jars for a while and just could find ones big enough and whilst shopping in TK Max found these,  I made some tags using FIMO polymer clay, so I can tell the different between SR and P flour.  Sarah at a beach cottage does a tutorial of these but I just rolled the clay flat and using a cookie cutter made the shape then just made an impression with a cocktail stick for the letters.

A nice old marmalade jar.

and a couple of baking Pyrosil Ware dishes from the Netherlands, love the little blue pattern.

and a beautiful piece of coral, very please with this find at my local Jumble sale for only 50p a nice addition to my growing collection of textures on my mantel.

My Kitchen

I thought I would post some photos of my kitchen, as it occurred to me the other day that I have never actually shown it in its entirety.

It's a freestanding kitchen that I gradually replaced with sections of old pine dressers, this piece is actually the top part of a dresser, I added some feet to make it a standing piece.

I saw some cups like these in a book by Atlanta Bartlett.  These cups were green so I spray painted them white and painted on the number with Acrylic paint.  Obviously I can't use them but there nice to look at.

I intend to replace the worktop here, as soon as I see something I like, maybe wood. 

There was a gap next to the cooker so a made some little shelves for storage jars, these are Kilner Jars.

Then the other side of the kitchen is my chalkboard wall.  It took a while to find a little cabinet that fitted against this wall, this is a Victorian pot cupboard, probably not really appropriate in a kitchen but it has been thoroughly disinfected and it does a good job of housing all my pegs and laundry items.

Then there is the wall dresser that stores the dry food.

and then to my large white dresser where I store just about everything.



Today I am linking with :-
  Miss Mustard Seed
My Romantic Home, Show and Tell Friday
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Tuesday Treasures
a beach cottage, Good Life Wednesday
Savvy Southern Style, Wow us Wednesday

My Garden in July

Life here is ticking along nicely, I've been doing my usual pottering in the garden now the weather has picked up.  

My garden seems to change every year, this year I scattered wild/cottage seeds in April/May so its a mixture of clashing colours and textures, some I'm happy with and some I'm not.  Next year I have plans for a more controlled and formal look with grass and box hedging.





Fennel, Calendula and Cosmos, California Poppyand Campanula, Rosemary and a Blueberry bush.



I'm really enjoying the Fennel this year and will be saving lots of seeds

 

The pond finally cleared after its revamp and the frogs are loving it.  They often sitting on the lily pads soaking up the sun.

The strawberries and tomatoes are doing really well this year, I suppose because of all the rain we have had.