To a week that saw me drive over a thousand miles and in between those miles photographing some very special gardens, a day out in Oxford was the perfect end to that week. While I was ready for an all day sleep (or just an all day not leaving the house), I would not have missed this day we’d planned ages ago with Bea Lubas. Bea is an amazing food photographer and the loveliest person. We met in Oxford, which is close to where I live and an easy train distance for Bea. First, we went for a morning walk around the quiet city (August is a great month for the morning quiet in Oxford but it does get busy before too long), oh I love quiet cities, you can properly see and admire all the beautiful buildings*.

We also went to our favourite shop (this was the only shop we both secretly wanted to go to on that day) and ended up leaving with lots of “props” and a linen cloth both of us bought and I cannot wait to see what she’ll create with hers.

Bea’s dream was to see the hydrangeas at Magdalene College so we went there and it really was a pretty sight. The hydrangeas, planted all around the Great Quad and growing against the beautiful 15th century building, made such an impression. We walked around the quad a few times, looking out to the flowers but also admiring the light filtering into the cloisters.

The highlight of our day was our 4-hour lunch at the Worton Kitchen Garden. It was long because we never stopped talking but also because we wanted to see everything there. I have known this place for so long but never actually been there for a meal. Meeting with a food photographer, this just seemed the perfect place. We had so much fun discussing food and photography and photography and food and how to casually throw napkins on the table. In hindsight, we should have brought our props there with us, haha. We had such a delicious lunch (not pictured but padron peppers, crispy duck salad, plaice and aubergine, all shared) under an old crab apple tree, it was so quiet and idyllic with the beautiful Summer light filtering through the branches, ah!, perfect.

A much needed day of inspiration and a day that felt like a holiday. Something I’m still waiting to happen (late in October and another one in November are in the planning). However, this day and also the week before, with all the travels and meeting with inspiring garden people topped with a bit cooler weather, and some rain, finally, I can finally feel my creative brain clearing from the Summer fog. I really struggle with bright lights and heat and I feel like my brain is fried. As soon as we reach late Summer, I start to come back to life. I’m saying this as I know I’ve said this before, I really want to revive this blog, I have so much to share but I haven’t had time or the creative headspace to do much about that over the Summer. I know blogs are old fashioned and there are more trendy places to be but you know what, I like it here. It’s my own little website, I like the quiet places and I’ll collect my memories here rather than on someone else’s website.

*Confession. I did remove one person from the picture with the church spire, he was just in the wrong place, it took only 3 seconds in Lightroom, all images were taken on my iphone and quickly ran them through Lightroom on my phone.

A day out in Oxford

Summer Solstice