Velvet Fern Home

05/09/2026

Every now and then, human behaviour baffles the bejesus out of me!!

There have been 3 instances during our 4.5years in Ludlow that have left me completely confused, the most recent was this week, but I’ll tell you about the previous 2 first. We’d been open a few months when I sold a couple a lovely hand blown glass jug, wrapped it myself & waved them on their merry way. The very next day, said couple returned, Velvet Fern bag in hand, I instantly (wrongly) assumed they wanted to exchange because it didn’t fit/was the wrong colour. Nope, the glass jug now represented glass dust, in about 3.5gazilion pieces. Conversation went like this lady;”I bought this yesterday, when I got home, it was broken.” Me; “but I wrapped that for you yesterday & it would’ve been fairly obvious, let alone impossible to wrap like that.” Lady;”ok, thank you, bye.”
2nd example; sold a chap one of our ceramic rabbits, he checked it over, Matt packed it up, we said our goodbyes. We watched his dog excitedly jump up at him, bag & rabbit bash the street sign post. Rabbit is returned with a detached ear & the claim “I’ve just bought this & it’s broken.” “Errr, we just watched what happened, right opposite the shop, it wasn’t broken when you left here” “oh, ok, thanks, bye.”

This week, a piece of art was sold, wrapped & taken away by the customer. Following day, I had an email with photos of the piece of art in separate pieces, with a fairly accusatory email about its condition. Again, this would’ve been impossible to pick up or wrap, yet seemingly, it was my fault?! After some considerable communication backwards & forwards, it seems the customer didn’t need me to do anything, aside offer a £10 goodwill gesture?!

The moral of this is. Just don’t be a d***. Be accountable when you’ve hashed up, it’s not always someone else’s fault!

Window change this week but I forgot to take photos & the window has now been rejigged cos all the big bits sold, so here are a few randoms, I love the big floral art & the wooden, wavy edge mirror.

I’m on duty today, Izz is on her way back from Malta & Matt’s back in his painting gear, deets on that to follow.
💗🤗💗

29/08/2026

Keeping our town centres alive; they’re a vital hub of a community.

Matt overheard a conversation in the shop this week between a couple visiting Ludlow, which went along the lines of “what a beautiful shop, isn’t Ludlow lovely, our town used to have lovely shops but now they’ve all gone” then went on to say “it was lovely to go and have a walk round even though we never bought anything.” And there lies the secret formula! You want to keep lovely shops in your town centres, then you have to actually use them. You have to put your shoes on, walk in, buy something, hopefully have some positive, engaging interaction, leave, enjoy your experience & remind yourself to do that again when you need a gift, new jumper or just a treat for yourself. There’s rarely a huge financial backer behind an independent retailer. So when the till stops ringing, the doors close, for good.
The equation is that simple.
As an independent business, we always aim to use independents in our home town first. It’s kinda a no brainer. It takes a whole community to keep a town centre alive.
I’m brewing up for a rant about discounts and the gazillion reasons why we don’t!

Chatting this morning, we realised it was a year ago yesterday that we launched Velvet Fern Stay our Velvet Fern Airbnb & 6 years ago on the same date that we opened our doors in Hay! If I’m honest, I wasn’t sure we’d survive 6 months, let alone 6 years! But we’re here, still trucking & looking forward to year 7!

Windows have had an overhaul this week, they were overdue a change, but windows in the heat aren’t a fun job! I’m loving the big shell vase and the fossil effect bowl, there are lots of new lines arriving over the coming weeks.

I can’t dress it up any other way, it’s p**s wet in Ludlow today but…we’re here, open all weekend including bank holiday Monday, we’re gonna try smiling through the grey!
Whatever you’re up to, have a lovely long weekend!

🤗💧🤗💧🤗

22/08/2026

Jeez, I’ve not had any revs for socials of late.

It’s another brain drain, photos & thinking of content. I read something the other day that resonated, the gist of it was; where are we going with social media? When Facebook started 20 something years ago, it was just a place to post a comment. I joined FB in 2007, during a particularly tough time. I was living in a caravan & spare beds at friends houses due to our house flooding. Izz was 3 & I was knackered. I bumped into a friend I’d not seen for a couple of years who asked “are you on Fbook? We could keep in touch on there.” I’d heard of it, but internet was still dial up & a caravan at the end of my garden, weirdly, didn’t have a phone line!🤣
Anyway, sometime during that 6 months of chaos, I did join & didn’t really see the point. Then photos started, tagging locations & with that the bragging and competition. “My life’s better than yours” & I struggle with that. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve posted holiday pics, I’ve posted kids birthdays, our wedding day, but I’ve also posted the sh*tty bits too. Tough days when parenting young kids felt like the hardest job that was never going to end, house moving & those days that just don’t make sense. The post I read this week was asking do “do we think there’s a u turn happening?”Are we getting back to grainy photos (the kids are using digital cameras instead of phones) & real life instead of instagramable perfection? There’s a huge part of my soul that’s calling for that.
FB was a revelation, it meant I connected with my family overseas in a way that wasn’t on the phone, we felt more connected & in touch. I love the memories that come up & some of my early posts on my profile make me laugh & cringe in equal measure. But, I’m really not interested in the brag. Show me pictures of sunsets, kids laughing, your cats & the peace in your life, I’m all for that!

So, our socials will always be photo dumps of stock/window displays & shop life. I haven’t got the capacity for reels & curated content, it just ain’t ma bag! If it’s not exciting enough, I’m ok with that too.

I’m in today, so if you’re in town, come & say hello!
💗🤗💗🤗💗

08/08/2026

One of my favourite things about social media are the “memories.”

6 years ago today we got the keys for our little shop in Hay on Wye. Looking back at the first window displays and photos inside the shop on opening day is a stark reminder of how far we’ve come.
The imposter syndrome is still real, every day I feel like I’m going to get caught out by someone who knows I’m not really capable of doing what I’m doing!
The self doubt is still as strong as it was back then, I’m still consumed by the thoughts that I’m not good enough, I could be doing more, I could be trying harder & if I’m honest, after 6 years, I doubt they’re going anywhere soon.
Our work life & home life don’t really have defined lines, the two kinda roll into one, we still have late night takeaways on the shop floor, we still try to do our best every day & late night shop window pics can still be fun, took these after the football a couple of weeks ago.
This Velvet Fern journey has become a way of life & 6 years ago, that’s something I never would’ve forecast.
We’ve done a lot since the start of all this & today, I’m thankful to Facebook memories for making me look at where we are and how far we’ve come.
The urge to write the book gets stronger!

On a separate note, I want to say “thank you” to everyone who text/whatsapped/dm’d after last weeks post. Sometimes social media feels like a transient place, but there’s a whole community behind these pages, so many of who really do care. This page has never really been about sales, it’s about life; the good bits & the bumpy bits. And most of all, just being real.

We have a couple of days off for the main man’s birthday, so thank you to our mega team for covering, you guys are all fab!

Sea themes are strong, I love the colours in the centre piece of art & octopus jug is still one of my current faves.

Have a fab weekend, if you’re in we’d love to see you!

💗🤗😘🤗💗

01/08/2026

I’ve been a bit slack on the socials, number9ludlow kinda took my attention for the 2weekends of music at Ludlow Castle

It’s been a mad busy couple of weeks. Ludlow has been alive, visitors, locals & schools breaking up, I just love this time of year.

In amongst the mayhem, I had a funeral to attend. It was one of those days I was dreading, I knew (as there always are with these occasions) there’d be people there I’d not seen for many (30+) years. The day crept round & the heavy knot in my stomach got tighter. The official business was dealt with smoothly, the eulogies were perfect & as we left the church I bumped into an old school friend. We lost touch in those years post college, when everyone’s lives were finding new direction, before the dawn of social media. We sat & chatted, the polite kinda chat you have after years of absence. As the drinks flowed & the afternoon rolled out we touched on some of the moments that changed the direction of our lives, the big moments, parents dying, families divorcing & the fact we were all young, going through things we shouldn’t have had to. Dealing with big emotions, & probably not being honest enough about how they were making us feel. Reconnecting with someone from the past, who’d been such a big part of my life, felt like another missing piece of jigsaw finding its place. Having some of the conversations we should’ve had but were too young at the time to realise.
Spending a day with people who’d once filled every day, still laughing, sharing so many memories & a few tears, was so beautiful. I felt thankful & a little more complete. We all parted ways, after too many gins & beers & I felt very lucky.
A day I’d been dreading, saying goodbye to a hugely influential figure in my life actually turned out to be one I’ll remember forever, for all the good things. The memories have been playing since last Friday, like old video clips, but with a little more clarity.

Oush, ok. Windows have been overhauled, giraffe head is fab & I’m loving the pinks & greens in here. The art has sold but is due back imminently.

Have a fabulous day peeps, if you’re in it’d be great to see you!

💗🤗💗🤗💗

26/07/2026

Last night RICHARD ASHCROFT put on an amazing performance!

Ludlow Castle was jumping, absolutely alive!
We went after work, and after a really long couple of weeks I’m not ashamed to admit, the mojo was drained.
I’m so glad we pushed through the tiredness barrier, it was a fantastic night!

SCISSOR SISTERS wrap up what’s been an amazing run of Live at Ludlow Castle tonight, we’re open till 11.30pm and really looking forward to seeing you all for our last late night of these last two weekends.

If you’re going tonight, grab yourselves a gelato from & have the best time!

has literally been the favourite this weekend!

💗🍦🎶🍦💗

19/07/2026

4 double scoops up for grabs!💗🍦💗🍦

🍦National Gelato (Ice Cream) Day🍦

Who knew this was even a thing? 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

So, to celebrate & tie in with all the buzz in Ludlow at the mo, we’re running a little giveaway….

To win 4 double scoop cones or tubs of our fabulous, delicious, Italian Gelato this is all you need to do…..

🍦tag a friend
🍦like & share this post
🍦follow our page

We’ll shout out the winner on Thursday ready for our next round of late night opening next weekend!

New flavours arriving this week too!

🍦💗🍦💗🍦

16/07/2026

2 mega weekends ahead in Ludlow!!

11/07/2026

Right, social media has got right on my pip lately!

It’s happened a couple of times this year, I’ve done a post, almost finish, have to reduce the word count, go to trim it down a bit, end up deleting the entire content. Now, not a lot these days makes me angry, really, very little sets off the red mist. Unfairness, I hate to witness it or be on the end of it, it’s a hot potato, cos I’ve been on the wrong end of fairness for most of my life in certain dynamics & relationships. Cruelty, to any living thing. Bullying, I’ll fight the corner of anyone copping a hard time. And lastly, socials deleting the text from a post that’s taken time out of my Saturday morning!! What I should’ve done last Saturday was, speak kindly to myself, realise it’s tech doing its tech things & move on with my day. Instead of behaving like a relatively well adjusted adult, I had a mammoth strop, got in the shower, cried a few very frustrated tears, rejected Matt’s “helpful” but perhaps untimely suggestions of constructive assistance, & let it ruin my Saturday morning. I didn’t want to stand behind the counter pretending I was ok & I didn’t want to let it go. I’d forecast a day of irritation and frustration. But, it didn’t happen. People came in, people bought things, no one irritated me and by lunchtime I realised I’d perhaps been a bit of a dick and couldn’t work out why it’d p**sed me off so much?!
It’s only social media. The world ain’t gonna stop turning for a bit of deleted text. So this week I’ve not sweat the small stuff & enjoyed the positives from the day.

It’s been too hot for evening window changes, so I’m changing things up next week & going in early to hit them before the suns on the windows, so a few more web pics of new additions hitting the website over the next few days.

Live at Ludlow Castle kicks off on Thursday, with Snow Patrol, a band that take me back to my early days of single parent hood, when Izz was a little d**k & I was wondering how the hell I was going to make it all work. We saw them live a few years ago in a tiny venue in Barcelona, so to see them in Ludlow is insane!
💗☀️💗☀️💗

08/07/2026

We’ve had a cancellation at our holiday apartment for 16th July, the night Snow Patrol are at the castle.

If any of our socials followers are interested in booking it directly with us, we’ll do a reduced rate.
DM if you’re interested.

*Edit…this date has now been booked. Thank you for all your shares. We really appreciate it.🤗

www.airbnb.com/h/velvetfernstay