Black Bough

21/06/2026

Basil head hair, the herb related Wedgwood game you never knew you needed.

Richard Guyatt designed a whole sequence of these mugs for Wedgwood from the 1950s right through to the 2000s. He had a brilliant eye for the efficiency of line, so all the swags, flounces and garlands in his work have a certain economy to them.

17/06/2026

Lazy cat bath towel by and guest appearance by uncharacteristically not lazy cat Dudley.

Linked product is the hand towel because for some god damn reason the bath towel won’t show!

Anyway, if lazy cats are your thing, there are hand towels, bath towels and bath sheets

02/06/2026

Our warehouse visitors are normally confined to customers collecting orders, delivery drivers and people … who have gone the wrong way! But this morning a pigeon flew in.

It swiftly flew out again, but I thought I’d take the prompt and give you a tour of different sections of our warehouse.

Day 1. Tour 1. Greetings cards.

30/05/2026

24 hours in Derbyshire. A greatest hits compilation of National Trust staircases in which Hardwick Hall is always going to come out the winner.

Out of sequence images of Kedleston Hall, Callow Hall and Hardwick Hall

24/05/2026

Quite pleased with the subject line of this morning’s newsletter … Have you got the hump with me?

But could have gone with One hump or two?

If you figure that my Dad joke era is missing from your life, then sign up to get on our mailing list. Link in bio!

Toy metal Bactrian camels now listed.

19/05/2026

Last Saturday, even though it was bucketing down with rain when we set out for home, we went for a walk up to the top of Mortimer Forest just outside of Ludlow. Because it’s at an altitude of sorts, the season for the mass of bluebells at the top is later than at lower levels. That being said, they were definitely past their peak.

Next year though! Put an alert in your diary for 2027!

15/05/2026

Evening bird song, slight breeze, gosling check done (all 5 still present!)

08/05/2026

Mucking around (again!) with the Niwaki flower supports (kenzan). I used the long version here although tbh this Sylvac vase is so long I could have deployed two.

Flowers picked from home this morning (pheasant eye narcissi, camassia and centaurea montana). Foliage from the warehouse garden (a hoheria of some sort, purchased from )

The Sylvac vase is one of a handful I’m adding to the site today.

03/05/2026

30/04/2026

For someone who doesn’t eat eggs (🙋‍♂️) I’m pretty adept at cooking them for those that do!

Perfect morning light highlighting the dog egg cup