Denbies II

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I originally wanted to call this “Denbies through the Seasons” but I’m not entirely sure my real life cynicism, sarcasm and constant irony really come through on this blog and was worried people might think I was being serious. Anyway, these photos are from Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking. I first visited back on one of the first sunny days of the year, and it was lovely to visit again and see the changing colours of the leaves against the perennially golden fields.

If things look a little different, I’m trying out my new camera lens! This lens will take some getting used to as it has an incredibly shallow depth of field which is great for portraits as it focuses on one subject (i.e. notice how blurry and undefined the backgrounds are in the photos of me), but I do like taking shots that show detailed tableaus and this lens is not great for that (i.e. the banana sign is way clearer than the others, where as in previous posts those kind of flat detailed shots are very clear as I’m using my other lens – like this one).

I’m wearing my newish Orla Kiely coat (!!!) which was 65% off in their sample sale and then a further 35% off the marked sample sale price when I got to the till (isn’t that the best feeling ever?) and my new shoes which were £6 from New Look in the sale. One of the many perks of having massive feet is your size is always left over in the sales. I love mustard (both as a colour and a condiment) and have wanted a coat in mustard and gold for such a long time, so it was like a dream present to myself. Does anybody else have dream items in their mind which rarely seem to actually exist?
P.S. I’m going to be shutting down my Raccoon Circus Facebook page soon so please follow me here or here instead and I recently signed up to both LookBook and Pinterest, so you use those sites do let me know! aIMG_8988aIMG_8992aIMG_9029aIMG_9018 multiplication

aIMG_9027aIMG_9025Coat – Orla Kiely (sample sale), shoes – New Look (sale), dress – Miss Patina (sale), bag – ModCloth (gift), leggings – Tesco, socks – Monki

Camden Passage

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Camden Passage (nowhere near Camden Market, which is further West) is most famous as an antiques market. I went numerous times as a teenager to wander around the arcades and stalls, many in the beautiful Grade II listed building The Mall. In the 8 years or so since I last went to look around there have been a lot of changes to the area, which now has more cafes and independent gift shops and slightly less antiques.

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Perils

Laila DEvon washing-line R&C tour touring west country family affairs pinafore
Laila family affairs dress Devon outside exterior bike shed yardsfamily affairs pinafore outside exeter devon west country laila girl tan tights white accordion pleat blouse new yorkSaturday night saw us staying back at The Yarde Cafe in Devon. It is beautiful there! There was live music courtesy of a local musician and I was asked to play something by both my theatrical cohorts and the owner of the venue. It’s such an amazing feeling when somebody connects with something you’ve created, especially in such an unexpected and unfamiliar setting.

Sunday the boys were off rehearsing, so I spent the day exploring the area (predominantly fields and woodland trials) and practising.

family affairs pinafore outside exeter devon west country laila girl tan tights white accordion pleat blouse new yorkfamily affairs pinafore outside exeter devon west country laila girl tan tights white accordion pleat blouse new york