With Lucy Rose, Michael Kiwanuka and Villagers headlining at Communion Records’ Bushstock Festival in Shepherds Bush last night, it was incredibly tough deciding who to see. Thankfully we had several hours of brilliant music to indulge in first! In the end we plumped for Villagers’ intimate folk music in serene St Stephen’s Church and it was…
Recently Read: The Goldfinch
I’ve heard so much praise for The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt’s latest novel - in the last year, that I just had to read it to find out what all the fuss was about. And, I didn’t think the praise was unfounded! The Goldfinch starts in New York City, where a bomb explodes in the…
Magazine Brighton
The magazine love continues, guys.... A trip to Brighton last weekend wouldn't have been complete without visiting Magazine Brighton, a new shop on Trafalgar Street selling independent magazines and journals, an absolute treasure trove of beautiful print! Set up late last year, I've been following Magazine Brighton's Instagram account and lusting over all the pictures…
5ftinf Open House & Shed
I’ve been following @5ftinf, otherwise known as Philippa Stanton, on Instagram and love her photos of ‘The Table’ where she scatters flower petals, stationery, maps and other lovely vintage objects and arranges them them in pleasing pattern and colour combinations on a big wooden table in her home. Philippa is an artist based in Brighton…
Lifestyle magazines for the creative minded
I’ve been reading the fantastic Oh Comely magazine for five years now. It’s filled with creative experiments, stories and beautiful photographs. Oh Comely celebrates joining people together and taking a break to savour life - I’ve posted gifts to a pen pal for the Perfect Strangers Project and read a Penguin Classic along with other…
A quick trip to Glasgow
I find January one of the hardest winter months as it's cold, dark and there's no Christmas to look forward to any more! So this year we planned a quick weekend winter getaway to Glasgow; two weeks after starting back at work we jumped on an overnight sleeper train to Scotland! The Caledonian Sleeper was such…
The Miniaturist Review
Something weird happened recently. Within minutes of stepping into Waterstones a customer had come up and told me to read the copy of The Miniaturist I was flicking through. And it happened twice. In different towns, weeks apart! It was all I needed to be persuaded as I already liked the cover (hands up everyone else who…
The 405’s Playlist Advent Calendar
December crept up so quickly this year that I really think about getting an advent calendar until it was too late but I’m getting around that by having something chocolatey every day (not much different to any other time of year to be honest!) It’s nice to open something every day in the run up…
Oh Comely Book Club
I rarely write in to magazines or take part in competitions, but when Oh Comely magazine invited readers to have one of 5 Penguin Classics sent to them to become part of their book club I picked one straight away. Getting a free book through the post was a lovely treat, and it was exciting to be potentially…
Coastal Currents 2014
Last year I spent an incredible couple of weekends working at Coastal Currents, a visual arts festival in St Leonards and Hastings and unbelievably it's back already, running from 29th August - 14th September! This is the second year Creative Coast and Home Live Art have teamed up to produce Coastal Currents, bringing together local…