The Grass Beneath My Feet, a Walk on Sand...

I have been off the radar for some time - the result of some unexpected and major life events - but am making a return to blogland now. I am, however, currently still in the process of looking for a new flat to move into, so I may still be slightly sporadic for a while at least. But I'm definitely back, and I have a little stash of things to post about. 

The first of these is my Bank Holiday weekend visit to Kew Gardens, in the last week before my year's membership expires. Fortunately I opted to go yesterday, when there was some sun and warmth about, rather than today, which is all about torrential downpours and hanging about inside with cats (I'm currently cat-sitting...).

In addition to being the last week of my year's membership, it's also the last few weeks of the current event running at Kew Gardens, called Plantasia and being all about the healing power of plants. In addition to Plant Family Croquet (see the picture above), where I learnt about how plants are turned into medicines, I went on the Barefoot Walk. (The Barefoot Walk came before the croquet for me, hence the slightly dirty feet in the croquet picture!)

The Barefoot Walk had you removing your shoes and walking across and through various textures and surfaces, including stones, bark, charcoal, logs, water... and thick, sticky mud.

Starting off...

You could opt to take the dry route or the mud... I went with the mud, of course!

A fork in the road...

It was wonderful and fun, and I opted to leave my shoes off afterwards, except when I got to croquet, as I thought I might not be allowed to play barefoot! But I'm a great believer of slipping off your shoes whenever you feasibly can when you come into contact with the natural earth. It is definitely re-energising at any time, and I very much enjoyed all the textures and temperatures and squelching of the Barefoot Walk.

Then I checked out the Healing Giant - a garden planted in the shape of a human body, with the relevant herbs and such planted in the areas that they are reported to heal.

But what was my summery Kew outfit for this adventure, aside from my new(ish) blue shoes? Well, it was my jolly daffodil/ray of sunshine Easter dress. Which is a good thing as I never got around to posting any Easter outfit photos here as Easter Sunday was such a rainy, un-photogenic day this year. And what's the best thing about this dress, apart from the fact that it's such a happy colour, and exactly the colour dress I've been wanting for ages? I made it myself!

Yes, indeedy, I bought a 1960s pattern from Patterns from the Past and headed out to Walthamstow Markets, then got out my neglected sewing machine and whipped up this baby. It wasn't smooth sailing either, as I launched straight in without trying the sizing beforehand and the bodice was WAY too big around but also WAY too short. So I had to adjust it to be slimmer and add in some length. Fortunately, I could work it so that the seam where I had to sew in the extra strip of fabric came under the bust and it ended up not looking like an accident...

A close-up to allow you to appreciate the fancy contrast hand-stitched bit around the collar (that was actually part of the pattern, not an accident correction...)

Oh, and the other awesome thing about this dress? There's a matching jacket! But that's in storage at the moment as part of the flat-moving process, so I teamed it with a cardigan instead when it got a little bit chillier yesterday.

Dress: made by me
Cardigan: Charity shop
Hat: Accessorize
Shoes: Jones Bootmaker

And here are some flowers to complement the colours of my dress. As I suggested, the two shades of yellow I picked for my dress were inspired by daffodils, appropriately for the timing of an Easter dress. But these flowers are nice too... and there's some bees in there, as an added bonus.

So, I will leave you with a few lines from one of my favourite Belle & Sebastian songs, Asleep on a Sunbeam, which feel especially appropriate to the Barefoot Walk and the last days of the season:

Another summer's passing by

All I need is somewhere I can feel the grass beneath my feet

A walk on sand, a fire I can warm my hands

My joy will be complete.

And, indeed, it follows on to be appropriate for my flat-hunting:

I thought about a new destination

I'm never short of new inspiration

Roll out the map and mark it with a gin...

Good bye, Kew! It's been nice having a year with you. Maybe we'll do it again sometime. 

If you want to check out my other posts of Kew through the seasons, you can enjoy another August, October, November (2011), February and May. Also, January at Wakehurst, Kew's sister gardens.

Sunshine and Croquet

It's been a mad couple of weeks since I last posted... But what better way to offset all that than with some croquet in the sunshine on a Bank Holiday Saturday?

Heather, Heather and Heather (Image source)

I've long had a soft spot for croquet. I first came across it in the classic '80s film, Heathers, and, of course, in Alice in Wonderland. I used to play casually with friends in school and have had a few chances to play in recent years - at Christchurch in Oxford, at a fabulous, rambling, ancient B&B in the Somerset countryside, and at a Diamond Jubilee garden party event in Bedford Square last year.

I learnt that the group who supplied the kit and know-how at the Diamond Jubilee event were called Croquet East, and that they played in Victoria Park every fortnight over the summer. Sadly, I never managed to make it to any of their gatherings last year, due to a combination of circumstances and weather. However, this afternoon I wandered down with a friend to join in, and we had a jolly old time. So I hope to become a regular this year, and would recommend any Londoners to come check it out some time. It really is the most satisfying game, striking just the right balance between civility, fun, skill, strategy... and malice... 

The ladies from Heathers, dressed to colour-match their
croquet mallets (Image source)