The last walk of 2020
This was the very last walk of the year and indeed in the best comany. I met Justine and Stan in Pishill, a walk we did a few times in the past, it’s a lovely walk, with lots of woodland, but also big spaces for running for the dogs, some houses on our way and at the end, there’s the church where we have always have a cup of tea and cake. I think we were a bit happy to see the back of 2020 and little did we know that we wouldn’t be able to walk at all in January (or maybe even February?) Anyway, we did enjoy this walk a lot. The beautiful foggy morning turned into a sunny day.
I have decided to keep this blog alive and will regularly post this year.
A misty November morning
Starting lockdown 2.0 with a beautiful misty morning walk. I feel extremely lucky living in the countryside and that as soon as I step out of the door, all this beauty is right there, waiting for me to enjoy. I’m an early riser and early mornings are my tonic. Misty mornings like these are the cherry on the cake. Hope you’ll experience beautiful mornings too this late Autumn and Winter too.
October in Scotland
We were very much in need of leaving the house. I did get to travel (and photograph wonderful gardens with the most wonderful people and I can’t wait to be able to tell you more about this) but S. has been working from home (which is great too, of course) but well, we just needed to be away a bit. And so we went to Scotland to catch the beautiful, golden October there. I was craving for the wilderness, cool and rainy days, muted colours and that quiet and calm I very often find there.
We stayed in a self catering accomodation only twenty minutes from Edinburgh but really out in the middle of nowhere. This suited us and the current situation perfectly. We went for quiet walks, up the Lammermuir hills but also to the sea a couple of times. It felt so good being somewhere this tranquil.
We stayed on a farm in a wee bothy. Backing our garden there, there was a walled garden and an old abandoned building that captured me the first time I saw it. It looked derelict and I sooo wanted to see what was behind the walls of the garden. One morning I took a photo of the house, shared it on Instagram and tadaam, not long after that, the owner of that house messaged me. But what are the chances??! Someone who follows me must have recognized the house and let her know? No idea. But long story short, she let me go over and have a look around. I was so excited to (officially) trespass and see the house and the grounds from close! It’s been lying empty for years and the new owners have now started the works and I cannot wait to see the changes next time we’re up.
So above is the house as I first saw it from behind the fence and then from a bit closer. I took many more images of it but I also want to respect its privacy. Oh and the garden is full of beautiful holly bushes and mostly lived in by sheep and that’s about it at the moment but I’m sure it will see some wonderful changes.
So yes, I was looking for peace and quiet. Crisp and grey. Muted colours and wilderness. I needed headspace and to be able to think without sitting in front of a screen. What is a bit unknown of a Winter and a new year just round the corner, these few days away were so important to me, to see clear and to make plans. All this - and more - happened in Scotland. I had two shoots that I’ll tell you about soon. Until then, enjoy October wherever you are. This is by far my favourite month, for all the reasons I mentioned above, so I’m just happy being here.
Woodland foxgloves
Come on Eva, I show you my secret foxglove walk, said Stanley. So off we went, for a beautiful evening woodland walk. The woods were alive with wildlife yet still very peaceful. Thank you Justine and Stan for the walk, I cannot wait to return to these woods in Autumn too..
April in the garden - ii
So our garden is not particularly big and it’s not particularly exciting for many, I’m aware of that. This garden has seen someone coming here and saying to me, I don’t like your gardening style. Oh well, that’s absolutely fine, of course. We’re renting here so there’s only so much you can (and want) to do to this garden but our landlords are the best and let us do anything we like. This garden had been neglected for a long time before we moved in six years ago but then as we slowly started to work on it (and with it), we discovered so many wonderful cottage garden plants and many traces from a garden that it once was. The garden is quite long and not too wide. When we came, I started to dig up a border on the sunny side, there was a lot of fight with ivy and ground elder but that long bed is now absolutely managable. Many parts of the garden are still ruled by the aforementioned plants.
April has been blue, forget-me-nots all over the garden. I love the cottagegardenness of this garden. Geraniums everywhere and the aquilegia has started to flower too. The tulips are slowly gone but my peasant eye narcissus has just started to flower, I forgot to photograph that but I’ll add it next time. With Salomon’s seal. And cow parsley.
But until then, these are the things I’ve recently captured in the garden.
April in the garden - i
I’ll be sharing with you little details from my garden here as long as I can. I finally have time to really observe every tiny bit of the garden through my lens. I hope you enjoy it.
No Floral Foam Class at Middleton Lodge
It has been a while and although I do really like blogs and I definitely want to keep this one going, time just always gets in the way. But now! I’m planning to get back to sharing lots of images with you, mostly thanks to all your kind words about how my photos lift you up.
Today I’d like to share some - oh it was so hard to choose - photos form a wonderful workshop I photographed at the beginning of March. Middleton Lodge has gone floral foam free and together with the wonderful floral designers Simply By Arrangement and The Wilde they decided to run a class about the techniques and mechanics to create a breathtaking wedding scene without the use of floral foam. I met and photographed the work some amazing florists there and well, taking these images was a dream. A treat, in fact.
What I haven’t done before and it was a first for me, shooting a model! I was so nervous and excited at the same time before the shoot. Luckily, Steph was a professional model and she new exactly what to do. As you’ll see.
Cove Harbour - Scotland
The moment Storm Dennis arrived in Scotland, I stopped at the wee parking in Cove and went for a walk after a long drive up from England.
