Movie date night was highly anticipated – (I know its only the flicks but January hibernation is long) I had booked us in to see The Revenant after watching the trailer and thinking it looked like a good ‘cinema’ film. Hell NO. It was the most traumatic 2.5 hours of 2016 so far.. Don’t get me wrong, it is beautifully shot, cast and set but it was so grim! Leo spent most of the film dragging himself across frozen ground unable to talk. The poor guy.
It was the kind of movie that made me want to get in to bed with each of my children for a long cuddle as soon as you get home – which is exactly what I did. It made me so tense I must have checked my phone at least 20 times in case the babysitter had called (weird Mamma anxieties going round in my head, fitting, high uncontrollable temperatures, house fires, cat suffocation, fingers in plug sockets to name a few).

We have had unbelievably beautiful frosty mornings this week, unlike any before -6oc this morning. I have so many photos of Moreton looking like something out of a painting – I really need to learn how to use my big camera properly soon, iPhone’s are great but I think I could get better shots!
Plum and I have been on lots of long walks across the ford and up through the forest making the most of the gorgeous weather.

We have been wanting to do some redecoration at The Manor for a while but have had to plan it quite closely to find a long enough gap between guests to get the work complete, we are starting in early Feb with one of the beautiful front facing bedrooms and a bit of work in the drawing room. With a house the age of The Manor a lot of TLC is needed so we have to take our time!

I am a huge fan of Farrow & Ball and their colour palette, the cottage is head to toe greys, minks and elephants huff. So I was thrilled to hear they are launching new colours in a few weeks. I popped in to our F&B shop in Dorchester today and the manager gave me a little sneak peek of the new colours ahead of their launch and they are beautiful! There is a fab little catalogue coming out with inspiration on how to match the new colours with others they have and I will definitely be taking tips from that. I will keep updating with developments but I am really looking forward to starting the project.

Meanwhile back at the cottage I have been having a great declutter and spruce up – it’s sometimes a little strange going from working at The Manor and the huge rooms to our little cottage nest, but it is home and I love where we live. I would need to have all my friends move in with me to fill The Manor on a daily basis, or have more babies… nudge nudge Harry!

A photo posted by Tabitha Schofield (@tabsschofield) on Jan 19, 2016 at 4:48am PST

The boy one had his first school disco this evening, bittersweet! My baby boy got himself all dressed up in his new shirt and was so excited to be taken back to school in the eveing (almost alone, big sis was on standby for emergencies) it was beyond sweet. He has grown up so much since starting school in September and is catching up with the girl one in so many ways. I am proud & blessed!

T xx