Frome - Refreshingly Different

Having spent the last two weeks suffering from the awful coughing flu bug that’s doing the rounds here in Tetbury - now feeling on the mend a change of scenery was in order!  A recent customer mentioned the market town of Frome in Somerset was worth visiting because of the large number of interesting, quirky independent shops on St. Catherine’s Hill.

Having spent an hour in Bath, Frome is an easy 20 minute drive from there, on arrival we found parking easy and free on Sunday’s.  With the dog in tow we headed into town via medieval Cheap Street, which has a good mix of independents - I noticed an excellent book/card shop ‘Hunting Raven Books’.  Running the length of the street is a narrow leat, quite common in the south west of England - I wondered how often people had tripped on this open gulley?  The town itself is architecturally well preserved with many listed buildings.  Our destination was St. Catherine’s Hill, a steep cobbled street flanked by eclectic shops with imaginative window displays that entice you in.  The shops have a charm that is not in anyway pretentious - just a group of like minded creative bohemian traders that sell all manner of goods from artisan products, vintage finds, clothes, haberdashery flowers and hardware.

St. Catherine's Hill

The first Sunday of each month St Catherine’s Hill is closed for the local Artisan and flea market - looks like a great day out.  This market town has a lot to offer, definitely worth a revisit.

Spitalfields Sojourn

Thursday 8th March marked our final day of buying autumn/winter stock - the majority of which will arrive by the end of July!  The beginning of the year is always busy with appointments, plus working in the shop six days leaves only Sunday for the more mundane chores.  Having secured a morning appointment this left the afternoon free.  Taking full advantage of this rare opportunity we headed over to Spitalfields, an area I haven’t visited for a long time.  As a avid follower of the blog Spitalfields Life it was time to experience it for ourselves.

Parking in this area as you would expect is fairly restricted, after driving around we decided to opt for the NCP on Shoreditch High Street..  A rather novel experience as a lift takes your car up to the parking bays.  As time was short this visit was going to be a whirlwind tour.  With Hettie our Bearded Collie we headed over to Folgate Street and Dennis Severs House.  He spent many years carefully restoring this once derelict property in to a time capsule of period rooms lit only by candle light.  We didn’t have time for the guided tour, but will be going on our next visit.

Nearby on Elder Street stands the house of Dan Cruickshank, he bought the property some thirty years ago gradually restoring it to its former glory.  Dan was one of the leading lights intent on saving this neglected area of London from the bulldozers and  redevelopment.    With a generous benefactor and a donation  of £10,000 the Spitalfields Trust was formed.  The trust was able to purchase these derelict unloved houses that were once occupied by French Huguenot silk weavers.  Once restored the  houses were sold to sympathetic purchasers - not speculators, mainly intellectuals & bohemians.  As the city fringes grow this area is being sought after by city types with properties now fetching over two million!  A far cry from the East End council tenants  that used to live here.  But having said that, walking around the area it still has a very exciting vibrancy.

Next port of call was Spitalfields Market until 1985 a fruit & vegatable market now bric-a-brac and antiques.  The energy & vibe is delightful with lots of really interesting stalls & people milling around.  I was surprised how reasonable items were priced.  Found an amazing vintage hat stall - bought a like new German made olive green trilby for £20!  We left the marker to head to Petticoat Lane - haven’t been here since I was a teenager.  Its changed, not so divers - mainly devoted to the rag trade.  From here we walked to Fournier Street, almost all the properties have been renovated - done so well it was like stepping back in time.  While here you should visit the Town House Antique Shop.  The shop occupies the ground floor of a carefully restored Georgian house.  The stock is eclectic, chosen with a very discerning eye, it was here we bought a signed copy of the book Spitalfields Life by The Gentle Author - have to say its addictive reading and great value at £20.  Above the shop is a very stylish two bedroom period flat available to rent for short city breaks Stay in Spitalfields.

Sadly it was getting late and mindful of the journey home we bid Spitalfields goodbye.  The area has so much to offer if you enjoy city life - definitely going back very soon.

Spring Is Here

As I write this looking out on to a gloomy wet street - spring really does seem a long way off, though the hyacinths in our courtyard garden are just breaking in to bloom.  The fashion industry always way ahead of time has already started delivering spring/summer stock.  Our first delivery this year is from one of our favourite brands ‘Scotch & Soda’ and ’Maison Scotch’.  We are really excited about stocking this cool sought after Dutch label - having beaten off competition we were chosen as the appointed stockist in our area.  
Scotch & Soda make garments that suit each individual man; the garments are of high quality, rich in detail and best of all cool fashion at an affordable price.  The Amsterdam based design team has come up with an exciting SS12 collection designed with great focus on small details that the label is known for.  The collection has been inspired by New York street styles, Japans’ innovate design and the 
‘je ne sais quoi’ sense of style of Parisiennes.  The team say creating a collection is a journey of gathering souvenirs, wandering around antique markets looking for vintage treasures and making mental notes along the way.
For women’s SS12 Maison Scotch there are sun faded colours mixed with more fresh, bright and bold tones.  Splashes of colour sprinkled throughout the collection, on accessories & detailing to make each garment stand alone as something quite special.  Fabrics used are delicate washed silks, cotton silk blends, and natural linens and washed twills.  
Do look at Amsterdam Blauw SS12 shoot.  In this video favourite Scotch & Soda male model the extremely handsome Christian Goran talks about his life and passions.  He certainly is just more than a pretty face!

Soho Oasis

Andrew Edmunds Restaurant

Andrew Edmunds

Linking trendy Carnaby Street and Berwick Street market is Broadwick Street - off this is a quiet backwater Lexington Street.  Here you will find an eclectic mix of restaurants & shops.  One of my favourite restaurants is ‘Andrew Edmunds’, Andrew is an antiquarian print dealer by trade with his shop next door to the restaurant.  Some I feel would find this venue rather cramped, as its small & very busy - you can only book a table a week in advance and the restaurant is on two levels, ground floor & basement.  The décor is somewhat shabby, but this has a charm all of its own.  The dark interior is lit with candles which creates a romantic, cosy ambience.  It is totally unpretentious, staff are friendly & knowledgeable - mainly actors between jobs.  I would liken the restaurant to a bistro one would find in the back streets of Paris.  The menu is short & changes daily, just good well cooked rustic style food sensibly priced.  The wine list is excellent - no greedy mark-ups, so you will find exceptional bottles at much lower prices than other restaurants.  Do try and visit I know you won’t be disappointed.  (0207 437 5708)
The area is a foodie paradise - opposite is ’Mildreds’ vegetarian restaurant that was established in the 80’s and still going strong.  They serve excellent well priced food in friendly
informal surroundings.  Next door but one is ’Aurora’ which has a modern European menu that changes monthly.  In the warmer months you can eat outside in the courtyard garden.  Other restaurants in the area include Fernandez & Wells food & wine bar, Café Gourmand, Wagamama - you really are spoilt for choice.

Antiquarian Prints

For those of you that followed the channel 4 documentary ‘Riches to Rags’ featuring Lily Allen and her sister Sarah their shop ‘Lucy in Disguise’ is next door to Andrew Edmunds.  It looks pretty cool from the outside with its clever façade of gold plastic discs
that twinkle as the air moves them.  The stock inside is an Aladdin’s cave for all vintage clothing fanatics.
While here do go back to Broadwick Street and visit Cowling & Wilcox which is an absolute must for art supplies.  In fact the shop is quite diverse, we bought an excellent selection of Christmas cards and wrap at really good prices.

Dinner à deux

Running a shop over the festive period involves long hours with little time to prepare for my own Christmas.  Not that I’m complaining - in fact I’m extremely grateful that we were busy considering all the economic gloom.  I did manage to decorate the Christmas tree the evening of the 21st - at least it was done for Christmas Eve - the rest of the house had to wait until Christmas day morning!
Having worked 14 days without a break we were feeling pretty wrecked and selfishly engineered it that we were on our own Christmas day to enjoy a quiet relaxing day, just pottering around, with family visiting on Boxing Day.

We decided to have our meal Christmas day night and I drew on my culinary skills from a previous life as a successful restaurateur and prepared a fairly light dish of a large puff pastry case filled with seafood in a light creamy sauce accompanied by roasted tomatoes on the vine.  I cheated and used Just Roll pastry - it really is just as good as making your own.  The fish came from our excellent fish stall which is under the market house in Tetbury each Wednesday.  Having prepared a béchamel sauce,  I sweated off in butter finely chopped red onion , reduced white wine, tarragon leaves - to intensify the flavour I always add a  Knorr fish stock cube and finish with a good dollop of double cream.  A dear friend kindly gave us a posh bottle of champagne from Harvey Nicks, which proved to be the perfect accompaniment to this Christmas day supper.

Last Minute Christmas Cake

I know the thought of making a Christmas cake fills most people with dread - probably anticipating a dry overcooked cake;  I have devised this easy  foolproof recipe that delivers a lovely rich & moist cake every time.  The ultimate secret is to use an Aga Cake Baker, I have a pretty ancient one - a new one will cost approx £90, but you can pick up a good second-hand on EBay.

To make the cake: line an 8”/21cm tin with greaseproof paper.
Ingredients:  1 cup dark brown soft muscovado sugar                           1 tspn bicarbonate soda
                     375g tin crushed pineapple                                              1 tspn mixed spices
                     8oz/225g raisins                                                              4oz/110g butter    3 eggs
                     4oz/110g sultanas                                                            1 cup plain wholemeal flour                                                                
                     40z/110g currants                                                            1 cup self raising flour

Method: Soak the fruit overnight in an alcohol of your choice.
Put into a saucepan the sugar, pineapple, dried fruit, bicarb, spices and butter, boil for a good five minuets, or until the colour goes a dark brown, keep stirring to avoid the mixture from sticking to the saucepan.  Allow the mixture to cool then stir in the eggs and fold in the flour.  Put in the prepared tin and bake for approx 1.5 hours at 180c/gas 4, reduce heat and leave for another 20 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.   When cool remove from tin and peel off the greaseproof paper.  Place on a cake board, brush the top with apricot jam, rollout the marzipan and place on top of the cake, and decorate with ready to roll fondant icing, or royal icing if you prefer to finish with a snowy effect.  Fix a decorative cake band to the side and add a few festive decorations to the icing.  Hey presto you should now have a delicious/moist cake that looks kitsch and festive.

London Vibe

Breakfast At The Wolseley

Although I count myself lucky that I live & work in Tetbury a beautiful town in the Cotswolds - I do occasionally crave the vibrant energy of London.  Sunday morning we left Tetbury at 7am and by 8.45 we were parked in Dover Street to meet a special friend photographic agent Jo Clark for a birthday breakfast at The Wolseley a favourite venue of ours.  If you consider going - do book in advance as it gets pretty busy - the fishcakes served with poached eggs is very good.  After a long lazy breakfast and catching-up on news & gossip we headed to Marylebone High Street for some retail therapy.



Marylebone has a village feel to it due to the eclectic mix of shops favourites are Daunts Books which has the most beautiful period premises the Conran Shop is hip, modern cool, Rococo Chocolates is chic but quaint - my list of desirable shops in this area is endless.  This clever retail mix is the work of The Howard de Walden Trust which owns 90 prime acres including over 300 listed buildings.  Their ethos ensures the area doesn’t look like every other UK High Street by their careful selection and leasing of properties to businesses that compliment each other.

We next walked over to Regent Street which has been pedestrianised - absolutely packed with people enjoying the free fairground attractions and street entertainment.  Hamleys toy shop was shoulder to shoulder with shoppers - what recession?  Just on from here is the ultimate shopping experience at Liberty’s department store, their Christmas window displays are very clever - a visual treat.  As you can imagine, the store was packed with festive shoppers and tourists, our mission was Christmas cards & gift wrap - but the shelves were depleted, should have bought them on our last visit.

It was now approaching a time to think about going home, we decided to walk back via Burlington Arcade, and at this time of year they roll-out the red carpet throughout the arcade making one feel very regal.  The arcade has gorgeous shops with beautiful window displays; one of my favourites is Penhaligon’s.  Having had a really enjoyable day it was time to head home.

Liberty Home

Burlington Arcade

Penhaligon's