News from L&F

THANK YOU, to everyone who sundanced last week!  What a cracking afternoon we had: the sun may not have been dangerously hot, but it didn’t pour – which, this year, is a definite win.  Businesses sold stock, people ate and...

No, not to Christmas – to the inaugural Late Summer Fair, here at L&F HQ.  The excitement is definitely building as we prepare to host 15 stalls of local businesses in a final flurry of buying and selling before we...

Well, it has been an epically wet month in Argyll.  We and the land are truly and biblically, spectacularly sodden – from where we are, right on the edge of a sea loch, you see the next belt of rain...

The eagle eyed among you will have spotted that we have just had the second of our August birthdays.  Mr I is … well, a year older than he was around now last year – and he put a very...

And here we go again.  August: the most expensive and fattening birthday month of the year here at L&F.  Three male birthdays to be squeezed in, all (rather satisfyingly) on multiples of 5.  The fifth, tenth, and twenty-fifth to be...

Since last we spoke, dear Reader, the deed has been done.  Our automated inventory has been tested and not found wanting, which is both a relief and a slight disappointment: it’s always fun to find fault.  As I moved boxes,...

Well, what a torrid time we all seem to be having.  Bizarre weather, Wimbledon drawing to a close, the little matter of a footie match tomorrow I gather – oh, and there was an election a couple of weeks ago,...

I should tell you, I am an awesome tennis player.  (That simply isn’t true, and never was.  Even before my arthritic shoulders gave up.)  In my heyday however I had a backhand to fear – I certainly did: it was...

‘June just rains and never stops’ – so sang the wonderful Flanders & Swann a million years ago before we knew anything about climate change.  Well, they may have had a point, and I’ve long thought that the wonderful Wimbledon...

It’s too easy to be distracted into it from L&F business and Isobel is patience personified (except when she isn’t, which is when it gets scary).  

May in the L&F HQ garden is just about the most beautiful month.  It’s not yet the fully greened-up, thick and heavy garden of June and July ...

And incredibly, it’s that time of year again.  We’re booked in to four HUGE ones this year, and paid up and hugely excited – we’re restocking and planning and all systems are very definitely, officially, ‘Go’.  (As if they weren’t...

We’re so excited – you love our cushion covers!  You spoke, and we listened, and so we’ve extended our range to include the gorgeous Lorne Stripe, Humby Fern and Appin.  Rather selfishly we’ve snaffled a handful to adorn our outdoor...

Yesterday’s traditional Yoruba ceremony was everything we had all hoped it would be.  Loud, colourful, emotional (the groom’s mother in particular, embarrassingly) and full of love, laughter and wonderful Nigerian music and food.  Today will start off as a much...

Two birthdays down, one and a wedding to go.  The bride is British Nigerian, and L&F HQ in this quiet corner of rural Lincolnshire will shortly shake with noise, music, colour, traditional dress and unfeasibly spicy food – we can’t...

Dare we mention the weather?  12 days to go until You Know What, and we’re starting to look up hopefully when we open the curtains in the morning.  I keep telling Isobel that Rainclouds should be her next design but...

August is always a busy month at L&F HQ and in 2023, it’s more so than ever.  Three birthdays (the first of which is today) and this year a giant, two day family wedding!   Forgive then, if a slight preoccupation...

For the last twenty eight or so years, at around this time, I have decamped to Argyll for weeks on end with first one, then two, then three small Irvines.  It still feels strange not to be tied to school...

Please welcome … ‘Potted Shrubs’.  Our newest, freshest design springs from the garden and shrubbery at L&F HQ, where gnarly old favourites in beds are surrounded by new youngsters, looking pretty in pots while waiting their turn to shine.  Luscious...

No excuse needed! Every day tends to be cake day here at L&F HQ and if it ends in a y, we think that’s a good enough reason to whip up our absolute all-time favourite, Carrot.  As a special treat for...

… in time to see how our newest collection, ‘Shrubs’, is progressing.  And the news is good: the prototypes are gorgeous, and our manufacturers are doing their usual terrific job, so we hope to have the range available on the...