News from L&F

All the way from … the Lofoten Islands!  No, I hadn’t heard of them either, but it turns out that they’re way up north in the land of the midnight sun.  Last year was a Significant Birthday for Mr Irvine...

Don’t tell anyone, but L&F HQ is echoingly empty this weekend.  Lancashire beckons, for the wedding of a family friend, and excitement is high.  The groom is reputed to be nearly as fab as the bride, and her parents are...

The Rutland Show is tomorrow, and the weather forecast is fine, and we’re packed and ready … what could possiblygo wrong?  Thetford last month involved a midnight trip for one of us to A&E and we’re determined that no such...

Here we go again: we’re planning our next outing, this time to the Rutland County Fair.  In eight days we’ll be set up and selling in the gorgeous market town of Oakham: come and see us, one and all.   Our...

Spring brings much that is good, and some that is less so.  Here at L&F HQ we have a range of neuroses: needles, spiders, panthers lurking in the woodshed (no, truly), and my own particular non-favourite: anything that flaps.  Birds,...

Polly has spent much of the last week on a narrowboat, puttering gently around Northamptonshire with friends – some of very long standing, and some new.   It’s such a pity she has the artistic abilities of a paving slab: Isobel...

How will you spend today?  Watching the historic events unfold, basking in the pomp and circumstance of a state occasion the likes of which we will never have seen?  Or is that totally not your thing – perhaps you’d rather...

Coo!  Well that was over in a flash: time flies when you’re busy and having fun: thank you to all who came to see and support us in lovely Thetford.  What a hoot – it’s so exciting to see for...

It’s happening!  It’s day one of the East Anglian Game & Country Fair (and Polly and Mr L&F’s 34th  wedding anniversary, by the way).  How better to spend the weekend than here in the sun? After a somewhat stressful week...

Half way through April already, and we’re preparing for the East Anglian Game & Country Fair, now only a week away.  Just off the A11 on the Euston Estate near Thetford, it’s going to be huge – if you haven’t...

For small independent retailers, a Saturday between Bank Holidays is a curious thing.  From experience it can be as dead as a doornail, or crazy busy: people are either away, or determined to make the most of a long weekend. ...

Well, very sadly we are closing our bijou little boutique at Easton Walled Gardens.  Our two year lease is up at the end of this month, and we’ve loved every minute of it.  We’ve made some terrific friends, and gained...

IT’S NEARLY EASTER!  I’m sorry: I know that we here at L&F HQ are phillistines, but the mere thought of chocolate is enough to gladden the heart and put a spring in the step.  The traditional Easter Egg hunt will...

Excitement builds as the Coronation approaches, and to commemorate such a landmark event, Lochs & Fens is proud to present …. Crowns and Carriages.  Our newest range, depicting surely the two most iconic elements of the ceremony to come.  Royalist...

With Easter on the way, how easy would it be to churn out chicks and eggs?  Not our way here at L&F though.  We sometimes feel we only ever take the trickier route, but seasonality isn’t everything and cliché certainly isn’t.

As the evenings stay lighter, the list of jobs to be done lengthens, too.  Here at L&F HQ Isobel is finalising two new design collections and Polly is finding new suppliers and manufacturers.

It’s no good: ‘Snowdrop’ just does sound nicer than ‘Galanthus’, the proper Latin name for these lovely little things.

So here we are: L&F have decamped to Argyll for the week.  Always the source of design inspiration for Isobel.

...AND A FAIRLY MAJOR OBSESSION OF MR L&F’S. It’s a famously long drawn out process to grow – and especially so if, like me, you manage to burn, mow and then dig up your lovingly laid out bed over the...

...WAS SPENT LAST YEAR WATCHING SEA OTTERS IN ARGYLL.  From the scat and the discarded lobster and crab claws on the rocks we knew there were some thereabouts, and we knew they were a pair, so we and four friends...

HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF THE LITTLE TOILERS… Yes, they’re essential, and yes we will continue to do everything we can to encourage them, but these are masonry bees and recent building works have revealed what we estimate to be about...