This was how my day started, at work by 6.30am finish by 12.30, then gardening was on the agenda. I am so far behind with gardening due to the rain. Yesterday, as you can see from my previous blog, was like summer so to be hurled straight back into a damp dull day is not funny, still nothing you can do about that except wait for better weather. I am not a person who gardens in the rain, I used to be about 20 years ago but I am older and wiser, so what to do with a very rare spare afternoon. You know when one of those flash ideas comes into your mind and if you act on it quickly without thinking too deeply you go for it, well thats what I did. I decided that I needed a bit of nice and to lessen the guilt I called it blog research, so off to Long Barn Growers and Distillers in Alresford along with a friend who didn't need much persuading!
The barn is full of beautiful Lavender
It has an amazing array of good quality plants with an exceptional small nursery.
The purchasing area is amazing, with the front of the counter covered in old crate fronts.
Beautiful glassware adorns a stunning handmade table that was also for sale, I would like all of this delivered to my house thank you.
Zinc is my favourite thing at the moment and these zinc planters/storage tins look great for makeup storage in my new downstairs cloakroom. When it's finished I will show you it in situ.
Bags of lavender fill the barn with amazing perfume, they are very hard to resist.
More glassware that would sparkle when tea lights are added to create a stunning dining table for a special occasion.
We drooled over this cake stand. My very talented cake making friend just had to have one. I look forward to seeing what she adorns it with to make it even more special.
Gorgeous pottery.
Lots of garden items including bulbs and unusual plant labels, for me a gardener it is hard to resist such unusual finds!
Use your imagintion to fill these garden planters.
This lovely painted dresser holds lots of lovely things.
I'm imagining the smell of this wreath whilst laying in a bed of crisp white cotton, mmmmmmmmmmmm so relaxing.
There are no end of wonderful jugs and vases to fill with all those cut flowers from your garden.
My very naughty but nice friend bought me this lovely blue glass for taking her out this afternoon. I instantly filled it with purple sprouting broccoli, blueberries and casias sticks. Call me weird but I just love the colour combination and find all sorts of fruit and veg amazing to look at!
A closer look at all those amazing colours and textures.
So there you have it, Long Barn is such a stunning place to visit and at the moment they are getting a coffee shop ready which I'm sure will be equally beautiful.
We had a limited amount of time to quickly visit the centre of Alresford, the rain was awful so no pictures I'm afraid. I did spot this ribbon in a shop window and just had to have a couple of meters, look out for it on a quilt or cushion in a future blog. So if you are in need of a bit of nice this is definitely a place to visit, lovely surroundings, very good service and not forgetting all those lovely needful things! The only two problems I see is how many things to buy and leaving!