Gardening for beginers (aka me)

For our summer wedding we wanted to get our outside venue in perfect condition, which meant a whole lot of gardening! The garden belongs to Zane's parents and was in need of a little TLC. There was actually a large patch of the garden that was used as a compost/chuck everything here pile. Is was damn ugly.

We decided we wanted to create a seating area as the view from this patch was very pretty, overlooking the next door field. As our theme was loosely based around a secret garden, we wanted the area to appear unkept and not the usual manicured flower bed most people aspire to.

Here is the patch once we had cleared and leveled the ground, removed the weeds, planted the flowers and shrubs and sectioned out a pathway.

The large wooden spool was going to be sunk into the ground and used as a table.

The original planting began in late April as we had a really late spring last year in the UK and frost was still on the ground in mid April! The ground was so increadibly fertile from the compost heap that used to be there, and soon enough the plants began to actually grow!

This is the patch about 3 weeks before the wedding. We had now decided to move the spool out and replace it with a little garden set. The plants were growing well and starting the flower, thank goodness. Some potted Dahlias and a little stepping stone path finished it off.

African Lodge Interiors

I absolutely love the look of some of the high end lodges in Africa. The mix of cultures really blends into a pleasing interior that evokes a strong sense of rustic living and brings a bit of the stunning surroundings of Africa, indoors. Having inspirational interiors whilst abroad actually adds to the whole holiday experience in my opinion.

The old colonial look with dark mahogany, old fashioned luggage trunks and wildlife illustrations is featured in many of the 5 star safari lodges in Africa. As much as I love this look, I actually prefer a subtle mix between colonial and native African.

Batik printed fabrics, woven furniture and animal skulls are often seen in African hotels, using more of the cultural influences of native Africa. I have managed to collect a few different things from my trips over there including textiles, ornaments and even some animal hide rugs.

Bed- estorationhardware.com-  £1,700

Lamp- kathykuohome.com- £52

Orange cushion- conranshop.co.uk-  £95

Zebra cushion- occa-home.co.uk-  £110

Beige cushion- frette.com-   £200

Chair- www.onekingslane.com-  £500

Fan- Antique 

Skull- Antique 

Airport outfit

With a lifestyle that sometimes means getting on a plane at fairly short notice (I have recently been informed that I may be flying to Zambia in July but will only really know a couple of weeks before) I like to have something in my wardrobe that suits many occasions. If I fly out to meet Zane on safari it usually involves meeting one of his business contacts in Johannesburg so I like to arrive looking somewhat acceptable. I'm not really the type of person to wear jogging bottoms or UGG boots, but here is an idea of the perfect traveling outfit for me.

Jeans- Topshop -  £42

Lace top- Rachel Zoe -  £150

Shoes- Accessorize - £40

Scarf-Mint Velvet £39

Hat- Free People £28

Photographing in the New Forest

At the moment we are lucky enough to live just on the boarder of the New Forest in Hampshire, UK. It's such an amazingly beautiful place and although sometimes I become complacent, there are occassions where I take a second to really look at my environment and I just think, 'wow'.

I often have to drive a long road that leads straight through the forest and over heath lands. This area is well known for having wild ponies and horses roaming through. I have seen so many photo oppertunites over the years and have always meant to take the time to just stop and capture the beauty.

One evening as the sun was setting, there was the most amazing golden light that cast straight across the heath. I was actually with my sister in law and I mentioned how I have always meant to stop to take a photograph of the horses. She instantly pulled over, looked at me and said 'Well go on then!'.

I didn't have my camera on me but I did have my iphone4s which, if used correctly, can take some amazing images.

The ponies are fairly used to people and traffic so it was very easy to get close enough for some good shots, this guy actually moved towards me.
 
Hope you like.

No kneed bread aka 'So lazy but SO good bread'

Whilst I was in South Africa I started making my own bread because our shops where so far away that I found it easier to make the bread rather than buy lots of it, only for it to go off.

I found a few different recipes for some lovely flavorsome bread but I just had to share this one as it was so outstandingly simple and quick to do that it became my go to recipe. I think this bread is more suited to accompany a meal or with a stew or soup, as it's a little more dense and harder than regular bread.

Anyway here is a picture of one of my own bakes.

What you need:

You will need:

-3 cups of all purpose flour
-1/2 tsp of instant or rapid rise yeast
-1 3/4 tsp of salt
-1 1/2 cups of water


And the recipe can be found here Simply So Good

I have tried this bread with the addition of cheese too which was pretty special.

Enjoy!

Let it grow!

I have been around quite a lot of negative vibes recently with regards to problems in peoples marriage, relationships and friendships. It's always hard to hear when couples you really admire or look up to go through difficulties and even decide to break up.

As a young married couple, I think it's really important to nurture your relationship and never let it become stale. Yes we are all guilty of taking our other half for granted sometimes, it's hard to be conscious of our actions 24 hours a day so it's something I've learnt to take time to really consider.

Am I doing everything I can do to improve my marriage?

Is my husband happy?

Are we communicating?

I'd also just like to point out that as I am writing this post even Vivian and Philip from Fresh Prince Of Bel Air are going 'on a break'! Water that grass guys.

                                                  Image from www.youcantbeserious.com.

Our life in Africa - Part 1

In October 2013 me and my husband Zane decided we wanted to try and make a go of living in South Africa on a more permanent basis. It wasn't something we took lightly, but lets just say we didn't exactly plan every detail of the move like any normal human beings would have.

Packing our belongings in just 4 suitcases, we began our adventure on a couple of one way tickets and a lot of praying.
We decided to rent a house in the small town of Hoedspruit, around 4 hours from Johannesburg, and one of Africa's biggest safari destinations.

 Here is our house. A huge wooden cabin on stilts! A total of 4 bedrooms and 1 pool. Now as I mentioned before, we are not the most organised pair and we had actually never seen this house before we arrived. We knew it was in the right place and that it had 4 walls, but that was about all we knew. 
I can not express the relief and joy we felt where we pulled up to this little beauty. It was so perfect and rustic it almost didn't feel real. Not to mention that the total rent per month was equivalent to £200. 
 
 

The view from the house was breathtaking and was perfectly positioned for incredible sunsets almost every night.  There was a small river running through the end of the land which inhabited a pod of hippos including a baby, pretty much the cutest thing I'd ever seen.

My days usually involved a tortoise, porcupine, hippo and even 2 wild horses passed through.