It's like a "Through the keyhole" blog post today!

We had a second viewing this week (It seems surreal to have offered on a house after only seeing it once for an hour!) to really scope out the potential for our offices in the barn, measure up the rooms, I can never work things out looking at a flat floor plan, and let the boys explore.

Sammy was at school when we saw it and has felt a little left out when we have been discussing it. So half term holidays came at the perfect time for a day out to the Somerset countryside. He ran straight in, shook hands with the owners and blasted out of the conservatory door to the garden.

Making himself at home already!

We know we have an anxious couple of weeks ahead, as we negotiate the contracts and move towards a quick exchange, but I want to enjoy every second of the excitement. I really believe it was fate that we found this house, after such a long search, so I don't think it's tempting fate to share some more photos!

You can see the others here.

I have a thing about gates and have always dreamed of having a house with painted gates at the front! What do you think? Would you paint them?!

There's a little door to the utility room and a perfect area for washing off dirty dogs! The pathway leads to the barn above the garage and will be a wonderful separate space for Rich and I to work in.

There are 2 offices back to back and I love that you have to duck under the low beam to get into the back space. Natural light pours in from the sky light and at the opposite end is a cloakroom with the potential for a shower at some point in the future. Perfect for our teenage nephew and nieces as an overflow guest suite! 

It needs a little sprucing up.... but nothing a little bit of paint and some cheap flooring won't fix. The day bed will come out and I can finally have my lovely wooden desk back up that's been propped in the garage for 6 months. Beyond the back office is an untouched store room that with a little imagination, a good feather duster and some shelving, could be an amazing prop shop! I can store all my excess crockery, backdrops etc in there and it's almost the same size as the offices, so has great potential for the future.

A little staircase leads down to the garage and from the garage you get into a workshop! No idea what we will do with that but it may make the perfect space for workshops of my own in the future.....!

It feels so wonderful to find a space that's already full of creative life. The owners sculptures and artwork and I adore the mustard pot of old brushes on the window ledge.

Standing at the office you can peek through the trees to the house and it will be wonderful to have a clear distinction between a working space and home. I know that will help with our work/life balance that has tipped in the wrong direction of late.

The kitchen is a painted wood rustic farmhouse style with..... an AGA! I have no idea how to cook on an Aga but I am excited to learn. A cooker that never switches off?!

The utility room will be a godsend and we are planning to rejig the pantry layout to fit our big fridge freezer in but still keep the feel they have created of a boot room.

There is a large dining/family room off the stable door in the kitchen (Yes - a stable door!!!) and the boys borrowed some of their grandchildren's old games and kept entertained whilst we discussed the house in more detail.

To the right of a false bookcase wall is a glorious fire that almost rivals the whole wall of fireplace in the living room. In time, I'd love to take out this little wall so we can have our sofas in front of the fire and make it feel like a snug with the dining table behind. We learnt that under the carpets is the old wood block flooring so we definitely want to pull up the carpet!

We are in love with the mullion windows (and the window seat) and the stone window frames. The french doors lead out onto the patio and off to the left is a little potting bench and what we have nicknamed the secret garden.

The vegetable patch and the amount of flowers in the garden makes me giddy. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, they mentioned that they had built a climbing frame especially for everlasting sweet peas. I almost fainted.

Award winning flowers no less! 

The view from the boy's attic bedroom is stunning and they have already decided which sides their beds will go and Ollie is desperate to keep the pink!

On the other side of the stairs is a little landing space that I'd love to make into a reading nook with beans bags and their sling bookcase. And there's a loft space beyond the landing that will be ideal for all our Christmas decorations and suitcases!

I can't wait to fill up the deep window ledges with photos and little vases of flowers from the garden. I am dreaming of sitting under the pergola with a basket of flowers and a glass of wine.

I'll share some more photos again soon and you can keep up with our journey to the countryside by following my Instagram account #foreverhouse #foreverhome.

Send us your best wishes for a quick exchange! 

Ok, so we had big news this week.

We made an offer for a forever house in the Somerset countryside and on Thursday it got accepted.

Wooooooo hoooooooo!

I literally jumped with both feet off the air and did a silent dance with Rich, whilst still on the phone to the estate agent!

It's felt like an eternity finding a house, losing 2 and spending what feels like every waking minute checking Rightmove and Zoopla. Even my in laws have been chained to iPads and laptops on holiday, trawling the listings on the property sites and losing hours clicking through house photos.

But we found one. We were actually going to view a different house when we chose to have a quick diversion to the forever house. I had asked for an official viewing but the estate agent couldn't fit us in and so instead suggested a drive by initially to see if we like the look and feel of the house and area. 

As we drove through the tiny village I knew we were about to see something special and as soon as we pulled up to the front of the house we could feel this was the one.

I jumped out of the car and snapped a few photos of the front. A symmetrical house with a door in the middle and windows either side, just like you would draw as a child, and as luck would have it the lady of the house popped her head out and said hello.

We introduced ourselves and explained we were on route to another viewing but had just 5 minutes for a quick peek outside. 

As we walked around the back of the house I almost cried and whispered to Rich "This is the one." It had me at the giant peonies.

From the cottage front garden to the secret walled are to the office barn above the garages, to the lawn "Where the family play croquet" said the owners, we had fallen in love.

There was just something to discover around every corner. They have cultivated the most beautiful garden in the 30 years they have lived at the house.

I said to the owners as we walked around admiring the flowers, the first thing I would do, if we were lucky enough to buy your house is to string fairy lights all over the pergola!

I know it may seem like tempting fate, to share the house before we have exchanged, but do you know what, it's more fun to share!

I want to enjoy every second of the excitement. This time it feels we have found our home. A forever home.

15 days to exchange! Ready, steady go!

Linking up with #hdygg and Mammasaurus

After discovering the Somerset Flower Farm last year I have popped back regularly for a bunch of their beautiful home grown flowers which I love photographing and sharing with you.

So can you imagine my giddiness when yesterday I went to help style and photograph their new website imagery?!

There is something so precious and delicate about knowing where the flowers actually come from. To see them being cut and wrapped for you to take home feels even more of a special treat. I loved how the boys were fascinated with the farm - you can read about our visit here.

Flowers are my luxury item! I fill the house with little jars, vases and bowls with fresh flowers and make one bunch work really hard!

Not only does the flower farm sell stems you can buy there and then, to take home and make your house pretty, Mandy will make up bespoke bouquets whilst you browse her vintage china, glassware, crockery and more, you can also order your wedding flowers straight from the farm.

I can't wait for Mandy to start her workshops too. As soon as I know more I will share it with you!

I was in heaven. A hot sunny day, a shady spot to set up our photo shoots and hazy sunshine across the fields.

The flower farm is a rustic paradise. It's not a perfectly staged shop, it's organic, in every way. And each time I visit, it's character and charm has evolved. Mandy's talented creative eye means that the barn shop is bursting with wonderful displays, little vessels bursting with colour and texture. 

But despite it's rustic charm you get an overwhelming feeling of opulence. Flower varieties you will never see in a supermarket and buckets teaming with stems so long you need to look twice to appreciate their raw state. Not the perfectly packaged, tied with an elastic band varieties, just bucket after bucket teaming with buds, it's like the best pic and mix in the world!

Here are some of my favourites! Apart from a little sharpening here and there, this is how they are. The colours are so vivid and needed no editing at all! The giant rose was the star of the show!

The photo shoot was intense and exhausting but wonderful at the same time! Mandy and I bounced off each other and established a friendship yesterday. The most important thing for me from a product shoot is to be able to give the talented client as much material as possible, to share in different ways and at different times of the year.

The flower farm photos need to work for all types of social media (think cropped square for Instagram, portrait for Pinterest, nice banners for Facebook cover photos etc), for their new website and that represent different seasons or celebrations. Of course, with flowers they are a seasonal entity! But Mandy and I tried to capture different atmospheres so she has lots of content to share all year round. Real photos in the actual setting, not perfectly light studio shots. I hope I captured the essence of Mandy and Ken's beautiful business and can't wait to see the new website live.

Make sure you follow @SomersetFlowerFarm so you can be spoilt with lots of lovely floral photos and news!