We've combined the months of July & August into one bumper issue full of summer love!
Where to go, what to pack, the best reads, the products you need… Inspired by shells and sweet peas, geraniums and gingham, and all that summer has to offer. We interview Australian interior designer, Anna Spiro whose talent for layering print with pattern and collected interiors we have long admired; and peek inside her summer beach house on Stradbroke Island. We chat with Charlie Day about his incredible shell grotto and where he draws inspiration and also hear from the shell queen herself, Linda Fenwick. I share with you what I’m loving and inspired by this Summer, including my skincare and wellness routine. We introduce you to the 'Magical Maggie' - an acupuncturist and naturopathic doctor who generously shares her secrets to keep us nurtured for summer and beyond. Our art review looks at the most exquisite embroidered art scenes of southern France. Nicole Croft ponders the Lessons of The Sea (and we chat with two women who have embraced wild swimming in the English countryside and Norway). Tula Goodwin explores England’s 50 Shades of Green and the best summer events and country fairs to visit, and Susanne Madsen takes on a trip to her homeland to discover a Great Danish Summer. I share what I’m packing for the holidays along with Matilda Goad, Natalie Imbruglia, Jack Savoretti and Jemma Powell. Also, there are summer reads to add to your list, an Ibiza guide that covers wellness too!, a peek inside the Collagerie summer pop-up at the Marbella Club and so much more. I do hope you enjoy this edition and find time in the sunshine to feel inspired, be creative and nurture yourself. Wishing you all a wonderful summer!
Last week I spent an intoxicatingly special time at Perch Hill, the celebrated garden and home of Sarah Raven and her writer husband, Adam Nicholson. I had to keep pinching myself that I was really there, experiencing a garden that has always been a pinnacle of flower magic for me. Two inspiring days of teaching, giving floristry demos, home-grown feasts, being immersed in exquisite gardens and inspirational conversations with Sarah. I’d been told time and time again about the brilliance and beauty of Perch Hill …
We asked Willow, Matilda Goad, Jack Savoretti & Jemma Powell, and Natalie Imbruglia where they're headed this summer and what's in their stylish suitcase…
Jemma Powell - Bohodot bikini, oil paints from Michael Harding, Moscot sunglasses, Menocran leather sandals, my Grannie's headscarf, Bertioli shampoo, Therapi ultra radiance cream, Samayla crystal bracelets, Esme ring by Shakti Ellenwood from Vigour & Skills, Orange blossom water from the shop at El Fenn, Marrakesh.
Sow sweet peas between Christmas and New Year celebrations (I always do mine on Boxing Day), then they have a few months of cold to focus on their roots. Germinate them inside, somewhere warm and protected…
For a mini-guide to Sweet Pea's from the brilliant Arthur Parkinson…
Create: Willow's tips for taking geranium cuttings
Taking cuttings is one of my favourite things to do, it’s basically gardening for free. In ‘garden-speak’, it’s called propagation. If you’re new to this, in a nutshell, it’s when you snip off a small shoot from a plant, poke it into its own pot of compost and, after a while, it starts growing you a whole new plant. Properly magic…
on interiors, relaxed style & her beautiful beach house
“I think my style is one that a lot of people feel comfortable with. It’s not too perfect, it’s not too contrived. It feels familiar to a lot of people.” Anna Spiro
Interior Designer Anna Spiro on maximalist style, the joy of mixing pattern with print,
colourful, collected interiors & her beach house on Australia's Stradbroke Island.
We chat with Anna about her beachy Queensland upbringing, how her style has evolved,
some favourite projects, her extensive travels and peek inside her dreamy beach house…
No summer edition would be complete without a mention of the wonderful Linda Fenwick.
Linda sells sea shells all over the world. In fact, she has even coined a new term -
’shelling’ which is undoubtedly a verb in her case.
We chat with Linda and find out that she’s been attracting a collection of shells - and customers, for quite some time. And it all began in her summer childhood in Dallas…
All our Spanish summer dreams have come true! The Collagerie X Marbella Club pop-up is open all summer long and brings together the chicest curation of products we have come to expect from the brilliant team behind Collagerie hosted at the inimitable and very beautiful Marbella Club….
“I studied sculpture in Florence for three years after I left school then moved to Rome and would ride a bike around the cities. On the way back on afternoons in the heat of summer, I would stop along the way at the different gardens – there was often a water feature, fountain, or grotto somewhere. The surprise of finding a ‘grotto’ was always a welcome one and those initial brushes and their recurrent theme of nature versus art have left an impression upon me that I am now exploring…”
Charlie Day talks about the inspiration behind the incredible shell grotto at the Talbot Hotel in Yorkshire, his upbringing in Kenya, his art studies in Florence and much more…
“Scandinavians spend a large part of the year in the cold and the dark, and we wait an entire year for July, the dreamiest of months, and you just want to bask in it. The best parts are the simplest – the Nordic light, the fresh produce and our idyllic landscapes. Everything peaks in July –
it’s one big cornucopia of sensory delights.”
Line Sander Johansen
As a country made up of the peninsula of Jutland and 1,419 islands, it’s hardly surprising that Danes gravitate towards water like ducks – the more mental specimens among us even take the plunge all year round as part of various ‘Viking swimmer’ clubs. Come summer, we all flock to the sea and eat as fresh, local and unfussy as possible…
The perfect Danish summer – and Danish summer traditions – according to Line Sander Johansen, Amalie Adrian and Susanne Madsen.
There is something universally soothing about the sea. Some people will of course say that they are more of a ‘mountain person’, or that their love affair is with the rolling hills of a verdant countryside, or even that it is the raw heat and open plains of a desert that pacifies their mind.
But even when loyalties are divided, most of us will concede that there is something about water that soothes…
.
Nicole Croft ponders the science and the spirituality of our connection with the sea…
Wim Hof may be on to something. After the initial, often cold, shock of plunging into wild waters - the physical, emotional and sometimes spiritual benefits take over and it becomes, for some, a year-round habit of the best kind…
We chat to Chloe Hodgson who loves to combine Pilates with wild swimming in the English countryside and VK Armstrong Solli who began swimming in the fjord outside her home during lockdown and hasn't stopped the Sunday ritual since - even when she has to break the ice…
Summer’s here. High summer. It really is. In all its glorious British quirkiness. Sharp chilly gusty winds and bruised skies are followed in quick succession by balmy Mediterranean sun-drenched days and back again. What does remain constant at this wonderful time of year is the ever-present glorious, wondrous green; at least 50 shades of it. It’s as though an enormous patchwork quilt in every hue of green has been tossed over the rumpled bed of our green and pleasant land.
Tula Goodwin talks 50 shades of green, the great British summertime events &
We are captivated by La Filature, the body of work by French artist, Sandrine Torremeder who creates textural beach scenes of southern France via embroidery on a canvas of vintage textiles. La Filature (roughly translated to 'spinning' in the craft term) is a unique art form using embroidery to achieve incredible detail and evocative beach scenes…
We are excited to introduce you to MC Martin - acupuncturist and naturopathic Doctor who Willow describes as ‘Magical Maggie’. A favourite for the A-list, the Cotswolds-based Maggie is passionate about women's wellbeing and in her first column for The Seedling, she generously shares the supplements we should be taking for the Summer and beyond. She also talks us through the therapies she offers (see Willow above enjoying a magical session with Maggie),
As beauty regimens go, I always believed mine was pretty low-key. But looking at my bathroom shelves this morning, I realise I'm not as understated as I thought. I do love a good beauty product and am a total sucker for anything that promises to make me look 12/ be more glowy/ less liney,…
We've rounded up our favourite reads for the summer - from can't-put-down holiday novels to mind-opening non-fiction and coffee table books to inspire. First up, Willow's most loved recent read, The Paper Palace…
Author, Stylist & Creative Consultant Lara Einzig talks us through her latest project, the just released tome ‘Women Making Waves’. Raised in Australia, based in LA, Lara is on a mission to represent women and diversity in and out of the water…
Magical Ibiza - there is something about the ethereal island that connects to the core of you. Gone are the days the white isle was reserved for the hippy or hedonistic or the staggering sunburned Brits ignoring the sunset at Cafe Del Mar. Ibiza and her little sister Formentera are more than ever a heavenly, heady escape for the senses - a rural idyll with breathtaking sunsets, wonderful beaches, sailing, hiking, dancing, exceptional food and a burgeoning wellness scene to accompany the obvious fun of all-day beaching and sunset sets…
