Royal gardens and sustainable style

The weather hasn’t been great this Summer, but the garden parties have carried on regardless. One of the most unique new events, still in full swing, is a super-duper 12-day festival of music, debate, food and fashion hosted by Prince Charles at Clarence House. His Garden Party to Make a Difference aims to promote sustainability and make our natural resources go further. The event is part of the Start initiative to help people across the UK take small steps towards a more sustainable lifestyle.



London’s royal palace gardens are all magnificent, however there’s only one that, in the words of its Director, Professor Stephen Hopper, is “a leader in plant science, conservation and plant-based solutions to global environmental challenges.” The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew is a World Heritage site, containing the most diverse botanical collections on earth.






I last visited Kew some decades ago on a school trip. With vague memories of the sticky Palm House, a Pagoda and aching legs, I decided a return visit was long overdue. Probably not the best idea to take my elderly father along too, but there’s a useful bus-cum-train service that travels around the whole site, which is 300 acres in total – and you can hop off and explore the many attractions at your leisure.








My favourite sights are still the glass palaces, with their marvellous crystal domes. The iconic Palm House was built in 1844-48 by Richard Turner to Decimus Burton’s designs, and is possibly the world’s most notable surviving Victorian glass and iron structure.



This is surrounded by characterful heraldic figures, sculpted from Portland Stone - replicas of the ones placed in Westminster Abbey for HM The Queen’s coronation.











To me, The Waterlily House is the most breathtakingly beautiful of all. Around 150 years ago, the giant waterlily (Victoria amazonica) was the great curiosity at Kew Gardens. The plants, grown from seed collected in Bolivia, had recently flowered for the first time in England, so a sepecially designed glasshouse was created for them by Richard Turner.





When it opened in 1852, this was the widest single span glasshouse in the world, with a pond large enough to support the lilies' 2 meter wide floating leaves. The original variety of giant waterlily can now be seen in the Princess of Wales Conservatory, where growing conditions are more favourable.







There’s so much to see at Kew Gardens …I could go on writing all day. However, I just wanted to show you a few of my favourite things. Which reminds me, if you like natural bath products made from pure botanical ingredients with health-giving properties, you’ll love the unique gift set of Our Favourite Things by Zarvis at ShopCurious.








This divinely scented, beautifully wrapped organic selection is the perfect life-enhancing gift for anyone, at any time of year. But you'll probably want to add this to your own Christmas present list.

Will you?

Cravat heroes

Fake London is a hero of quirky British fashion. Check out Fake's curiously witty scarf designs at ShopCurious. These can be worn in a variety of ways, one of the most popular for this season being cravat style.

If you're curious to learn more about cravats and heroes, then you'll enjoy today's retro-progressive post over at The Dabbler.

And, talking of heroes, don’t forget to tune in at 2.30 pm today to BBC Radio 4's Saturday Play to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Written by Sony award-winning dramatist, Mike Walker, and produced and directed by the lovely Amber Barnfather, Spitfire! is inspired by real people and events - and features specially recorded sounds of the only Spitfire from the Battle of Britain that’s still flying.

The play traces RJ Mitchell’s design from creation to legend, along with the fortunes of two young pilots who join a frontline Spitfire squadron just as the Battle of Britain begins.

I'll certainly be listening in.

Will you?

Tattoos - angelic, or hellish?

Just around the corner from a curiously old fashioned tailors’ shop in London’s Wandsworth, is a rather ominously named tattoo parlour – The Angelic Hell Tattoo World.

The permanent tattoo business is booming, with niche shops offering a whole tattoo lifestyle, including exhibitions, clothing and tattoo design products. Writing for the Evening Standard, Liz Hoggard recently reviewed a fascinating new book, Tattooed by The Family Business, about one such tattoo shop in Exmouth Market.




But, is it worth all the pain? Do tattoos really look angelic… even erotic, or are they just a big mistake? What will you think of your tattoos in years to come?

A while back, I suggested that it might be wise to ‘Tink before you tattoo’. Some of you may have thought this was a typo, but no, Tink-It is a new brand offering temporary art tattoos, available in the UK exclusively at ShopCurious. Are temporary tattoos not a more sensible option?

Anyway, I look forward to hearing your views.

Will you?

State of the art bathroom design

Today ShopCurious goes back to basics in high-tech style, with a look at some curiously quirky bathroom features. We consider the advantages of Toto's Italian designed Japanese style 'bidet toilet' (aka the washlet), and in Curious Trends we reveal some intriguingly unique public conveniences. So, which do you prefer, the all singing and dancing modern version, the unusually arty farty, or the good old fashioned wooden loo seat?

Do you?

PS For further reading, Gaw at The Dabbler is an expert on Duchamp and other curiosities of artisanal interest.

Last of the Summer sun?

When I saw the photos of Lenorenevermore’s day at the beach in the sun (with fiddly oysters), I felt compelled to revisit my own snaps from last weekend in Cornwall. Am I a masochist or what?

Obviously, I’d paid extra for a room with a sea view. And here is my prime view from a deluxe room. Of course, this is not just fog… this is Cornish fog.

Us Brits are hardy folk - we'd barely bat an eyelid in a hurricane, but once in a while, too much bad weather can get to us.



Anyway, I calmed myself by watching a local fisherman bring in his catch. He’d come back early due to the unfavourable conditions out at sea, though had still managed to pot four trays full of rather lively looking crabs. When he told me how little he’d be selling them for I nearly keeled over.












I’m probably becoming a bit crabby as I get older, but sometimes the prices at ‘quaint’ hotels and restaurants in the middle of nowhere are so astronomical it makes me very curious… If you’ve ever been to Cornwall, you might have noticed the prices creeping up over the years, in much the same fashion as a Cornish fog. So plateau de fruits de mer at £58 a pop is not uncommon.





Ever since Olga Polizzi took over the Tresanton Hotel in St Mawes, the prices of property and hotel rooms in the Roseland Peninsula have sky-rocketed. Of course, St Mawes has always been known as ‘Belgravia-on-sea’ and considered even posher than Padstein, or any other of the northern Cornish Cameroons.








But the St Mawes effect has spread its tentacles all around the coast, leaving almost no part unaffected by London level prices. Which is kind of odd - considering where Cornwall is in the UK, and the availability of crabs…and the fog.








Thankfully, there are still some havens of sense amidst the smugglers’ stew. Whether it’s moules mariniere, fish and chips, or crab and crusty bread you’re looking for, I’d suggest a visit to the Pandora at Restronguet Creek for hearty seafood fare at good old fashioned prices. And if you’re shopping for bargains, remember to check out the ShopCurious sale too, because next week it’s all change - with new stock and wonderful Winter curiosities for the coming colder months.

Typical that now our Summer holidays are over, the sun’s come out again – albeit with a marked autumnal chill in the air. Never mind, there’s always next year to look forward to.

Are you?

Designer books - a curious new fashion trend

We haven’t heard much from Mr McDowell lately – perhaps he’s away on holiday, or working on a new book. Colin McDowell’s thought provoking posts are a far cry from your average fashion blogger’s fantasy affairs, which I suppose is what comes from being one of the most knowlegeable and eloquent fashion journalists in the world.

Here’s a snippet from one of his more recent posts:



“It seemed natural after all that to set off up Fauborg Saint-Honoré and hit the shops. My two male companions were in crazed must-have-it buying mood and egged each other on to buy … anything as long as it had a scary price tag, which meant everything, in fact. Respectively they bought a denim shirt and a pair of trainers (at a cost of over €700) and a pair of trainers and drop-crotch pants (close to €1000), all of which will be totally out of fashion in a very short time. Which is what being a fashion person is all about.”

Colin, I agree. It does seem that for many of us, ‘fashion’ has become a byword for overpriced designer label goods. What’s more, the strong pull factor of branded fashion in popular culture has got everyone trying to cash in on the latest faddish trends...Is brown the new black? Is short the new long? Are books the new trainers?

Come to think of it, astonishingly expensive designer books, a sudden demand for built-in libraries, ‘bibliotherapy’, book inspired artworks and home furnishings are just a few of the curious trends spotted by ShopCurious lately. I know we can't wear books, but expect to see book print fabrics, book inspired accessories and all manner of bibliomaniacal creations on the catwalk.



Oh, and over at The Dabbler, you can find out what us retro-progressive types make of stylized new additions to the book world.

Anyway, I guess it's all good news as it means we’ll be reading more... so I hope you’re feeling suitably bookish?

Are you?

Summer gloving

Just back from Cornwall, where the weather was… well, changeable - to put it mildly. Sometimes Summer nights in the UK get so nippy that a pair of gloves wouldn’t go amiss.

In fact, I rather wish I’d taken along some of the curiously cute fingerless feather gloves from ShopCurious. Beautifully handmade in France, there are four styles to choose from – long or short, warmer jersey or lighter net. But the really unique thing about these handy accessories is the fabulous feather trim, which makes them perfect for day or night.







Back in the 1950s, young girls always wore gloves for special occasions – like going to church, or the theatre, or meeting the boyfriend’s parents. Nowadays, we only tend to see gloves at weddings, or when worn of necessity – on bitterly cold days, or by motorcyclists and mountaineers.











I’m curious to know why more people don’t wear gloves… and I’m all for a little more retro style French Summer gloving.

Are you?