A rainbow formed over the bay making a perfect arc beyond our garden

Spring cleaning aside "cat wars" broke out this week leading Spud to be booking in at the local vets for a life style reassignment but i spotted this lovely rainbow the other morning and can report that Ollie is now sleeping peacefully again!

Homage to the Apricot Room

The Pretty Laura Ashley bed in the Apricot room

As i have been spring cleaning the bedrooms I thought i would continue my bedroom visits with a "homage to the Apricot room"! I know when you are choosing our bedrooms it is great to see lots of pictures so here we are - I've added a few outside shots of the terrace/courtyard taken in the summer too for good luck. I'll label the pics and say a little about the decorating at the bottom:-

The cosy window seat overlooking the Parterre

A pretty mirror reflecting the room

The sun on the chest of drawers yesterday

The wallpaper came from Laura Ashley

I gave the chest of drawers a distressed paint finish

The beams have been colour washed

Looking across the Parterre and fountain

Slipper bath and travertine tiles in the en suite

Mixer taps

look carefully for the duck on the towels!

Summer view of the private courtyard

French doors facing south into the private courtyard

The iron chairs have a lovely patina now

just before dusk the sundial garden in Summer

A sunset over Mounts Bay below the Apricot room courtyard

Our Apricot room overlooks the courtyard on one side and has french doors, flanked by pots of Date palms, opening on to a private courtyard on the other. Sunny in the mornings and looking down towards Mounts Bay, for a perfect view of the sunset at night - the view framed by the little sunken sundial garden set about a sundial modelled on the three graces or is it the ages of women? i bought it for our third wedding anniversary and slowly built the garden around it. The Apricot room itself is a mix of furniture I've painted distressed and hand waxed and swish Laura Ashley lamps and Bed of course. One wall is taken up by hand painted faux panels stencilled by me with cherubs on winter afternoons and Charles wallpapered the other with a chic duck egg blue paper from Laura Ashley. The sweet en suite bathroom holds a deep Slipper bath frame with Travetine tiles and this is our Apricot room at Ednovean Farm.

You're right i missed the duck!!

When i posted my pics of the Pink room yesterday Perranlady pointed out the lack of bathroom ducks - our little plastic bath time companions............and so I took another look and I have to say ........You're right Sue i missed out the quintessential Ednovean bath time ducks. So hear they are ready to go Quack Quack!!

The Pink Room



Looking across the hand carved four poster bed towards the dressing table in the Pink room

The time came this week to tackle the spring cleaning and I started with our lovely pink room ready for our weekend guests. There is something about a room that has just been spring cleaned that makes you see it anew - mind you when Charles and I pulled the heavy four poster bed across the floor it felt distinctly heavier! The bed was actually built in the room so I'm not sure we would ever get it out again so just as well that i love it with its cam comforting embrace, panelled roof and hand carved posts - each one slightly different.




The hand embroidered hanging softens the old stone walls



So, perhaps a little tour of The Pink room is in order now as we start the 21st year of Bed and Breakfast at Ednovean Farm! The big hand embroidered wall hanging is actually a bed spread that i found in eastofhere in Penzance and it has stood the test of time - this year i set the hoover to the lowest power and gently spent..well most of the afternoon carefully hoovering it but it softens the rooms traditional stone walls and gives an air of (I think!!) fun to the room. I carefully suspended the old gilt mirror with fishing line over the throw above the dressing table as I didn't want to make a hole in the hanging that i spent several days choosing - they were very patient with me in the shop!



I gave the little table a pint finish in french grey,
 lightly distressing it before waxing 



The chair was found in David Lays and reupholstered in a Jane Churchill fabric and the antique stool sports a fresh ticking cover





I've accessorised the dressing table
with twin glass lamps and pretty pink glass

Big glass bottles set on the wide window sills

My favourite little details - this time a heart from Laura Ashley

look closely and you'll spot a heart cushion
 in the background on the bed

of course the flat screen TV usually sits here but artistic licence and all that!!

and now time to move on into the Pink room's en suite bathroom

I'm sure you've seen the dramatic central Bataeu bath on our web site but take a look at the faux gingham wall that took Charles two evening to finish



twin sinks set against marble tiles
- i painted the ceiling to look like a tent

I couldn't resist this OTT mirror!



the little original door way that leads from the bedroom
the Staffordshire dog was another sale room find




We've had the little sea horse since we were married - it somehow fits the gingham wall




Enamel pots from RJ Supplies hold Cotton wool buds and balls





and now i am moving on to the Apricot room but I hope you enjoyed seeing the little details that add up to one of our rooms - I think it is often the little things that make things special - I hope you've enjoyed the pink room today

Sun in the Blue room

We beetled about the other morning, slowly going through our daily task about the farm and by lunch time we were ready to get the Blue room ready for our weekend guests. I stopped to take a few snaps of the room when we had finished -just as the sun came through the french doors casting golden squares on the curtains. I have just looked at the details that caught my eye - the flowers newly arranged on the dressing table, the little box bought in a vintage shop in Causeway Head Penzance, the big glass orbs of the bedside lamps, the pretty french bed found at David Lays Antique sales, the quintessential plastic ducks waiting for their bath and the Laura Ashley chandelier that hangs high in the canopy ceiling. Little things that make up a home.

The Blue room the walls are Farrow and Ball Parma Grey

The glass detail of one of the Laur Ashley bedside Lamps

The beautiful French bed

A detail of the carved Walnut



The sunshine on the Toile curtains



The duck squadron

The little box found in Penzance

A chandelier for a little romance!

A quick glimse at the garden

Date palms beyond a shady courtyard



A wider view



Early morning shadows

Twitters with a Loquat

Perranuthnoe church framed by the Date Palms

Faded Sedums and a Yockoides(sp!!)

The grass really is this green at the moment

Spud on his morning patrol

Spud has success in the faded grasses

The sea was impossibly blue this morning






My prize flower for this morning!!

I looked up this morning into a perfectly blue sky and two sea gulls flew over their wings casting shadows over their bodies as I led Dolly out for her daily grazing session. She has grown into quite a young lady - officially four - a sleek black thoroughbred filly ready for life. Later still as i dropped down through the courtyard to empty the  wheelbarrow ( i take Danni's offerings and soiled Miscnathus bedding out to rot at the back of the borders ready to become mulch for the summer) my eye was caught by the growing height and depth of the garden - how the vegetation in the spaces beyond are starting to add to each other in a flowing tapestry. I must admit i had not thought of this but of course Ian Lowe our garden designer planned the maturity of the spaces form his experience. And so I took some more snaps for you the church framed by the date palms from the viewing point in the courtyard, Spud stalking a mouse across the front of the Italian Garden and lastly my out of season Yuckoides - I'm not sure how to spell it but isn't it stunning!