Friday 25 December 2009

Merry Christmas Everyone

In the imortal words of Sir Nodworth of Holder


"It's Christmas!"


Wishing all of you lovely peeps who are reading this and have been kind enough to call in down the Lane in 2009 the warmest Christmas wishes x



I am headed here

To my beloved Cornwall for the festivities


And then hopefully on to Paris (Eurostar willing!)

I will be back in January 2010 for more tales from the garden of England, see you then !

Sarah-Jane down the lane x x x

Monday 21 December 2009

Christmas arrivals!

Magpie came and dropped off a delightful basket of presents......
And as always they are beautifully decorated, this year with jewelled birdies in all colours, I especially like the look of this red sparkly chap.
There are frosted pine cones too!

These are my presents ready to go home with her, I too have a sparkly birdy label theme!

Another arrival in the post, can you guess who it's from?

Yes, from Nicky at the Vintage Magpie "Olivia" has arrived just in time to join in the festive chaos here down the Lane.
Here she is all pleased to be unwrapped and ready to explore! She has brought along her very own stocking too!

She is flushed with all the excitement but ready for her close up


Look at those rosy cheeks


Not content with the view from the bed she makes a break for the shelves, hmm much better now I can see the snow in the garden!


Another arrival was the new issue of RED magazine.
I am huge fan of Mary Norden and this Christmas shoot is so divine!


Oh to live in a world where I could group pots and pots of cyclamen in my hall and interspace them with baubles and tea lights.......................


Oh to live in a world where I could manage to stay upright in those heels!


Doesn't it all look wonderful?


And whilst I can only dream of achieving such a glorious sparkly Christmas interior I can absoloutely concur with the sentiment

I hope you are all busy filling your homes with friends, fizz and happiness x

Saturday 19 December 2009

Winter wonder "Lane"

In the Lane snow is glistening
In the meadow we can build a snowman
and pretend that he is Gordon Brown!




As the sun rose this was the view from our kitchen.
An enchanted winter world stretched out in front of us.

My Editor in chief ( Him Down the Lane) was less than impressed by my grainy, grey over excited efforts at posting the snow in the wee small hours!



I love the word "laden" and I think that this fir hedge is definately

LADEN




The first snowfall is so romantic.
Many of my favourite books and films are set in snowy, magical worlds.
The wonder of children as the first snowflakes flutter past the window.....
Snow cloaks the familiar and turns them into wonder-lands over night.
The familiar sky lines of villages and towns transformed into fairy tale illustrations


I adore the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson.
These illustrations are by Christian Birmingham for the Snow Queen published by Walker Books.

I epecially wish I could do this.....
And this wonderful picture is by Edmund du Lac also for the Snown Queen
You can find this here
Oh and then my all time favourite
Varykinov
The hideaway for Lara and Zhivago, wonderful
The interior was so beautiful too...

So magical to think of children waking up this Morning and hoping that the weather has delivered a festive dusting of snow....

Have a wonderful weekend x


Friday 18 December 2009

Snowy Dawn

Roll up, roll up
Get your snow fix here

For your delectation and delight I bring you "Waking up to snow, Down the Lane"
Light Levels were too low really so forgive the wobby nature of these pics but I just had to get out there! Buster Boodle started barking at the snow at 5.50am!

Look at the ridiculous amount deposited on one of our garden benches!
Our rather sad barren winter garden has taken on a magical Narnian quality







Beloved crab apple tree looks more Christmassy than ever





The vegetable garden, shed and greenhouse look wonderful too



A day for staying by the fire and Making Christmassy things!
x
p.s I will, instead be trudging off to the shop to work! Luckily I can walk into the village from here x
p.p.s I wish you could have seen me in pjamas, winter coat, ugg boots and over excited chocolate lab giggling with delight in the snow at the crack of dawn! tee hee x


Wednesday 16 December 2009

Christmas embellishment

At last I have time for some jolly-fication, adornment and embellishment of my kitchen here down the Lane.
Hmm, first on my hit list, the sideboard that houses my china.
Take some cheap red baubles from Sainsbogs and tie onto some raffia, voila!



That was fun!

Now these sparkly fellas were recycled from last year's presents, my Magpie tied them onto all our presies!
I have included them especially for the sweet and generous Michela, Little Secrets from my garden.
You are so kind Michela x


Oh, and I used to make these sequin puddings to sell and give as presents but they became so expensive to make I haven't made any this year!

Looks pretty in this vintage red goblet.



A little more fiddling over here


That'll do now Sarah!

Next the old fashioned, coloured flower lights!
Yay, I really like these they make me very happy indeed!



And then I walk with Mr. Buster Boodle along the Lane and am reminded at just how brilliantly nature festoons and decorates.






Simply beautiful.
You can see some gorgeous hand crafted natural decs here at Elspeth Thompsons Blog.

Have a lovely decorative week x