From Nicky with love

If, like us, you are passionate about supporting the very best of British, you may well be familiar with Nicky Sherwood's fantastic From Britain with Love website already. Packed with information and ideas on great local suppliers of quality produce of all kinds as well as special places to stay and visit, FBWL is a real favourite of ours.

So much so, that we invited Nicky, who lives in St Margaret's in Surrey, to write a guest blog and to share with us some of the things closest to her heart.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

NS: My guilty pleasure is... crochet! Ok, so it’s not exactly rock ‘n’ roll, but I did become slightly obsessed after learning how to do it for one of our Course Notes features last year. Before long, I was trawling YouTube for video tutorials and whipping up granny squares into the early hours – my husband said I was addicted to ‘crack crochet’. But with a 4 year old, a 12 week old baby and a business to run I don’t have a lot of spare time these days, so it does feel like a bit of an indulgence every time I reach for my bag of wool. Bring on the next fix...

Lasso the Moon favourites?

NS: I adore the ‘Buddy’ patchwork baby blanket by Smitten - I saw it in your latest newsletter and fell in love - definitely on my wish list for my new baby! I also love Maggie Williams’ glass cupcakes... I visited her studio in Cornwall last year and have a little collection of them displayed on a cake stand on my kitchen windowsill – they look so pretty with the sunlight shining through them.

Favourite UK place to eat?

NS: I’d have to say it’s British coffee shop Ginger & White in Hampstead, which my sister co-founded. They serve the best coffee in London (not that I’m biased of course!) and all their food is sourced from British farms and producers. It’s a wonderful place for brunch – they make their own granola and even homemade peanut butter, and it’s very child friendly too. They’re about to open a second shop in nearby Queen's Park – I just wish they’d open one a bit nearer to where I live!

Favourite UK place to stay?

NS: My mum lives on a farm in North Cornwall and I love that part of the world so we try to get down there as often as we can. My four year old son loves to feed the chickens and collect the eggs for breakfast, pick fresh veg for his dinner from the kitchen garden, see how honey is made from the bee hives, and bake treats with grandma in the Aga... it’s real ‘Good Life’ stuff! We also love to pop down to nearby Port Isaac on a Friday evening where you can stand on the beach with a drink and listen to the (now world-famous) Fisherman’s Friends singers perform traditional Cornish sea shanties as the sun sets over the harbour – that takes a lot of beating!

Most cherished possession?

NS: I’m rather fond of my collection of vintage children’s books. My husband is a keen (ok, obsessive!) antiquarian book collector, so realising I’d be spending quite a lot of my married life in dusty bookshops, it was a case of ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ and I started collecting these beautiful Victorian children’s books with decorative spines. I’ve got a few hundred of them now - they’re fun to collect as they usually cost under ten pounds, so you can snap them up without feeling too guilty. I still think it’s pretty amazing that you can buy something that’s over 100 years old for the same price as a modern paperback!

Passion, Karren Brady and bears on wheels!

The lovely Nicky Sherwood of From Britain with Love is someone who shares our passion for UK design. We enjoyed a really good lunch at her local Italian deli, Zoran's (above) in St Margaret's a few weeks ago and the time flew by as we shared stories of the ups and downs of setting up our own businesses. The common factor for us both was how strongly we believe in what we do.

Nicky's directory website is an invaluable source of great ideas for things to do, eat, drink, buy and more from around the UK. We discovered the most adorable range of antique looking animals made by Sarah of Northfield Primitives. We love her Bear on wheels! Lasso the Moon is proud to be listed there too (visit our listing by clicking here) and we have invited Nicky to write a guest blog for us which she is putting together now. We'll share her thoughts with you when we have them.

A week or so after meeting Nicky, I took part in a hugely inspiring business masterclass with Karren Brady (above) from The Apprentice in Guildford. It was interesting to hear how much of what Nicky and I discussed came out loud and clear from Karren too; that the idea behind the business has to be good but then it's all about leadership, grit and focus. Sheer determination is what creates a successful business from a good idea. Determination is something Nicky and I also have in common, I think. We've both fielded work calls whilst looking after a sick child, sat down to do some work in the evening once homework is done, school bags packed, babies asleep... and found ourselves still there in the early hours. The lovely Donna who takes most of our photography often uses these quiet hours when the children are asleep too, I notice, from the ungodly hour on many of her emails!

As lovers of all things good and local, we think Rebecca Gaunt's wonderful website This is Your Kingdom (TiYK) is a real find. An insider's guide to lovely local things to see and do in the UK, TiYK encourages us all to live and love local by celebrating and raising awareness of local people, places and produce.

Laura wrote a guest blog for them last month all about her love of West Wittering beach in West Sussex. In return, we thought you might like to hear from Rebecca (below) about her insightful thoughts following a recent Red magazine networking event for women in business:

‘A couple of weeks ago my TiYK partner, Hannah, attended Red Magazine’s first networking event which bought together an impressive gathering of business women including Jo Malone, Sarah Curren of mywardrobe.com and Joanne Matthews of Ten Pilates. It was a lovely informal evening, with plenty of advice, inspiration and enthusiasm shared among a room full of women who have either taken the plunge or are planning to set up on their own.

'Part of the discussion that evening focused on the importance of developing a strong USP for your business, which got us thinking about what we look for when trying to distinguish one business from the next. The thing we kept coming back to in our ponderings was the importance of the story behind the business – the ‘about us’ page we always turn to first when scouring the web for lovely discoveries.

'It’s so true! When thinking about all of the brilliant, small independent businesses we have featured on TiYK since we launched – it is, without doubt, the people and the provenance that make these businesses unique and special.

'From small cafes selling talk-of-the-town homemade cakes to independents stocking locally hand-crafted pieces – what sets these enterprises apart is the fact that each and every one has been created with love and care by someone whose values and personality are clear to see and resonate throughout their business.

'And at risk of sounding somewhat cheesy now, sharing is exactly what TiYK is all about – the sharing of values, of knowledge, of locality and community. Whether it’s on behalf of independent businesses showcasing homegrown talents or local consumers passionate about provenance, we simply play a lovely part in encouraging and facilitating it.'

We couldn't agree more! At lasso the moon we know very well just how inspiring and exciting it is to come across fantastic individual designer/makers who are putting their heart and soul into what they do... and then be able to help that person's business grow.

We'd love to hear what you think about this so get in touch!

If you would like to share your favourite local thing with TiYK, and be in with a chance of winning a weekend in a fabulous eco dome in Wales, why not enter their writing competition? They would love to hear from you about your favourite local places to eat, drink, walk, think, potter, ponder…

exciting new graduate designer

It's wet and drizzly outside but when the latest batch of finished images came through from Donna, our photographer, it felt as though the sun had come out. These very special lighting pieces are made by one of our new graduate finds, Holly Ross, and her collection will be online soon. It's so exciting to find such raw and immense new talent and then be able to showcase that talent using top quality product photography.

How gorgeous is this little bird cage with its dangly jewels?

Inspired by Orla Kiely

I've been enjoying dipping into the lovely hardback Orla Kiely book my husband bought me for Christmas. He knows me well and my obsession with fabric and design. There's little I like better than heading out on a cold and frosty morning with my good friend Sam to root around for vintage treasures. She's a graphic designer and we share a passion for spotting the jewels amongst the tat. We have so much fun - we will never forget the day we opened a pretty vintage tin to see what was inside and discovered a set of false teeth (well worn!).

Like this passage from Orla's book and couldn't agree more:

'Browsing through market stalls or in a charity shop is a good exercise for any designer. Because presentation isn't generally a key consideration, you have to develop a keen eye to find the treasures among the less desirable items. At the same time, the fact that often prices are rock bottom means that your choice or selection is not biased by the perceived value that a high price tag confers. Instead you have to learn to trust your taste and judgement - to feel the fabric to gauge its quality, or to examine the way a table is constructed. Most importantly, markets are great sources of reference material for colour ideas, patterns, silhouette and line.'

New York state of mind

Above: a typical painted New England style house that look so pretty at this time of year.

Just back from a wonderful trip to New York for Thanksgiving with family and a surprise party for my cousin, Bill. We stayed with Bill and his family at their beautiful home in Pawling, upstate New York. Lights were twinkling around the pretty painted New England style houses as we drove upstate from the airport and arrived at dinner time in time for a glass of chilled champagne and a traditional Thanksgiving feast complete with turkey, all the trimmings and our first ever pumpkin pie. Enjoying fine food and wine in the company of Bill and Elizabeth is one of our very favourite things. Why can't every Thursday be like that?

Bill's wife, Elizabeth, and I spent a very happy afternoon in the incredibly friendly town of Pawling, choosing the most amazing cakes from the fabulous McKinney and Doyle as well as trying on sparkly vintage jewellery at the antiques centre. I could barely contain myself when I discovered the most wonderful haul of vintage American christmas decorations from the 40s and 50s on the stall run by Elizabeth's lovely friend, Barrie.

Several bags of exquisite glass baubles and a family group of old snow-tipped brush Christmas trees later, I decided I couldn't really justify the vintage Christmas tray as well... I didn't notice Elizabeth giving Barrie instructions to wrap it up for me as a surprise to take home. Of course the tray is now a treasured possession (see above) and will be unpacked every Christmas and remind me always of Elizabeth and our wonderful trip.

Above: The wonderful McKinney and Doyle in Pawling has a bakery on one side and great restaurant on the other. Worth a trip for the wonderful smell of home baking alone. Oh, and the best scallops I've ever tasted...

Saturday night was party night (Mad Men theme) and it was utterly fabulous. I got to wear the beautiful vintage stole my friend Sam gave me last year and even got to grips with false eye lashes! It was so wonderful to catch up on over 15 years with my cousin Laurie and his wife, Cathy, who had flown in from Vancouver. Such fun to reminisce about our great Auntie Nancy and her wonderful Liverpool turn of phrase. Laurie's tales of being bought a seriously cool watch brought back just what an expert the old lady was at taking you out shopping for those treats that your mum and dad would never agree were a priority... That's how I ended up with dangerously high-heeled boots with shiny spurs on the back that I really could not walk even a single step in, but which earned me such respect from the girls at school.

Above: download free Martha Stewart templates for cards, labels and gift lists etc and get crafty New England style.

I bought a Martha Stewart Living magazine at the airport for the flight home and barely looked up until we were a good two thirds of the way over the Atlantic. Best find were free to download templates for cards, tags and labels (see link above).

Twinkle, twinkle!

Above: our first raspberry and white chocolate muffins of the day eaten, Donna is getting set up for the first shot. Our shoot days are fun but very intense as Donna and I are both total perfectionists. Individual fairy lights in the background were positioned one by one to get the twinkle EXACTLY where we wanted it! And to get the positioning of the Dorothy neclace's tiny red shoes and the glass 'no place like home' message just right needed Donna's steady hand and limitless patience!

Above: the bracelet needed moving ever so slightly so that the individual silver leaves could be seen at their very best. The question now is... second vintage deer in middle of the shot or not...? The finished version below has him peering out proudly! You wouldn't know that we'd had to glue his legs back on because, just as I was explaining to Donna how delicate this particularly wonderful vintage find was, she fumbled and dropped him on to a slate floor. It's normally me who's accident prone on shoots whilst Donna is the calm, methodical one and I couldn't resist mentioning the poor maimed deer at every opportunity!

What do you think? We were really happy with the final shots we ended up with.
Don't look too closely at the deer's back legs though...