These are the days I like best. The ones where the house dances to its own tune and Judy Garland sings the harmonies. Days that smell of proper old-fashioned beeswax polish rubbed into ancient pine furniture and white chocolate cookies baking in the oven. Nectarine gladioli and basil bruised by the brush of my sleeve. The thud of a new book landing on the doormat and the pile of old ones destined for new homes sitting in a pink basket by the door. Homemade humus, crunchy the way I like it with flaky pastry sticks and a letter from a friend bearing oh so good news. These are days that speak of domestic abundance: a three-tier cake-stand full of lemons, towels warm and soft from the dryer, a pile of bills, I can, for once, pay. Raspberry jam on doorstep toast. These are noisy days, untidy days: the scratch of my babbas pencil across the page, Scooby Doo and the whizz of the blender. Hot chilli spilt into the cutlery drawer and the slash of a red felt tip across the carpet. The Rat Pack in the kitchen, Rhianna in the bedroom. News clippings and glue. A poem shoved into my purse waiting to be made sense of. Laundry fragranced by sunshine stacked on the ironing board. White tea-towels swirling in boiling water. Milky coffee sprinkled with cinnamon please. The Painted Veil with a cup of tea and a cranberry red blanket. Hands that smell of baby soap and the boxed set of Dirt to wile away the lonely evenings. Shopping lists collated. Post-it notes scattered through piles of must be done’s. A pile of pennies in a polka dot eggcup set aside for an apple green mop bucket I can’t stop thinking about. These then are the days I like best.
Create your own Brocante Life Book, plan Christmas, set up routines and rituals or live life the BrocanteHome way with my guided workbooks and planners.
Tina over at The English Muse recently posted about the really rather wonderful column that is My Space in the Guardian newspaper. Featuring the “cherished room” of many a  British star in their own field whether it be writing, fashion designing, cooking…
I have just grilled a whole tray of organic french lavender shortbread. Yes you read that right. I grilled it and what I now have here is a most unbecoming pile of charred sweetness I have tried to disguise with a liberal…
And all of a sudden life changes shape. Your little boy don’s a tie and troops off to school five days a week and the hours between nine and three become yours to fill with all wonder of scrumptious nonsense… This my…
One of the criticisms railed at BrocanteHome in the Summer Survey was that it was too spiritual… that spirituality and self-help had no place in a blog about housekeeping and to that I have to say… phooey. If you want your brand…
"The first time I lied to my baby, I told him that it was his face on the baby food jar. The second time I lied to my baby, I told him that he was the best baby in the world,…
It is a lovely day here. The sun is shining and at the back of my little garden the Vicar and his gang of gorgeous old ladies are stringing bunting around the sparkly new Ministry Centre in anticipation of the scrumptious little…
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