London in the snow

A couple of weeks ago I had to head up to London for a meeting, I left Brighton basking in the spring sunshine and as I entered Victoria station, London was hidden through a blizzard of thick snow!

I don't think Ive ever seen London in the snow, having worked in the city moons ago I never got to experience the enchanting scenes presented when there's a thick layer of the magical white stuff!

 As I trudged through the snow past Buckingham Palace to the Institute of Contemporary Arts I wondered what the queen must be doing, would she be in the garden building a royal snow queen or sipping a warm cup of tea looking out over The Mall?

The architecture of the ICA is stunning, the meeting room was breathtaking, especially as the sun came out and the windows overlooked The Mall and St James's Park.

After a really interesting meeting I treated myself to a bit of art and culture, popping into the National Gallery and taking in some of my favourite paintings.

Ive always loved the enormity and power of this George Stubbs Whistlejacket painting.

Then I decided to take advantage of being without children in tow and visited some shops that only I would appreciate...window shopping of course!

First stop was Anthropologie on Regents Street, just looking at the beautiful displays was like entering a gallery. Every item was exquisite and I now greatly regret not purchasing one of these mugs, their collaboration with Liberty is utter heaven! (If anyone from Anthropologie is reading this, please send me one, pretty please! ;-) ....)

After seeing the Liberty collaboration it seemed rude not to visit the great store itself, even the Lions of Liberty looked a bit suspicious of the snow!

Its always a pleasure to visit Liberty, the interior is a rich heritage to the past. I always take the stairs around the atriums, you can feel the presence of former customers, times gone by.

 One of things I have loved about Liberty is their dedication to cutting-edge design and unique crafts people, so I was super happy to see the work of Amy Isle Freeman as I've followed her for a while on Instagram, her hand turned and hand painted bowls are so colourful and inspiring. Another maker that I was drawn too and the first time I've seen was the ceramic work of Azem William, these portrait plates are a simple but a beautiful use of the bas relief technique.

After few more steps (21,331 steps to be precise!) around some other shops, how can you resist a Fortnum & Mason patisserie, it was time to head back to Brighton. It had stopped snowing and the sun was out, so I took the scenic route back to the station, walking and taking in all that a city like London has offer.

As the light set low walking across Green Park was breathtaking, London, you are just charming in the snow.