Saying goodbye to Summer:

It's all change in our house this month. My youngest started secondary school and my eldest started Uni. Just as the season is changing and the leaves start to turn colour, I've been embracing all this emotional upheaval as something positive. Of course there was a very teary goodbye to my big boy, but he was ready to leave, he's gone to a fabulous Uni and he has friends and family all within an hour. He's had a gap year and is ready to embrace adulthood head-on. I am content in knowing that he is happy and confident and ready to embrace the world! And on the upside...there is always food in the cupboard now!

Summer came and went so fast. As did the blackberries! They ripened so quickly and then all turned to mush, unpicked because of all the rain. However, we did manage to pick a bucket load for a blackberry and apple crumble cake one day.

 Our black lab, Brigg joining us on our foraging expedition

 I was thrilled when Emma at aquietstyle.co.uk chose this photo in her weekly #aquietstyle feature on instagram. Her style is so beautiful and dreamy to look at and her blog full of gorgeous imagery and features.

 I never pass up the chance to miss a nature shot especially when the light is so pretty and sparkly.

 And the blackberry and cake. Perfect warm with greek yoghurt.

 I hope you've been enjoying the start of the new season too and please if you are on instagram, come and say hello @jannelford

Janne x

Raspberry picking

The perfect after school activity on a sunny afternoon. We are so fortunate to have a wonderful PYO farm not far from us called Garsons, and raspberries are our favourite thing to pick. 

Food doesn't last long in our house and so we opted for the 2kg punnet. (which photographs better than the plastic ones anyway)!I I just love the retro authentic feel to the cardboard baskets!

 How I love this little red gingham dress. Its the summer uniform of Eloise's school and you can tell she's had it since year 4. It's slightly on the small size, and with just a few more days of term until she leaves her junior school I'm feeling very nostalgic towards it!

Trying very hard not to munch on these as we pick them!

Also feeling very nostalgic about these little ankle socks! She won't be wanting to wear these at Secondary school!

With our very heavy punnet which won't last long!

We can't wait for the pick your own dahlias to bloom. We'll be back at Garsons very soon for more!

Janne x

Mayfield Lavender

So today was one of those wonderful days when Eloise and I could indulge completely in some mother and daughter loveliness together. The boys had all gone off to the Grand Prix leaving us free to head off to Mayfield Lavender Farm near Banstead. 

Every summer we try and pop along at least once, but this year was the earliest we had managed to get there and were rewarded by the first field being in full bloom. A completely lush blanket of purple. Another month this will be fading and the second field in flower. It was a little on the drizzly side, which meant we couldn't have any 'sitting down on the grass photos', but on the up side the sunlight was diffused by cloud making better portrait photos.

 We always like to take an accessory with us like an extra large hat or a parasol especially when the sky is white like today. 

It's also perfect for blocking out any unwanted people in the background!

Makes the perfect backdrop

and adds some interest to an overcast sky.

There is such a perfect little shop selling home grown lavender products and goodies to eat. We can never leave empty handed and treated ourselves to some new lavender plants too. 

I can't wait to go back to this wonderful little gem very soon (hopefully on a sunny day)

Janne x

June highlights

We've had a great few weeks of summer fairs and the weather has been fabulous! We started off with the very lovely Wealden Times Midsummer Fair at the beginning of June. Always the quintessential English summer fair, it is one of my favourites. The three day event is host to beautiful craft and food stalls, everything you could possibly need for your garden and all set in the exquisite Hole Park gardens.

Hole Park

 Ready for afternoon tea

The Wealden Bunting all a flutter

Some of our lovely products all squeezed in to a 2m x 2m space

 Our pretty cotton nightwear is always popular at these events especially if the sun is shining!

 Blue skies for most of the 3 day event

'New Royal Baby' giveaway

The parking permits are in place outside the Lindo Wing and any day now the new Royal baby will be making an appearance!

So we thought we'd run a little giveaway to celebrate the new arrival.

We have a gorgeous cotton baby pram wrap up for grabs. The blanket measures 65x75cm in pink or blue stripe.

The pink and cream stripy ballerina blanket features pretty crochet edging, an embroidered ballerina, bow and pretty roses.

The blue and cream stripy farmyard blanket has a green crochet edging, a red crochet tractor and sheep.

Both thee gorgeous blankets are perfect for the summer months and keeping a new baby snug. They would be great as a toddler blanket too, for use as a throw or a dolls blanket.

All you need to do is like our Facebook page and leave a comment on the giveaway pinned to the top of the page. It's as simple as that!

The giveaway runs for two weeks and ends at midnight Thursday 30th April. The lucky winner will be chosen at random and can choose one of the blankets shown. 

Good luck and especially good luck to Kate!

Spring has Sprung

With the run up to Easter I have a gorgeous little giveaway on offer for every order from the website. Just pop by and take a look at lots of lovely new toys and nightwear for babies and children.

These sweet little alpaca lambs from Pebble toys make lovely little gifts for kids of all ages. Hand-crocheted bobbly little lambs feature adorable little faces and red knit collars,  making a lovely addition to any Easter basket. With every order over £20 we are giving away an alpaca lamb with a RRP of £9.95.

This offer is valid until midnight on Thursday 26th March 2015 and is valid on all online orders only whilst stocks last.

New for Spring

I am very excited to be a new stockist of the gorgeous Piccalilly clothing range for kids. Their company ethos of designing and making beautiful organic clothing in a fair trade environment is perfectly in tune with the things I feel passionate about. When buying and selecting my product line, I always choose suppliers that have produced and designed their products in an ethical way. They are a small english company based in Yorkshire and I love that too (being a Yorkshire lass myself).

These lovely stripy baby jumpsuits, in soft 100% organic cotton interlock have rib cuffs. I love the sleeve cuffs that can unfold into a glove to enclose babies hands if they get cold. With sweet appliqué designs on the front and coordinating ankle embroidery, these playsuits are practical and fun with lots of special detailing.

You can buy the hedgehog playsuit here

 And you can read and see more about the London bus and octopus jumpsuits on the website too.

And I love this London themed jumpsuit and knotted hat, making a perfect gift for a newborn boy or girl

Piccalilly really do make lovely little clothes for lovely little people!

Sharron Goodyear Photography

Last September I was invited to have a stall at the Fordcombe Village Fete near Tunbridge Wells in Kent. It is such a beautiful part of the world and this pretty village was the perfect backdrop for the very english tradition of an annual end of summer fete, complete with vintage car display, Punch and Judy, a dog show and some lovely stalls. My kind of event!

The sun was shining and there was a relaxed and happy buzz to the fete. It has been run every year since the 1950's and so there really is something for everyone, including a rather lovely tea tent, with tables groaning under the weight of homemade cakes. Unfortunately for me,it was on the other side of the dog show arena!

It is so exciting when someone comes along and completely falls in love with our vintage style nightwear, which is just what Sharron Goodyear from Lollipops and Little Ones did that afternoon. Lollipops and Little Ones is a family lifestyle blog with all kinds of useful info for Mums and Dads from healthy eating, beauty product reviews, photo, gift and activity ideas for all the family. Sharron is an accomplished, award winning portrait and wedding photographer and she happily offered to take some photos of her three beautiful children in our vintage pyjamas. These are just a few of the images we have used recently on our site. 

This pretty nightdress featuring this sweet little night owl is always one of our best sellers

I love the cheeky expression of her youngest here. He looks so handsome in these transport Pjs. All our Pjs from Powell craft are 100% soft cotton and suitable from age one. I remember being so excited when my boys were old enough to wear a proper pair of big boy pyjamas and left the baby jumpsuit designs behind.

Oh those were the days!

You can see Sharron's wedding photography here http://www.goodyearphotography.co.uk/weddings/

Janne x

Happy New Year with 20% off

January brings the snow.....

Well, January is nearly over and surely I'm not alone in thinking "yay"! With endless muddy dog walks, hacking coughs, grey drizzly skies,(we didn't even have a sprinkling of snow), tax returns and school exams it's no wonder we have literally been hiding under a big snuggly blanket and waiting for February to arrive!  

We had a great Christmas season both online and at all the Fairs we attended with our lovely vintage inspired range of traditional nightwear and gorgeous toys. January is literally the month for taking stock and planning where and what we are going to sell in the year ahead. Selling at fairs and markets is a big part of our business because we love meeting our customers and hearing feedback. Something you just can't really get a feel for online.

For the rest of January we are offering 20% off our whole range, so now is a good opportunity to stock up on some Pjs for the Spring. Just use code Jan20 at the checkout.

Happy New Year to you all and best wishes for 2015!
Janne x