A Place in Heaven: The Ethicurean at Barley Wood Walled Garden

A new place in heaven I want to share with you today. It's the Ethicurean Restaurant & Barley Wood Walled Garden in the heart of the Mendip Hills just outside of Bristol. It is paradisiacal. As soon as you have left buzzing Bristol behind and step out of your car, you will be welcomed by birdsong and the sheep's baa. Suddenly you are in the countryside. I enter the gardens and walk along the tall brick walls of this ha-ha, smelling the rosemary, sage and thyme that is planted on the box-tree lined beds. Often I will find Mark the gardener or one of the chefs snipping something fresh for the kitchen. I walk higher up and enter the light and whitewashed conservatory which serves as The Ethicurean restaurant. 

I love the atmosphere inside, it's furnished very simply with farmhouse tables and chairs, somehow it also reminds me on how school must have looked like in the old days, maybe it's the blackboards that announce the dish of the day or the release of their first book. On the tables, milk bottles serve as vases for rosemary twigs, plates of slate as 'reserved' signs, the cakes come on beautiful mix-and-match delicate tea sets. The view outside the windows reaches far over the rolling hills, I could sit for hours and just watch the birds and seagulls gathering and sailing the sky. If the weather is nice, I stay outside on the long communal table on the lawn or in one of the wooden bays along the brick walls.

The food here has never disappointed me. It's mostly what this young team - four friends - get from the adjacent garden or from the hedges, it's always fresh, seasonal and regional. I've been introduced to dishes here of which I had never heard before: roasted courgette and cobnut soup, astonishing-green nettle soup with Caerphilly cheese melted into it, pearl barley risotto with fantastic mushroom jelly cubes. They cure their own meat, smoke, and do great cocktails mixed with their own tinctures, and really good cakes to enjoy with a silky fennel seed and ginger hot chocolate. The best is that they have written a wonderful book which is out today, I will tell you more about it in the next blog post. 

Everything here calms me down, such a soothing, relaxing atmosphere. After my meal I take a short walk around the gardens or up the hills to greet the sheep, and when I drive back home into Bristol, I feel relaxed and happy, as if I'd just spent a few hours in a great spa. 

 

The legendary Sticky Toffee Apple Pie. SO good. I was hoping to find the recipe in the book but I learned that it's a secret recipe! So whenever I go, I make sure I have it for dessert or at least take a piece away with me :-)

Nettle soup with creamy caerphilly cheese and pea shoots. It's divine. The recipe is in the book and I will definitely try this myself next year when the nettles are still young. The cheese melts and provides an extra creaminess to the soup.

 

 Pearl barley risotto with the fantastic mushroom jelly cubes (recipe in the book).

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Ein neuer Ort für meine Reihe 'A place in heaven': das Ethicurean Restaurant & Barley Wood Walled Garden, ganz idyllisch in den Mendip Hills etwas ausserhalb Bristols gelegen. Sobald man das Brummen der Stadt hinter sich gelassen hat und hier aus dem Auto steigt, wird man von der Ruhe des Landlebens, Vogelgezwitscher und Schafblöken begrüßt. Ein mit hohen Backsteinmauern umzäunter Garten, ein typischer ha-ha, wunderschön angelegt mit Kräutern, Gemüsen und Rankobst, umgibt und beliefert das oberhalb liegende Restaurant. An warmen Tagen liegt der Duft der Kräuter in der Luft, während man durch den Garten in Richtung Restaurant schlendert. Oft nehme ich dann draussen auf dem Rasen an der großen Holztafel oder in einer der kleinen Buchten entlang der Mauer Platz, und genieße den Blick auf die gegenüberliegenden Hügel. Englische Countryside pur.

Oder ich betrete den lichtdurchfluteten, geweißelten Wintergarten und setze mich dort an einen der rustikalen Tische. Alles erinnert mich ein bisschen an ein Farmhaus oder frühere Schulzimmer, auf sehr gute Art natürlich, es ist so reduziert auf das Einfache und dabei so wunderschön. Milchflaschen dienen als Vasen für Rosmarinzweige, Schiefertafeln als 'Reserviert'-Schild, Tee und Kuchen wird auf hübschen, zusammengewürfelten Teilen betagter Teeservices serviert.

Die Gerichte sind genauso paradiesisch wie die Ruhe und Atmosphäre, die einen hier empfängt. Auf den Tisch kommt nur, was das Team - vier Freunde - im Garten oder den Hecken vorfindet, saisonal, frisch, regional. Ich habe hier ganz neue Geschmacksnoten probiert: Suppe von gerösteteten Zucchini mit Haselnüssen, unirdisch-grüne, so leckere Brennesselsuppe mit hineingeschmolzenen Käsestückchen, Perlgraupen-Risotto, das mit kleinen Champignon-Gelee-Würfeln als Geschmacksbomben überrascht. Es wird eigens geräuchert, Tinkturen zum Mixen der Cocktails angesetzt, tolle Kuchen gebacken und feine heiße Schokoladen mit Fenchelsamen und Ingwer aromatisiert. Noch irgendwer Zweifel an der britischen Küche?! :-) Und das Beste: die vier Freunde bringen heute ein großartiges Buch heraus, über das ich euch im nächsten Blogpost berichte. Juhu, ich freu mich drauf. :-)

With love from the UK,

♥ Christine

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Go & Find: DIG Haushizzle in Bristol

Today I want to share yet another new – and very cool Bristol store with you: Dig Haüshizzle. As soon as I’ve heard of this place, I was  t h e r e  checking it out. I think you can see why it is right up my alley: industrial rustic charme meets antiques along with a fantastic collection of vintage lighting. Yes, man. All presented in a stunning showroom that features beautiful huge windows while the dark-painted walls are such a fantastic setting for what owners Cassandra and Ed have recently sourced and restored. 

Honestly, I could buy every single lamp they have in their shop. My attention was instantly drawn to the chic lightbulbs which are hung along the large windows. Tinted in a golden, almost brownish shade they shine a warm light with their filaments. Lucky as I am, they sell these too, and I ordered me two of the classic round Edison bulbs along with one in a pear shape. They will make a perfect bundle somewhere in my home soon. I really like that Cassandra and Ed make sure you can find such small pieces: there are also vintage shoe lasts, antique jars, school posters, magazines and said bulbs to take home when you’re not looking for a new piece of furniture. Of which they have a fantastic (!) collection. When I was looking at my pictures back home, I felt I should have taken more of the furniture but it seems I was concentrating very much on the lighting :-) I love, love, love their metal cabinets and steel lockers, or the wood and metal trolley that they have currently for sale. It really is a wonderful collection. 

They also kind-of specialise in taxidermy and treat their finds with so much respect (I’d rather have all zoos on this planet filled with taxidermy pieces than with the sad creatures that have to serve for our ‘education’ and ‘amusement’ right now...). I think provided that none of these animals has been shot  j u s t  for this purpose, taxidermy is a wonderful concept to preserve the beauty that is out there in our world. Anyway, I was really inspired by my visit and took some inspiration home, in the form of my beautiful tinted lightbulbs and the desire to paint a wall in a real dark colour. :-)  You’ll find a wonderful interview with Cassandra and Ed below. I found it so sweet when Cassandra told me that on their last NYC trip, they were armed with a long list of cocktail bars they wanted to visit – yes, that could have been me, too, only that my cocktail bars are the coffee shops wherever I go ;-)

What does Haüshizzle mean?

Cassandra: Ha Ha this is something we get asked a lot. Well Haüshizzle is a word we made up during our branding; everything was looking quite German so we just thought we would roll with it. The "Haüs" part then came pretty easy and then after years of fitting a Snoop Dogg-esque "shizzle" into normal sentences it kind of worked together. It made us laugh, it‘s fun to actually say and we thought even if people don't know exactly how to pronounce it they just remember the shop with the weird name. So yeah, we sell shizzle for houses.

Can you describe Dig Haüshizzle's concept and style a litte?

Cassandra: There is no formal concept behind Dig Haüshizzle we buy what we like as long as it will fit in with the store. I am very into Victoriana so will often buy the more antique pieces and Edd will be more likely to buy mid-century and designer pieces. We buy each piece individually so everything has been picked for a reason, this allows us to change the feel of the shop on quite a regular basis. We just want it to always feel relaxed and like it could be a home; it‘s great as our customers tend to spend a lot of time in our store whether just having a chat or browsing.

Where do you get the wonderful pieces from that you sell in Dig Haüshizzle?

Cassandra: We are very lucky that people get hold of us on a regular basis to try and sell us items. We get to go to their homes and have a look and possibly purchase, and man, we have got to go to some amazing houses! This is how we buy most of our stock.

For the shop’s interior, you've choosen muted colours and dark walls as the canvas to showcase your pieces - how did you decide on this, and is it something you would do at home, too?

Cassandra: The dark colours is just something we like, it makes things more dramatic. We really do get most of our interior ideas from visiting places, researching interior books and constant blog watching. We went on a trip a couple of years ago to New York with lists and lists of places to go and see and I think this is where we got most of inspiration from for Dig Haüshizzle. A few of our favorites were - Freemans Restaurant, Death and Co, Milk and Honey and Fette Sau. We definitely spent a lot of time drinking on that trip.

I guess all your pieces have very interesting stories to tell... What's your favourite?

Cassandra: My current favourite has to be the anatomical plate prints we have. We have decided to get them reprinted to sell as I am really not sure we will ever find any more as beautiful as these.

Edward: My favourite pieces are the large dining tables we have in and the taxidermy cow's head that we obtained via a contact in Germany, just very unusual and a stunning looking item.

How does a usual work day looks like for you?

Cassandra: In our life there is no such thing as a usual day. Everyday is hectic and totally different. Quite often it's very early mornings to go somewhere to view some potential stock, to get back in time to get one of us in the shop. The emails are then the next priority. Then we have a constant juggle of where to store stock, our van seems to be forever full. I often then would undertake some restorations. We don't really have that many days off at the minute but when we do they are just as busy usually exploring some town we have not been to before. Around all of this we manage to fit in going out a lot, we are late to every party, dinner, drinks, gig but we usually make it, which is always pretty sweet.

What's the best thing about being Dig Haüshizzle's shopowner?

Cassandra: Being able to push the business in the direction we both want. I have worked in retail a lot and for ever coming up with ideas now I can actually implement some. It#s great to talk to people about the products and we learn something everyday from our customers. We really are no experts but we are getting much more knowledgeable. It's just great to be here, really.

What are your favourite interior shops (wherever in the world)?

Cassandra: Liberty’s in London is somewhere we cannot pass without going in. I‘m finding it weird but now it‘s getting easier to bypass the fashion sections and head straight to furniture and homewares. We really love Howe on Pimlico Road in London, it gave us a lot of inspiration on how we wanted our shop to look. I‘m a little addicted to the Mantiques Modern website, they are in New York and specialise in 20th century design. I am so so jealous of many of their finds.
I‘ve had a thing for a taxidermy for a while but this totally grew out with a first visit to The Last Tuesday Societys "Little shop of Horrors" in London.  It‘s not an interior shop but this place keeps you in there for hours, I think it‘s a pound to get into the museum section. There are definitely some pretty creepy things that I wouldn't really have in my home but it’s a place full of inspiration. Their parties are great, too.

What's inspiring you right now?

Cassandra: We are mostly inspired from what is just around us and where we choose to go, for example great cafés, bars and restaurants. We also love dilapidated spaces, these are some of the most inspiring. Blogs I really like at the minute include The New Victorian Ruralists and really digging a tumblr page called Black Key by Brad Davison. I seem to just like every picture he chooses. I just ordered the new Hovey sisters book called "Heirloom Modern" so I am looking forward to that. We are looking into getting some of our favorite books into the shop to sell soon, too. We lend out our books quite a lot anyway and we can‘t seem to keep our copy of "Rough Luxe" in store so hopefully selling books will add a bit extra to the store.

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Ein neues Go & Find aus Bristol, diesmal mit Dig Haüshizzle. Die News von diesem neuen Shop traf mitten in mein Herz, natürlich bin ich sofort hingedüst, um mich umzuschauen. Die beiden Shopbesitzer Cassandra und Ed haben ein richtiges Stöberparadies geschaffen, mit Vintageleuchten, Möbeln,  die im früheren Leben in Fabriken oder Büros standen und jetzt aufpoliert ihre metallene Seite zeigen dürfen, mit ein paar Antiquitäten, tollen, langen Holztischen für große Gelage und ausrangierten Schulstühlen. Dazu ein paar Kleinigkeiten für das spontane Finderherz, das gerade nicht nach einem großen Möbelstück sucht:  Schuhleisten, Apothekerflaschen, ausrangierte Schulposter, tolle Magazine oder auch – mein Fund – schickischicke Glühbirnen, die gleich mit nach Hause mussten. Die hingen da so in der langen, wunderbaren Fensterfront und waren zur Abwechslung mal in einem braunen Farbton eingefärbt, durch das die Drähte ganz golden schimmern. Und so warten nun zwei klassiche Edison Glühbirnen und eine Birnenförmige auf ihren gebündelten Einsatz bei mir zuhause.

Aber natürlich hätte ich gerne jede einzelne Lampe mitgenommen, und auch die stählernen Industriemöbel haben es mir angetan. Irgendwie sind davon gar nicht soviel auf meiner Kamera gelandet, ich muss zu abgelenkt von den Leuchten gewesen sein ;-) Und dann gibt es noch jede Menge präparierter Tiere, die ich persönlich immer ganz gerne anschaue. Wann sonst kommt man manchen dieser Schönheiten denn schon mal so nah. All das wird so richtig ‘in style’ präsentiert (da macht das Einkaufen doch gleich doppelt soviel Spaß), vor den dunkel gestrichenen Wänden. Sehr inspiriert bin ich also nach Hause gekommen, zum einen mit neuen Glühbirnen und zum anderen mit dem Wunsch, in der nächsten Wohnung ein paar Wände so richtig dunkel zu streichen. :-)

Auch Cassandra und Ed haben mir ein tolles Interview gegeben, ihre Inspirationsquellen sind wirklich klasse. Ich fands so super, als mir Cassandra erzählte, dass sie bei ihrem letzten NYC-Trip mit einer langen Liste von Cocktailbars bewaffnet waren, die sie unbedingt besuchen wollten... ja, da erkenne ich mich wieder, nur dass meine Cocktailbars die hippen Cafés jeder Stadt sind. Mehr Inspiration also im Interview, viel Spaß!

With love from the UK,

♥ Christine

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Go & Find: Something Else in Bristol

Here’s a new gem that I recently discovered and instantly knew I wanted to share it with you on my column ‚Go & Find‘. It’s a brand-new stationery shop in Bristol, called Something Else, run by the wonderful Sid & Kyle. When I first walked by their shop, I was intrigued by the funny sticker on their shop window, shouting ‚We Are New Here‘, at me! So in I went, and wow, there it was, the most stylish, natural-looking shop interior I have seen in a long time! Sid & Kyle have built textured walls and flying shelves from reclaimed wood panels to present their cards, notebooks, magazines and wrapping paper on. It’s fantastic! The beautiful wooden feature almost distracts from the actual goodies they sell (soon available in their online shop, too), yeah!  ;-)

Right attached to the store area is their design studio in which they both work on branding for small and large companies. Sure these guys have creativity flowing in their veins! Both are so easy-going and inspiring and happily agreed to do an interview for Go & Find (see below)! which was so much fun! I hope it will inspire you as much as it inspired me, and if it does then please hop over to their facebook page and give these new guys on the block some love! I am off for London over the weekend and will for sure be checking out one of their favourite stores there, Labour & Wait.

Thanks Sid & Kyle for giving us a glimpse of your creative world and sharing your faves! :-)

You run a wonderful shop in Bristol, called Something Else, which is attached to your offices for your other business, Something Good. What is the difference between, and the concept behind Something Else and Something Good? 

Kyle: Our design store, Something Else, is something we’ve been dreaming of since the beginning, we’ve always had a burning desire to sell real products as well as a service and Something Else allows us to do this. We’ve been very careful with the selection of our products and we’ve managed to curate a beautiful collection of stationery, books, magazines, prints and cards which isn’t readily available in other shops. Everything we sell, we’d both feel proud to own. No tat. Just beautiful, well-made and functional products which we’re adding to every week. We’ve big plans for Something Else!

Something Good is our creative design studio. We’ve been running for almost two years and work with a variety of clients – from small start ups to global brands – on branding, creative direction and design work, with our main focus being on print, although we do web based projects too.We keep our core team small and bring in extra creative muscle when needed which enables us to offer the best service, without the huge agency price tags.

What was the last addition to your shop, and how do you decide what to stock? 

Sidonie: Printed Pages, the new ‘It’s Nice That’ publication is our latest addition (it has an interview with Jon Goode, illustrator of My Little Pony and the game, Guess Who?). When choosing our stock we consider the design, the origin and the story behind the item and the affordability. Our prints for example are all between £10 and £40. As a customer, we like being able to go into a shop, fall in love with a print and take it home with us. If a print costs more than £50 we’d have to seriously think about it and be sensible and end up saying no. We’ve just preordered some stationery items which are a collaboration between a favourite designer of ours and one of our current suppliers. We’re so excited!

How does a usual work day look like for you? 

Sidonie: It’s not very exciting! More recently I’ve been very focused on the shop and now that I’m back to designing I feel refreshed. I try to spend about an hour drawing in the morning, then I work on our current design projects, whether that’s researching, thinking up ideas, sketching. The way that the space is set up, the shop and studio are in one room, partitioned by a counter. So if customers come in, it is a welcome distraction. We meet many interesting, lovely and creative people. When I return to working, I’ll be more motivated and often inspired! As there are only two or three of us working in the studio, it’s pretty nice that the shop has created this sort of creative community for us. At lunchtime, one of us makes the sandwiches and we tend to read our favourite blogs. Then in the afternoon we might meet to share our progress and ideas, which refocuses us, then it’s back to the projects. Sometimes we’ll have meetings, either in the studio or at a client’s place. We get to work around 9 and finish at 7pm. We used to live a lot closer to work and we’d return to the studio after tea and work til 11pm. That was when we lived in the countryside and there wasn’t much happening!

I love your shop's interior. How did you decide on the overall design and materials, and is it something you would do at home, too? 

Sidonie: One day, we’re going to build a house and it’ll undoubtedly involve a lot of wood. But before that I’d like to create something like Charlotte Rust’s home in Auckland or live on a barge.

Kyle: I probably wouldn’t do it at home because we’ve done it now…it would be great to try new ideas. Next I’m thinking brick tiles and plywood. When we designed the shop, I drew a scale version and tried to fit all our existing furniture into half the space. It didn’t fit so we re-thought how the design studio space was going to work before moving onto the shop side. We lost a lot of furniture and it’s still not perfect; we’ve got some custom tables to put in and the meeting table needs to return to its previous dominant state. We’ll get there soon!

For the shop we had a huge desire to have really clean lines and build box shapes that looked like solid pieces of wood. We both wanted a clean, simple and clutter free design so we thought about our products and how multiple customers could be in such a small space without it feeling cramped.  The shape of the shop is exactly how we drew it, however a lot of the smaller details were determined by the materials we used. What was in my head would only have been possible if our budget was 10x the size as the wood cost would have gone up dramatically. I asked my dad and my brother to help with the build (they build and sell outdoor furniture). I had to give them a lot of control over the materials. I am probably one of their worst clients as I’m very opinionated about the finish and small details, but we all worked very well together. They did a fantastic job working with our design and bringing it in at an affordable price while using some of the most beautiful wood available. It took myself, Sid and my brother one very long and slightly boozy weekend to build it. We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome!

Would you share your sources for the fantastic wood panels?

An incredible sawmill in Eype, Dorset.It’s run by a brilliant bloke who’s originally from New Zealand, called Guy. Eype Down Sawmill.

What are your most inspiring places/shops? 

London: Labour and Wait, The Albion, YCN

Bristol & Bath: Howkapow, Here Shop & Gallery, Poco, Found (Bath), Green Rocket Café (Bath)

Brighton: Snoopers Paradise, Utility

Bridport, Dorset: Slader’s Yard, St Michael’s Arts & Vintage Quarter

Brooklyn: Fettesau Barbeque, Pine Box Rock Shop, The Shop

Boston: Black Ink

What's inspiring you right now?  

Sidonie: Eva Black’s design blog – her peeks into other people’s spaces are a treat. Chloe Fleury’s paper art. I’m following Lou Doillon on Instagram and love it when she posts photographs of her sketchbooks. Calligrapher Michele Hatty Fritz of Meant to Be Calligraphy. Being a pair, I find other pairs inspiring. The super duo Stephen and Shauna of Something’s Hiding in Here/Forage Haberdashery execute absolutely everything they do so perfectly. Some other notable duos: Rosa Parks and Rich Stapleton of Cereal Magazine, Cat and Rog How of Howkapow, Polly Glass and Chris Harrison of Wrap Magazine, Lucy Kirk and Millie Popovic of Pen on Paper.

You moved to Bristol just recently. What is the best thing for you about living in this vibrant city?

Sidonie: Poco for tapas – we’d happily eat there daily. We love all of the independent shops and having a beer by the waterfront.

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Heute geht es endlich weiter mit Go & Find! Ich bin ganz aufgeregt, so tolle Orte habe ich in der Pipeline für euch! Und schon geht’s los: heute mit einem neuen und unheimlich schnieken Laden und Designbüro in Bristol, genannt ‚Something Else‘. Was so toll daran ist? Dass das ganze Interior mit Holzplanken verkleidet wurde, alle Regale, Schauflächen und der Kassentresen wurden daraus gebaut und strahlen eine tolle Wärme und Natürlichkeit aus – riesiger Stylefaktor inklusive. Vor zwei Wochen schlenderte ich am Schaufenster vorbei und wurde sofort neugierig durch den süßen Fensterkleber, den Sid & Kyle, die beiden Shop-Besitzer, an die Fenster gebracht hatten: ‚We Are New Here‘. Ist das nicht süß? Als ich eintrat, war ich sofort hin und weg… und begrüßte die beiden mit ‚euer Laden ist soo schön, der lenkt ja von den ganzen Schätzen, die ihr verkaufen wollt, ab!‘.

Sid & Kyle sind ganz neu in Bristol und betreiben gleich neben dem Shopbereich, in dem sie schnucklige ‚Stationery‘, also Schreibmaterialien, Notizbücher, Karten, Geschenkpapier und Magazine verkaufen, ihr Designbüro, nicht weniger stylish als der Verkaufsbereich. Schaut euch mal die riesige Wand aus Schultafelfarbe an, auf die sie ihre Ideen kritzeln! Das Ladeninterior haben die beiden zusammen mit  ihren Familien an einem Wochenende zusammengeschreinert, ein Traum! Und als wär das nicht schon fantastisch genug, wurden die Holzlatten mit ultraschicken Kupfernägeln vernagelt. Hah! Ich sag ja, ich war hin und weg. :-) Und bin superglücklich, dass uns Sid & Kyle mit einem Interview Einblick in ihre Designwelt und Inspirationsquellen geben. Mich hat ihr Interview richtig inspiriert, und ich hoffe, das geht es genauso! Ich habe das Interview aus Zeitgründen in English belassen, ist das in Ordnung für euch? Gebt mir gerne Feedback!
So, und jetzt lasst euch inspirieren…  von Something Else in Bristol (demnächst mit eigenem Onlineshop!)

With love from the UK,

♥ Christine

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Collecting Cookbooks: It's All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow

As soon as I found out that Gwyneth Paltrow had written a new cookbook I knew that I was going to buy it. Her first book is great and has inspired me to create one of my favourite recipes: spaghetti with scampi & cherry tomatoes in a fruity Pernod-fennel-sauce. Well, her new book is just as good again! I enjoy looking at the photographs which picture Gwyneth Paltrow, her dishes and all the superb ingredients in such a simple, pure and beautiful way. Then the recipes... mouthwatering! I find a lot of my all-time favourite ingredients: avocados, nuts, fish, coconut, ginger, coriander...a little bit East- & Westcoast, a little bit English, sprinkles of Caribbean, Mexican, Asian influences... really reflecting Gwyneth Paltrow's cosmopolitan lifestyle.

I've already put together a to-cook list, I always do that when I add to my cookbook collection. This way, I find all my favourites at one inspirational glance for those days when I seem to have no idea what to cook for dinner. Since I've been doing this writing-up-my-favourite-recipes-thing, I have actually tried more recipes than before! A good excuse when I am unsure wether to add to my collection or not ;)

(photographs in the book © by Ditte Isager)

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Meine kleine Kochbuchsammlung hat Zuwachs bekommen: das neue Buch von Gwyneth Paltrow, "It's All Good". Da ich schon ihr erstes Buch so toll fand und daraus eines meiner mitllerweile-Lieblingsrezepte abgewandelt habe (Spaghetti mit Scampi & Kirschtomaten in Pernod-Fenchel-Soße) habe ich diesmal wieder direkt zugegriffen, und wurde nicht enttäuscht. So ein wunderschön und hochwertig aufgemachtes Buch. Am tollsten sind die Fotos, die die Rezepte, Zutaten und natürlich Gwyneth so pur und schön darstellen.

Ein paar neue Rezepte habe ich mir schon zum Ausprobieren rausgeschrieben, was ich immer mache, wenn ich ein neues Kochbuch kaufe (was nicht soo oft vorkommt). So habe ich alle Rezepte, die mich interessieren, auf einen Blick zusammen und kann mich bei 'Ideennot' schnell inspirieren lassen, ohne das ganze Buch durchblättern zu müssen. Seitdem werden die Rezepte aus meinen Büchern auch endlich mal nachgekocht! :-)

Gwyneth's Art zu kochen ist sehr leicht und genußvoll, die Zutaten, die ich ihn ihrem Buch häufiger finde, sind auch meine Favoriten: Avocados, Nüsse, Fisch, Kokosnuss, Ingwer, Koriander. Gwyneth Paltrow ist Kosmopolitin, sie lebt im Wechsel an der West- & Ostküste der USA und in London lebt und liebt es, kulinarisch Neues auszuprobieren. Das merkt man ihren Rezepten an. So bunt wie ihr Leben sind die, gewürzt mit karibischen, mexikanischen und auch asiatischen Einflüssen.

With love from the UK,

♥ Christine

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A Day at Downton Abbey

 

Today I'd like to share a few picture with you from our recent trip to Highclere Castle, which is the iconic building starring in the famous Downton Abbey series. The castle and grounds are open to the public at very limited times and pre-bookable tickets sell out quickly, but we overheard a few guides encouraging visitors to just come to the gates and ask for remaining day tickets. Which is what we did, as we figured that one can always get tickets for just the gardens even if tickets for the castle are sold-out. In actual fact, I just wanted to see the grounds and be able to walk around the castle since I had heard that a lot of the film scenes are taken on other locations anyway. But my husband got us tickets for inside while I was snapping pictures elsewhere. Wow, how happy I was he had, once we stepped into the castle, it's just breathtakenly beautiful. It takes you into another world, the well preserved library, dining room, bedroom, staircase, and the hallway making me feel as if I could just move in and start living an Edwardian life there. It didn't feel as if it's a museum really and the guides were so lovely and chatty with stories about the history of the castle. So after having seen the inside, I highly recommend getting tickets for both the grounds and the castle, if you can. You can only visit the gardens on the days the castle is open to the public, too, which was what we did before our tour of the castle. Although the gardens were still far behind due to the cold weather UK experienced until just recently, we really enjoyed our long stroll over the vast estate's parkland and the visit to the secret garden. The rain didn't bother us at all as we knew we would warm up in the Coach House Tearoom with a pot of tea and flatbreads. A nice day at Downtown Abbey, it was! :-)

There is a nice video about the filming of Downton Abbey, I hope everyone outside the UK is enabled to see it, too. A guide inside the castle told us that 90 people run around the castle on filming days, accompanied by a lot of cables and camera equipment, not-so-glamorous as it looks on TV ;) He added they would all be really happy and appreciative of the enormous popularity that Highclere Castle enjoys nowadays as 'it will save it for many more years'. And for all fans of Downton Abbey (including me! ;) there's good news as the crew started to film parts of the fourth series last Monday. Yeah! More to see from Downton Abbey soon, I guess.

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Heute möchte ich euch gerne ein paar Bilder von unserem Ausflug nach Higclere Castle letzte Woche zeigen, das viele von euch bestimmt aus der Serie Downton Abbey kennen. Das Schloß und die Parklandschaft drumherum sind nur zu ganz bestimmten Zeiten geöffnet, die Tickets ganz schnell ausverkauft. Wir sind einfach auf gut Glück hingefahren, da ich gar nicht unbedingt hinein, sondern vor allem nur einmal um das Schloß herum laufen wollte. Ausserdem hatte ich gelesen, dass viele Teile sowieso an anderen Orten gedreht werden, und hatte dementsprechend nicht so hohe Erwartungen vom Inneren des Schlosses. Hatte ich mich getäuscht! Die fein ausstaffierten Räume, mit Betten, Sofas, Lampen, frischen Blumen auf den Beistellstischen, das Esszimmer, das riesige Treppengeländer und die wunderschöne Bibliothek... alles machte den Eindruck, als könnte man direkt einziehen, um ein Leben wie zu Zeiten Edwards des VII. zu leben. Es fühlte sich gar nicht wie ein Museum an, und die Guides in den einzelnen Räumen waren so freundlich und sprudelten mit Geschichten über das Schloss geradezu über. Nun also kann ich jedem nur empfehlen, auch das Haus anzuschauen, und wir bekamen mehrmals den Tipp, einfach am Eingang nach verbleibenden Tagestickets fürs Schloß nachzufragen, sollten sie online schon ausverkauft sein. Genauso haben auch wir unsere Tickets ergattert. Der weitläufige Park kann nur an den Tagen besichtigt werden, an denen auch das Schloß geöffnet ist, und lohnt sich allein schon wegen der hübschen Sicht auf das Schloß, die einen beim Spaziergang überallhin begleitet. Der Garten wird sich in den nächsten Frühlingswochen erst noch richtig entwickeln und eine noch bessere Fotokulisse bilden als an unserem verregneten Tag. Aber wir haben uns nicht stören lassen und unseren Ausflug trotzdem sehr genossen. :-)

Hier ist ein schönes Video über das Filmset in Downton Abbey, ich hoffe, die Rechte erlauben, dass man es auch ausserhalb der UK ansehen kann!? Ein Museumsführer erzählte uns, dass 90 Personen an einem normalen Drehtag beteiligt sind, plus viele, viele Kabel und Kameraequipment, was hinter den Kulissen wenig glamourös sei ;) Und dass man sich auf Highclere Castle sehr über die große Popularität durch Downton Abbey freue, da es das Schloß für viele weitere Jahre erhalte. Für alle Fans (wie mich! ;) gibt es gute Nachrichten, denn am vergangenen Montag haben Teile der Dreharbeiten für die vierte Staffel auf Highclere Castle begonnen. Ich denke, lange müssen wir also nicht mehr auf die Fortsetzung warten.
Yeah! :-)

With love from the UK,

♥ Christine

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