You know that Sunday night feeling? The one that niggles away in the corner of your brain, a mixture of apprehension and a twinge of excitement? The one that occasionally strikes around lunchtime on a Sunday, actually? The one that leaves you longing for summer evenings wrapped in your cashmere shawl?
We’ve all been there. And going back to work or school after a glorious summer of hazy days by the sea and long evenings with friends and family is just, well, painful. We’re pushing back on the beeping phone and the pinging email notifications and we’re clinging on to our summertime feeling for long as possible
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Four cashmere shawl solutions to quash those post holiday blues
Fashion reset
A week ago your skin glowed like a goddess. Your locks were a beach-fried hot mess but it somehow looked incredible. All you needed was a swipe of mascara and you were made. Now - so soon! - the picture is a little different. A little less ‘soft-focus’.
Solution: Soak your mane in lashings of conditioner. Apply a face mask that requires you to stay locked away in the bathroom for a good hour. Emerge refreshed, throw a magnificent cashmere shawl over your shoulders and - presto! - you have re-assumed the elegant European diva status you were enjoying last week. And you’re still perfectly warm, whatever the UK weather is throwing at you.
Bedtimes
Whether you’ve been abroad or you ‘staycayed’ like the majority on UK soil, your body clock has shifted. Crucially and most upsettingly, so has that of small children. Where you once enjoyed their company late into the evening as they splashed in the pool and plotted to wangle another ice cream out of you, now their grizzling and nit-picking is proving too much for any human parent to bear.
Solution: wake them early tomorrow to prepare them for back to school timings, then send them to bed at normal time snuggling your cashmere shawl that’s still holding on to the sniff of summer. It’s going to be a painful day but so worth it when you hear that satisfying sizzle of tonic meeting gin with snoring children upstairs.
Admin-orama
You’re dreading the return to the overwhelm of life-min. The admin around the minutiae of life so impossible to explain, so difficult to overcome. The mental to-do lists that tumble out onto your pillow every night in a sleep-denying panic that leaves you struggling to manage the basics the next day. And then there’s remembering to sponsor the third cousin you’ve never met to travel to Nepal. No matter how soft and soothing that cashmere shawl you’ve treated yourself to, it still struggles to absorb the ache of life-min.
Solution: rest your head on a sweat-free, temperature regulating wool pillow. Pop a notepad on your bedside table. Write any ‘must-dos’ on a list, and banish them until next morning.
Top tip: Consider filing the ‘should-dos’ in the bin. Besides, no-one has noticed they haven’t been done all summer…
Friends and family
You’ve spent your days wrestling between the demands and needs of your families - from the closest inner circle right out to Great Aunt Maud - keeping everyone happy, well-fed, hydrated, clothed (most of the time) and in balance. You’ve resented them all a little along the way. But now you’re yearning for their company, for their updates and even the niggles. To share once again in the glory of the day as you snuggle into the evening, glass of rosé in hand, cashmere shawl around your shoulders.
Solution: WhatsApp groups are the way forward. Share your hour by hour updates until everyone gets so fed up with hearing from you, they mute the group. Then you know ‘real life’ has started once more.
If you’ve got any questions about our range of beautiful cashmere shawls or clever woollen pillows - we’re happy to help.
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Notes from the Village
Our local farm shop, Village Greens, is a not-for-profit, run by lovely people to serve our local community on Bodmin Moor. They provide local and organic produce, fabulous cooked breakfasts and great company in our sometimes lonely bucolic idyll. We love what they do for our community, we love their gorgeous cakes and produce and want to share their weekly newsletter. In it Di provides beautiful and amusing insights into modern organic smallholding and farming life. Come and join us on Friday mornings if you can - bring a shopping bag too, but in the meantime, sit back, read on and enjoy...
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A change of plans found me indoors stirring a pan of chutney while rain poured from the sky. This task was even more enjoyable because I might have been outside digging a trench had my itinerary not changed. Nothing like swerving a bit of hard graft in dreadful weather to lift the spirits. The trench will clearly not dig itself, but grappling with spades, stones and soil is more fun in dry conditions.
A break in the weather saw me off to the orchard armed with baskets to pick plums. The dogs came along to patrol the borders of their territory, and I spent an hour gently gathering fruit in the sunshine. Whether it's destined for the fruit bowl, the jam pan, more chutney, or even liqueur, those baskets contain the beginnings of something delicious, to be concluded in the next couple of days.
The fruit and veg stall has some late summer treats, plums, of course, calabrese, local courgettes and cucumber, squash and sweet potatoes, and yet more doughnut peaches.
The soup is slow roasted tomato and haricot beans, served with freshly baked sourdough, or wholemeal roll. We're still looking out for empty toilet cleaner bottles that are suitable for refilling so we can expand our range of bulk cleaning products, please drop them to us if you have any to spare.
See you there
Village Greens
