Foraging, making, waiting ...

 

London is in the grip of a heatwave - three weeks of non stop sunshine, deep blue skies and the forgotten luxury of sleeping with open windows and without covers.


It has helped soften the disappointment of our trullo delay and I've spent lots of time outside in our little walled garden, watering, pruning, sun baking and watching birds visit and bathe in the old ceramic plate I keep topped up with fresh water just for them.

The other morning, I watered very early out the front and had the joy of seeing lots of little bees, stripey yellow jumpers and furry black legs, arrive to dance in the hose shower. Everyone is thirsty and providing respite feels rather nice.

I am wild about red robins. It is an addiction ...

Doesn't the garden look lovely at the mo?


Burgess Park where we walk the dog most days was one of the city's biggest World War II bomb sites and is still an ever evolving, huge urban green space which is now at the stage of being planted with meadow flowers. While I dream of Puglia, I also feel incredibly lucky and grateful to live in a metropolis that values nature and the importance of trees.

The meadow plantings are coming into their own.

Rather wonderfully, I finished my crochet project - a log cabin style blanket for our teeny, tiny bedroom in the first trullo - and must thank Lucy of Attic24 for her incredible pattern. If you like it, you will find the crochet instructions here

I have loads of remnant wool because I changed it slightly, using a bigger crochet needle and doing two rows of each colour rather than three so am planning a couple of matching cushions for the sofa beds in the other trullo. It took me a year, I love it and can imagine it there, surrounded by stone and whitewash to ensure we are warm even in the cooler months when we visit.

I'm dreaming about our little bedroom and waking up to the cicadas and birds.


I've also been on a mission here in London, heading off at dawn to the incredible antiques market at Kempton racecourse. It is huge and there are literally hundreds of dealers who display their wares out in the open and boy, it's bargain land trust me! If you visit the capital and love to forage, there is nothing more exciting or more fun than treasure hunting here.

I thought in lieu of trullo works updates that you might enjoy seeing a few of my foraged finds which will make their way to Puglia, hopefully next month, when Robert and I set out on our road trip, through France and then across Italy and down the Adriatic coast in a loaded van!


First, my cutlery. Enough (mismatched) for eight people - including dinky little butter knives with bakelite handles and a bunch of teaspoons - which I bought for a grand total of ... 30 quid! You couldn't get a set cheaper at Ikea!

 

And here is the best little writing table, bought for 50 quid. It has the cutest handle and lock and the drawer will hold two Apple laptops on top of each other. Here it is before I bargained and bought it.

And here it is back home in London loaded with the rest of the booty I got at the markets on this lovely, sunny and hot Tuesday.  

The pulley you ask? Well, I want to be able to haul a basket up loaded with glasses etc etc to the roof terrace from the kitchen - and how pretty is this old one? How could I resist. I will ask Mimmo the Magician if he can mount an L shaped bracket on the external wall of the roof terrace just above the kitchen door hahah! 

Oh and you will also spot a couple of fabulous painted wooden wall candle thingies, I reckon they're Indian and can imagine them attached to the stone walls with candlelight flickering at night? And the old bottles (a quid each!) bound to add interest to the little niches in the trullo walls. Of course, every trullo needs a a big hook (the bright green thing) hung with old keys - so people know where to leave the house keys or hang their car keys of course!

I also found a fabulous little chair to sit with the table. I am crazy about the leftover paint. 20 quid!

There is no room for much storage in the traditional sense in the trulli - i.e. no room for wardrobes etc. We have to find ways to hang t shirts, damp costumes, the things you fling off at night. I have trawled Ebay for months now and bought each one of these old, wooden advertising hangers individually from sellers all over the UK and Europe. Not one cost more than 6 quid (although in the end postage meant I spent more but still a heap cheaper than wardrobes!).

They will be hung on hooks or, on a wonderful ladder style wooden valet which I discovered are being made in a little carpentry workshop in Berlin. But that's for another story....

Speaking of 'wardrobes', I bought two of these fabulous vintage wooden hook racks on eBay and they must have come from a barn in France because they were rusted and one had caked dirt and hay in it. A bit of WD40 and the hooks swing out of the way when not being used. Imagine them hung with the old coat hangers on a whitewashed stone wall? I can!

This one, below, wasn't a market find but comes from one of my favourite shops in the universe, the Alastair Hendy home store  in Hastings. I love everything stocked there ... this was an indulgence but hey, imagine it hung up on the kitchen wall? Handsome and utilitarian. How could I resist?

Okay, that's enough treasure hunting for today. I will leave you with a picture of our park in full drought, heatwave mode. Don't you love it? I do, London on these long summer days and nights makes my spirit soar.