Castles, Customers & Cooking

I've had quite the dynamic week since my last Friday morning blog...

Straight afterwards I popped down to one of my stockists Present Erian. They were having a big party day with lots of offers, free samples, sponsors and stuff. I got to meet some of my customers which was really nice because I don't often get to meet them in person... due to being in my creative cave most of the time and also because I sell to shops and not directly to the public... I don't get to fraternise with the folk nearly enough.

Here is Anette, who owns the store, and yours truly...


And my well stocked Van Asch corner...

I also got to meet Kristoffer who is the friendly face and founder  behind K.Lundqvist, purveyors of gorgeous smelly things. I highly recommend his Black Cashmere scented candles, so luxurious!



Last weekend I discovered Wenngarn castle and I can't tell you how impressed I was with the place.

I didn't really know what to expect because I knew nothing about it other than you could eat cake there... This is enough information for me, so off the whole family went to have a day out, and we were not disappointed. Firstly, there are loads of places to eat, so whether you want proper food or just cakey nibbles, there are several options for both. We ate lunch at the tex mex restaurant, very rustic, super nice food, if a little over priced, then checked out the loppis (flea market). We did a lot of wandering around the grounds with the dog and only went into the actual castle as a bit of an after thought. Well, thank the Goddess we did! It was very warm in there, a welcome respite from the chill outside and the first thing I noticed was the small of cake so we checked out the cute little cafe in there, staffed by the most friendly and informative people then we went to check out the castle proper. What is immediately apparent and rather strange, in a good way, is that this is an 'open' castle. What that means is that you can pretty much go anywhere, do anything (within reason) and there is no-one there watching over you. Seriously, you can sit on the furniture, you could have  picnic up there if you wanted to.

The only rule is no eating or silly nonsense in the chapel... that seems more than reasonable...


It's not the over the top, opulent rococo, 'look but don't touch' vibe of most of the castles I been to, no this is another thing entirely. It's all about the vibe and the vibe is good! On the top floor there was a Yoko Ono wishing  tree which was just lovely, and really funny and also rather touching to read...

                                 












I asked the owner of the castle cafe if I could do a photoshoot upstairs and who I should ask about that, she said I could just rock up and do what ever I wanted so long as I was respectful and not annoying anyone... I'm paraphrasing obviously, who says 'rock up'? just me really... anyway, I was very surprised and I will indeed be rocking up there with an armload of cushions to take some photos in the near future..oh yes lovely castle, we will be back!

My last thing to mention is that I cooked the most delicious cake yesterday, a very odd recipe but totally delicious and I'm going to share it with you next Friday... until then... have a wonderful weekend you lovely peeps!