Thinking: not thinking on the Seven Sisters cliff tops

A windy walk with friends along the South Downs and over the Seven Sisters offers all sorts of escapes. Words by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs). 

The point about walking, perhaps even the joy of walking – for me – is that I stop thinking. The rhythm of puffing up the hills, feet belting out their unfit tune, eyes busy spotting landmarks and flowers, mind dragging up lessons learnt in primary school geography classes as meandering rivers and pebble spits etc emerge combined with finding safe places to park my feet (and keep going) stymy any attempt at thinking.  All the famous walker-writers from the flaneurs of Paris and the Romantic poets to today’s psycho-geography fans seem to think that walking is where the synapses fly. Definitely not mine.

 

And now here I am with two old friends – neither have met each other before – pounding along one of the most beautiful sections of the South Downs way over the 280 ha section of the Seven Sisters Country Park, past Birling Gap and up to Beachy Head. It could be a four-hour thinkathon. Instead it’s a 12km serious muscle workout for the two Londoners (though not super-fit Sally) and a chance to chat and story. 

 

We’ve started about teatime and Storm Francis is blowing-in so that every photo shows the truth of longer lockdown hair – as you open your mouth long strands arrive unbidden. Fortunately this doesn’t stop conversation and chat billows just as wildly as our hair, taking in teaching, schools, masks and long-ago life when I did Sally’s shopping and Gisella ran a regular car boot sale. Four hours later we’ve walked close enough to Eastbourne – where Sally lives – to connect to a pizza app and order a takeaway. Strava has a report too for Sally, a little more accurate than my guestimate text to my family that we’ve “probably done 20,000 paces”.

 

A walk on the Downs is so deceptively tough. The long rises up and steep curves down on chalky grass might help eat up the miles, but you need to be properly fit to manage the gradients without muscle soreness.  Even with a bit of pain and no big-business or book idea dreamt up it is a fantastic walk. As the Downs drop towards the classic view of cottage and cliff, the salty sell of seaweed smacks into your senses and then after crunching over gravel – the car park at Birling Gap – you then join the path up the slope gradually noticing the scent of thistle and grass predominating again. There are sheep and cattle. All shades of green and to our right a grey, stormy sea. 

 

After months in London the big sky and huge theatre landscape makes me feel a bit small. 

Perhaps that’s thinking…

 

And actually thinking is what I don’t want to do because it’s just been announced that the Earth has lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice in less than 30 years – exactly the same time span as I’ve known Sally (and that seems like a blink of an eye). Polar modellers say that 28 trillion tonnes is the equivalent to covering the whole of the UK with a sheet of frozen water 100 metres thick – a huge amount of melted water. Being human it is far, far easier to keep going doing the same things, without reflecting on just what rising temperatures are doing to the planet. Or why and how we must do something now. Read the full Guardian article here.

 

What next?

I know there are XR events coming up: a gathering at Parliament on Tuesday 1 September is billed as an ‘unfuck the system” day. Covid-19 has forced a year-long delay from the planned November meet-up COP or conference of the parties meeting in Glasgow until 2021 (1-12 Nov). Yet again I want to believe that the UNFCCC can get things done… like it did at Paris in 2015. And I want to see governments and individuals making changes too: but first let’s rest my walkers’ legs, eat pizza and chat because thinking ice melt, global warming and climate change is just too painful to think about today.

 

•       Info about Seven Sisters and the Seven Sisters Country Park, Sussex https://www.sevensisters.org.uk/things-to-do-at-seven-sisters/
•       You can catch a bus (the Coaster with free WiFi, 12, 12A and 12X) at Eastbourne which stops at the Country Park and then get walking. Or take a bus from Brighton (a bit slower) but it’s a journey with sea views, windmill and a good tour of some lovely Sussex scenes you may already recognise thanks to Eric Ravilous’ art.

 

 

 

 

Talking about a fashion revolution with university students

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook so it's always exciting to meet people with the same sustainability goals but a very different approach. Here's how pomegranates, onion skin and happy silk worms make such a beautiful contribution to fashion via the clothes of Kitty Ferreira. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Zivile - Q: are the jacket and top your own products?

Valerie Goode: Yes the blue jacket and white peace silk shirt are both my label, Kitty Ferreira. I often wear my own products – you never know who you are going to meet.

What's it all about?
Kitty Ferreira is a sustainable fashion brand from London which has been wowing London and Brighton Fashion Week audiences. It's not just the fabulous clothes from Kitty Ferreira founder, Valerie Goode, it's also the way she makes them, and the reasons she sticks to chic sustainable fashion.

"Fashion is the second most polluting industry (after oil). To understand more watch a movie called The true cost 

Valerie Goode, MD and founder of Kitty Ferreira. 

University students with Valerie Goode from Kitty Ferreira sustainable fashion.

At the end of October 2015 I invited Valerie to talk Kitty Ferreira to my fashion-loving blogging students and this is the result:

Dila - Q: What's your inspiration?
Ethics and the natural world. My background is Caribbean and the brand is named after my grandmother. I looked at the land and the way she relied on it to feed herself, clothe herself and heal herself and I looked at my own experiences and tried to blend the two – boardroom to bar style. I wanted something you can wear to work, and wear out in evening… it’s not frivolous style. Take a look at my interview with BrightonFashion Week here.

Perside - Q: Do you have to know people to succeed in the industry?

It's extremely competitive and that’s even more reason why you need to stand for something. Fortunate that there is talk of ethical fashion throughout media and it is becoming more and more mainstream. Even the larger retailers are taking on sustainability in supply chains – H&M, and a few weeks ago M&S (see article here). 

When I started I had to forget almost everything I’d learnt throughout my 12 year career fashion buying. All my contacts became obsolete. I had to start from scratch and source a sustainable supply chain, sustainable fabrics, and find sustainable processes and procedures for production. 

When running a business you can’t be focused on what the barriers are. I try to have positive attitude. It helps to align yourself with experienced professionals, but I don’t always think this is the only way to get in. If like me you knew no-one in ethical fashion, my work has allowed me to meet people who do, like Lucy Siegle, who invited me to The Observer Ethical Awards and have her wearing my dress, likewise MBA professionals and investors. I wouldn’t worry about who you don’t know, rather who you would like to know.

 I wouldn’t worry about who you don’t know, rather who you would like to know.  

Valerie Goode, MD & founder of Kitty Ferreira

Valerie Goode from Kitty Ferreira looked to her Caribbean roots for inspiration for her fashion brand. She says that pomegranate can be used as a super natural dye for high end fashion. She uses it on upcycled silk and peace silks (that don't harm silk worms) to make clothes of the most cheerful, glowing yellow. 

Lannay Q: Why pomegranates?

I was looking for a wow factor. It’s the reason why I’ve been able to achieve a lot in short time. I wanted to incorporate an ethical practice and natural procedure so using natural materials to dye fabrics was a no brainer. I settled on two materials because of the beautiful colours. On the high street your wouldn’t see these colour ways. When we are designing colours we are looking at the white skin – you can see (on mywebsite/lookbook) that these colours suit darker skins v well. It’s two fingers to that side of that industry!  Fashion needs to be more representative. I did a catwalk with models of diversity so there were disabled models, bigger than average models, different ethnicities at the Ideal Home show 2014 - and my garments go up to size 26

Go follow Kitty Ferreira
Let's hope more of the public hear about the Kitty Ferreira brand and are as inspired by it as these university students were by Valerie's visit. You can read more about Valerie Goode at this blog I posted on islington faces in July 2015. Or follow what she's up to on social media...

http://kittyferreira.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/KittyFerreiraUK
https://instagram.com/kittyferreirauk/
https://www.facebook.com/KittyFerreiraUK

Why choosing British grown flowers makes sense

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. Sometimes it's not just where we go that needs tabs kept on it, but what we buy. For example 90 per cent of cut flowers used in the UK are flown into Britain from Holland, Kenya and other countries. This is surely a crazy practice for a nation of talented gardeners. Here's how one green-fingered Yorkshire woman, Fleur Butler, is hoping to change this with her new business Fleur's Garden. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Fleur Butler from Fleur’s Garden in north Yorkshire: “Everyone should have more confidence with flowers. If you buy my plants anyone can do flower arranging. For the whole of the summer you can have fresh flowers from your garden. The flowers are sustainably grown (and many will grow again next year) and benefit insects. Also there are no carbon miles and you’ve got flowers you can’t buy in the shops.”

The wonderful cherry blossom in Finghall, a little paradise in North Yorkshire, seems to be as much about the arrival of spring 2015 as the birth of a new business promoting British cut flowers, Fleur’s Garden. I've been a friend of Fleur Butler, who runs Fleur's Garden, since she was a teenager so it was a pleasure to take a train trip to north Yorkshire and find out more about why you should pick British-grown flowers for your displays - not just for cheering up the kitchen, but also for life's big events including weddings and funerals.

“I’ve just started Fleur’s Garden, but for 20 years my hobby has been gardening. I’ve been passionate about flowers and gardens all my life,” says Fleur Butler arranging a fabulous vase of her homegrown tulips.  To launch the new business Fleur, 47, is using the skills she’s learnt as a mum, working as a project manager and experience as the leader of Richmondshire District council.

“I’ve always cared about people and the environment so it is depressing that supermarkets stock a small range of chemically-fed flowers which have been flown in from 1,000s of miles around the world. We should be so proud of what we can produce at home in England.”

Fleur’s Garden sells local, sustainable, British-grown flowers for weddings, memorials and just to make your life light up. Here's the first stall she set up at the end of her drive.

That’s why she’s set up Fleur’s Garden – to sell local and sustainably-grown, British flowers for weddings, memorials and your home.

“I want to encourage other people to increase the range of flowers they can cut from their garden. People don’t realise that 90 per cent of flowers bought in Britain are grown abroad – so there are thousands of air miles in each bouquet,” says Fleur.

Flowers are more than a business for Fleur. 

“Gardening and flowers have been a lovely antidote to dealing with my four sons while working on community projects,” says Fleur modestly. Her c/v would tell you that she’s been an active councillor for eight years, stood as an MEP candidate for Yorkshire & Humber and monitored elections in Georgia and Croatia. But now her sons are bigger and she’s stepping back from politics because “over the past year I realised I wanted to work on something I felt totally driven about. And then I had an electric light bulb moment when I remember I was called Fleur – which means flower in French. I ought to be working with flower, for flowers and about flowers.”

Barrowloads of muck work as a weed suppressant and give a natural 

boost of growing power to the flowers in Fleur's Garden.

Six tips for cut flowers - tips from Fleur's Garden 

1 Flowers are less fussy and much easier to grow than vegetables.
2 A packet of flower seeds may cost £1.99, but you only need to sow a small amount. Then save and use again before the expiry date.
3 Choose seeds or potted on flowers that you can’t buy in a florist like cosmos or long-stemmed marigolds.
4 Plant a forget-me-not and let it self-sow. They are so pretty: how can anyone think of them as a weed?
5 Dahlias have fabulous strong colourful flowers, they look good in the garden and in displays, and will go on until the first frosts. I live and work in north Yorkshire but down south you don’t even need to dig them up if they are in a frost area during the winter.
6 If you are lucky enough to have a garden try growing long stemmed orange marigolds (annuals) in your vegetable patch, because they are good for the bees and look fabulous in a vase.

Right now Fleur is experimenting with more than 250 varieties of flowers and has plans to open her cutting garden for DIY picking for flower arrangers.

“For me choosing favourites is nearly impossible. This April and May I’ve been stunned by the different varieties of tulips – some are like large double dollops of ice cream and others are delicate with wrinkled edges or even have pink and green strips. And there’s nothing like the humble forget-me-not with its little blue stars balanced by the white blossom of early spirea – two plants you cannot buy in the shops.

“Some shrubs and plants come back every year (perennials) to use as foliage. One thing it is very hard to find in florists is decent foliage, but foliage makes the bunch – if it is all flower and no green it’s rather like having a pudding of cream and no fruit.”

She has set up a website with online tips (see www.fleurbutler.co.uk) and at weekends has a garden gate stall with an honesty box. “I hope people will use the stall to increase the range of flowers they can cut from their garden so I’m selling young plants they can grow on at home.”

Jam jar lovelies from Fleur's Garden: If you have short-stemmed flowers try displaying in a jam jar
for a lovely splash of British grown colour and fragrance.

Make your own jam jar lovelies

Tips from Fleur’s Garden

• Everyone has a spare jam jar, you don’t even need to scrub the label off – just fill with your own homegrown cutting flowers.
•  Lots of shorter-stemmed flowers get thrown out by florists, but you can make lovely displays with shorter-stemmed flowers like primulas, marigolds, blue and pink liverwort with its white-spotted leaves and shorter tulips.
•  Forget-me-nots can last 10 days in a jam jar.
•  If the weather’s been bad and the garden is still too chilly to sit in, pick a handful of flowers, put them into a jam jar, and brighten up your kitchen.

Fleur loves the way her new business has been inspired by her family. During her political years she was often introduced as the grand-daughter of RAB Butler MP, who was famously dubbed “the best Prime Minister we never had”. Now she can talk about her memories of her grandmother’s Essex garden where the “Bumble bees were buzzing over the santalina and you could smell the heat and warmth of the soil and grass. I especially liked her miniature strawberries, so now Fleur’s Garden is growing mini-strawberries, a variety know as fraise du bois. I hope people will plant these and just as I did with my boys have fun seeing their children wandering into the garden and putting their heads into the flower beds to pick the strawberries.”

 A spot under the cherry blossom to sit and think at Fleur’s Garden, with views over Yorkshire.

“I’ve also been inspired by my third cousin, Georgie Newberry who runs Common Farm Flowers in Somerset,” adds Fleur. “It’s a business which grows flowers for weddings and is all about sustainability and working with nature – a way for beautiful brides to enjoy flowers which are grown benefitting insects, and birds too – and something I will be doing too.”

During winter 2014-15 Fleur’s Garden has already provided funeral wreaths. “I found that discussing with the bereaved family how special the flowers that we were using to the deceased was quite cathartic,” says Fleur. “I can make funeral wreaths from my flowers or use what’s in your own garden.”

Over to you
As the longer days approach and your garden wakes up now is a great time to plant a few more flowers. Get them growing well and you’ll be able to cut your own flowers to create your own lovely displays. Flowers can be comforting, dramatic or just cheer up a dreary room – so if you want help doing this, especially if you live close to the Yorkshire Dales (or can go on line) contact Fleur Butler at Fleur’s Garden. 

Another option is to have a look at all the wonderful flowers people are growing. One mum, Tania Pascoe, so enjoyed taking her child to look at gardens that she has written a book about possible trips, Wild Garden Weekends. National open garden days, botanical gardens or even Kew Gardens in London are also excellent ways of looking at what can grow. It's June, you've got time to start growing your own flowers this year, but you could also soak up inspiration via garden visits ready for the 2016 planting season.

• Fleur's Garden (Yorkshire & by post)
• Common Farm Flowers (Somerset & by post)
• Scilly Flowers (Scilly Isles & by post) - a huge family run flower farm specialising in early scented blooms (narcissi) and summer boquets. A great gift to help friends celebrate birthdays, parties and occasions like mother's day.
• Have fun looking at wild gardens with your family to inspire your own planting scheme. Have a look at Tania Pascoe's book Wild Garden Weekends.
• http://www.kew.org/
• Here's a list of some of the gardens around the UK that are occasionally open to the public. If you've missed the date you can always pop your head over the hedge/wall and see what's blooming.