State of Britain

British places, English things, this is where I'm gathering goodies from the UK that have me dreaming of home, even though it's a 'home' I barely lived in, rarely traveled to. England is not just my birthplace, the land of my ancestors, it's the place that tells me who I am, somewhere deep inside. The love of flowers, of pretty English gardens and winding brick pathways, nurtured by my mother. 

Trebah Garden, Cornwall Photo Credit: The Sunday Express


Of cozy British detective novels, I enjoyed with a cuppa, again, my mother. Of the British Invasion, the Beatles, Herman's Hermits, the Stones. Carnaby Street, Mary Quant, mini-shirts, Twiggy, Yardley. Shakespeare. Sherlock. Do I sound like Hugh Grant in his ode to England in Love, Actually? Speaking of which ... British actors. British telly. The Union Jack. And Queen Elizabeth II, crowned in the year of my birth in Richmond, my middle name is Elizabeth in her honor. It's an old-fashioned Britain I dream of, one I doubt still exists, but the older I get, the more I'd like to get back 'home.’ 

London Blues:  travel memoir

Walk Like an Englishman: Taking a virtual tour 
Above Ground on the London Underground route
Day 1Flight of Fantasy

Day 2: I’ve gotta get out of this place


Day3: Dreaming of Osterley


Day 4: Heading to Syon

Day 5: Trapped on the Thames


Day 6: About that Fish and Chips Shop


Day 7: Going Home

Day 8: The Deer at Richmond Park

[My Above Ground Tour posts have grown too numerous to post here, I've moved my Virtual Walking Tour of London to its own page]

Think Small: Bekonscot Model Village & Railway






After I posted my swoon post for the Union Jack-covered chair below, which I wistfully remembered as being part of a Ben Sherman display, I found the real Ben Sherman chair online, shown above. It was a promo piece created for store displays —just as I remembered! Here's the real Ben Sherman chair — not for sale unless someone's got one of eBay or Etsy, etc —it looks a bit comfier than the chair I found; they're both pretty gorgeous though.




I've been swooning over this chair ever since I saw it gracing a department store display for Ben Sherman menswear. I thought it was a Sherman design but it's not; the chair is a Lansky Studio design based right here in merry olde Los Angeles. Sold through Houzz.com for $599. I LUV that they've married French Roccoco with the Union Jack. Not comfy, perhaps but quite a conversation piece for a  hallway, corner, or, you lucky ducky, a library.





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