NEXT AW15

There are so many pretty pieces in NEXT at the moment I haven't been able to resist a couple of new additions to my wardrobe. My favourite is this:

This dress is so versatile, it is great with little black heels or tights and boots and it is super comfy. It is £28 and I was so pleased with it that I ordered the other colour too as they are easy dresses to just throw on but you still feel presentable.

DIY French style chair reupholstery

About two years ago(!) I posted about my DIY project to reupholster an old dining room chair and transform it into a chic French style bedroom chair. I can finally say I've finished it and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out:

Before:

After:

The total cost of the transformation was under £15 as I had a bargain with the fabric - it was one half of a curtain set from Dunelm that had been used on a display, but the other had had got lost, so the remaining curtain was reduced down to £1 - much cheaper than buy fabric of the same size off the roll. I bought a sample pot of paint from Laura Ashley for just under £3 and the fabric I used to cover the underneath of the chair was only about £2 as it was the end of the roll and the trim was less than £2. The most expensive part was the seat pad which came in at around £5.

Bonfire Night 2015

Last night my boyfriend and I went to watch a firework display on the green. We got there about 45 minutes before the fireworks were due to start so we kept warm with jacket potatoes and then treated ourselves to toffee apples before the display began! 

The sky lit up with an array of beautiful colours:

Happy Halloween!

Cinnamon and Apple Pie

We have a bumper crop of deliciously sweet apples this year that are dropping off the tree quicker than we can eat them, so I've been trying out new recipes to make the most of them. 

This recipe has a very autumnal feel with the cinnamon being a nice contrast to the sweet apple and it is so simple to make especially if you cheat a little with the pastry and buy pre-made like I did. I used jus-rol shortcrust pastry which was just the right amount for the pie. 

Here are the ingredients and steps I followed:

Ingredients:

350g shortcrust pastry

50g caster sugar

8-10 apples

1 tsp cinnamon

1. Peel and chop the apples and place in a bowl. 

2. Add the caster sugar and cinnamon powder and mix to ensure an even coverage.

3. Transfer to a pan and cook on a low-medium heat for about ten minutes until the sugar caramelises. Then turn off the heat and allow to cool. 

4. Roll out half of the pastry so it is 5mm thick and line the dish. Roll out the remaining pastry and either cut into strips for a lattice cover or one whole piece with slits for the steam to escape. Spoon the apples in and cover the pie with the lattice or lid. Brush the pastry with milk.

5. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes on gas mark 6 until golden. 

6. Serve with custard or cream and enjoy!

Kerylos Villa Beaulieu

In July I went to Nice for a few days of sunshine, warmth and relaxation. I've been to Nice quite a few times now and seen most of the popular tourist spots of the French Riviera such as the beautiful Villa Ephrussi de Rotschild in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, the perfume factories of Grasse and the palace in Monaco, so it is getting harder to find new things to see and explore. 

This time round though I popped into the tourist information centre for a map and spotted a leaflet for the Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu so we took the next bus and spent the morning exploring the Greek villa.

The audio guides gave a lot of information about the history of the villa, which was built in the early 1900s by French archaeologist Theodore Reinach and is filled with copies of Ancient Greek furniture and statues. 

After our tour of the villa we sat on the veranda and ate lunch whilst enjoying the idyllic views over the sea.

Horsley Park

Last week I had a few days off from work so we spent a few days in Horsley Park, enjoying the crisp autumn air, countryside walks and rare lie-ins. We were very lucky with the weather, it was sunshine and blue skies although there was a definite chill in the air signalling that winter is well on it's way.