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Apart from a brief respite last Friday, the UK seems to have stepped into Autumn almost overnight. It's still dark when I get out of bed, the laundry takes an absolute age to dry and the central heating keeps clicking into life.
The decorators have finally started work on Stonecroft's exterior but due to the constant rain, the painting is progressing very slowly.
With the house being a bit of a dumping ground between festivals, now the season's over I've had time to clean from top to bottom and to put everything back in its rightful place.
The houseplants have gone crazy and we've successfully rooted cuttings from the Umbrella plant, Chinese Money plant, Spider plant and Mother-in-Law's Tongue.
Built in 1750, Stonecroft started life as three single storey farm labourer's cottages (Walsall was mostly agricultural land before the Industrial Revolution), an upper floor was added in the 19th century and doorways knocked into the dividing walls to create a single, two storey dwelling. Although it looks large from the outside, our house is only one room wide with each room leading through into another.
There's no windows at the back of the house and just one to the side, facing out on to the avenue (the rest face south, over the garden. There's two doors at the front, making it very confusing for visitors! Downstairs consists of the lounge, the hallway, the middle room, the kitchen and the utility room.
The photo above was taken in 1952, I'm not sure what happened to the chimney.
The utility room , which leads off the kitchen, was the bathroom when we first moved in.
Lord Jon's watching his favourite programme, Death in Paradise. I hate it so he watches it on catch-up in the kitchen.
The stairs lead off from the middle room...
Climb the stairs past the Wall of Misery....
On the landing you'll find the Poodle Parlour...
And our bookshelves.
We've got two bedrooms, ours (below)...
And the guest room, aka my walk-in wardrobe/sewing space.
The bathroom was a third bedroom until Jon worked his magic.
I've had a new phone, nothing well-known or fancy, but I'm very impressed with the picture quality.
William's decamped from the tortoise pen to an ancient mini greenhouse although he's spent most of today inside as it's unseasonably cold. We're going to have to bring Jacob inside tonight, its forecast to drop to 1°C later.
I've adjusted my wardrobe accordingly and I'm back in boots, long sleeves and fedoras....although I'm happiest in slinky dresses and sandals, it's my cool weather gear that gets the most compliments when I'm out and about.
This fabulous 1960s Indian handloom kaftan by India Imports of Rhode Island, which later became Adini, came from my friend Molly's legendary Vintage Relics sale rail at this year's End of the Road.
I wore it for a morning of swimming, 'Spoons and charity shopping last week, along with my handmade in Ibiza cowboy boots (ebay, 2022), Aldo fedora (charity shop, 2015) and recycled silk sari & jute tote bag (Beautiful Days, 2022).
Another recent purchase is this incredible 1960s Greek linen kaftan, my choice for wearing to the swimming baths on Tuesday morning.
You can see where high-end Athenian designer label, Devotion Twins get their inspiration from, can't you? (I'm linking 'cos I love them, as my friend Sheila says). I spotted this on Vinted for £6 last month...what absolute bargain!
The receptionist in the MOT centre loved how I'd matched my vintage blue hat to my nails, proving that she's my kind of girl! The tan platform boots were from Clarks' clearance sale earlier this year.
Here's a perennial favourite, my beloved 1970s block printed Pakistani kaftan which has been worn on repeat since I acquired it from eBay back in 2019.
I threw this on to pop to the shops (a rare foray to the supermarket, usually Jon's domain). The Moroccan leather belt is a hand-me-down from Liz, the feather-trimmed hat was originally from Accessorize but bought from Sue Ryder for £2.50 a couple of years ago and the red leather cowboy boots were a recent buy - I won't show you a close-up just yet, I'm sure you'll be sick to death of them by the spring!
You're not seeing double, this is another India Imports of Rhode Island handloom kaftan, just in a slightly different colourway, I couldn't decide which one I liked best so I bought both!
With the temperature plummeting to a feeble 7°C, I needed a jacket on my walk down to the baths this morning. The vintage jacket is embroidered suede and was an eBay find a couple of years ago, the fedora was a Monsoon retail buy in 2022, the green leather belt was bought from a boutique in Santorini last year and the vintage cowboy boots came via Vinted.
But I haven't packed away my Summer clothes just yet...I'll be needing them for the next couple of weeks!
From left: Pink City Prints shirred cotton maxi and Le Petit Bateau denim jacket, vintage Anokhi block printed midi dress, Jen's Pirate Booty ombre maxi, a vintage House of Lavinia printed cotton maxi, a vintage Marion Donaldson maxi, my Haris Cotton Greek co-ord, a crochet beach dress, an orange cotton blouse, my Devotion Twins cotton shorts, a vintage straw hat, a raffia beach bag and a rainbow straw clutch bag (a gift from Ann & Jos).
I'm travelling in my Pink City Prints dress, denim jacket, granny square Tevas and these gorgeous Mexican silver and turquoise stud earrings from our End of the Road friends and neighbours, Shilpa Silver (here's their website), I'll put the rest of my jewellery on once I'm through security. My raffia bag squishes up and will fit under the seat in front of me.
And, as usual, we're travelling with carry-on only. Mine weighs in at 7kg.
Corfu is calling...see you in October!
