Fontaine Antiques, UK

I have blogged before about our friends Stuart and Kiel who own Fontaine Antiques but thought I would show you some shots of their new showroom in Margate, Kent.

When we were back in UK at the end of last year and over New Year we managed to fit in a lightening visit to see them and to check out how their fantastic new space had emerged from a run down neglected building which started life as a school in around 1900. (See above). However, this was a special school to teach the craft of 'laundering' to those girls who wanted to learn the skill in order to enter 'service' in a large household. The kind that appeared in Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs I would imagine!

Anyway, back to the inside of the building which they have totally renovated. Smart dark walls and wooden polished original floors are the backdrop to show off their eclectic, collected wares. All in all - perfection.

Love these old decoy ducks from the beginning of last century.

Fabulous French mirror above this old sign.

Stuart Atkinson/Kiel Shaw. Fontaine Antiques - The Old Laundry, Margate, Kent, UK

Wholesale and Retail - call to make an appointment if you are travelling from afar.

Website : http://www.fontainedecorative.com/

Hello. I've missed you...

So sorry.
I know I have not posted nor have I been round to 'visit' you all for a while. Truth be known this visitor lark is pretty exhausting to say the least. The MIL and the SIL have been staying with us and I have not really had any time to myself. I have either been working or on the days I have had off I have been tour guiding. Or shopping and planning meals and cooking. And no going off and on to the computer ON MY OWN - have hardly had time to even check my emails ; - "Where's Sarah gone? What's she doing?" Oh dear....

Having said all that I did manage to escape out last weekend when MR SE took over for the tour guiding duties and met my lovely friend Ms. S for a couple of hours. She cheered me no end as only friends can.....

Here is my set of gorgeous Vietri China - a modest 'breakfast set' (for Mr SE and myself) - 2 plates and there were also 2 mugs to match but a while back I dropped and broke one . She knew how sad I was about this and ..... Tah Dah ! Look what she gave me ....... another matching mug!

Here it is, close up. Lovely hand made Italian china. So pretty and tactile.

She made my day.

My Mother in Law and Sister in Law are off back to UK towards the end of the week and so you can rest assured that I will be round to your blogs to 'see' you all again very soon. Meanwhile, thanks for understanding.

My friend Ms. Maple

My dear friend Ms. S (aka Ms. Maple) has at last (!) begun her blog.....

Please go and visit here HERE and follow her too if you feel so inclined - that would be a wonderful welcome to the world of blogging for her. I know you won't be disappointed and I also know for sure that her blog will be filled with all manner of delicious and delightful goodies over the coming months. A real treat.

And Hostess am sure you will particularly enjoy - she hails orginally from Vancouver.

White Cottage, Suffolk, England

I am totally in LOVE with this very pretty late Georgian cottage in the coastal town of Woodbridge in Suffolk in England. It belongs to my talented friend Jo who has such a flair for designing and decorating - she kindly sent me all these photographs which I am so pleased to share with you all....

Sitting room.

And another view above.

Dining area. Love the fact that she has paired the old table with the modern white chairs.

Above and below - the kitchen.

The twin bedded room above.

And the gorgeous main bedroom.

Another photo of the main bedroom - tea for two?

And the bathroom.

And lastly the GORGEOUS little courtyard garden.

Now the even more exciting part is that this little gem of a cottage is available for holiday lets....


Here is the link http://www.suffolkcottageholidays.com/cottage/suffolk/000300/ajax/white-cottage-woodbridge.html



Have a wonderful weekend whatever you are doing!

News from Japan

This is my dear friend Celia; the photograph was taken in happier times last October when she and I met up for dinner. Yesterday she was caught up in the earthquake that hit Japan as she is on business in Tokyo setting up an Art exhibition there in the city. When I got back from work last night and saw what had happened I was so worried and thankfully was able to skype her and we conversed via skype for the whole evening - she was really happy to be able to 'talk' and feel connected over the internet with me - nothing else was working - no mobile phone networks or of course no ordinary telephone systems.... As she couldn't reach anyone from there I got her to send me the telephone numbers in England that she wanted to contact and I rang them from here to let them know she was unharmed.... Very frightened but alright and today she was able to send this email out to all of her friends from Tokyo. I know she won't mind me copying it and putting it on the blog as it does give a first hand account of what it was like there :


Hi all
Thanks for your concern for my safety. I know many of you have called the office so just to let you know that I am OK but a bit freaked out by what has happened. It was very scary and the earth was literally rolling beneath our feet for about 2 minutes. Everything was shaking, the cars, buildings etc. I was doing an exhibition at the time and we all had to rush out onto the street so that we had a better chance if the buildings collapsed. Some glass was broken but apart from that we were OK and sat on the ground until it passed, but at the time we didn't know how bad it was or where it was coming from so we just had to wait with the feeling that we could be swallowed up or crushed at any minute. It was a truly humbling experience. There were aftershocks all day and we are still feeling small movements every now and then.
The chaos that followed was inevitable and all the mobile networks were jammed and all transport stopped throughout the city. Traffic was gridlocked so people took to the streets and tried to walk home. People were panic buying in the convenience stores and there was nothing left on the shelves. I couldn't get back to my hotel so I walked for an hour or so to my friends house and camped out there like a tramp. I think that many people were worse off and had no-where to go.
Today things are getting back to normal but people here are just beginning to realise the extent of the disaster. Apparently it is the biggest earthquake in Japan's history but we are relieved it struck at sea otherwise the devastation could have been far worse. As it is, the resulting tsunamis that hit the east coast yesterday and last night have killed many people and swept away houses, cars bridges etc.
I hope it's over now but everyone is a bit apprehensive about the next few days. I am scheduled to fly home on Monday so hopefully this will still be possible. I am looking forward to being back in the relative safety of the UK. Its been a long and busy week and the last couple of days have left me feeling a bit depleted.
Will catch up with you all when I get back. Look after yourselves and your loved ones and concentrate on what's important in life.


So very true. Sometimes we do lose the bigger picture and forget what is important in life. I just thank God she is ok and my heart goes out to the many who have not been so lucky.

"Avalanche Pavlova" and Festive Matters

Well, I don't think I would get citizenship if one of the tests were to make an Australian Pavlova. I am afraid it got re-named "Avalanche Pavlova" instead of what it was meant to be - "Three Tier Brown Sugar Pavlova" View from the top above and side view below - well at least it had 3 tiers! And as it was covered in copious amounts of cream and berries it all seemed to go down well.

BN (Beautiful Niece) helped by advising on applying cream and fruit....

that was before she got stuck back into the wine below! (hasten to add that she is only joking here and does drink it by the glass, promise).

Now, those of you who were following the blog at the beginning of the year know that I did a little matchmaking as far as she was concerned and as her godmother I think that this was ENTIRELY in order.

I present below.... BN and LAM.... her Lovely Aussie Man.

I think they make a gorgeous couple but then again I am a little biased on these matters as A. she is my goddaughter as well as my niece and B. I introduced them.

We spent Christmas Day with them and with our friend S who kindly invited us for Christmas lunch with her family. And it was a day of mixed Nations - friend S and her mother who was also there are Canadian, there was us; the British contingent and also the Australians, the LAM and friend S's husband and son and other members of his family too...
All in all a wonderful and happy day with a huge amount of tasty food and lovely wines to drink. Perfect.

Then on to Boxing Day when we went to the :

Remember I told you that Mr SE is very keen on cricket? He bought tickets for the Ashes series on Boxing Day way, way back in JULY! Well, I could not be churlish and say 'No thanks Mr SE I would rather go to the Sales", could I? Well, could I? Actually I would not have missed it for the world - England are in TOP FORM I have to say and we had a day of great entertainment too. BN and LAM also came with us.

At one point though, disaster. Rain stopped play....

The man sitting in front of us, fashioned himself a hat from a cardboard container used to carry beer... He made us smile, all day! He informed us he was sitting in 'Milliner's Row' and asked BN and I if we would like hats too. We politely declined, we did not think they would go with our outfits!

The sun came back out and the game continued.... We were very happy with the final outcome. That was all of us except for the LAM who said it was a long, long time since he had seen Australia all bowled out for less than 100.

A great Christmas break.

Quick visit into the city

Had to make unexpected visit into the city of Melbourne today. Right into the heart of the CBD. I think it's one of my most favourite cities in the world - everything is at your fingertips. It was decked out for Christmas with stars and fluttering flags.

There's a very good transport system in Melbourne. Melburnians sometimes complain about the trains and trams but I think they are wonderful. Look at this rather jolly tram in yellow above.

Outside David Jones department store there was a 'live' stone statue of F. Christmas! I love David Jones. Went in there today and bumped into such a gorgeous girl - a friend of daughter's - she is working at the MAC counter. The gorgeous girl was on the same Make Up Artist course that my daughter attended when she was here in June, July and August.......

Oh and look ! F. Christmas himself. He was starring in the window of Myers Department store...

Along with these animated lily fairies...

a prince and a princess, (Kate Middleton take note - a good dress design for you perhaps?!)

and these gorgeous white horses.

All very pretty I have to say but I cannot for the life of me really feel festive when it is warm. I imagine it must be an ingrained thing having been brought up in the Northern Hemisphere where Christmas means cold short days and long nights, open fires, evergreen fir trees and twinkly ice and snow !!

It's a different kind of atmosphere here - still fun and lovely but one of a rather long party with warm days and short nights, outside living, barbeques, beach visits and plenty of cold fizzy champagne. Not that I'm really complaining, especially about the fizzy part!

As I was in the city I called friend S who works there and we met for a healthy sushi lunch. After that the healthy part stopped as she took me to a gorgeous little cupcake place for some

and we had such a

catching up and chatting. Have not seen her for a while.

The inside of the cupcake shop - so colouful... Look at all the boxes used as decoration on the left hand side wall.

And above - 3 little cupcakes...How cute? From the left chocolate marshmallow, then vanilla creme, and on the right strawberry shortcake.

So delicious! (I had the strawberry one).

Oh and I did do a teeny bit of retail therapy too which I will tell you about in a later post. All in all a very nice day off altogether and I now feel ready to face the rest of the week.