Her Indoors

In my personal Christmas disaster list earlier, I forgot to mention the various ailments that everyone seems to succumb to at that time of year. I think I might have blanked them from my mind…Anyway with the result that January always raises the intention of a good old detox.

Don’t be too harsh on yourself though, while you are doing without calories and alcohol (until Burns Night at least) you can still treat yourself in other ways.

A morning or afternoon at Fletchers Cottage Spa at Archerfield is the perfect antidote to the winter Blues – you can just drink in the interior design.

I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to interview the instigator of the project. The styling of the interior is down to the vision of London based designer, Sian Parry Jones. We met at Fletchers over a coffee.

HI How did the project come about for you Sian?

SPJ I met the owner of Archerfield through mutual friends. He was keen to set up a spa in the complex, my original background is beauty and I have more recently project managed several property renovations, including my main family home, a converted barn in Somerset and a spa on stilts in a lagoon in Antigua. He liked my ideas and I was basically given a free reign to develop the building with a local building firm, Baseline Developments.

HI What was your inspiration for Fletchers?

SPJ Primarily old farm buildings, I was brought up on a smallholding and my brother owns a farm now. The surrounding East Lothian landscape was a major inspiration too and I wanted to use as many reclaimed, salvaged and natural materials as possible.

HI Tell us more about some of the materials you have used.

SPJ The corridors are lined with wooden potato crates from nearby farm, Luffness Mains. I was in a taxi to the airport and we passed a huge stack of them piled high. I asked the driver to stop right there and then and ran around, trying to get hold of the right person to speak to without missing my plane – quite a feat!

The mirrors in the manicure area are framed with old metal windows from a building in Paris.

HI Did you train in design?

SPJ No, when I left school I trained as a beauty therapist. I set up a salon in Bristol, which I soon sold in order to jump on a plane to the USA. I got a job working for Estee Lauder, returning to the UK to work for Yves St Laurent. I was then Sales Director for Aveda for many years, which involved working with partners to build lots of spa’s. Aveda was one of the leading environmental brands in those days, it was very ahead of its time when it was launched. To cut a long story short, I ended up Head of Personal Shopping at Harrods, developing their Concierge Service. I found I was putting together whole houses for clients, right down to the last teaspoon and that was my training.

HI What have you been working on since Fletchers?

SPJ A beautiful private home overlooking the coast in Jersey and a Cocktail Bar in Soho, called, by a strange coincidence, Archer Street…!

The ‘Piste Bar’, downstairs at Archer Street

Upstairs at Archer Street

You can definitely see a theme going here…

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Anxious to counteract the hideous-ness inflicted on me by my family every December – yes – Doug’s is the one in the middle – the ‘Hello Kitty’ one – he bought it drastically reduced, after xmas last year and kept it specially…at least my children have managed to co-ordinate, I nipped down to what is always an Oasis of tastefulness, the annual Christmas sale at my neighbour, Anna Gordon’s home.

We are very spoilt us Gullane ladies, to have our very own resident jeweller to supply our every whim: Anna Gordon. Seriously, Anna is job-sharing head of the Silversmithing & Jewellery Department at Glasgow School of Art. and a leading contemporary jeweller.

Her jewellery is beautifully displayed in glass cases but she is happy to undertake bespoke orders as commissions. Contact her through the link above.

She shares the sale with friend, and our neighbouring village, Dirleton, resident, Ceramicist, Charlotte Cadzow. Also very accomplished, Charlotte teaches art at Loretto School and sells her work in galleries throughout Scotland.

I bought some Ceramic stars and a couple of mugs, raced home to display them…

…that’s better…or is it??

Grabbed some Beatitude goodies for my sister-in-law too! Happy Birthday Carol Ann – have a super day and enjoy those oils!

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Invited by my friend, Caroline, for an afternoon of total indulgence, to the new Spa at Archerfield, a local golf club, just along the coast from us. We nearly crucified ourselves carving out said afternoon, between various children’s winter coughs and colds, exam weeks, birthdays, xmas, not to mention husbands, work and housework (what’s that?), it was not easy. Thank goodness it was just me she invited – the thought of having to fit this afternoon around anyone else’s domestic schedule, just does not bear thinking about.

Anyway, we made it and what a wonderful afternoon we had. Stepping in to the glazed entrance, you were immediately transported to a wonderful world of flagstone flooring, salvaged and distressed wood, linen, logs, chalkiness and salt, yes, salt…complete with underfloor heating of course, with the odd bit of fur flung in…

The soporifically comfortable lounge

Hey…it’s a bit like my house?? Except a lot nicer!!

Designed by world renowned Spa expert Sian Parry Jones. Please, please, please can Sian come to my house and make it like Fletchers?? Every detail was beautiful.

A mirror made from an old Parisien window frame

Yes, I want my dressing table to be like this. And I want this box for my hairdryer…
and this very functional, very ‘industrial chic’ chair…Oh yes…and treatment room lined with salt tiles…

Go…find out more!

Fletcher’s Cottage Spa

Please say you read about it on Her Indoors!

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We have a newcomer to our village, Beauty therapist and Aromatherapist Rebecca O’Connor. She has developed a range of aromatherapy and skincare products, literally bursting with wonderful ingredients.

I wanted to write about Beauty when I started Her Indoors, because I think it is part of our lives. I do not think it is the be all and end all, but I do think that feeling good about the way you look is a part of feeling good…

As a result I have become quite interested in skincare and, I realise, now, that the many products available vary much more in quality than their respective price variations would suggest ie for roughly the same price you can buy a product full of quite harmful chemicals or a product full of goodness. It is all about ingredients.

The word ‘Beatitude’ means a state of supreme happiness. I can vouch for this, because Becky very kindly gave me some sample bath oils. I popped them beside the bath, planning a quiet Saturday night with a lovely hot bath.

Eva, my daughter came in from hockey on Saturday morning, muddy and a bit less than fragrant, had a bath and all day the house was filled with the most wonderful fragrance – gosh, it was marvellous! That night I went to say good night, thinking, ‘right, time for my lovely Beatitude bath….and there were three empty little bottles lying around…Eva had chucked in the lot! No wonder the house smelt so nice! I was furious…she did apologise and very sheepishly admitted that her skin felt wonderful! Hmmm, so it should.

Becky has explained that ‘their unique formulation means that each bath oil produces gentle natural bubbles that disperse in water, ensuring smooth and silky skin and avoiding any greasy feel.’

Beatitude is set to go stellar, with the launch of Becky’s personally created facial oil, marking the brand’s expansion to skincare.

I think she took pity on me when I admitted what happened to the bath oils and gave me some to try. It is very pleasant to apply, but what is really special about it is how soft your skin feels hours later. If you apply it at night, you notice in the morning, if you use it in the morning, your skin is still soft later in the day. Amazing…because most creams make your skin feel nice there and then, but not many hours later…

Find out more about these wonderful products at www.beatitudeproducts.co.uk

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From shoe lasts, it felt obvious to move on to shoe shops – most notably, my lovely friend Gill McKay’s new venture, with her friend Tracey, in North Berwick High Street: Heart & Sole…Surely it every girls dream to have their own shoe store? Full of perfectly formed, on trend, shoes from all your favourite brands….

Tracey & Gill on their Opening Day!

The shop is just so full of Temptation…

A beautiful selection of scarves – not overpriced – make perfect pressies!

Gill working away – so busy!

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