The Easter 'Eggstravaganza'

Easter Saturday was our third 'Easter Eggstravaganza' at Pickwell. We had a completely wonderful time and together raised £1010 for Georgeham school and George Palmer. George is lovely 4 year old from Braunton who has Cerebral Palsy. His parents are trying to raise £55,000 for an operation in America to enable George to walk.

Take a look at the website 'George's first steps' to find out more.

So many people and local businesses were really generous with the raffle prizes. A particular thank you to 'The Rock Inn' and the 'King's Arms' for their dinner for 2 donations. Lucky winners!

The Maskell families tirelessly served the extremely popular tea and home made cakes.

The sun shone (amazingly despite the forecast) and it was completely delightful sitting on the terrace chatting.

The Italian Garden was full of stalls. Zac and his friend have spent the last couple of weeks making lovely things and clearing out their rooms of unwanted items to sell. They did rather well I hear.

I regretted giving Millie-grace her own purse as I think she spent all her money on the sweet stall.

Easter Art and craft was a winner. There were many delighted children running around the garden with  a fluffy sheep or butterfly on a string.

To help the children run off the energy they gained from the sweet stall we have devised an Easter egg hunt around the garden. A bit like orienteering they take a map and find their way to 8 stations marked with giant eggs around the garden and punch their card.

If they manage to find all 8 stations they win a chocolate egg.

It was also a wonderful opportunity for the adults accompanying the children to enjoy the bluebell woods. They really are magical at this time of year, the smells and sight of the daffodils, blossom, bluebells and primroses are heavenly.

Angela was on the plant and homemade produce stall. Nice blooms!

Oh yes and then there was the face painting....grrrrr!

There is so much creative talent amongst the local parents. These are some of Julie's driftwood trees from her stall of handmade driftwood delights. Kerry also had her handmade glass beads on sale. She has now started doing bead making lessons, I have to say I am tempted to have a go.

Richard, Nigel and I making a fool of ourselves on the human fruit machine. Nigel seems to be having a little trouble getting the fruit out of his bag.

The girls really enjoyed giving it a go and......

Paul really enjoyed wearing the hat...'woof!'

The Easter hat parade was too cute!

Adele compared the day wonderfully making each participant feel really special.

Then there was baby bunny cuddling. We have had yet another 'accidental' litter of baby bunnies! They were very much enjoyed by all the cuddlers.

Even the adult cuddlers. Nice Easter hats girls!

The croquet was popular, but nothing in comparison to the......

'EGGLYMPICS'. This kicked off with the children's races and then the raw egg throwing competition. Needless to say it got quite messy!

Then onto the cut throat 'mum's egg and spoon' race. And they are off!

Angela looked like she was clearly in the lead but in the last step dropped the egg leaving Mrs Baker the victorious winner. We won't hear the last of that!! Thank you everyone who worked so hard to make this fabulous day the huge success that it was. What a fantastic community we have!

Easter and a new start

Things are looking a little different around here!

Remember this is how the west wing of the house looked? The window on the right was our office

and the window on the far left was a tiny anti-room of the office which was used to house lots of our stuff we hadn't quite managed to unpack from the move 4 years ago!

When we first moved we had to set up an office quickly, so we literally set up chairs and tables and started to work. No thought went into decor or practicalities, no time for that! This is how it looked as we were packing up.

Then Winter came, and so did the builders.

We started to knock through to make a door opening

Lucky there were no guests in as it was a bit chilly for a while.

After the door hole was made we concentrated on our lovely 60's conservatory.

It was built when Pickwell Manor was a hotel and they wanted to expand their dining space. We have always used it as a games room for guests.

It took a big digger and lots of mess to get this baby down. Now it feels like it was never there!

We are absolutely loving our new look west wing!

Our Baker lounge and spare room and Jubilee lounge above, now has wonderful light pouring in the windows!

Our new office (which was our original entrance hall with a terracota quarry tile floor) has such luscious white walls I am sure it helps us to think a lot more clearly?

My only real sadness is that our stationary supplier doesn't do folders in grey...

We have all new paths, new stone edging, a lavender-lined walk way and a gorgeous bespoke oak front door.

I just love the fishing lights (here and in the entrance hall) and the post box (both from 'Grace and Glory' in Barnstaple).

Millie-Grace (aged nearly 6!) wrote a beautiful sign for me to welcome our Easter guests,

and Liza (6), Molly (8) and Millie-Grace helped decorate these pebbles to sit by the front door too. Zac (9) appears to be completely uninterested in ANYTHING the girls are doing at the moment, thus no contribution from him!

The 'office anti-room' is now this lovely boots/coats/practical space.

Is this how you spell welly's?! A few people have laughed at me for this. Anyway, this area is basically for guest use - leaving dirty boots and shoes, and storing beach equipment, if they don't want to take it all up to the apartment. We also have things people can borrow and these too will be left in the cupboards.

The anti-room then leads into the entrance lounge.

and here you have it! Inspired by the beach and all the colours you find there, from the neutral grey tones of the rocks, to the frothy white water through to the odd bit of bold green coloured string.

We are blessed with the natural features our house has given us, from the stone mullion windows and here in this case,

the gorgeous inglenook fire-place.

A gift for any designer.

I love these little bird door knobs. They are fair trade (v important) and sold through Grace and Glory again. The old sideboard was found in a shed in the garden with chain saws in it. A crime.

These lamp-posts continue the beach theme down the new paths and into our extended car-park. (The games room has been laid to rest under the car-park extension). We tested the lights last night and they light the area perfectly - phew!

The eggs hanging on our Easter tree are from our friends at Sandleigh. I heard their chicken was laying gorgeous sage coloured eggs and Sarah v kindly let me have some!

It is really important to us that our house brings rest to all those who come.

I bought this lovely piece of art in Georgeham village. There was an auction to raise money for Paul's Place, a local B&B which can also provide respite for young people with a terminal condition and their carers.

It was a friend of Paul's who painted this picture and i think it perfectly encapsulates holidays and rest and rolling hills and sea. oh, that reminds me of somewhere...

I need to thank the wonderful team that made this happen. Our builders - Steve (my magic fairy), Joel and Simon. Our plumber - Mike, the painters - Adam and Dave. Our plasterer 'gift of the gab' Dubsy and our electrician Andy. Thank you for working really hard and against the clock as usual..you've done an amazing job x

My New Favourite Walk

A few weeks ago Susie and I had a girls weekend at Pickwell. As a treat we went for the most wonderful coastal walk which Susie found on the internet. This walk was heralded in the Guardian as one of the UK's top 10 walks . I know I live here and so therefore am a bit biased but it really is the most beautiful, spectacular, dramatic, magical walk. So much so, I have now done it 3 times in the last month with any set of friends who I can persuade to go with me.

The walk starts from the heritage centre car park in Mortehoe. You can either join the coastal path next to the picturesque old church or head through the village towards the lighthouse. This particular weekend we set out on the latter with 2 local families and I took some pictures to share with you.

Following the signs to Bennett's Mouth you wind alongside the river in a magical wood.

I can't wait for it to be warm enough to take a picnic and sit in the sunny glade whilst the kids play in the stream and climb trees. Further along the stream tumbles out onto the little beach of Bennett's Mouth where you will find rock pools and spectacular crashing waves. We didn't pause for long (although as usual long enough for Millie- grace to slip in a Rock pool, rendering her pair of socks very soggy).

The next accessible cove is Rockham. You will love this beach.

I am terrible with heights so have to brace myself for the steep steps down to the beach (despite appearance it is quite safe for little ones!) but it's well worth the journey down.

Even if it is March and the water a little bit cold, the children still love playing 'dare' with the waves. This always ends with the waves winning and the inevitable demise of yet another pair of socks......

Not to mention trousers and jumper too!!! We then had to warm up the participants with hot apple juice and cookies.

The beach is covered in flat round stones of all different sizes. The children spent ages playing 'make believe cafes' with stone plates and little stone pancakes (too lovely!!) whilst we sat and chatted in the sunshine.

The dad's got out the rugby ball, not quite Trev's thing (on the left).......can you tell?

Everyone had such a lovely time playing and relaxing before the climb back up the steps to the next breathtaking view.

Millie-grace pretended to be a dog going through the mini gates on each style (I think they are for dogs anyway?!?)

So many beautiful views as you walk past Ball Point lighthouse, then on to Morte Point.

Morte Point has an amazing Stegosaurus like Rock formation stretching its tail down into the sea. You have to stand at the end and look back to really see it. I had taken a film from the end of Morte Point but somehow managed to film the whole thing upside down.... so you have got a photo instead.

This is the view back across to Putsborough, Baggy Point and Pickwell as you turn in land and back to Mortehoe for a cheeky pint with some salt and vinegar crisps at the pub. This walk is a true feast for the eyes and delight for the soul.

The Snug

At the end of our Ballroom there is a beautiful room which is about a third of the size of our Ballroom. It has the same oak floor, distinctive wood panelling and stone mullion windows. We call it The Snug.

We use this room for so many different things throughout the year (this is when we used it for our annual bonfire night).

In the Spring and Autumn it is used for a chill-out bar space for weddings, in the Winter we light the fire and use it for our wedding planning meetings and the not-for-profit conferences,

and the Summer sees it transformed into a gorgeous and romantic studio apartment for 2! It is very popular because it is very private, the fire can be lit in the evenings, it has its own private access to the drive outside

and has a lovely view out to the Italian garden and Terrace.

It has even been used for a couple of photo-shoots - this one was just this week - to help a friend start her business.

We have already done an awful lot to this room. We knocked down a dark corridor that led into the space, we removed the incense drenched swirly carpet, repainted the walls in lovely neutral colours (elephants breath F&B for those who are interested!)

and put a kitchen in. We have used it in that form successfully for 4 years now, but we decided to make it even more snug-like for 2012!

We have built in some wonderful book cases to house all our old books. Some were already here and lots we have picked up along the way.

Charity shops don't appear to be wanting old books clogging up their shelves as apparently they don't sell...all the better for us then!

We have also put some wood panelling on the walls and filled them with gorgeous wallpaper from Louise Body.

This is just before the new plugs went in!

The Snug is south facing so gets lots of sunlight flooding through the window.

I think you'll agree that our Snug is definitely very cosy now. Come and stay in the Summer and find out for yourself! x

Winter Surfing

It is well known that the best swells and the best waves occur during the Autumn and Winter seasons in the UK; the waves hitting the beaches of North Devon are no exception. The temperature of the sea starts to drop at the end of October from 14 - 15 degrees down to as low as 6 degrees during a cold Winter. This year November and December were thankfully relatively mild and therefore the water was still 10 degrees in January. After a cold start to February it has felt more like proper Winter surfing for the last few weeks as the sea is a few degrees cooler. To have a good and comfortable Winter surfing experience it is essential to have the right gear. I wear a 5/4mm Xcel wetsuit which is really flexible so movement is not too restricted. I have a Winter thermal rash vest with a built in hood, and decent boots and gloves. Getting changed in the National Trust car park in Croyde can be a harsh experience if the air temperature is freezing, but once in your gear you soon warm up.
The beauty of Winter surfing is that the tourists have gone and consequently there are rarely more than 20 people in the sea at any given moment. Even on clean, sunny days; which is a real treat. Having lived, and surfed here regularly, for the last 4 years I know or recognise most of the local guys in the water. It proves to be quite a sociable experience when you paddle out back and exchange nods and a few words before taking your wave. If there is a wave on the beach then most of the local surfers know about it thanks to surf forecasts and webcams from Eyeball TV and Magic Seaweed. At the school gate in the morning, if there is a good wave, about 5 or 6 of us dads often plan where and when we will meet up and go in to catch the best of it. Many of our friends are keen surfers. Here's Ben after a good surf in Croyde a couple of weeks ago.. This year I think I have surfed more than ever during the Winter and have really enjoyed it. There have been some brilliant sessions, especially in January and February once the South Westerly gales of the early Winter had blown through. We have had about 4 sunny weekends with epic clean waves, including last weekend. Winter surfing can be ferocious, particularly at low tide in Croyde on a big day. The dumping faces of the breaking waves can drive you in to the sand banks, as I found out to my detriment a couple of weeks ago. I now have a strained knee ligament which means I will be out of the water for a few weeks, but hope to be back soon...

Designer Wedding Show- The Highlights.

So we have just come back from spending the weekend at the Designer Wedding Show in Battersea Park, London. We had a brilliant time, met lots of lovely people and gained some super ideas. We thought it would be great to show you some of our favourite stands and suppliers particularly for those of you who are currently planning your weddings.

This was our stand, it was actually quite relaxing sitting chatting to people in our recreated lounge. We took some Cath Kidston mugs for our cups of tea and made ourselves right at home. We were surrounded by some wonderful suppliers who we really hit it off with and who kept us going all weekend.

This is Kim who works with her friend Jo of Jo Heckett Wedding Gifts and Favours they make the most lovely and original ceramic decorations.

These are some of their wonderful tags. They also make place name tags and table decorations.

Holly particularly loved this ceramic bunting.

Ben and Janine from Rings for Eternity were very popular and amazingly knowledgeable. Here they are with a well earned glass of wine at the end of the show.

Then there was Tim! Tim of Tim Spiers photography and his colleagues Rick and Safi were hilarious and kept us giggling for the whole show. A big thank you to Rick and Safi in particular for all of your technical support with our new Mac PC and with Twitter, we really got the hang of tweeting over the course of the show, hurray! Follow us @pickwellmanor

These shoes are amazing, completely beautiful and designed by our lovely friend Emmy of Emmy Shoes. We love them so much that we have teamed up with Emmy and are giving away a £330 voucher towards a pair of Emmy shoes with each wedding booked at Pickwell before the end of March, 2012.

 The blue ones on the left are my favourites and I coveted them the whole show. A number of our brides over the past 2 years have worn Emmy shoes. She has designed a particular heel especially for Pickwell which is slightly wider, perfect for getting married in the Italian garden under the rose arbour.

One of our best finds of the show was this lovely cake designer and maker Anna Tyler. She has a shop in Bristol and will deliver to Pickwell.We tried some of her cake and it was as delicious as it looks (which is not always the case!)

How beautiful is this stand! Zita Elze is the most wonderful florist and designer. Check out her website to see 'living embroidery', which involved her decorating the corset of a wedding dress with sixteen thousand stems of flowers, amazing!!

We fell in love with this table setting, completely spectacular from 'By Appointment Only Design'. This would look amazing in our ballroom if someone could book them for their wedding....please!

This is Janie Lawson a lovely milliner who does 'Glam Hatters' hen parties. This is a great idea where you go with your group of hen's, take nibbles and bubbly and make gorgeous fascinators in her studio in Clapham. I am tempted to take our 'make and cake' crafting girls from Devon on a day out there...sounds fun!

I just adore all things vintage and there were a number of super vintage stands. This is a lovely girl Natalie (on the right) of Passionate About Vintage, who we met at a wedding show in 2010.

Each item of jewellery she sells is a genuine unique vintage piece, what an amazing necklace.

 Luella's Boudoir had some gorgeous shoes, dresses and accessories.

More vintage hair accessories and broaches from Gillian Million, I love the way they displayed them in this antique cabinet.

These were my favourite wedding dresses of the show by designer Charlotte Casadejus. She had 6 dresses in the catwalk show (I did try and take some photos but was accosted by security, oops!).

This is Jake who ran the chocolate fountain stand next to the cat walk. He seemed to spend the entire show checking out the models on the cat walk....shame on you Jake (he was very funny though and had some very excellent stories of parties they have done!!).

This was my favourite bridesmaids clothing stand, how cute are these tutu's. The children who modelled the dresses on the catwalk spent the whole show coming over to our stand trying to get their hands on Lee (our chef's) home made fudge, which I have to say was delicious.

Thank you to our brilliant local suppliers who helped make our stand look so lovely: Pete Cox for our fantastic video, Juicy Lucy Cupcakes and Off Shore blooms.  A fabulous weekend was had by all, we met some lovely couples, have booked lots of viewings and we are really looking forward to showing them the wonders of Pickwell over the next few weeks.