January Scrapbook: a warm welcome to 2024
The new year happenings, the books I've bookmarked and a staycation recap.
A very happy New Year everyone! I’m so happy to have you here as we enter a new year filled with hopeful ambitions, big – also fun – ongoing plans and lots more creating for Cherry Press. I’ve got a lot in store for 2024 – from ticking off some destinations on my travel hit-list, diving deep into my new country home in the Cotswolds and lots more collaborating with amazing people!
For a few days to close out the year, I was in the New Forest at one of the UK’s most grandest of dames. Enter the wondrous Lime Wood Hotel – and it has much more going for it beyond being a smart Hampshire hideout. With The Pig hotelier Robin Hutson at its helm, architectural design by national treasure Ben Pentreath and fresh interiors by Studio Atkinson (of Beaverbrook and several of the Soho House clubs around the world), there’s a lot going for this Georgian country pile. We feasted on the fluffiest arancini at Angela Hartnett’s (of Murano in London) countryside creation, sipped sweet mulled wine in the courtyard and floated around in the soul-soothing pool. This really is a super smart stay but it’s very much without the stuffiness and pretension that often clings itself to spots like this.
My first hotel review of Lime Wood is coming later this month, for paid subscribers only, so to get all the insight and for the fully honest (and this one is really positive) please consider treating yourself to a subscription for the new year!
Admittedly, I’ve been in quite the reading rut. After finally devouring A Little Life last summer – and devastatingly missing the stage production with heartthrob James Norton – I’m left with a bit of a hole for something to read. Now, I’m scouring as many ‘best books’ roundups on
by author and writer and by photographer , two reading wizards whose advice I always seek. Here are just a few novels (older and more recent) I’ve bookmarked for the next few months:Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
A to-the-bone novel of love and loss set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Rough and raw, but a harrowing page turner.
Darling by India Knight
It would be remiss to not read the original Nancy Mitford classic, The Pursuit of Happiness, especially since she lived in the Cotswolds for so long but this is a modern-day spiff, with a lot of humour and heart break.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingslover
A tale of struggle, strength and suffering set during the opioid crisis in the American South. A Charles Dickens nod and reimagined.
January 13th – Cheltenham antiques and vintage market. Shop along the promenade for Brocante knick knacks and new pieces for the home.
January 18th – seasonal salad making at the Organic Farm Shop near Cirencester…now I often rave about Thali Thursdays here but their deli lunches are also top notch. Learn their secrets here.
January 25th – It’s Burns Night! A lots of great pubs are serving up Scottish specials (neeps and tatties, Cranachan, I could go on) – including The Bull in Charlbury – but His Majesty King Charles III is also inviting haggis lovers to don their best tartan for a night of whisky and stripping the willow at Highgrove House.
January 26th – Take a break from home cooking with some spicy plates at Daylesford farm’s Thai supper club. Dishes might include Tom-Kha prawn and coconut soup and super crispy chicken with glass noodles.
January 27th + 28th – Snowdrops are budding already. Spot the white bells at Colesbourne Park and Painswick Rococo Garden at the end of this month. Also on the 27th, Charlbury’s cute cafe Chloe’s is hosting a Sicilian inspired four-course lunch and dinner with two local residents running the kitchen, more info on their Instagram.
Not announced yet, but Cutter Brooks will be having a big sale event (after January 14th) at their shop in Stow-on-the-Wold. Keep an eye on their socials.
Looking ahead – the brothers behind wood-firing pop-up Pit Kitchen have a two-night Peri Peri evening (the main event includes smoked chicken thighs with burnt tomato and Malagueta rice with winter slaw, BBQ’d tenderstem broccoli and Peri Peri aioli) on February 9th and 10th, tickets here.
There are quite a few ‘INs and OUTS’ for 2024 swirling about and one very big in for me is upping my snack game. Midday munching or post dinner crunching, I’m always on the hunt for those small-batch makers proving tiny popcorn, spicy hot sauces and craft crisps are the coolest pantry goods around.
Smug – Hand-fried potato crisps
Pasta flavoured crisps, yum. These are cacio e pepe but don’t skip on their black garlic and picante packets too.
Up and Up – Dark Cherry Chocolate
These guys manage to blend bold branding with big flavour and this one pairs candied stone fruits with a bitter blend of chocolate.
Brickell’s – Ricotta stracciatella ice cream
Handmade in Somerset, this ice cream uses the best local ingredients around –milk from Westcombe Dairy, fresh double cream from Gloucestershire, free range eggs from Clarence Court, chocolate from Pump Street in Suffolk, and British beet sugar. It’s so fresh and the sweetest post-dinner hit.
Living Things – Raspberry and pomegranate soda
Gut-loving and stuffed with prebiotics. Plus it tastes great and is taking the UK by storm.
Chimac – Korean hot sauce
Started by two Dubliners, this hot sauce was born after the founders fell in love with Korean Fried Chicken on a trip to Seoul. Very good on sandwiches.
For more snacks on snacks –
is my guru.
Demon Copperhead is amazing and DEVASTATING (you might want a breather book between A Little Life and that) I also adored Cassandra at the Wedding. It was written in 1962 but holds up in such a beautiful way.
Will definitely read Trespasses by Louise Kennedy!
I needed a new book selection !! So thanks for that!