On Tuesday the Queen came to visit Richmond Park as a part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations so the bug and I hotfooted it to see her. It was a wonderful afternoon filled with much excitement even though we got showered and hailed on. Local businesses displayed their goods, the deer keepers talked about the park’s beloved inhabitants, beekeepers told us about Richmond Park honey and gardening specialists sold wonderful plants. The crowd was small so we easily squeezed to the front and barricaded ourselves with prams. Fun day altogether and such a once in a lifetime opportunity!

A great little funfair, a beautiful merry-go-round, sadly Freddie went to sleep so no rides.

If you missed the Queen’s portraits by Cecil Beaton at V&A this wonderful exhibition at The Royal Collection called  Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration will be as exciting.

Seeing the rain go away and welcoming blue sky if only for a couple of days.

A detox juice and a beautiful teacup.

The cutest piglets at Deen Farm and vintage bikes.

Little boy meets blueberry pancakes.

Kingston Market asparagus and Deen farm eggs for dinner. I am so happy asparagus is here.

Buying plants (but no cake) at Petersham Nurseries.

Back home with aquilegias and tiny pink ones the name I have forgotten.

Planning.

The veg patch started to gain some height.

The seating area is getting cozy.

Anyone knows the name of these green flowers? I think they will look fab with bluebells next spring.

Classic Petit Bateau for adults and kids, Freddie had the yellow one last autumn and has got the blue version for this year. They are fantastic especially the yellow one, such great colour.

To start with, what’s better way to make a grey wet day more cheerful than a fab umbrella? Here are my picks:

I thought it was never going to happen, every weekend between mid April and now was rainy and grey but now we have a new way of deciding on outdoor activities: wet or dry. So dry it was or it was supposed to be because it started to rain as soon as we arrived at Banstead Woods. Just as we entered we were welcomed by smell of wild garlic and then we saw the bluebells, meadow after meadow they looked stunning next to the fresh greenery of the leaves and silver birch. I forgot my camera so these are taken with my phone. I do hope I can go back next year to admire them in better weather but I am glad I managed to see some of them.

If you happen to be in Putney (why on Earth would you unless you live there!) then head to Upper Richmond Road to Artisan for  a fantastic cup of coffee. This independent coffee shop serves Allpress blend so if you, like me, don’t frequent Shoreditch too often you can still enjoy the best brew London has to offer. Warning: it’s a yummy mummy place, they have a box of baby toys and high chairs and bring your order to the table. I love it but if you are hoping to get some work or reading done you might be distracted by cooing mums and chirping toddlers. And babycionos are free.

Delicious pistachio and rose cake was consumed and coffee to take home collected (you have to pre-order it and it arrives on Thursdays).

First off I always see girls with fabulous bags and every time I ask it happens to be Zara, there is the classic camel shopper which I really want but after a glimpse on their website I came across some sweet colourful perforated leather mini ones and large woven beige shoppers. Aren’t these adorable?

If we talk about bags we also need shoes, I am really into wedges, a little lift with shorts and so much more grown up (and interesting) than sandals. How cute are these? I am particularly loving the blue J. Crew and the beige Jeffrey Campbell at the bottom. Two top rows J. Crew, bottom row Jeffrey Campbell.

And of course we cannot stop there, the whole look: Petit Bateau tops, Liberty scarves, Globtrotter suitcase, Bensimon shoes, H&M shorts, J.Crew basket.

The apple tree is in full blossom at last and lots of plants started to grow like crazy with all the rain we are experiencing. Now can we have some sunshine please to get the bees going? Broad beans are really big and radishes and peas are catching up fast. I have plenty of strawberries too, the Alpine strawberry plant I bought last year created 13 new plants, hopefully this hanging variety will do the same. Lots more to sow.

A resident robin, the boldest bird in the street.

Chocolate and banana bread in a shape of muffins by Joy the Baker for A Cup of Jo.

A new obsession – green manures. Ours is a mix of buckwheat, clover, phacelia and mustard. The plants are meant to improve structure of the soil, nitrogen content and attract wildlife. They also look beautiful, a small meadow in my garden. We have really bad soil and struggled with veg last year so apart from this we are also growing potatoes to do some digging and will sow Hungarian rye everywhere over winter. After few months you just dig it and it will work its magic. The prep is hard because we had to weed a lot but the results will be worth it.

My project is done and I am a stay at home mum again. We shot last Thursday in a stunning house with a huge garden, a summery scene on a very rainy day, some magic had to happen.

With all the April showers I am catching every dry spell to go out and do fun things, at this stage there seems to be no good forecast whatsoever and I cannot spend everyday inside with the boy.

This morning we zipped to Petersham Nurseries to purchase few plants, we were lucky enough to get back just before  the big downpour. A practical note: on a rainy day or just after wear your Wellington boots!

We also progressed with Freddie’s room, he has got so many books they were scattered in every single room and now they live happily along his vintage tractors.

Freddie himself is up to mischief all the time climbing on beds, jumping and pulling stuff down. After a smashed toe he cut his lip with his teeth.

Read Making of The Marchioness which I loved and started on Mad Men – awesomeness!

Happy Easter everyone! The weather disappointed or was it just an usual April weather and we were expecting last year’s heatwave?

We had a small gathering and enjoyed it anyway. The house got decorated, many cakes were baked and eggs boiled. There was ham and cress with felt chickens, daffodils, hyacinths and spring twigs picked from the Common; some yellow bunting and lots of bubbly.

The mocha cake from the River Cottage baking Telegraph supplement was stunning, I decorated it with good quality Dutch cocoa and chocolate eggs. The daffs and hyacinths came from Kingston Market and were gorgeous, 4 bunches of daffs for £1, brilliant. The hyacinths are particularly good quality and such a beautiful colour. I was actually going to buy armfuls of ranunculus but the ladies at the stall said they were not up to scratch so had to be sent back, I do like when people care. In fact the red ranunculus in the small vase are over week old and still looking good.

The chicks, wooden eggs and yellow paper for bunting are from Paperchase.

As you can see from the above our windows still need a lot of work but with the gardening season upon us they have to wait till the summer.

The savoury spread, however I forgot to photograph the cheesecake and yeasty babka. They were so delicious it’s too late now!

From top: potato salad, eggs stuffed with smoked trout, radishes, beetroot and horseradish relish, horseradish cream and about 6 kinds of ham, pickles, salmon salad, eggs stuffed with mushrooms. We are missing a wonderful homemade sourdough bread and some equally wonderful heavy rye bread to go with the salmon, homemade pate and of course our dyed customised eggs. The cute chicken napkins are Cath Kidston.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and didn’t get down by today’s rain and a prospect of it for the next few days. I am back in the office tomorrow for two week, eek. I am going to be doing a jubilee ad for one of the major supermarkets which should be fun.

To end on a happy note the apple blossoms started to open, more gardening soon.