Land girl

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You’ll be pleased to hear that I’ve been swotting up on the good life this month, dear Reader. As most of you will know, when we first moved here in summer 2013, it marked the beginning of a new life for the four of us – turning our back on the urban sprawl and learning the ways of the countryside. In fact it was the view above of one of the cottage’s neighbouring fields which convinced us to move. For a couple of beginners like Jerry and I, the prospect of living the good life was more than a little daunting. Yet here we are, nearly three years down the line and we’ve raised orphan lambs, adopted a Large Black called Cumberland and an elderly pony named Willow, taken on hens and now have a share in three little piglets, Huff, Puff and Snuff. We never intended to grow such a menagerie – it just sort of happened. I often wonder if our friends ever thought that we would turn out to be this animal mad when we left the Big Smoke.

I suppose you could say that it was all Country Living’s fault. Almost as soon as we had moved in, I stumbled on a series the magazine had commissioned on Walnuts Farm and its owners Nick and Bella Ivins. Charting life as a family run smallholding, it gave an insight into how the bucolic pastoral idyll we had always dreamed of could be achieved. I say we, dear Reader. Anyone who knows us well will certainly agree that Jerry never pictured washing down a sheep’s backside in his idyllic rural scene. Country Living’s series on Walnuts Farm shared Nick and Bella’s growing your own tips, how-tos for those brave enough to give livestock a go and many a delicious recipe using hedgerow fodder. Nick and Bella painted a wonderful portrait of smallholder life and made it seem somehow achievable on a small scale for a pair of Londoners seriously lacking in green fingers.

Imagine my joy, dear Reader, when Nick and Bella announced that there was to be a book to follow the series. The New Homesteader was an eagerly awaited parcel – thank you to Nick and Bella for the fabulous gift and for the invaluable tweets and replies on caring for lambs, pigs etc when we got a bit stuck. I very nearly bit the postman’s hand off to rip open the jiffy bag and devour the contents!

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The book doesn’t disappoint. It is a wonderfully put together tome of self-sufficiency and learning to live the good life. Leaving the city behind and relocating to Walnuts Farm ten years ago, Nick and Bella have embraced becoming smallholders with their daughters Flora and Peggy, making it work for them and fit in with family life, rather than being slaves to the land.

Their book offers practical advice on a plethora of ‘good lifer’ topics (accompanied by Nick’s beautiful photography) from yoghurt and butter making… Homesteader to the benefits of planting wild flower meadows…

Homesteader2 keeping pigs and hens, planning an orchard and getting started in the kitchen garden. Nick and Bella’s aim with The New Homesteader is to inspire others to give modern homesteading a go whether it’s in the countryside, city or suburbs. You might not be able to keep pigs in a courtyard garden in South West London but you can grow fruit and veg in pots or try your hand at making your own butter (not as difficult as you may think). Honestly, dear Reader, even if you have no desire to up sticks for a rural living, I challenge you not to fall in love with the wonderful pictures and story which Nick and Bell tell in The New Homesteader. It’s a rare treat and the perfect read for those who yearn for a slice of the good life. The pictures of their delightful home will have you on Pinterest seeking to recreate their country chic in a jiffy!

Taking yet another leaf out of Nick and Bella’s book, Jerry and I have turned all land girl on our little plot (I’ve been channelling victory rolls and khaki cropped dungarees) this spring. Jerry looks wonderful in a head scarf and pinny….. He’ll kill me for telling such fibs. With our veg patch sowings underway, we’ve planted our own wildflower meadow in a patch of long grass bordering the driveway and taken to some guerrilla sowing on our verges too. We used seeds from a fab little company called Seedball – thank you so much chaps for sending us a selection of your marvellous seed tins. We’ve already ordered a few more tins! The Seedball seeds couldn’t be easier to sow. Each Seedball tin comes with seeds, compost and a little chilli to put off the birds all rolled in together so that the seeds have the best chance of growing.

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Growing your own wildflower patch is as simple as throwing the seedballs onto the area which you’d like the wildflowers to grow, watering a little and then waiting for them to pop up. Perfect for the more erratic gardener like me….. I can’t wait to try the Herb and Tea seed mixes. Not blessed with acres of kitchen garden, I shall be popping those in a container near the kitchen window. Now’s the perfect time to sow and you don’t need a huge garden to scatter a few seeds. The bees will love you forever and you never know, it could be the start of your very own smallholding, dear Reader.

Charles acre

Hats off

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It’s not often that I get completely obsessed by all things crafty as I am usually utterly hopeless at making anything look more than haphazardly homemade. However, a couple of weeks ago, I delved into the art of millinery with the most spectacular lady, Rachel Drewer. I can tell you, dear Reader, I am already hooked on hat making.

Secreted away amidst Hampshire farmland, Rachel has a wonderful little studio with oodles and oodles of fabrics, mannequins wearing glamourous creations and enough feathers to fashion her own aviary of birds! Heaven. A veritable sweetie shop for all you crafting folk. With Rachel’s work featuring in British Vogue and Country Life no less, her creations are regular features on the racing circuit. So it is not surprising that ladies are queuing up the farm track and beyond to have one of her bespoke designs and couture numbers. Leaving behind a career in the city, Rachel studied millinery with some of the world’s finest designers, including those who have worked for Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel and the Duchess of Cambridge.

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When Rachel is not designing and creating the most stunning headpieces and hats, she also teaches millinery workshops. So when she invited me to come and have a lesson, I made sure I was there with bells on, dear Reader! Not only was there tea and cake, fabulous chat from the delightful Rachel (she is one of the most twinkly smiley people I have interviewed) but she also indulged my love of all things green and feathery. A blissful morning spent in the company of a true artist.

Together (well I say together, I mostly scoffed cake), we created a headband with some feathers I had acquired. Those of you who have seen my homemade roadkill pheasant fascinator, I promise I didn’t come by these green ones by running over anything exotic…..

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From creating a good shape to offset the feathers, sticking them in place…

to finally sewing the feathered piece on to a bespoke hairband and finishing with netting.

The results were staggeringly good and with Rachel’s wonderful patience and teaching skills, I was thoroughly surprised at my efforts. In fact, my new fascinator will be having its first outing for a family wedding in June.

Rachel runs a whole host of millinery workshops which teach feather techniques, millinery upcycling, introductions to hat making with sinamay, parasisal and silk flowers as well as specific focus on particular hat designs. For those looking for their own personal workshop session, Rachel offers bespoke tuition which includes a one-to-one day with Rachel in her studio, tailored worksheet on methods, materials, and design tips, follow-up support and more. I rather liked the sound of her millinery parties – the perfect hen weekend idea alongside a glass of fizz or two.

I am truly delighted with my beautiful bespoke headpiece, dear Reader and entirely indebted to Rachel and her guiding hand. I am already chomping at the bit to pop back for more tea and cake as well as a chance to play with all the various hats in the studio – the stuff of dressing up dreams, dear Reader. Not only is Rachel such a talent but I feel I have made a rather lovely and supremely talented new friend right on my doorstep too! I can’t thank her enough for such a lovely morning, especially as she even let me dress her dear Frank in one of her stunning couture numbers. Hats off all round, dear Reader!

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Peeking into the Secret Garden

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Image courtesy of Rock & Roam

Indulge me for a moment, dear Reader. Picture a beautiful sunset falling into the water at the end of the jetty, wild ponies grazing in the distance, a winding pathway lit with candles and lanterns. We are met by a lady who hands us a small key. A key that will lead us into the Secret Garden.

Jerry and I have had some wonderful invitations to events in the past but when Emma Forsyth of Rock & Roam, a new style social club for New Forest residents and weekenders, invited us to her launch party at Gins Barn, near Beaulieu (one of New Forest Escapes’ luxury lets) I jumped at the chance to attend.

A Secret Garden supper crafted by Emma’s team and the fair hands of critically acclaimed London chefs and designers, Edible Stories – just the sound of it was enough to take me back to reading Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s classic for the first time as a little girl.

Image courtesy of Rock & Roam

What a garden it was too, dear Reader. With such a stunning venue styled with flowers tumbling from the rafters, branches and leaves strewn across tables, candlelight, superb theatre created with sumptuous course after course and even a singing canary in the corner too, the story of little Mary Lennox and the magic of the Secret Garden unfolded.

From Mary’s days of the Raj with a taste of India served in tiffins, followed by a Bitter Mary to depict orphan Mary, sour and rude, leaving her home to come to England….

to the loneliness Mary experiences at Lord Craven’s Misselthwaite Manor where she meets a robin, as she explores the grounds, who will lead her to an overgrown doorway

to reveal the untouched beauty of the deserted garden behind the walls as Mary turns the key

and the final joy of making the garden bloom with her own hands, bringing her uncle and cousin together again.

Image courtesy of Rock & Roam

I’m still hoping that every supper I go to is as beautiful as this was. Judging by the oohs and aahs in the room coming from Emma’s other guests, I imagine that I am not the only one! Truly a magical evening – a feast for all the senses. Wonder if the team from Edible Stories would like to set up camp in my kitchen, dear Reader?

Rock & Roam’s aim is to host pop up events, tastings and experiences that are imaginative, informative, fun and unique so that members and their guests can enjoy the best of New Forest with like-minded locals. From beekeeping to field photography, gin masterclasses or wild sea swimming, Emma works with a varied team of specialists to put together a calendar full of workshops throughout the year too. To be honest, dear Reader, if Rock & Roam’s Secret Garden launch supper is anything to go by, then the club’s members are in for a real treat. This is one for the black book list of Margot loves.

Spring has sprung

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In the midst of the wet miserable winter with water coming through the ceiling, trampling through the endless muddy quagmire of a garden and carting wood into the house on a daily basis to keep warm, I wasn’t sure that spring would ever come to us. Yet, here it is and I am so very glad to see it, dear Reader. Such a tonic for the soul – birds singing, walking about without coats, blossom appearing in the hedgerows and the garden coming back to life. Not to mention catching a glimpse of one of nature’s truly awesome sights – hares boxing in the field. The perfect reward for our epic early morning school run.

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Filled with the joys of spring and buoyed by wondrous blue skies and a sunny day in the offing, we packed the car to the rafters and headed for the beach. I haven’t seen Poppy and Primrose frolic about together so happily or heard them laugh so much in ages. Bliss.

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Dora loved her first trip to the seaside too – splashing about in the sea, digging in the sand and managing to photobomb every photo I tried to take of the girls.

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Lovely to have a day of doing absolutely nothing as things have been rather busy at Margot and Jerry HQ. From our first Point to Point as a family which saw Poppy completely hooked on the horses (she is currently planning her rise to riding fame when she tackles the Grand National whilst Primrose has developed rather too much of an interest in betting)…..

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….to learning the piggy ropes on a pig course for a new smallholding project with lovely friend and fellow Good Lifer, The Townie Farmer and discovering rather too much information about breeding……

I’m still sniggering like a schoolgirl about this little gem, dear Reader. Definitely not Dior.

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Then of course there was the excitement of Lady Agatha, our Cream Legbar, FINALLY giving us an egg…..

Aggie egg

and the arrival of some wee Easter chicks. 4 little ones, a few days old, which a lovely neighbour in the village has installed in her shed with a heat lamp. I am not sure who was more thrilled, me or the children. One of these tiny fluffsters is destined to join our flock after a bit of growing time but for now, the girls and I are enjoying peeping into the box in the shed and giving them a cuddle, whenever we can.

Best of all that spring has brought with it so far though was a little something I’ve been waiting to arrive on the doormat. The May 2016 issue of Country Living Magazine with my feature on the wonderful charcuterie made at Parsonage Farm by John and Sarah Mills.

I feel honoured to have had my work commissioned by Country Living but to see it through to the shelves, married up with stunning photos taken by the HUGELY talented Simon Wheeler (his work can be seen in River Cottage books and so much more), has had me bouncing like a bonny spring lamb. I am so delighted to have been able to tell John and Sarah’s story and share it with readers all over the country. They are wonderful people, have taught me heaps and changed the way I think about farming forever. This feature means a great deal to me, not least because I’ve also ticked off No.1 of 3 on a wish list I made when I started writing nearly three years ago, dear Reader, when we moved from town to country. To be honest, if this wonderful start is a sign of things yet to come, then we’re in for a good one and I, for one, intend to walk with maybe just a little bit more of a spring in my step. I do hope you’ll join me, dear Reader.

Spring

Mothers

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Blossom

The definition of ‘mother’ – a female or thing that creates, nurtures, protects, etc

You’ll have to forgive me, dear Reader. I’m not usually one for writing these sorts of posts but I felt compelled to scribble something down for Mother’s Day in the face of spending time with some truly wonderful women this week. For me, being a mother sees me wearing many guises, day after day, week to week, year on year. I can mostly be found shouting ‘Bugger’ loudly at the most inappropriate moment, accidentally giving Poppy a lesson from Mummy’s very own phonics programme (‘t’ is for tonic water according to nursery – I’m lucky she hasn’t shared the other sounds), making Primrose cringe with embarrassment whenever or wherever I am with her, never remembering the permission slip or which day the kit needs to be in school and so on and so on. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that as a mother I would have to turn my hand to plate spinning whilst doing a handstand, trying to work full time, making the tea, helping with homework, making sure there is food in the fridge, washing, ironing, inventing stories on the hop and all whilst listening to Primrose’s piano practice. Somehow it all seems to happen though. Well, apart from the handstand – I am RUBBISH at anything sport related…..oh and the plate spinning….no one can really do that, can they? Anyway, the point is that I’m not superwoman, far from it. I wish I was but somehow I seem to get through it one disaster at a time. Motherhood is constantly testing me. I shout too often, don’t listen enough, struggle to remain patient and would sometimes rather be face down in a large gin and tonic/book/cup of tea/bottle of wine/slice of cake (you can see where my priorities lie, dear Reader…) than answering to the whims of the ~~tiara-wearing terrorists~~ gorgeous girls I have miraculously managed to produce. Those are the very same girls who have taught ME a great deal. They make me want to live up to that definition of a mother, as despite all my faults, they love me and for that I will be eternally thankful.

Mummy

Anyhow, back to the reason for this rather unusual post from me. This week I witnessed that very definition of motherhood in action and spent time with some truly remarkable ladies – ladies who take the word ‘mother’ and smash it, no matter what is thrown at them. Ladies for whom I have the utmost admiration, love and respect. They are the people worthy of flowers, champagne and chocolate on a day of honouring mothers and I want to remind myself of them and many more besides who otherwise might not feel like celebrating Mother’s Day today.

To the mothers out there who have held tiny hands and lost them, the mothers who endure illness and manage to keep smiling for their children, those who care for others without complaint, daughters who’ve lost their mothers, those whose roles are reversed with their parents, those who remain strong when faced with phenomenal personal difficulty, mothers who have sacrificed so much in the name of love, those who are both mother and father, those who would give up everything to have one more day with the ones they have loved and lost, the mothers who shield their loved ones from the truth, who nurse a sick child tirelessly and always have a smile or kind word for others even when their day/week/month has been shit, those who become mothers to another’s children, those longing to hold their own bundle, friends who pick each other up from the floor. For all those wonderful women and so many more because as that definition proves, motherhood is not just about having children but being able to nurture and think of others whatever the relationship……today is for you. Your patience, strength and courage moves mountains, makes the impossible seem possible and shows us all the true meaning of love. You are the people I would like to honour on Mother’s Day and say thank you to as I don’t tell you often enough how amazing you are. Without you, that definition would be nothing.

Happy Mother’s Day.

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Margot Tries the Good Life

A chronicle of the transformation from self-confessed townie to country bumpkin

Land girl

Hats off

Spring has sprung

Mothers