Made from Margate: inside Haeckels skin care laboratory
Friends visited us this weekend in Margate, and, having chatted to the patient, sun-bleached men who run the swing boats on the beach, reported varying views on whether the town was… ‘changing’. Meanwhile I visited Haeckels, a business that seems to me to represent the best of what might be changing about Margate.
It’s a skin care and fragrance shop-cum-laboratory where all the products are ‘made from Margate.’ Dom, the enthusiastic and knowledgeable owner, collects seaweed from Thanet’s chalky, empty beaches, to make into beauty products and scented candles. He told me that he feels we’ve lost trust in this island’s capacity to give health via our indigenous plants, preferring instead to seek the natural in more exotic climes like Bali.
Bedroom makeover – an update
I actually did something practical with my bank holiday weekend. Remember my cork wall chat? My patterned floor plans? Well voila here’s a half-finished room for my son with both of those elements… Ok confession, I did not paint the Pitch Black wall (which I love) or install the cork. A nice decorator did that for […]
Aldeburgh colour palette (first published April 2013)
A colour palette story we posted over a year ago, which still inspires us now – hope you find it just as lovely. The Easter weekend and I went on a tour of seaside towns. Aldeburgh in Suffolk has next to no ugly developments on the seafront. Instead handsome painted houses and funny little cottages face […]
Bank holiday inspiration: Whitstable
This post was first published as ‘Black, red and green: Whitstable fisherman’s huts in June 2013. It’s a beautiful place to visit for the last bank holiday of the year, even if you can’t stay in a hut. And looking back on this post I am also reminded of what turned out to be a […]
Royal Madness (first published Nov 2010)
This post was originally written when WillKat were newly engaged – remember then? This is Margaret Tyler at her home in Wembley, north London. She has a collection of around 10,000 Royal memorabilia items including mugs, teapots, plates and plastic bags. Yes, plastic bags. You can bet she didn’t yell ‘who cares?’ at the […]