When I was 9 I asked my Mum and Dad for pony.  I think every 9 year old girl asks their parents for a pony, but few get the outcome I did.  I imagined a gleaming palamino, leading me to glory and rosettes at every local show, the envy of all my friends as I galloped about and flew over huge show jumps.  Instead I was presented with an old, arthritic donkey, Belinda, and her two year old, unbroken, slightly wild younger companion Louise.  My dreams were shattered.

Those donkeys grew to be our best friends, stars in made up gymkhanas in our front field, even being persuaded to jump – when they could be bothered.  Belinda died some time ago, and Louise suddenly followed her, unexpectedly, aged 22 a couple of years ago.  The field never looked quite the same with a donkey in it, and so Mum searched high and low for a miniature donkey for Dad’s birthday in April.  Meet Zara:

Lovely soft velvet nose

The latest additions are Branston and Pickle, a pair of shy pygmy goat kids.

The gorgeous flowers are by Gilly Guthrie and Alison Consett.

Technical note: I’ve just invested in the VSCO film look actions for Lightroom. I love them.  These have all been processed with Fuji 400H-, I’ve made a custom preset with a little extra over-exposure and 0 added contrast.  I’m seriously starting to wonder about getting going with film again, not for everything but as an addition to my Canon 5DII.  The glowing skin and tonal range is amazing.  Please God drop a Contax 645 in my lap.

Suzi and Ben are getting married at the rather lovely Hazlewood Castle in July – here they are practicing for the big wedding day.  They look like pros don’t they?!

If you ever want to send someone flowers, for any reason, you should check out Bloomin’ British. The bouquets are beautiful, fresh and smell wonderful, the colours are perky, complimentary and pretty, and to top it all they also tick the eco friendly box. All the flowers are grown sustainably in Britain, supporting British growers and reducing the carbon footprint.

So, guys and gals, say no to petrol station flowers and hello to Bloomin’ British. You won’t be sorry.

These photos were for the website and also a promotion with Joules, so they are famous. The made up part of a window display in all the stores nationwide.

The best bit about photographing these lushious lovelies? I got to take some of them home!

Little Thomas is about a month younger than Isabella, could be a perfect match don’t you think ;-)

Thomas is a budding little rugby fan (or so his Daddy hopes)

The reception was at the ever gorgeous private stately home Goldsborough Hall, a personal favourite as I had my reception there nearly 5 years ago, although it feels more like just a year or two.

The flowers were by Lucy MacNicoll – very pretty and summery with the most lovely peonies. I think they have to be my favourite flower. Ever.

A simple idea – the original Easter egg mould, is…..an egg of course.  Simply empty out the eggs original contents and replace with chocolate. Easy.

Yeah.  It is easy, but it’s time consuming, especially with duck eggs which are at least twice as big as chickens eggs.

 Martha Stewart has pretty comprehensive instructions that I won’t repeat here.  I don’t think you need to make it as complicated as that though.  Simply make a hole in the bottom of the egg with a pin, and then make a bit bigger and a bit bigger (gently), until it’s about the size of of a 5p piece.  Then you need to stick something in the egg to break up the yolk (I used a cake skewer).  Wriggle it about a bit and then the egg will come out of the hole when held upside down.  It comes out s l o w l y.

I then followed good old Martha’s instructions to sterilise the eggs (boil the shells with a tablespoon of vinegar for 10 mins – start with cold water).

Here they are drying after being sterilised:

Next, decoration.  I didn’t have any brown paint but wanted a natural look, so I used some instant coffee mixed with a little bit of water to make a thickish dye, and used a paintbrush to splat it onto the shells

Once dry I stuck stickers over the holes to make them look finished off.  I’ve got a Cath Kidston sticker book which had some perfect little round stickers, but you could use any stickers that cover the hole.

Finished.  A basket of surprise eggs.  Pretty, natural and rustic.  I’ll let you know how they taste.