To read part one, covering our accommodation, nature safari around the reserve, energy cleansing session, opening feast, morning yoga and candle making workshop click here.

Following the pack lunch and some free time, our guests convened in the coolness of the barn, for a "Styling with Nature" session led by me, in which I talked about the importance and power of the spaces around us and the benefits of using natural finds in your home. I then demonstrated two different wreath making techniques, using primarily dried or fresh ingredients.

Last Autumn, I was given the opportunity to co-host a retreat. Initially, I was keen to take the role I was most used too; a background presence making the space beautiful, warm and inviting. But the request was explicit; that I actively head it up, a Seeds and Stitches live, so to speak. At that point in my maternity leave I had no idea what I wanted to do so, in the spirit of taking things lightly, I agreed, and thought i'd test it out. I am generally trying to be "a trickster, not a martyr", as Elizabeth Gilbert puts it. I'd made a commitment to stop working for free, to find work in Kent or London, and heavily limit travel elsewhere and this ticked all the boxes. So I went for it. I began to create my dream retreat along with yogi Kim Hill, and it finally happened last week. 15 women gathered at my favourite place on the planet. The weather was glorious, the setting flawless. We ate incredible vegan food. We stretched, we meditated, we journalled. We created and chatted and laughed. We slept, and connected and created much needed space for ourselves.

I have split the retreat up into 2 posts because there are simply soooo many photos and details I want to share with you. So here is part one, up to half way through the retreat.

In January I released a free downloadable guide called the January Book. It is the planning and review process Dave and I go through each year, and I put 9 years worth of experience into the guide. The response it had blew me right away and it has had to date over 1000 downloads. Part of the January Book process is reviewing it in the middle of the year, so I wanted to write a post about this. I also wanted to write a mini mid-year review guide.

Incredibly, we are half way through the year of 2018, and at the peak of summer. The Solstice has passed, as has the full moon for the month, and all of these factors have inspired me to release and review. The 1st July marks the start of the last half of the year. It is a very good time to review the goals we set at the start of the year and see how we are doing, assess whether any of our goals need to change, harvest the lessons learned and figure out some practicable action steps.

Whether you have been checking in on your goals regularly, or you can’t really even remember what they were, this process is useful.

My July Book is a shorter version of my January Book. Similarly to the January Book, this guide is the culmination of 9.5 years of mine and Dave's planning and review process. We have tweaked and fine tuned the process over the years and this here is the best version yet, and the one that serves us the best. We hope it can be helpful for you too. It won’t take long to fill in, but I always find the mid year check in incredibly useful.

Welcome, July! The beginning of the second half of the year; the perfect time to take a step back and check in on those goals you made at the start of the year. I have been looking over my January goals, and have a blog post ready to go up tomorrow with my process. It has been, as usual, revealing, hard at times and liberating at times too. How are your goals or your word for the year holding up?

July is, for many, the pinnacle of the summer. The weather is warm and dry, the school summer holidays start in just a few weeks and the best of the seasons fruit and flowers are abundant. This summer in particular has been the warmest we've had in years and I am drinking it up! I'm living in sandals, sunglasses and sundresses and we are busy planning some summer adventures too. Hurrah!

Earlier this month, we became entirely bewitched by a cabin on a private lake. It's called Ditchling Cabin, in Hassocks, Sussex, and is listed with Canopy & Stars. We had never stayed in a cabin before, nor on a lake either. I thought I preferred coastal water but boy, was I wrong. We completely and entirely fell in love with the cabin, and the lake life that came with it.

The lake is completely private with no neighbours at all. That in itself felt totally luxurious! We ate delicious vegan food cooked on the Big Green Egg barbecue, slept in the most enormous bed you have ever seen, bathed in the bathtub of dreams. There were pink and purple sunsets reflected in the water, trout jumping and splashing back down, creating ripples all over the lake. Mature trees gently swishing and swaying at all times, constant birdsong and buzzing. The sounds alone were wonderful.

We ate in swimming costumes on the deck, had afternoon swims, and family boat paddles. There was fishing, journalling, reading and fire pit lounging.

We were there for 3 days, after a really busy month, and it was so desperately needed. It had such a magical affect on my mood. When I returned I realised how much more relaxed I felt. I wasn't holding tension in my shoulders and chest and felt generally calmer. The difference was amazing, actually! I felt like I really and truly exhaled in those 3 days by the lake.

Let me show you around.

I have spent an inordinate amount of time in my life, imagining my dream house. My list is really quite detailed, and I have loved asking my instagram followers for the things on their dream list. I appreciated all the comments that involved less obvious things like plants, window seats, books and sheds!

One of the things on my list was having tumbling red geraniums bursting out of my window boxes. I have just always loved them, I think since seeing them on holidays in France, Venice and Croatia when I was younger.

The Summer Solstice is this Thursday and I am looking forward to celebrating the calendrical mid point of the year, the longest day and the middle of the summer. This date has had huge significance for thousands of years. It is traditionally a time to celebrate light and sun, fire and warmth, growth and prosperity, fertility and abundance. I am currently planning a Solstice celebration for my kids (mostly new books, a nice meal, and making our summer list) and am having a few friends over in the evening to light the fire pit, eat snacks and talk. I don't have the capacity for big celebrations this year (busyness, tiredness, etc etc) but I do want to see my friends, fill my house with flowers, and mark it in a simple way.

One of the things that swung our decision to move to this house was the potential to turn the biggest bedroom upstairs into a studio space. We had made peace with living in a small house and the discipline that went along with that and were happy in our little space. However when the opportunity came up to move to this house we jumped at it; mostly because of the potential studio space upstairs and room enough downstairs to host workshops. For the first few months, the studio was our dumping room, then it was hastily cleared (/things shoved in corners) to work in. Over the last 6 weeks we made the time to properly sort through it, and make it into the functional beautiful space we have been dreaming about.

My design brief (to myself!) was to create a functional yet beautiful space mixing warm vintage and sleek minimal. We kept the base colour pallet simple: Grey and White, with forest Green as the accent colour. I wanted to mix vintage furniture with contemporary White furniture, plants and art.

​June June June! Strawberries and Peonies and Elderflower! Sandals and barbecues and freckles! June has been a sweet, warm month for us Brits so far and I am soaking it up. This month I am committing to rest after a weird heart health scare last month (anxiety related heart palpitations - fun times!) We have booked a last minute mini break next week, and I have been making more time for small moments of rest in my daily life too. Enjoying the sun in the garden, outside cups of coffee, taking myself off for naps and little lie-downs, watching Netflix in the evenings for the first time in months.

June is the midpoint of 2018, how has it been for you?! This month, whilst on holiday,I will be looking back at my January book and assessing where we are against where we thought we would be. I will try to share a blog post about it this month, a part 2 of the January Book, if you like (in case you don’t know what i’m talking about, The January Book is the planning and review process we go through each year)

10 Wonderful Things to Make, Do and Celebrate in June!

I have been talking about my journalling process a lot on instagram stories (my favourite place to be!) and have been promising a fuller blog post about it for ages. I have also had lots of questions about the process so I’ve put my thoughts into a fuller blog post. First things first...

My history of journalling:

I have written in a diary (as I used to call it) for as long as I can remember. I have some of them still (some I have burned!) including the one I wrote in aged 10, the year my mum died, which I wrote about. Oh how my heart breaks for 10 year old me.

I am naturally a high energy person. I am passionate, feel things really deeply and am also very empathetic. The flip side of this is being pretty anxious, overwhelmed by other people’s feelings, and having a very ‘buzzy’ mind. But writing about it has always been immeasurably helpful. As soon as the words are out of my head (written or spoken), I feel calmer. Writing down and processing my feelings in a non judgemental, totally unbiased blank book been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It's one of the best ways I can support my mental health, and it's free!

On Friday I was very excited to head to London as a guest of St Martin’s Courtyard and Mercer Walk, a stones throw away from Covent Garden, to celebrate London In Bloom as part of this week’s Chelsea Flower Show. From flower arranging classes at the Academy of Flowers, fragrant scents from The White Company, floral cocktails at Dalla Terra and dreamy craft supplies from London Graphic Centre, St Martin’s Courtyard and Mercer Walk are in one of my favourite areas of London to visit. I’ll show you my highlights below. For those of us who are unable to make it to Chelsea this week, I thought i'd include some also take home floral tips too. As usual, all links will be at the end of the blog post.

I used to walk through Covent garden every day for years when I lived in London, but I haven’t been back in the city, for anything other than a really busy styling job with no downtime, for months and months. I also haven’t taken myself shopping for pleasure, in over a year! So spending a rare morning shopping making and drinking cocktails was flipping lovely.

I was delighted when, a few short wintry months ago, a beautiful invitation landed on my doorstep asking my attendance to a retreat by Canopy and Stars and Wknd:In at Elmley Nature Reserve. My yes didn’t take long to form; the mix of gorgeous ethical brands, attendees and location (hello favourite place) were all very exciting! I also styled the evening dinner in the barn so I was there in a mixed work/play capacity. I try to use my platform to support ethical independent brands, and a conscious way of life, and the brands that Olivia had brought together were so inspiring.

I have been so excited to share photo’s from this dreamy event for weeks. Everything was just so beautiful, from the flowers (brought by me, so of course I would say that!) to the food, and the thoughtful sessions we attended. I learned so much about photography over these few days. I loved having chance to really play with my camera settings, and be able to ask the help of some incredible photographers too. I also enjoyed being there with a crowd of women who get similarly excited about magnolia blooms and beautiful decaying textures and the light in a huge black barn. Oh, the light! It was wintry and low and directional and I couldn’t stop shooting it. Anyway, I have finally had time to edit and upload my photo's, and pull together some information about the sessions we attended.