Mostly gold interiors inspiration

Unbelievably it has taken me this long to get myself back to Margo & Plum, which I first visited back in 2022 when we were still checking out if this was somewhere we wanted to move to. In that time it looks as if they’ve made Bottesford their base, and added a cafe too. Yes, I don’t know why it took me so long either, but on a particularly cold and grey February day we headed the eleven miles for lunch, and a spot of interiors spotting of the more opulent kind.

I surprised MOH by falling for this monkey clutching a bottle of wine (sadly empty) - and he’s right it’s not my usual style, but I while I left it there for now, I can see this coming home with us at some point. I think it would look great in our hallway, which is also our wine store area, but we’ve a little more work to do planning out how we can use this area better, and we shouldn’t skip straight to the ‘making it fancy’ stage. We shouldn’t, which is a shame!

They had plenty of other ‘gold’ items that would go alongside these - and that’s part of the reason the monkey stayed on the shelf, as I think there might also be accompanying purchases when the time comes, just to make him feel at home of course.

Perhaps this pair of leopard candle holders?

Though I’d put these in our lounge, which incidentally is where my ornate green vase with exotic birds also lives. MOH bought the vase as a surprise birthday present a few years ago, and he did good. It was funny though as he remembered it, and how much I liked it, but couldn’t remember where we’d seen it and so spent hours internet searching - thing is, if he’d read my blog, he would have had his answer much more easily. Has he learned his lesson? Absolutely not!

Or perhaps a pineapple? Though I was torn between the gold metal and the green glass versions…

Or the bottle stop with extra bling? Though to be fair we don’t often have much use for a bottle stop, but I don’t see that as a reason not to have this bling-y one, as you never know when you’ll need one!

I didn’t leave completely empty handed though - the coasters under the bottle stop came home with us, along with some fake eucalyptus stems which I’m using in a vintage enamel jug along with fresh stems, to bulk them out a bit!

So not my usual style, but each of the things above would easily fit into our home alongside things we already have, and which we’ve bought to furnish our new home. MOH knows we’ll be back, it’s just a matter of when!

Lunch at the Margo & Plum cafe

Having the cafe is a real boon for the shop, and it was busy which is always a good sign - especially when it’s a little off the beaten track. It also provided an extended showroom space, showcasing how their items could be used, which is also clever.

But the star of the show was this fantastic jukebox.

Isn’t it great? And it was on ‘free play’ so even better - I think we’ll be back for this alone. Well, and the monkey and a slice of cake of course!

A few days away...

At the end of last week once MOH had finished work we jumped into our already loaded up car for a few nights away, heading to a small village just outside of Melton Mowbray. The check in instructions were quite precise, check in closed at 7pm and there were no exceptions. Eek.

If only someone had told the London traffic. We arrived with fifteen minutes to spare in the end, but the traffic put a few spokes in our plans along the way - with delays on the M11 which we were able to route around, and then on the M1 which we weren’t able to. And it wasn’t even Friday night, when the traffic out of London is notoriously bad.

Our plan was to explore around Melton Mowbray, potentially visit Pie Fest (spoiler: we didn’t get there in the end - but what a place to hold such an event!), and explore we did. Here I’ll share some of what we got up to in and around Melton, the countryside around and our discoveries along the way.

DECORATIVE BRICKWORK AND AN ORNATE GARAGE IN MELTON MOWBRAY

A TRADITIONAL MOSAIC TILED SHOP DOORWAY IN MELTON MOWBRAY

Melton Mowbray had a nice feel to it, and we obviously stopped to buy a pork pie and also some local cheese. I mean if you can’t buy a pork pie in Melton Mowbray, then where can’t you buy one! We wandered around, stopped for lunch and found ourselves at the cattle market but too early for the brewery I’d heard about to be open.

We also took a look around Bingham, East Bridgford and Whatton - all of differing sizes, with Bingham being the largest which again had a nice feel to it and a market square with an interiors shop that had plenty of lovely things, all of which I resisted.

Another of our discoveries and another place we stopped for lunch was Southwell, which I was surprised to learn had a cathedral, or rather a Minster. It’s a small place so having a cathedral was unusual, until we learnt that it also had an Archbishop’s Palace alongside it. It was a lovely spot and had been undergoing a programme of restoration, with an exhibition in the newly completed Chapter House. The photographic exhibition was of cathedrals around the UK, many of which we’d visited on previous trips and many which we hadn’t visited at all.

THE MINSTER AT SOUTHWELL

THE EXHIBITION IN THE CHAPTER HOUSE

There were a set of modern sculptures by Jonathan Clarke depicting the Stations of the Cross - interestingly people were encouraged to interact with the sculptures, touching them (gently) as well as admiring them. I really liked these in a way I hadn’t expected, and it was great to be able to fully explore and admire these.

ONE OF THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS BY SCULPTOR JONATHAN CLARKE

In the Archbishop’s Palace it was the decorative ceiling that really caught my eye, that is until we came out and I saw the decorative detail around the Minster’s doors.

THE DECORATIVE CEILING IN THE ARCHBISHOP’S PALACE, SOUTHWELL

ORNATE STONEWORK AT THE MINSTER IN SOUTHWELL

We’d heard about a large garden centre close to East Bridgford and decided to take a look around there too hoping to get a cake there too. And it was so much more than a garden centre - it was one of those giant ones, with everything. This artwork, which we were also to spot another version of during our stay, caught both of our eyes - it’s the type of artwork that every time you looked at it, you’d see something new.

We had our cake - for me a home made supersized battenburg and for MOH a squidgy chocolate creation. Remembering we were heading back to the car for an unknown amount of time I sought out the loos, well you knew I would right? The loos themselves were perfectly functional and clean, but it was the ‘Ladies’ that really stood out. Very Audrey Hepburn-esque, don’t you think?

After plenty of food and cups of teas we decided to explore our surroundings on foot. Parking in one village, we set out on a circular walk taking in the next village along. On the way out of Elston on our way to East Stoke we took an off road path and then bridleway, and it was everything you’d expect a country walk to be. The route back was more along the bigger road, which while cars were considerate wasn’t quite so tranquil as on the way there. Though we did walk past a wooden sculpture than probably most driving past would miss.

BLACKBERRIES, NOT QUITE SO LUSCIOUS THIS YEAR

WALKING ALONG A COUNTRY PATH BETWEEN ELSTON AND EAST STOKE

WALKING TOWARDS THE RIVER TRENT

We wandered through the village of East Stoke, which while small has plenty of history hosting a battleground from the War of the Roses. Not that you’d know it from the quiet country lanes which were amazingly still quite green.

FERNS AND A BRICK WALL

And here’s that sculpture I mentioned before - it’s quite unusual:

AN UNUSUAL CARVED SCULPTURE OUTSIDE ONE OF THE HOUSES WE WALKED PAST

On our last day we headed over to a cycling cafe - Caffe Velo Verde - for lunch and a look around. It was well equipped for passing cyclists and for those on four wheels - and the food was tasty too. For cyclists there were locks and places to clean cleats, as well as a charging point. We ate cheese toasties and shared a spicy sausage roll, and I’m pretty sure MOH has this earmarked for future visits as a place to stop.

As we were close to Belvoir Castle and its Engine Yard, we stopped there for a quick wander around the shops. It’s a place we’ve been too a couple of times before and it never fails to disappoint. This time we went into a shop we’d not been into before, and I discovered a new artist to look out for. The pouches and mugs by Katie Cardew were great, loved the colours and loved the designs.

And how many different coloured guggle jugs? One of these is definitely on my list, I just don’t know which colour yet.

Back at our holiday accommodation, we had another surprise when this peacock stopped by for a visit. We saw him once, but heard him more often at first mistaking his call for a rather loud cat. Given how the hosts and their dog went about their business, unlike MOH and I who were in awe of the bird, we take it that it was affiliated with them in some way.

I was surprised by the size of his claws, and was very happy to keep my distance. When I next looked out and he was wandering between the parked cars, I took that as my cue to come back inside. He was still about, but out in the lane, when we went out for dinner and we both laughed as he wiggled and waddled at speed away from us (but mostly because we were in the car and not on foot!)

We packed a lot into a few days, but it was oh so good to have a change of scenery.

Interiors inspiration at Margo & Plum

We were lucky with the weather for our short trip away last week and it was great to spend time outside feeling the sun on our skin. It also helped to get us out and about and one of those stop offs was at The Engine Yard which is right next to Belvoir Castle. We’d stopped there before and remembered a vibrant, thriving space and it still has that potential. We last visited in August, and on this sunny March weekday morning it was much quieter, understandably so. But it was nice to enjoy the space, pretty much unhindered.

Also not surprisingly some of the shops had changed, and some chalet-style huts had popped up for weekend pop-up market stalls, which seems a great idea. We had a nose around all of the shops, but by far my favourite was the interiors shop of Margo & Plum who, as their website says, offer the most glamorous decorative pieces for your home.

And here, I have some snaps to prove it.

The relatively small space is full of the most sumptuous things for your home. While they look great together and the displays are full of inspiration, most of us won’t need quite so much, but together it’s quite a statement!

MOH was very taken with the neon signs, and I’m not sure he could quite decide which. Maybe at some point we’ll get to the stage where a decision is needed, who knows?

I had a couple of favourites, and definitely more than a couple of things I could have quite happily brought home. The first is this aqua jungle decorated vase, it’s quite unlike any vase I already own which have much wider openings, though I suspect this one probably doesn’t need anything more to improve it.

The other thing that I was really quite taken with was the sunburst mirror above - the ‘squareness’ of the sun’s rays really appealed and this feels a much more modern take on the more usual sunburst mirror design. We don’t have much, for want of a better word ‘bling’ in our house, but this shop tested my mettle (pun intended).

The final thing on my list was this flamingo plate - the vibrant colours and the design were the attraction for me.

One thing I’m sure of, we’ll be back here again at some point for more mooching around, and maybe even a purchase or two.