Blooming Beautiful with Botanica Flora

It's no secret that there are some astoundingly creative women in rural australia. Libby Spencer, founder of Botanica Flora in Orange is just such a women. When I heard that Libby and Belinda were organising a floral workshop in the creative collaboration space at Tomolly, I knew that it would be great fun, not to mention insanely beautiful. The first workshop sold out so quickly that they ended up adding another. It was a privilege to be invited to photograph Lib in her element. She teaches floral design with such warmth and wit. We watched with great interest as Libby gave a demonstration on how to make a foam free floral arrangement, then with the help of Lib and her assistant Tess, we all took the plunge and created our own using the stunning spring blooms and foliage that filled the trestle table in the window.

 

The room was bubbling with banter and laughter as the stunning spring sunshine streamed through the great big heritage windows. 

 Belinda put on incredible spread for us to enjoy with a glass of bubbles at the end of the afternoon. Honestly...this woman is a freaking powerhouse. There were three delectable home-baked cakes and a giant cheese platter, served up on beautiful handmade ceramics from ottimade. It was the perfect way to end the workshop.

I cannot recommend these kind of events enough. Its a chance to hang out with a group of fantastic people in an incredible setting and just...create! An afternoon like this does wonders for the soul. Take a look at the Tomolly Workshops page or Botanica Flora's Instagram for future workshops. There's always something interesting on the horizon.

Thank you Bels and Lib...the ripple effect of your creative collaboration is lasting and beautiful.

xx Em

Tomolly & The Shopkeeper

When my beautiful friend Belinda asked if I would like to come to Carcoar in mid September and photograph a floral workshop held in the creative studio at Tomolly, the answer was an emphatic YES! The opportunity to pop up to the Town Time Forgot was motivation in itself, but getting to spend an afternoon with a bunch of creative women learning floral design from the fabulous Libby Spencer of Botanica Flora sealed the deal.

I decided to make a weekend of it and booked For 2, an AirBnb in the nearby village of Millthorpe. On Saturday morning I squeezed my boys goodbye and drove up through the Hilltops Region past golden fields of canola to Carcoar. It was lovely to be back again. The Main Street was busy with activity, full of visitors and locals enjoying the spring sunshine. I took the opportunity to photograph Belinda's shop before the floral workshop began and got to have a chat with the lovely Liz who looks after the store when Bels needs to dash out. Belinda curates the most beautiful collection of homewares.

The Tomolly website launched recently with stunning images by the wonderful Jenna Kensey. There are details about Tomolly and The Shopkeeper, upcoming workshops in the creative collaboration space, styling services, an online shop (soon to go live) and a little cameo of creatives including Kasturi Wren of Wren & Whippet, Belinda & Tim Neame of Hold Cottage and even little ol' me. Its a beautiful, intuitive website and it reflects Belinda's style and character in a wonderful, visual way.

It's absolutely worth the trip to Carcoar to experience Tomolly for yourself!

I've got so many beautiful images to share of the floral workshop that they deserve a post of their own.

So, til next time...

xx Em.

Winter Long Weekend - Booroowa & Carcoar.

Are you the kind of person who hears about an event that you know you'd love to go to but you find yourself missing it each time it comes around? It happens to me quite regularly. I make a mental bucket list of places or events I'd love to see but the list seems to grow longer with very few getting crossed off!

Well...this weekend I broke that habit by organising a little family roadtrip through the Hilltops Region. Hurrah to me! 

Iandra Castle had one of their open days on Sunday so I figured it would be great stay in nearby Young Saturday night so that we could make the most of the weekend, tripping about the countryside exploring the region. Every foodie spot, every point of interest, every little town was selected based on Instagram accounts that I follow and the weekend turned out to be a truly lovely little adventure.

We set off early Saturday morning and made our first stop in Booroowa for coffee at the Pantry on Pudman and a wander around the town.

Then it was onwards north through Cowra to my favourite little village of Carcoar in the shire of Blayney. First things first...a wander up the street to stretch our legs and have a sticky beak at all the gorgeous heritage homes. It was here that we found ourselves a friend...or rather, Jack found himself a friend by the river whom we dubbed "Carcoar Cat".
Carcoar Cat followed us from the bridge all the way up the street and back again. It was adorable! 

 A pub lunch at the Royal Hotel was in order after our stroll.

 

Then I popped across the street for an entirely delightful catch up with the wonderful Belinda in her homewares store Tomolly. One of my instagram muses and a beautiful soul, it was so lovely to give her a hug hello and have a good chat in person. 

 

I could have whiled away the whole afternoon in conversation but the boys were keen to do more exploring, so, with a bag of Tomolly goodies in my hand we bid farewell and headed up the hill to the old train station to walk the disused line up to the abandoned tunnel. Thanks for the tip Belinda...it was brilliant fun! The boys were in heaven! The 281m tunnel built in the late 1880s was thrilling to walk through without a torch.We were able to see quite well until we hit the halfway mark. At that point we could see the faint light coming from each end of the tunnel but when we looked down we couldn't see a thing. We just kept our stride to the same spacing as the sleepers and hoped we wouldn't run into anything. It was peaceful and still and cool in the tunnel...until Harry got going with some very realistic train sounds that bounced off the curved walls and reverberated in my ears. Happiest kid on the planet! I hope the boys end up with fond memories of these little adventures. They'll be locked away in my memory as some of the loveliest times in my life.

I adore the view of the village from up on the hill, made extra special with winter woodsmoke wisping its way up into the air from chimneys.

When a biting chill hit the air we hopped back into the car and headed south to Young as the sun dipped down behind the hills, arriving at our motel just in time for dinner. 

More adventures in my next post.

xx Em