Bathing in the new

I've moved house again recently. Sometimes I feel like the littlest hobo- and that until tomorrow I'll just keep moving on.

I enjoy new neighbourhoods so much though; finding the idiosyncrasies of a new place and finding the local beat, learning to step with it properly. In a new area a trip to the shop for milk becomes a little adventure. Roman Road market was as exciting to me on Saturday as a souk in Morocco, watching the traders, the customers, finding muffin trays in the least likely shop, realising toffee apple cider existed- all of this being within 200 yards of my new home- how nice! I have become like a much nicer vampire, sucking up novelty to feed my curiosity. There is something to not being a tourist in a place but not quite being local yet- I find that limbo time thrilling. I haven't found out where the recycling goes yet though; this seems to be a total mystery.

Moving itself is quite another matter. I lived in the same place all my life until I was eighteen and went to University. My University halls were Brideshead shabby chic- utterly lovely and quite grand but extremely frayed around the edges. The setting meant out of term that the conference roadshow came to town and we had to move in and out of our rooms every three months- and so an intense dislike of moving, or more accurately moving day, was born.

I don't like materialism but at the end of the day when you acquire books, music and films and even clothes they are precious to you in as much as they are the ones you chose over other options. I fret that books especially will be ruffled and scarred by being packed up and into little cases or boxes and try to be as careful with them as I can without becoming completely absurd about it. There is also the problem of things, especially clothes, seeming to expand as soon as you need to contain them and always having one box too many for the car. The moments between homes are strange too- when you have left one place but are not quite at the other- for a moment you are homeless and only then can you realise just how terribly lost those without their only little corner of the world might feel.

I had been living, excitingly but unusually, in central London for several months. I loved everything about it- I wasn't sure if I would. I have always and continue to love the city most of all early in the morning when it hasn't woken yet. On Sunday mornings especially when the heart of London wasn't booming and a strange quiet used to fall I would sometimes wake- I'd open the big sash window and just gaze out and listen for the quiet- then I'd go back to my slumber and that sleep would be intensely peaceful.

So I will always have very happy memories of those months in London proper- the only thing I missed when I lived there was not having a bath in my flat. I really didn't realise quite how much I love the bath. It is just such a simple pleasure and so relaxing. People write endlessly about baths, liking them or not, busy people like to say they don't have time for baths and others will tell you all about their bath routine.

No one ever really talks about how wonderful it is to be able to just lie in hot water for a little time, breath in the steam and just be. I always love the bath scenes in period dramas for this reason- in old films or books from another time the bath is a luxury for most and treated with respect.

My new home has a very nice bath in it. On the dreaded moving day after lifting many many boxes in and out of buildings quite literally the first thing I did after throwing everything at my new room was to have a bath.




Now that I am settled in I have taken the time to enjoy some beautiful rose bath truffles I was given by Simply Roses.



It is quite clear that I love roses but really the scent of these truffles was sublime as it wafted around my flat. Lavender is always thought of as the archetypal relaxing scent but rose oil is extremely nurturing and re balancing and in many ways is as good for stress as its lilac cousin, especially for women.I loved watching the petals unfold and dash around as the water ran so I took some photos to share with you below.








The rose truffles, which do look and smell good enough to eat but should probably be kept just for the bath are available online here.

Bathing in bluebells

I'm not sure if it's the weather cooling or the fact that our bath which used to only run luke warm and required Victorian style topping up with kettle boiled water has suddenly started running proper hot water but I am obsessed with baths at the moment.

I have always liked a bath but having long hair and being busy means I normally just take showers. However lately I am taking a bath in the evening and then jumping in the shower too!

So I have a renewed interest in bath oils and foams all of a sudden.

For pure luxury and indulgence I have always enjoyed Penhaligon's bath oils and have been lucky enough to pick up bottles in sales.

My favourite Penhaligon's bath oil is Bluebell, although I also like Violetta, and would love to try the Lavendula and Elizabethan Rose.

Bluebell is an unusual scent in both the oil and perfume incarnations. Reading reviews it seems a bit love or hate and I can understand not everyone would appreciate it- but to me it really does smell of an English wood, of damp earth that has been shaded by trees for hundreds of years, and for taking me to the woods near my childhood home I love it.

I actually think the scent is in many ways more suited to the bath oil as the steam makes the whole room smell of woods (perhaps that's just the quantity I put in though) and it's more evocative this way.I also find it very calming, restorative and re balancing.

Bluebells picture courtesy of: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cotonmanor.co.uk/images/bluebells/bluebells_06.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cotonmanor.co.uk/bluebells.php&h=685&w=1024&sz=184&hl=en&start=16&um=1&usg=__nWpPw7Y-kktUkXjvrEfE-UBspao=&tbnid=bquu6DgGA1r6HM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbluebells%2Bpictures%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX

Penhaligon's bottle from their website as above

Miller Harris Marche Au Foin at the Haymarket Hotel

Reading today's ES Magazine my heart started racing at the news that Lynn Harris of Miller Harris has teamed up with the Haymarket Hotel in London to create a signature scent for their toiletries.

The hotel's website says 'Kit Kemp and Lyn Harris have collaborated to create a bespoke fragrance called Marche au Foin (Haymarket in French). It was designed around Kit's love of lavender. It is a fresh scent that has been applied to the hotel's various bath products including soap, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and shower gel. There is also a beautifully presented box-set of 3 scented candles which are available to buy from the hotel exclusively for £32'.

The packaging you can see mixes Miller Harris's signature etchings of flowers with a more modern look of a woman's face and I think it looks divine.

The ES magazine lists the lavender note and adds bitter orange and bergamot. It sounds like a very good unisex option.

I have been lucky enough to have lunch at the Haymarket which was delicious, but have never stayed there. I suppose it would be rather over the top to stay just to try the toiletries line! but I would like to try sniffing the candles as soon as possible.