Tonight is the first showing of ‘Alexander Armstrong’s Very British Holiday’ on BBC1 at 10.25. We are all waiting with eager anticipation to see what he made of his visit to Carolyn’s luxury camping site ‘Jollyday’s.’ (If you want to find out more and miss the programme, we’ve just published the ‘Jollyday’s Story’ filled with all the thrills and spills of what it’s like to build a business from scratch – Plus hints and tips on how to make the best of your glamping holiday AND get an amazing 30% off a Jollyday’s holiday!)
See our e-bookshop for more details
- I hope you like it!
Warmest Wishes
Nicola
This is Snug Cottage – worldwide headquarters of Snug Cottage Enterprises! So far activities here have included life coaching, graphic design, watercolour painting, growing my own vegetables and herbs, making herbal tinctures and remedies, and jam-making. Mooted for the future are beekeeping and wine-making (if my already bulging schedule ever lets me get round to it!)
I suppose I’m a bit of a techno-rustic – on a mission to combine the best of the twenty-first century with what one of my nephews likes to call “how they did things in the olden days.” Ever since I left the cut and thrust of London advertising, and my job as a senior art director, I have made my living using those wonders and conveniences of modern technology – the internet and telephone, while exploring my fascination with herbalism, rural crafts and gardening.
Don’t get me wrong – I loved London life, and the glamour of the advertising world: arranging and directing photoshoots, dealing with clients who were household names, and then watching with satisfaction as words and ideas I had worked on appeared on billboards and in magazines. But then I got to what a friend of mine called the headstone moment – as in “if you died tomorrow what would you want it to say on your headstone?” I thought about it, and it definitely wasn’t ‘Nicola Hall: Advertiser’ – So before you could say: “double page spread”, I was downsizing, downshifting and moving out of the city.
My first challenge was what the Buddha called “ right livelihood” – how to make a living in a way that was consistent with what my own personal values now were (which selling soap powder and computers really wasn’t!) During a period of “creative” turmoil in my younger days, I had learned to recognise the self-destructive patterns that were sabotaging me, and had a dream of one day working with people to show them how they could change their lives. So I signed up with an American organisation called Coach University for 18 months, and trained to become a life coach. (Bit of a change that from advertising – but it must have worked, because I now have clients as far afield as Sweden!)
The second part of my dream was finding the right place to indulge my rural passions. After extensive investigations around the country we headed “up North” – where my husband originally hails from – and for the past two years we have been happily settled in a picture book North Yorkshire village. I just love it on a morning, when I walk out into my beautiful garden, and look out at – Snug Cottage!
Here finally I had the chance to dive into my fascination with herbs and their uses. Easy you would think – but after scouring seed catalogues and the internet for some of the (admittedly more obscure) varieties, I had drawn a blank. In desperation I sent an e-mail to Chelsea Physic Garden, and was surprised to receive a warm and friendly response from the Head Gardener (the herbal community is like that) who pointed me in the right direction. Herbs sourced: tick! Now all I had to do was to grow them. Here tips from John, the head of the plant centre at Castle Howard - and my favourite gardener – proved invaluable. I gave a talk about the medicinal uses of herbs at one of his gardening classes, and now he helps me out whenever I get into difficulties. Great, isn’t it? Anyway, I’ve just realised that while I sit here and pound the keyboard, my plants are wilting. Oops! – Grab watering can and charge to the rescue. See you next time!
