Great news…the etc magazine is now available for you to purchase! 74 pages of all things fabulous in Derbyshire…food, places, things to do, makers and much more!

The magazine is available to purchase online at fabulousplaces.co.uk (£3.50 delivered) or at the following places:

The Bottlekiln, West Hallam
The Loaf, Crich
Studio 61, Holloway
Hassop Station, Bakewell

More places to follow soon!

If you are interested in stocking fabulousplaces.co.uk please get in touch!

Upcycling is becoming an increasingly popular way of taking an item that you would otherwise throw out and finding a way to make it into something else or changing it’s appearance to suit your home.  A couple of years ago it was second nature for many of us to discard items we no longer wanted in our homes, but over time gorgeous little shops and makers have joined the market selling upcycled items.  This has inspired many of us to rethink what we do with items in our home and also offered us an alternative to buying something brand new.

Lyn from The Painted Chest takes vintage french fabrics and items and turns them into bags and home accessories including lamps, cushions and bunting.

Amanda Hamilton takes vintage deckchairs and turns them into desirable seating for the garden using a carefully selection range of striped fabrics.

Susanna from Bow Boutique says “upcycling is all about breathing new life into an object once treasured by another decade”. At Bow you’ll find an array of goodies all of which have been given a new lease of life, for e.g. furniture carefully restored and painted in beautiful shades from Farrow & Ball.

All the featured makers above are passionate about turning old items into gorgeous things for your home and what I love the most is that they all offer you the opportunity to choose how you would like the item to look, even down to the colour of the pom poms on Amanda’s deckchairs!

Just over a year ago I purchased an old church pew, I gave it some tlc and painted it in my favourite colour of farrow and ball paint.  I now have a chunky wooden table with wooden chairs and my beloved pew.  It’s surprising how many people ask where it’s from…it was a bargain and I customised it to fit in with my colour scheme and if I change the colour of my kitchen I can paint the bench again.  Since then I’ve found a few other pieces at antique shops and markets.  I didn’t think I would ever enjoy routing through old things, but I can thoroughly recommend it.

If you’ve ever fancied having a go at upcycling something for your own home, great places to search out bargains are local markets and antiques shops (Heanor Antique Centre is one of my faves).  Alternatively, if you would prefer to buy items that have already been given a new look then places to try are the Bow Boutique in Cromford (soon to move to Matlock) and The Vintage Rooms in Wirksworth.

The Prince of Wales visited Bluebells in Spondon as part of his visit to Derbyshire on Friday February 18th.

The Prince of Wales met the Brown family at the ceremony for the BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards in 2009, where Bluebells were runners up in the Farmer of the Year category. The Prince of Wales expressed an interest in Bluebells Dairy Ice Cream, Café and Farm Shop and followed this up with a visit to the Farm yesterday.  During his visit, The Prince of Wales joined The Brown family for tea and cake, followed by a tour of the farm and cafe.

I’m sure you will all join me in sending congratulations to The Brown Family for the success they have achieved with Bluebells.

To find out more about Bluebells please visit fabuoulsplaces.co.uk.

I would like to give a huge welcome to a new service added to fabulousplaces.co.uk…Cream Interior Design offer full interior design in addition to a gorgeous showroom based in the lovely town of Melbourne in Derbyshire.  Visit their page on fabulousplaces.co.uk for full information.

Thank you all so much for supporting fabulousplaces.co.uk…I feel incredibly lucky to be able to turn my passion into a career and I can’t wait for next year…I’m looking forward to bringing you lots more fabulous places and makers in addition to more events!

Wishing you all a truly wonderful Christmas…eat, drink & be merry!

Debs

The lovely people at Seasoned are offering one lucky person the opportunity to win a £99 cookery voucher!  What better way to start 2011 than with a hands on course learning something you can take home and thoroughly impress your friends.

Seasoned provides cookery courses for everyone inspiring you to get hands on and learn something new. Seasoned have a range of dedicated chef’s who each teach their own speciality so you will learn from a true expert who is passionate about their sphere.  Courses include, Perfect Puddings, Bread Making, Indian Entertaining, Fish & Seafood and Flavours from around the world.

For your chance to win this fabulous prize all you have to do is answer this simple question…

Q:  What would you like to learn to cook/bake in 2011?

Click here to send your answer through to Deb at fabulousplaces.co.uk.

For more information about Seasoned visit their page on fabulousplaces.co.uk.  You can also follow them on Twitter.

The competition will close at midnight on Friday 7th January 2011.  The winner will be chosen at random and notified on Monday 11th January. Good luck!

I’m delighted to welcome Seasoned Ltd to fabulousplaces.co.uk!

Seasoned provides cookery courses for every capability – from school leavers to budding Chef’s they teach and inspire people about food. Seasoned have a range of dedicated chef’s who each teach their own speciality so you will learn from a true expert who is passionate about their sphere.

Click here to find out all about Seasoned Ltd.

fabulousplaces.co.uk is all about local independent places, producers and services.  I am delighted to launch the new logo for the wonderfully talented producers who hand make their products.  All fabulous producers now have this great new logo to display on their website and promotional materials.

Why not take a look at the amazingly talented producers on the fabulousplaces.co.uk website…click here to visit the search page.  Many of the producers will be attending the upcoming Autumn Fair…why not pop along and see the talented people behind the products!

I was delighted to hear from the lovely people at The Derbyshire magazine who asked to do a feature on the website.  The feature is in the current (September issue) of The Derbyshire magazine and can be found on pages 43-45.

The article takes you through why I decided to launch the website, includes a selection of the places and producers and also includes some great pics, most of which were taken by the lovely Claire Sutton (click here to visit Claire’s blog).  I was also really pleased to see that they have used one of Claire’s photos for the front cover too!!

It was fantastic that a Derbyshire publication wanted to feature fabulousplaces.co.uk…I feel incredibly flattered that something I started as a hobby has now become a valuable resource for so many people.  If you see a copy of The Derbyshire magazine flick to page 43 for a read!

The feature also mentioned the upcoming fabulousplaces.co.uk Autumn Fair at Makeney Hall (Belper) on Sunday 26th September 2010.  The event will bring together a great selection of places and producers featured on the website, giving you a unique opportunity to browse some truly fabulous gifts and food.  The flyers for the event will be making their way around Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire from next week.

Hope to see you there!

Debs

Time sure does fly by…I can’t believe I’ve been working on fabulousplaces.co.uk for 2 years now.  I feel extremely lucky to be working on something I’m so passionate about.  I would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who enjoys using the website and all the places and producers who support it…you’re all fabulous!

Here’s a little sneaky peak at the celebration evening I arranged last week for all the lovely shop owners and producers featured on the website:

We were joined by the lovely Aleena Naylor from BBC Radio Derby.  You can listen into the interviews with Aleena at the party by clicking here.  The interview can be heard at the following times 1:23.40 (interview with Deb) and again at 1:44.00 (interview with some fabulous producers).

I would like to say a huge thank you to the wonderful Simon     Partridge for providing truly elegant vocals to the event.  You can find out more about Simon Partridge by clicking here.  Click here to listen to Simon’s vocals…I think you’ll agree they’re fabulous!  You can also enjoy listening to Simon Partridge at the upcoming Blooming Great Tea Party for Marie Curie.  Click here for full information.