inspiration and curation

inspiration and curation

[alidover]

A Great British Adventure!

Last weekend saw James, Lucy and I heading off to the Lake District on a Great British outdoor adventure as part of the lead up to the new Swallows And Amazons film launching in cinemas on 19th August.

 The wind roared and the skies were filled with dramatic dark clouds and rain, which really added to our sense of adventure. 

 King Pocky’s Regatta, held at Crow Park on the edge of Derwent Water was our destination for both days, where James and Lucy helped sail a Viking boat, made small rafts, tried their hand at archery, pretended to be pirates, perfected their stone skimming, and generally had a fabulous time adventuring.

 We stayed in a tipi at the National Trust’s beautiful campsite at Low Wray, not far from Ambleside - the most idyllic setting, complete with warming log burner, and perfect for the children to go off and explore without any parental interference from me. Which is just as it ought to be, for that’s when children’s natural curiosity, imagination, confidence, and awareness of how they can be self-reliant really come alive.

 These are strong themes explored through the children’s adventures in Swallows And Amazons, which sees them sailing across the lake to a small island, setting up camp, and then finding themselves embroiled in all sorts of thrills, including a run in with some ‘pirates’, a boat race and the discovery of treasure. 

 The 21st century and the rise in technology seems to have brought about an increasing amount of life indoors for children. Swallows And Amazons reminds us about the importance of learning life skills in the wilds of nature - it’s exciting and you never know what will happen!

 So, get outside this summer and, if you’re looking to head on an adventure with your family, take a look at Visit England’s brilliant Swallows And Amazon’s inspired website here!  

 You can enter STUDIOCANAL’s wonderful competition to win a Glamping experience much like James, Lucy and I had in the Lake District, plus a £1,000 cash prize! All you have to do is submit photos of your summer holidays using #SwallowsAndAmazons on Twitter and Instagram! Full details here. Good luck! 

 Follow the Swallows And Amazons adventure on Facebook and Twitter. 

 https://facebook.com/swallowsandamazons

https://twitter.com/studiocanaluk 

[alidover]

Back to the future ... Anyone else feel that the shops of the past are actually the way forward?

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[ GIVEAWAY for @woodwatches_com - link in profile ] ... When I was in my early thirties, I read that women over forty should (gah, that word!) cut their hair short. Well, here I am, on the cusp of fifty and I've discovered that the passing of time has nothing to do with age (it's just a number, after all!) and how we wear our hair; it has far more to do with our own perception of time and what that means to us as individuals ...

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And once again, James looks at his sister with a mixture of bemusement and embarrassment 🙊🙈 ... They love their @pierrotlalune_dk though 😃

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When I began thinking about home education some 7 years ago, I read that children left to learn to read in their own time would do so at quite an astonishing pace, going from being unable to read at all, to reading Harry Potter books (for example) within a year. Well, here is Lucy, aged 6, who couldn't read at all before Christmas and is now reading Harry Potter 🙊 ... Beautiful hair bow by @free_babes ♡

[alidover]

The one where I wish there were some beautiful something or other in the lovely old trug ... #onefromthecuttingroomfloor for @growingwildthings (thank you for asking!) @cloisteredaway and @nor_folk do you have one perchance? x

[alidover]

Carrying your baby promotes oxytocin, the hormone of love ♡ ... My new woven wrap, coming on Friday 12 February ♡

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"Over the years, I have noticed that the child who learns quickly is adventurous. She's ready to run risks. She approaches life with arms outspread. She wants to take it all in..." John Holt

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I'm very ready to shake off the shrouds of winter now - longing to see some sunshine and the birth of a new spring ...

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When you live somewhere, it's easy to forget how breathtaking the architecture ... (at King's College Chapel, Cambridge)

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Love is ... Going though old photos and finding one you missed ♡

[alidover]

Theft vs Integrity ...

This is a heartfelt outcry about copying, about design stealing, about lack of vision, lack of creativity. You know, theft. Because that's what copying someone's design(s) really is. Whatever the industry, whatever the product... Stealing is just that - stealing. But I never thought it would happen in the industry I now call home! Surely we are an industry where empathy and integrity are as interwoven into the fabric our community as the yarns in our wraps, yes?? 

Many moons ago, I started (with much trepidation) a little online shop called Maverick Baby. Tentatively, and over time, I contacted Easycare, Didymos and Girasol to ask if I may stock their woven wraps. To my delight and wonder, they agreed. To say I was bowled over would be an understatement. For starters, Didymos and Girasol were the remarkable makers of the very first two woven wraps I ever owned (and still do - they are my legacy wraps); it felt incredible - to think that the journey of enveloping my daughter in fabrics so precious had brought me to the point of bringing even more folks into the world of a tradition so relatively new to western culture and yet so valuable to our society... Never mind my online shop, I felt so part of such an incredibly supportive baby carrying community; one which loved, cared and carried not only our babies, but us as mothers as well...

That journey took me further than I could ever have imagined. It's thanks to companies like Didymos and Girasol, to whom I am ever indebted, that I became a photographer; my creative vision was seen and supported in an industry where hearts were always in the right place and, most importantly, those hearts showed purpose and empathy.

 Fast forward to the beginning of 2016 and, holy moly, how things have been tarnished - by one company - seemingly overnight. Remembering a culture of mutual respect and co-operation, I now am horrified to discover a violation of these previously-held industry-wide values - perpetrated by a Russian company (purporting to be Italian and which shall remain nameless - I'm definitely not going to give them any press!), but which is causing a big ole outcry within the babywearing community, and for good reason - it's stealing designs from a 30+ year old woven wrap company, Girasol; a company with heritage, with values, whose beautiful woven wraps, produced in the traditional slow manufactured way, support the skills of local artisans in Guatemala - it's a company long-admired in the babywearing industry.

You might be able to reproduce someone's designs, but you can never reproduce the heritage, the values, the story that come with the originals. Reproducing someone's designs is cheap; cheap because you don't have to take the time and energy to come up with your own, but also cheap because that's how people think who are just in something for the money; they don't care about integrity, about their customers or their customers' stories; it's all about bottom line. I'm cross, can you tell?? I feel violated. And if I feel violated, I can only imagine what the Girasol wrap designers must feel. Theft may bring fleeting glory and profit, but story, values and heritage? Well, they will always win our hearts in the end...

[alidover]

Looking for a new doll for Lucy ... Something without the plastic and scary eyes 🙈

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One more of @me_and_orla (not forgetting Bunny) because they kinda cute ...

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That time I stayed with @me_and_orla and it snowed ♡

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My most unwilling portrait sitter 🙈 ... Thank you very muchly though @Instagram for our calendar!

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Beach babes ♡