Spring Dinner at Cowdray House

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted.

Who knew when I did the flowers for this showcase dinner for Event planners at Cowdray House in Midhurst, West Sussex, that we’d be in lockdown 2 weeks later. Who knew then what lockdown actually meant.

I went to this dinner and it was such a lovely evening. I’m so glad that I did as it was the last dinner that I worked on and, for those of us in the industry, one of the last times we were able to meet and who knows when we’ll have the freedom to bring so many people together again for a wonderful dinner that isn’t socially distanced or outside!

Jacaranda Catering, who are also based in Midhurst, provided the wonderful food and hospitality for the dinner and the team from Nyetimber vineyard in West Sussex treated us to a tasting of three of their award-winning English sparkling wines.

It was a fun evening and a memorable evening and I do hope that there will be many more of these for our industry in the not too distant future.

All photos are by the very lovely and very talented Nicole Haines

The Table at Cowdray House with candelabra and gorgeous sesaonal spring flowers

Nyetimber, camellia’s and jasmine

Dining in Buck Hall, Cowdray House

Spring Florals

Spring Dinner Tablescape

Espresso Martinis which I can vouch were excellent!

Cowdray Goody Bags for guests

Flowers for a Dinner in January at Cowdray House

Happy New Year to you all!

We’ve hit the ground running this year with lots of flowers and bulb planters going out for delivery ,dinners to arrange flowers for and lot’s of wedding quotes, mood boards and plenty of exciting projects in the pipe line.

The photos are from last week’s lovely formal dinner for 16 people at Cowdray House.

White flowers look fresh in January so we chose seasonal ranunculus, paperweight narcissi, hellebores, muscari and ivy.

Downton Abbey Inspired Dinner at Cowdray House

What a pleasure it was working with Caper and Berry at Cowdray House, Cowdray Estate to create this fabulous Downton Abbey inspired gala dinner for a really lovely clients’ 50th Birthday Party last week.

We used garden roses, sweet peas, peonies, jasmine and garden clematis along with an abundance of candles with our golden candelabra and lead crystal candelabra, lead crystal tea light holders and glass candlesticks.

Buck Hall is such a brilliant place for a gala white tie dinner!

Downton Abbey Inspired Dinner

Downton Abbey Inspired Dinner 

English Garden Flowers

English garden flowers  

A Spectacular Autumnal Dinner at Cowdray House with British Flowers

This autumnal dinner at Cowdray House, Cowdray Estate was incredible. Hosted by the fabulous team at Caper and Berry the event was for the leading lights in the wedding and event planning industry, who stayed at Cowdray House overnight.

We used all British grown chrysanthemums from Hampshire and believe me these are nothing like the contrived chrysanthemums you usually find in supermarkets and garages. The colours were truly amazing and they were wayward and natural. We foraged bracken and browning ferns from The Cowdray Estate and used them to dress the candelabra and the fireplace. The result was really beautiful and the planners loved it.

I actually attended the event and the food and service by the incredible team at Caper and Berry was wonderful.

These wonderful photographs of the event are by the super talented Louise Adby

What a magical evening in Midhurst!

Tips on Decorating your House for Easter In The Daily Telegraph

Anna Tyzack, Senior Lifestyle Editor at The Daily Telegraph, interviewed me, as the Cowdray Estate florist,  this week for a fun and informative article on decorating your house for Easter.

They'll be lots of gorgeous Easter flowers, wreaths, bulbs planters and flowering branches available to buy from Cowdray Farm Shop on the Cowdray Estate from this week when Spring returns.

A Christmas Dinner at Cowdray House

This was a very special dinner at Cowdray House in December. 

It was glamorous, festive and fun and in addition to providing the flowers and dressing the Buck Hall for Christmas I actually went to the dinner. 

The food was absolutely sublime and provided by the fabulous Caper and Berry. What a great evening it was! 

Thank you to Cowdray Estate for letting me post these lovely photos of the event taken by a Chris Orange Photography. 

Audi A8 Launch at Cowdray House

Well, we’ve been flat out again since the last event I posted so I’m trying to play catch up again!

This event was very special as it was a dinner for motoring journalists and VIP’s to celebrate the launch of the new Audi A8 in the UK.

We created a large central autumnal tree and decorated the huge fireplace with a garland of autumn leaves and berries. The tables formed a cross shape and were filled with a runner of autumnal flowers, hips and foliage with decorated candelabra to co-ordinate.

I hope you like the photos! 

Autumn Dinner at Cowdray House

I really enjoyed creating the house and table flowers for this very special dinner at Cowdray House in October. It's an amazing time of year to be a florist as there is such wonderful material to work with and bringing the outside in as the days grow shorter is always appreciated by the guests.

I designed this dinner to come alive after dark when the candles were lit to create a real 'wow' factor. I used layers of candlelight that would illuminate the flowers, seedheads and grasses and although I didn't manage to photograph the table when the candles are lit I have seen photos that were taken that night; it really did look gorgeous and the feedback after the dinner was fabulous.

The Dining Room at Cowdray House

Hall Flowers at Cowdray House

The dining table flowers

Birthday Banquet at Cowdray House

I realise I've got some serious catching up to do on my blog posts to get everything up to date!  

Back in a June we worked with lovely Mauricio and his team at The Admirable Critchton on a fabulous birthday banquet for their clients who were staying at Cowdray House for the weekend.

The colour theme was rich reds and oranges with an abundance of candlelight and the tables were set in a horseshoe shape around a dance floor. 

As we left Cowdray House a team of actors were rehearsing their steps for the murder mystery game that would be unfolding throughout the evening. The stage looked set for a really fun evening and I understand that the clients had a really fabulous time.

 

A Dinner at Cowdray Ruins

Last week was fabulous. 

I was invited to design the flowers by The Admirable Crichton for a private party who were staying at Cowdray House for the weekend. 

The dinner on the Friday evening was held at Cowdray Ruins, a place I absolutely love. It's a blank canvas with regard to flowers as it is all wonderfully old brick and dirt floors.

A simple green fern theme with wonderful grey linen cloths, green water glasses and lots of candlelight was requested by The Admirable Crichton and the result was simply beautiful.

Greenery is super fashionable at the moment but it doesn't always work in any setting. On this occasion, without any green grass or garden to compete with the green stood out against the red brick and with a simple vase of white foxgloves, fern and orlaya on the bar and a couple of vignettes of white foxglove plants and candles the Ruins came alive and was ready for a sensational dinner. 

Brainwave Charity Clay Shoot at Cowdray House

The annual fund raising event for the Brainwave charity took place at Cowdray House last week and I provided the seasonal flowers for the delicious lunch which was provided by the wonderful Jacaranda Catering with fabulous wine provided by Nyetimber.

Flowers for Mothering Sunday at Cowdray Farm Shop

What a lovely, sunny weekend it's been for a Mothering Sunday.

I provide all of the flowers and plants for the award winning Cowdray Farm Shop on the beautiful Cowdray Estate in Easebourne, Midhurst, West Sussex and with Mothering Sunday and the exceptional weather this weekend it's been a very flowery and busy week,.

Here are a few photos of this weekend's bouquets, planters and plants.  

Lilac, ranunculus, scented narcissi and anemones

Lilac, ranunculus, astrantia, forget-me-nots and clematis

Ranunculus, lilac, scented narcissi and forget-me-nots

Mimosa

Zinc Muscari planters

Scented narcissi, ranunculus, anemones

Magnolia Heaven

Who doesn't love be a magnolia tree in full bloom? 

The Magnolia in our garden is spectacular and makes my heart sing every day when I drive through the gate. 

Magnolia branches are sensational in a vase and I've been selling pink and white branches at Cowdray Farm Shop this week . They're not from my garden though as I couldn't bear to pick them!

A Joyous June Wedding

Miranda and James married on June 25th 2016. The wedding ceremony was held at St Mary's church in Eastbourne on the Cowdray Estate and the reception was held at the beautiful Cowdray House in Midhurst, West Sussex.

We provided the flowers and Jacaranda catering provided the hospitality.

It was a huge pleasure to work with Miranda and her wonderful parents, Sue and Bob, 

Miranda and James have kindly allowed me to share their gorgeous wedding video with you here.

December Tablescape

Well, it's a floral time of year and the last few weeks have been incredibly busy for us at This Floral Life. 

We've been making lots of wreaths, table decorations, planters and flowers for the Cowdray Farm shop and decorating trees, houses and shops for Christmas. It's been really hard work but so lovely and beautifully festive. It's a great time of year to be a florist!

We've worked on some gorgeous events recently and this weekend we set up gorgeous Christmas tablescape for a private dinner at Cowdray House, Midhurst.

The dinner was in the fabulous Buck Hall and with the huge Christmas tree, balcony fireplace garlands that we installed last week, the room looked amazing. With the fire lit and hundreds of candles around the room, the stage was set for a magical Christmas event.

An Autumn Wedding at Cowdray House

It was a glorious Autumn morning for Krisztina and Graeme's wedding at Cowdray House on 8th October 2016.  

If you look through this journal you may have seen that I was the florist for the very first wedding held at Cowdray House, at the end of June this year. Well, this wedding included the first actual civil wedding ceremony at the house.

Autumn is a great time to get married and at Cowdray House the views from the ceremony room out to the garden are spectacular with all of the colours of Autumn represented in the landscape.

The flowers also included colours from the Autumn landscape mixed with pink and peaches and the last flush of the English roses.

The ceremony room at Cowdray House

The wedding reception in Buck Hall, Cowdray House, Midhurst, West Sussex

Tatler 8 Best Farm Shops in the UK

It was fabulous to see that the Cowdray Farm Shop in Midhurst was recognised as one of the 8 Best Farm Shops in the UK by Tatler. 

I provide all of the flowers and plants for the Cowdray Farm Shop. You can actually see them in the photo below, which is by the super talented Kerry from Whippet Snippets.

The Cowdray Farm Shop is an incredible farm shop and well worth a visit. It's located on the beautiful Cowdray Estate, Midhurst, which is in the centre of the South Downs National Park. It's easy to find as it's located just off the A272 at Easebourne, Midhurst,  in the glorious Cowdray Park.

With a superb butcher selling estate reared meat, a fabulous bakery, amazing cheese counter that sells Neal's Yard cheese (try the Stichelton!) and the freshest, seasonal flowers and plants delivered daily by my own company, the farm shop is a great asset to the local area and an excellent place to shop. 

The cafe is a great place to visit, the food is always really delicious, the team are always friendly and the service is always really good. On a sunny day the patio is the best spot in town and I often meet friends and clients there for a healthy salad and a fresh 'green' juice. 

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Cowdray Farm Shop