If you caught the recently aired episode of Grand Designs that showed a hexagonal, oak-framed eco house being built in the Cambridgeshire fens, you might be interested to know it is up for sale.
For anyone not in the UK, Grand Designs is a TV programme that follows ambitious, elegaic, one-of-a-kind house building projects – from [...]
Entries from March 31st, 2009
Grand Design for sale
March 31st, 2009 5 Comments
Tags: architecture · cambridgeshire · eco house · fenland · fens · grand designs · green living · property · real estate
Foraging in the hedgerows – spring
March 29th, 2009 No Comments
Today I went foraging in the woods with friends for the fresh green tops of stinging nettles which are just coming into growth to make nettle and ginger beer. I can’t yet vouch for the flavour – it takes about 7 days to be ready to drink, so watch this space.
Even if it turns out [...]
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Typoretum
March 28th, 2009 1 Comment
The other day I fetched up in the lovely market town of Coggeshall in Essex to meet Justin Knopp of Typoretum about doing some bespoke letterpress work.
Walking into the studio is like stepping back eighty years or so, and everywhere your eye settles in the cramped space there is something interesting to look at. Four presses are [...]
Tags: bespoke · coggeshall · custom · garamond · greetings cards · letterpress · printed cards · printing · stationary · type · Typography · typoretum
Old Town
March 23rd, 2009 2 Comments
If you stand and listen in the Old Town showroom in Holt, Norfolk, you hear the ticking of the clock and the sound of the sewing machine upstairs, making garments from traditional, hardwearing materials. There is no sleepy electronic beeping or the soft hum of computer fans that we tend to take for granted.
The list [...]
Tags: clothing · corduroy · fabric · harris tweed · holt · norfolk · north norfolk · nostalgia · old town · play · seamstresses · seaside · tradition · workwear
Hunting signs of spring
March 20th, 2009 1 Comment
Today is the equinox and the official beginning of spring. Signs of it are catching hold all across East Anglia. Yesterday I popped into the gardens at Blickling Hall to see their lovely dell full of hellebores – if the weather holds this weekend will be the perfect time to visit them.
It’s a blowsy spring [...]
Tags: architecture · blickling hall · classical · east anglia · east of england · garden · garden design · gardening · gardens · hellebores · jacobean · national trust · norfolk · planting · plants · seasonal · spring · spring flowers · tree ferns
All the toys you can shake a stick at
March 16th, 2009 2 Comments
This Thursday there is a very special auction happening at Keys auction house in Aylesham, Norfolk. A stonking collection of automata, robots, toys. Browsing the catalogue it seems that everything that moves by itself is worthy of inclusion.
I’m a sucker for both auctions and toys with interesting or quizzical expressions on their faces – bringing [...]
Tags: auction · automata · aylesham · east anglia · east of england · flatlanders · games · norfolk · robots · sale · toy collection · toys
The light in Aldeburgh
March 14th, 2009 1 Comment
I fell in love with the work of Derek Chambers today – he’s a printmaker based in Suffolk who has done some glorious work in and around Aldeburgh that, for me, captures the peculiar light and atmosphere of the place.
He was a london ad man for 40 years before moving to the country and concentrating [...]
Tags: aldeburgh · art · derek chambers · design · east anglia · etching · print · printmaking · seaside · sudbourne printmakers · suffolk · suffolk coast
Sliding House
March 11th, 2009 1 Comment
As the seasons move and the weather changes from summery to blowing freezing rain in the space of 5 minutes, the Sliding House recently built in Suffolk looks more and more genius.
Wallpaper have done a great video all about it here which explains everything better than I would.
The architects are dRMM.
Tags: architecture · design · east anglia · good ideas · light and space · novelty · sliding house · suffolk
Full of festivals
March 5th, 2009 1 Comment
It struck me today that Cambridge, in particular, overflows with festivals. Whatever your hyperspecialised desire, there is probably a festival that will include it in this town. I just got an email from the Food and Drink festival about their fundraising quiz, where you go and drink wine and eat cheese and try and answer [...]
Tags: beer festival · cambridge · cambridgeshire · classical music · comedy · festivals · film · gay festival · ideas · music · rock music · science · secret garden party · shakespeare · summer