One of my favourite cottage jobs...

One of my favourite jobs at the cottage comes around just once a year – replacing all the dried flower arrangements.

I'd love to have fresh flowers throughout the cottage all year round, but that's not always practical in a holiday cottage. Instead, I have a wonderful friend who dries flowers for me, and every year she creates the most beautiful arrangements.

This weekend it was time to swap them all over, and what a lovely afternoon it was. Standing in the garden with the sun shining, arranging flowers while listening to people chatting and catching up in Blacksmith's Arms garden next door, birds singing and the church bells regularly ringing out in the background, I was reminded why I love spending time here so much.

Of course, there's always a long list of jobs to get through when we're at the cottage, but this is one I genuinely enjoy.

We do still have fresh flowers in the dining room whenever possible, usually local and seasonal, but the dried arrangements add a little bit of colour and character throughout the cottage all year round