Dyrham Park

We recently visited the beautiful house and grounds of Dyrham Park in Gloucestershire, where I took these photos. In a lovely setting, the house sits at the bottom of a grassy slope. Deer wander around the grounds and the formal gardens are really pretty and well looked after. We heard, as we were being driven back up the slope in the little free bus, that the house was built at the bottom of the slope so that water from the spring at the top of the hill could be piped down into large tanks and provide water on tap - a rarity at the time. 

My favourite rooms were the Victorian kitchens and the cool dairy, covered in blue and white Delft tiles, where they believe the butter for the household was made. The orangery was also delightful - light streaming in the windows and fruit trees lined up - it was a tranquil spot to sit and contemplate.

And those topiary hedges at the front of the building certainly made us smile. Lovely face on the left but is that a bottom on the right too? I think we'll be going back often to explore the gardens more, maybe picnic by the lake and have some more of their lovely cake.

Take care people,

Melanie

Love Sardinia

Howdy peeps!

We've just returned from two weeks on the sunny Mediterranean island of Sardinia exploring the archaeological sites, lazing on the beautiful beaches, eating the local delicacies and supping cocktails in floor length summer dresses (me, not my husband).

Such a stunning island and so much to see and do - I would highly recommend it! 

I've also been a busy bee updating the About page on my English Rose Vintage Etsy shop and would love to know what you think about it. You can take a look at the new page here. Feedback is most welcome!

Take care,
M

Heaven Scent

One of my favourite luxuries is perfume and I have quite a few scents that I use according to my mood. I am a big fan of Jo Malone colognes - they are divided into Citrus, Fruity, Light Floral, Floral, Spicy and Woody fragrances and the idea is to mix and match them to create your own favourite combination. I still have some of my first bottle of Orange Blossom Cologne I bought 10 years ago - now that's pretty good value! I love the way that a scent can capture a moment and preserve that memory. I bought the Orange Blossom cologne - a heady floral fragrance - at the beginning of a trip across America with my husband and first wore it on Cape Cod. I can remember my husband commenting that morning that Cape Cod smelled beautiful! I hated to point out that I'd just been spraying Orange Blossom all over myself but now, every time I use it, we're taken back to that very happy time.

I've since added Wild Fig and Cassis (warm, sensual and good for 'grounding' a floral scent), English Pear and Freesia (sweet, summery and warm), and Lime, Basil and Mandarin (spicy, fruity, unisex scent that always gets comments when I wear it) to my collection and the Blackberry and Bay is on my wish list.

I'm hooked on combining scents now and I've found that another firm favourite of mine, Mitsouko by Guerlain, smells divine when mixed with Wild Fig and Cassis. Probably not what Jacques Guerlain had in mind when he created it!

Although some perfume bottles are gorgeous in themselves, I do like to decant perfumes into little cut glass or unusual bottles when I can. This tiny green bottle has a small glass stopper that can be used to dab a drop of pure perfume behind the ear or onto the decolletage. Very decadent.

At the moment my little green bottle holds the smallest drop of L'Air du Desert Marocain by Tauer. A very intriguing perfume that I recently bought a sample of. It's probably not for everyone - not at all floral or feminine but dry, woody and spicy, with some initial top notes of piney resin (or toilet cleaner according to my husband). Not that we don't both like it - there's something a bit addictive about it and Tauer has captured that dry, desert air combined with the rich spicy smell you get from Moroccan Thuja wood - heavenly! It also seems to go rather well with a drop of the Orange Blossom. I will definitely be trying some more of Tauer perfumes in future.

 

What's your favourite perfume and do you combine?

 

 

Remembering

This week we are returning to the Yorkshire Dales, our home for several years before we had to move back to the south of England three years ago. Lots of old memories, both happy and sad, will no doubt be stirred up but most of all we will be thinking of little TD, who sadly died a year ago this month. We had lots of fun with him when we lived in Yorkshire and here's a few pictures taken at his first Christmas with us (he was about 8 yrs old). He got so excited unwrapping his little red jumper and he looks so smart in it! The winters were bitter cold up in Yorkshire and we think he appreciated the bit of extra warmth.

Hope you all have a happy week - the Etsy shop and blog will be back up and running when we get back.

Roman Holiday

I've returned at last after my summer break. I didn't consciously decide to take a break - it just sort of evolved. After our two week holiday in Cornwall in June I reopened our Etsy shop but was feeling too lazy to do much! Without the shop and blog to occupy me I've enjoyed reading more, crocheting (more on that later) and generally mooning about. It's been lovely but I feel ready now to give the shop and blog my full attention.

 

Before I begin to talk about all things vintage though I've some pictures of a last minute anniversary trip to Rome that we made a couple of weeks ago. We'd never been to Italy and with the last moments of this very wet summer ebbing away we decided to try and grab some sunshine before it was too late. Of course, August in Rome turned out to be sweltering!

We spent much of our time walking all around the old part of the city looking at all the usual touristy sites.

Stopping along the way for some fabulous gelati. The best was from Venchi on the Via della Croce, not far from the Spanish Steps. For me - dark chocolate and cherry together with mascapone and fig; for Leigh - extra dark chocolate. No photographs of the ice cream I'm afraid - it wasn't around long enough! 

 

We squeezed in as much art as we could in our time there, which is not difficult when great sculptures, such as this fountain by Bernini, are in every Piazza.

And Caravaggio's are to be found in the churches.


The beautiful perfection of the Pantheon's dome was every bit as impressive as we imagined. 

 

A three hour guided tour of the Colosseum and Forum,  even on a very hot day, was well worth it. The Colosseum was impressive, despite it's familiarity, and our guide was so informative we were even inspired to watch Gladiator again!

Our hotel, the Marcella Royal on Via Flavia, was a short walk from the old part of town but a lovely spot to retreat to at the end of the day. The roof top bar became our favourite spot for a beer or Limoncello before bed - and I admit to developing a bit of an addiction to very chilled Limoncello. I now have a bottle sitting in the freezer for late night tipples!