I had a lovely day ‘off’ yesterday even if it did mean an early start with lots of baking involved.

Along with the lovely Imen McDonnell, Pat Whelan and Ella McSweeney, we trotted along to the gorgeous Village at Lyons for a picnic photo shoot. ‘Picnic!?’ did you exclaim? ‘In this weather?’.  The lovely boutique hotel had a fabulously heated conservatory which kept us toasty warm as we looked out at the rather dreary day.

The brief was to bring quirky picnic food of a ‘peasant chic’ nature along with a story to tell.  Plus, of course, there were the practical aspects of making something that is transportable and doesn’t fall over the place in case you have to make an emergency stop.

I brought a quiche in my fabulous Greengate pie dish (note the pie dish is fab, not necessarily the quiche although most of it was consumed there!), a jar of homemade raspberry jam, a bottle of elderflower cordial that was made last May and had kept perfectly in the freezer (it was the last bottle so that was lucky!), a spot o dick and clotted cream.

The spot o dick is one of the fruit breads that always goes down particularly well for those ‘high teas’ for silage men or for bringing to the hay field. Think Famous Five with lashings of tea and scones and cream.

Last year the BBC ran a series of programmes based on the Edwardian way of life and in one of the episodes, they made clotted cream. It was something I’d put on my ‘to-do’ list so last week I decided to have a go and it was gorgeous with the jam and fruit bread.

If you would like the recipe  for the clotted cream or to see how it was made – do check this post over on my Irish Farmerette blog. Click here to see our recipe for elderflower cordial.

We will be featured in the new Irish Country Magazine which will be on the shelves on 29th March.

Am loving Paris even more having spent a few days there recently and there’s been such a growth in Paris-related homewares and wallpaper that we can all have a little bit of Paris in our homes.

There’s the C’est Magnifique wallpaper by Anthropologie:

There’s our Un Dimanche á Paris wallpaper by Famille Summerbelle (and their tea towel in the same design). The wallpaper is €53 per roll.

Christian Lacroix’ new Air de Paris collection is distributed by Designers Guild so do get in touch with us if you would like any samples or more information and we’ll get them to you. I think the Voyage wallpaper is one of my favourites in this collection, it is €58 per roll.

The Un Dimanche á Paris wallpaper is proving to be popular. I thought the blue/red version would be the bigger seller but I’ve been proved wrong so far! Which is your favourite?

I’d love Christian LaCroix’s Voyage wallpaper for a study or a bathroom. Un Dimanche á Paris I’d put in a downstair loo, a child’s bedroom, a study or a kitchen. C’est Magnifique would look splendid in a bathroom or a hallway or a child’s bedroom. Where would you put them?

‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ was what I was greeted with this morning. Not by my husband who had risen early to check on a cow calving but by my 7 year old daughter who has been making Valentine’s cards in school, in GFS, in nearly every activity she does and of course, she had a box of ‘bits’ out last night and was busily cutting and sticking for hours.

Did I get flowers today?  There were a pretty little bunch of Christmas roses from the garden on the kitchen table when I came down this morning

Hope you are having a nice day too.

I love country fabrics but sometimes they’re just a bit too twee and ‘countryfied’ if you know what I mean but Designers Guild’s new Country collection ticks all the boxes as its colours have just that extra bit of zest to put more spring in the step.

Pansy Stripe

Rosecomb

Wild Rose

Really pretty aren’t they without being too twee?  We’re an Irish stockist of DG so if you want any more information, do give us a call All of these fabrics are €32 a metre.

Hope you have a nice weekend. I’m hoping to get some painting done but with a busy weekend planned, we’ll see how it goes!  It’s been a busy week so I can’t wait to veg in front of the fire tonight with my crochet! Getting old?

Designers Guild now has their new collections available to view on their website. I loved the Kasuri wallpapers when I saw them at Maison.

Inspired by the Orient, my favourite in the collection is Madame Butterfly, yes, there are birds in it but yet they don’t look as if they are going to leap off the wallpaper into my room! They look to be charming little birds flitting around the colourful leaves and branches of the cerise magnolia tree.

Madame Butterfly

Madame Butterfly can be used as a wallpaper panel. Its total length of each roll is 1200cm, with each separate panel being up to 300cm (clearly indicated on the roll at 300cm – most rooms being 260-280cm in height).  Therefore there are 4 panels in each roll. Each panel is 45cm wide (normal wallpaper width is 52cm so do bear this in mind if calculating how many you will need) so the total width of each panel/roll is 180 cm and costs €194. It is available in one colourway.

The other wallpapers in the collection are €49 per roll. My other favourite is Yakuta which comes in 19 colourways. It’s a really pretty and simple floral design with an innocence to it with the brushstrokes.

Which is your favourite? If you would like to order any Designers Guild products or any samples, do get in touch and we can order them for you.