Chelsea

Whilst most people in Chelsea are more concerned about a certain football match tonight it does clash with the Chelsea Flower Show! Cleve Wests garden was stunning & my absolute favourite - really well thought out. He created a garden for Alzheimer sufferers and unlike most of the fantasy Chelsea gardens this one is actually going to be built.

The Daylesford garden was pitched as the ultimate kitchen garden for the 21st century. The woven willow hurdles full of bulging veg, looked amazing but did look a bit artificial. My paltry veg patch at home - is probably how most peoples look - netting to stop the birds, slug traps, bamboo tripods and kids cress & herb patches.

Having said that our urban London garden is obviously very on trend this year as it has no colour and is ALL green! Whilst mine is an accident - the Chelsea exhibitors have forced fields of wheat, imported trees from Chilie, & tissue wrapped their aliums! It all seems like a bit too much effort but always thrilling & an inspiration every year.

HOXTON PONY

Off out with the young things tonight to see lots of bands I've never heard of. I'm hoping I can get them to stop off at the launch party of the Hoxton Pony which opens tonight to try their grapefruit martini. Sounds a bit safer than their take on east end grub - duck & turnip pie & mash. It all looks very slick and I'll be interested to see if it takes off.

FAITH HOLMES

We recently discovered a fabulous artist & were tempted to buy one of her paintings.Faith Holmes studied Scottish Literature and Divinity at Glasgow. She moved to Mull with her husband in 2006, when he began a teaching post in Tobermory. Faith began painting seriously in March 2007, aged 39, with the help of a Highlands and Islands start-up grant. Although previously she had gained the odd commission in her spare time she is now painting full time and considers herself at an early stage in her painting career. In October 2007 she completed a successful first exhibition at Glengorm Castle, Mull, and continues to sell paintings in various locations on the island. Her work has been changing and developing rapidly and she hopes this, along with her natural talent, will make up for her lack of formal training.

Farmers Market

We had our first farmers market on Saturday. The sun shone, there were lots of people and we sold out of nearly all of our products. It was a great event with everyone going home with lots of goodies. We want to make it a bi monthly event and much bigger next time.

Our local

www.lochlevenseafoodcafe.co.uk

This is our local restuarant set in a wonderful situation on the banks of Loch Leven. The seafood is truly fabulous, it is reasonalbly priced and they use the freshest local ingredients. The fish is caught daily by their own boats and stored in seawater to keep it fresh - The Surf Clams in white wine and herbs are to die for. For a real treat the seafood platter for 2 is always cooked to perfection.

The place is is very informal & relaxed and you can take the seafood home including their paella kits from their great little shop.

Flu to photos

My partner is probably one of the biggest Beatles fans there are going. With some reluctance I was dragged along (whilst coming down with flu) to the private view of Linda McCartney photos at the James Hyman Gallery, 5 Savile Row, London W1 I have to say the exhibition compiled by Sir Paul is pretty good and was probably worth being dragged along to. Although most of the celebs had already left by the time we got there. Its full of some great family pics (perfect for the voyeur in me), there are some very intimate portraits of some of their famous friends Jim Morrison, Mohammed Ali, Janice Joplin and Mick Jagger. Well worth a visit, its free and its on til July.

Realfood festival

This weekend we are going en famille to the realfood festival at earls court – this is like a huge farmers market, you can taste the produce, buy it & even create your own crisps flavour, something to keep the kids happy! I’m looking forward to seeing Ashley Palmer-Watts from The Fat Duck in the food theatre and Raymond Blancs demo – Enough to make me feel totally inadequate in the kitchen as I scuttle home with my bag of goodies!

A nice suprise

Whilst suffering from flu – I took delivery of a beautiful bunch of roses (how thoughtful!) from maison-des-roses.com. This is a local florist and is a gorgeous little shop that sells just roses and they are absolutely exquisite. In my fantasy life I would take delivery of a couple of bunches a week a la Elton John

Good weekend

A good pals catch up this weekend - and we are all off to Time Outs Gastro Pub of the year. It is another good local and the food is pretty amazing. www.therosendale.co.uk. I hope they can cope with the rabble that will be descending on them this Sunday – both the amount of kids and the volume with a room full of loud characters!