Life: February 2020

Tess Cottage

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

For a couple who both love Thomas Hardy, a weekend away in Dorset to celebrate my husband’s birthday was just the ticket. Unfortunately, this was the weekend of Storm Ciara and so our original plans of heading down to Corfe Castle didn’t come to pass.

Evershot

However, we spent a very pleasant morning in Sherborne, a delightful small town with plenty of independent shops. We had lunch in a sweet location called D’Urbervilles, which also sold French antiques (nearly bought myself a beautiful red enamel coffee pot). The lunch (avocado and smoked salmon on sour dough toast) was served on a small table next to an old fashioned wood burner, which was perfect for this stormy day.

Sherborne Abbey

Coincidentally, we were staying at the Acorn Inn at Evershot which is actually featured in Tess of the D’Urbervilles (as the Sow and Acorn). All the rooms are named after places or people in the book ( we were in Emminster, the home of the Clare family). The food at the Acorn is award winning, and my Lyme Bay scallops, lamb and creme brûlée were all perfectly sumptuous. 

En-suite 

After waiting a long time for the right plumber, we finally had a leak in the grouting fixed by replacing the existing tiling with shower wall panels and installing a new shower. The transformation is pretty amazing and it is now ready to be redecorated, so watch this space for a home deco update soon!

Dressmaking

There is some progress on the New Look 6000, and in fact I only have the hem to finish, so I will feature that here shortly. I think it is one of the most challenging items I have seen yet!

Love Mrs Jones x