I have just spent a very pleasant day in Lewes. The sun was shining, the antiques were cracking and the old buildings remain charming. Lewes is one of my favourite places. Ever. Why do I love it? Two reasons mainly. Firstly, it’s age. Lewes Castle dates back to about 1087 and the town itself is made up of buildings dating from the 15th century onwards. It’s amazing to see streets filled with houses of all ages, sitting in crooked harmony with each other. Nothing pleases Lullyweb more than old, wonky, crooked buildings.

Secondly, antiques. Now I know the meaning of the word “antiques” has changed somewhat over the years. It used to mean this:

“An antique (Latin: antiquus; old) is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age, rarity, condition, utility, or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era in human society.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antique)

But recently, the meaning seems to have changed to mean this:

“Any old tat that I reckon I could get a fiver for down the nearest market. Even if it’s chipped.” (Direct quote from Lullyweb)

Lewes is strewn with antique shops, of the old kind and the newer kind, and I absolutely love them. Yes, there is plenty of tat, and yes, paying £20 for an old bed pan might not seem to fit in with ye olde meaning of antique, but I just love snouting around in old stuff and laughing at what passes nowadays for a collectible.

Tags:lewes

I was given a bottle of this at the weekend. It’s a gorgeous, lavender-based handwash and smells so good, my hands have never been so unnecessarily clean. As I said, mine was a generous gift. You can buy yours from:

Ziel Design for Living
39 High Street
Earls Colne
Colchester
Essex CO6 2PA

Tel: 01787 222989

Tags:Ziel,lavender

I am just over halfway through this and it has been pretty addictive reading so far. In fact, I’ve been really lucky with my book choices recently, they’ve all turned out to be crackers (December by Elizabeth H. Winthrop and The House at Midnight by Lucie Whitehouse). The cover of Testimony sums it up: “A moment of weakness, a lifetime of regret”. And for 3 college boys in New England, this is exactly how things have worked out. The story is told via multiple narratives from people involved directly and indirectly in a college scandal that had dire consequences for the students responsible, as well as their families and members of the school staff. What I really like is the brevity of each narrative, it keeps things interesting and makes you want to read on. I have never read anything by Anita Shreve before but I think I might now.

Tags:Books,Reading,LibraryThing,Anita Shreve,Testimony

Am really impressed with this. It looks great and has the same column function as the main browser version. Slick. And free.

Tags:TweetDeck,iPhone,App

When I was cataloging all my books onto LibraryThing recently I stumbled across this lovely little book which I’ve had since my first christmas. It was written by Fredric Fewings and has the most beautiful animations by John Lathey. There’s no story, it is just a little book for
little people about how wonderful each day is.

Tags:Books,LibraryThing,Fredric Fewings,John Lathey

Lully received this absolutely beautiful piece of art from her friend Grace today. She is very pleased with it and is currently deciding where to hang it in the flat.

Brighton’s smallest pub, the Queensbury Arms. Dinky or what?


Chish ‘n’ Flips


Rundown Regency

Tags:Brighton,Fish and Chips,The Queensbury Arms

St Nicholas’ Church, which was mentioned in the Domesday Book. It’s so sad to see it now with its graveyard chopped in two by Dyke Road. But the church itself is obviously well look after. Shame people treat the graveyard as an area to walk their dogs.

Strange shaped house, just opposite the church. The rooms inside must be really hard to furnish.

Jamie Oliver’s new shop on Western Road. It’s a combination shop / cooking school. They had some handsoap in there for £15. Still, smelt nice. Not too sure how well it’s going to do in that particular area of town though.

Tags:Brighton,St Nicholas' Church,Jamie Oliver,recipease

Rough translation - I’ve loved you for so long. Lovely film starring Kristin Scott Thomas as a woman, Juliette, who, after being released from a 15 year prison sentence, is reunited with her younger sister Lea (played by Elsa Zylberstein). It’s a bit like watching a therapy session unravel. Juliette is at first standoffish with Lea, who in contrast is keen and enthusiastic to rebuild their relationship. As the story progresses Juliette kind of blossoms as her story is revealed, and Lea goes from walking on eggshells around her sister, to eventually being the one to make her come to terms with her tragedy.

Tags:Film,Kristin Scott Thomas,Elsa Zylberstein,Il y a longtemps que je t'aime

My Heather Bailey fabric arrived and I love it. It’s about cushion size.....I wonder how a bright pink cushion would go down? And as it’s meant to be a miserable weekend, I’ve bought three new books to keep me entertained.

Tags:Heather Bailey,Books,Reading,LibraryThing

So far (Page 170 of 350ish) I’m totally hooked on this book. It tells the story of an eleven year old girl, Isabelle, who suddenly stopped talking about a year ago. Her parents cannot figure out what has caused this but both are carrying around their own unspoken guilt and worry that they have done something, said something, or that there has been an event to trigger it. The narrative switches between the three characters and it is so moving how the sense of confusion is shared by all three. This isn’t some kind of “whodunnit” in the sense that you find yourself chasing the cause of Isabelle’s silence. It’s not about that. Instead, you get glimpses into this little girl’s world. You see how she is living with the shame of knowing what her silence is doing to her parents and yet you feel her frustration at the lack of control she has over being able to utter even a single syllable. It’s almost as if she is a victim of some invisible force that is somehow controlling her actions. Really touching.

Tags:Books,December,Elizabeth H. Winthrop

I’ve just bought some Heather Bailey fabric on eBay. Not a lot, just a small square. I couldn’t resist, it looked so beautiful. Bright, colourful and the sort of thing that makes me want to make something. But this is where I fall down. I’ve never made anything. Well, not since Textiles in school. But Heather Bailey’s site has some beautiful creations - not just her fabrics, but the things she does with them. Quilts, aprons, cushions, kids’ toys.... I’ll probably just sit and stare at my little square of fabric. Or maybe I’ll frame it. Could that be considered creative? Probably not.



Screenshot of http://www.heatherbaileystore.com

Tags:Heather Bailey,Fabric,EBay,Colours,Creativity

Continuing with our weekend of sunshine fun around Sussex, today we had lunch at The Jolly Sportsman, in East Chiltington, East Sussex. It’s a nice, popular pub but it’s the surroundings that did it for me. It’s right in the heart of glorious Sussex countryside which, on a day of blue skies, with temperatures in the 20s and a mild breeze, was blissful. We sat under the cherry tree and had our lunch (very nice), with a pint of locally brewed Hophead, and views of the fields beyond.

Tags:Sussex,East Chiltington,The Jolly Sportsman

Lullyweb spent this beautiful sunny Saturday at Bateman’s, which was once the home of Rudyard Kipling. The pictures say it all. Click the photo below

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Tags:The National Trust,Sussex,Bateman's

I have just finished cataloging all of my books online with LibraryThing. For someone like me, who a. loves reading and b. loves lists and order, this service is great. You just create an account, search for your books within LibraryThing’s huge database, and add them to your profile. It finds your books from various sources, using Amazon, university libraries, even the Library of Congress, and there are hundreds of sources to choose from. If you can’t find your book you can enter it manually. And if you are truly obsessed with perfection, as I am, and want to have the correct book cover showing, you can either find an image online or use your own photo. So why do this? The facilities on LibraryThing seem huge. I haven’t explored them all yet, but there are thousands of reviews, it sends you recommendations based on authors, titles, or tags, and it can put you in touch with other LibraryThing members in your area. And there are neat little widgets for your blog - see sidebar. The first 200 books are free, after that you can choose from a year membership at $10US or an annual subscription at $25 (BARGAIN!!!) There are other sites out there that offer this service and I tried a couple of them - GoodReads and Shelfari - but neither of them seemed to have the range of services that LibraryThing offer.

Tags:library,Books,Cataloging,Share,Reading,GoodReads,Shelfari,Authors,LibraryThing,read

Finally today I got the chance to see some Open Houses. Sarah and I focused on the Hove trail. I was really in the mood for buying some lovely, hand-made arts or crafts, having spent a good few hours yesterday looking at Soulemama’s blog, wishing I had the creativity to produce something myself, but knowing I had umpteen houses in Brighton to find stuff made by people with the gift. It started well, as by the time I met Sarah, she’d already acquired a cushion. She then proceeded to purchase something in the first studio we visited. If there’s ever anyone to put you in the mood to spend, it’s my friend Sarah. Anyway, spend I did. We found a gorgeous little gallery on St. John’s Road where I became instantly transfixed by the prints of Sally Elford. I bought the one below, but seriously reckon I’ll be going back tomorrow for more.

“Summer Field” by Sally Elford

Tags:Brighton Festival,Art,Brighton,Sally Elford

Coming along nicely.

Tags:Pantone,Mugs,Colours

Tags:Tulips,Vase

Just a few of my favourite pink things.

Tags:Pink,Flickr

I’ve just watched a programme on BBC2 following English Heritage last year when it spent £7 million of taxpayers’ money on a huge restoration project, in an attempt to rescue Apethorpe Hall from disrepair. Well, I say English Heritage, but it seemed to be more of a one-man crusade by EH Chief Executive Simon Thurley. My only experience of English Heritage is from watching Grand Designs where a pretty unattractive picture of the organisation is usually painted, as desperate, debt-ridden couples trying to convert their run down 18th century water mills, or whatever, into open plan living spaces, are told by EH that the stone they’re using to rebuild ye olde kitchen wall is in the wrong hue, or of the wrong shape. But having watched this programme I’ve got to say, I’m on EH’s side. Simon Thurley makes it clear that its role is to restore Apethorpe Hall to what it would have been 500 years ago. A home, to be lived in and enjoyed. And restoration means restoration, not repair. So if there’s a 19th century wall blocking up a 15th century corridor, you have to consider that, by restoring that corridor, you are destroying a piece of 19th century architecture in the process. And by doing so, are you doing what is best for the building. Simon Thurley calls English Heritage the “Social Services” of the building world. There to step in and protect houses from abuse. We are lucky enough to have so many beautiful, old and historic properties in this country and it’s good to know someone’s looking out for them, like English Heritage or The National Trust. Sadly, what with the “current economic climate” Apethorpe Hall is still on the market. £5 million, if you’re interested.

Tags:English Heritage,Buildings,TV Shows,The National Trust