Introducing...Amity

'Amity' means friendship and we felt this was the perfect name for our cosy little two-person hide-away.
Over the winter we were as busy as ever with building and refurbishing. I will introduce you to a couple of our most recent projects in some of my up-and-coming blog posts. This was the house laundry for the first 2 years and it is hard to remember how it looked now! It has been my favourite project so far as i have been able to break away from the more traditional look of the main house.
The sink sits on pebble tiles to bring in the relaxed beach feel.
We put old bottles, found in the ground, in the window. Thank you to Joel for that inspiration.
There is a wonderful intimate dining space for two under the window. you can look out on the lawn while you eat and chat about the surf.
I put bright turquoise tiles in the kitchen to try to bring some contrast to the Cornforth white (good old F&B) that i had painted everywhere.
The blinds were made from the builders dust sheets (new ones i might add!). I was trying to describe to someone how i wanted the blinds to look when i reached for the dust sheets and said 'just like this'! The rest is history.
The bed is on paletts on the floor. I made sure we had a comfy matress and memory foam topper though so it is very lovely when you get in (aparently!)

The chapel has started its transformation from old dumping ground to an eventual bridal suite. I am as excited about this as I was about this project..watch this space for news on that.

Now I have to give a special mention to both Matt Spour and Dominic Blackmore who are both extremely talented interior photographers and friends. They took these shots for us and we are absolutely thrilled with them. Thank you to you both and to Sarita and Jude for all the styling tips. We are eternally grateful x

a new discovery

We had a great time at centre parcs (Longleat for those who are interested) while Tracey did the wedding at home. We go each year with friends who we met because we all were pregnant at the same time. So one thing we all have in common is our 8 year olds. At the mum's lunch we were asking ourselves the question 'how do we raise our kids to be confident in who they are'? The short term result was a rewards ceremony for each child to celebrate something they did at centre parcs this year. Looking at this photo, i wonder whether we over-egged the pudding?
We came home with one of the families who wanted to extend their holiday with a few days at Pickwell. They asked to take Steve and I out for dinner locally. We went to 'Mortehoe Shellfish' and well, what a brilliant find! As Tracey said, it is a family business and the family are one of the original 4 families who were the community of mortehoe many, many years ago. The brother is the fisherman, the mum is the cook, and the daughter was serving us in their lounge/restaurant. It was perfect.
From tripping through the sliding doors of the conservatory to the mismatched vinyl tablecloths,it felt relaxed and homely, despite it being quite busy with customers. I think there may have been 20 people there. On each place there is a sheet of paper which gives the story of the family and the history of Mortehoe. I do love stories so i brought it home.
It was only when i had just swallowed my last mouthful that i remembered the blog and it was too late to get a photo of my delicious seafood platter! So i will try to remember what was in it - lobster, crab, prawns (3 different types)and sea bass. It all tasted really fresh and it was cooked perfectly. This was just a 'mini platter' so i wonder what they put in a big one? I skipped desert, went for a baileys coffee to finish and my night was complete. The whole experience was really worth doing. Our friends are proper food snobs and they loved it! The restaurant is only open from may-september and the opening days and hours do need to be checked as it can vary.

A lovely photographer and her wonderful photos of a Pickwell May wedding

The most wonderful link to one of our favourite photographers blog came through to me and I wanted to share it with you as she has posted the photos from a completely gorgeous Pickwell May wedding and I thought you might like to check them out http://www.rebeccaroundhill.co.uk/blog/category/pickwell-manor/



Catharine and Steve's wedding was so lovely, they are such a wonderful couple and have a really super family. The photographs really captured them and how fun, moving, magical, adoring, beautiful, inclusive of children the wedding was, how true it was to them as a couple and a real celebration of love and family.




On a more personal note...Millie- grace's plaster came off today, hurray!! Although her arm is now feeling very weird and she has nursed it all afternoon not wanting to move it too much, poor Millie.



Mr and Mrs Baker have gone out for dinner with some lovely friends they have got staying to a family run seafood restaurant in Morthoe that we have all been meaning to go to. At 'Morthoe Shellfish' we have heard that the son/husband catches the fish / shellfish which the mum then cooks and serves in her lounge, so basically you go for dinner in their lounge. Supposed to be great food. This may however be a Devon rumour, so am hoping for some Baker details, Mrs Baker always can be relied upon for a great story!

Some super highlights of yesterdays gorgeous wedding


All set up and ready to go, the tables were sprinkled with real petals and gave the room a gorgeous aroma.











The ushers brought the flowers back from the church and they looked amazing in the hallway.















On to the food, I was gutted as I forgot to photograph the other courses but thankfully managed to catch the pudding, Iced mango parfait, I know it looks like ice cream but when you put it in your mouth it is an amazing explosion of fresh tangy mango, delicious (one of my favourites!)










Then speeches in the Italian garden gave a wondrefully relaxed feel with coffee and Lee's home made fudge afterwards on the terrace, everyone was superly relaxed.










They had a brillant idea of doing a message tree instead of a guest book, each guest had a little tag at the table and then hung their messages on the tree.












Flip flops anyone! Everyone hopped into flip flops, comfy and ready to hit the dance floor.


















And boy did they hit the dance floor.... What a wonderful day!

Lovely holiday guests go home and the excited hubub of a wedding begins

We have had such lovely guests at Pickwell this week. It has been so wonderful to see 3 families who have been a number of times before, hear their news and see how much the kids have grown. We have also met some great new families too... It was a blissful scene to see one family BBQ'ing last night on the terrace, glass of wine in hand, amazing aromas, fantastic view, hot evening sunshine whilst the children pottered around the Italian garden playing croquet.









This is the view from my kitchen window, I love watching the children (and grown ups) playing in the holidays, you can't quite make it out in the photo but there are 2 guys playing a very competative game of tennis, a group of boys playing football and 2 little ones scooting up and down the path. It is so wonderful to see the gardens so full of life and fun....







A good sign that everyone has had a good day at the beach, wetsuits galore. One dad said that their kids had spent 5 hours in the sea... they must have proper raisin toes.






We were sorry to say goodbye.... but then our wonderful couple getting married this weekend arrived with parents and bridesmaids and the fun of making and creating began. It has been such a fun atmosphere as everyone worked together, chatting, giggling, hanging alot of bunting whilst Geoff made his amazing goulash for tonights dinner.








As they are a local couple and lovers of the beach and sea a wonderful relaxed beach theme has come through in all their designs.






I'm loving the starfish... the room is looking gorgeous already, can't wait to see what it looks like with the flowers tomorrow, I will keep you posted.









The sun is shining, the terrace is gorgeous and hot and the scene is set for a wonderful wedding weekend and a Devon cream tea to welcome them, yum, yum!!








































































































































Tracey's first post and a visit to the zoo

I am so nervous and at the same time quite excited about making my first post. Not known for my technical abilities I have found the world of blogging (and if I'm honest facebook too) a bit tricky, well here goes.....

Well we have just had a brilliant family day out at Exmoor Zoo thanks to Molly. We set the Elliott girls the challenge at Christmas of filling a jam jar each with marbles. Each marble is a reward for spontaneous acts of kindness (especially towards sisters), doing helpful jobs, trying new food and all host of brilliant things. Molly has filled her jar at a grand total of 60 marbles and in return got to choose a family treat. Molly is a true animal lover in stark comparison to Rich, who in Millie-grace's words is a 'scardy cat' especially where snakes are concerned.









Although not the most exotic animals 2 of our favourites were 'ickle' the penguin and 'Nigel' the duck savaging pelican.













It did leave us wondering whether Pickwell needs a Peacock???









True to form the Pickwell Girls have been creating and our entire house is covered in blue paint, glitter and PVA. Creating is usually closely followed by a show containing the said created items (penguins are a popular theme). I think they are all having a wonderful half term!