Sunday Afternoons At Columbia Road Flower Market

After a simply delicious brunch at Beagle, Sherin and I ambled along to the famous Columbia Road Flower Market. Surprisingly for both of us, as we are both East London people it was our first visit. Thankfully, while we got drenched on the way back to the station, the rain let off for a while so we could really enjoy the market and take some photos of the beautiful blooms that had us begging for Spring to arrive. Shockingly this post does not actually involve any food. However, even on such a cold and rainy January day the trip really made me feel inspired, so I thought it would be worth posting some snapshots.

The flower market is open on Columbia Road (the nearest station is Hoxton Overground, do stop and have brunch at Beagle first!) every Sunday from 8am to 2pm. Before the rain started we had a little amble around the surrounding area and it is full of the most amazing independant cafes, bakeries and second hand and antique shops. And of course Lili Vanilli’s famous Bakery. 

Now, when I asked at New Year what sort of thing people wanted to see more of on the blog one thing that really surprised me was how many people expressed sadness that I don’t do outfit posts anymore. It was something that sort of died away when I was in Los Angeles and I really shifted to food blogging. I’m much happier as a food blogger, I think I’ve really hit on what I enjoy the most, but anyone who follows me on Pinterest can still tell you that I’m always lusting after new cashmere jumpers, sparkly necklaces and lipsticks, just as I did back when I wrote about clothes and makeup. So, while I’m not really going to bring ‘outfit posts’ back as such, when I’m out and about on my foodie adventures around London (and I’m not snuggled up in a hoodie and jeans, which is what I’ll probably be wearing if you run into me while I’m doing recipe development at Borough Market) I might just drop in a little snapshot of what I’ve been wearing now and then into restaurant reviews and London adventure posts such as this one. 

While I was tempted by the tulips that are really in season at the moment, I was won over by a bunch of bright pink Ranunculus and a large spray of beautiful white and fragrant Freesias. They are my Mothers favourite flower (when I sent her a photo of my bunch she was rather jealous!), and I simply adore the smell. I’m thinking of once the Patchouli Diptyque candle on my desk burns out replacing it with their Freesia one. 

Here I’m wearing mostly old and much loved clothes. The beret is from Parisian brand Kookai and I think I’ve had it almost 10 years now. It is my favourite hat, and I just want to take this moment to thank the amazing staff at Reverend J W Simpson, a lovely little hidden cocktail bar on Goodge Street for Tweeting me to let me know I’d left it behind so I could go back and fetch it after dinner; I’d have been gutted to have lost it! Silly me. Anyway, the worn and rain soaked boots are also ancient and need a good polish, and unfortunately my trusty old Hobbs handbag is getting a bit worn too and I can’t find a good replacement. My cashmere jumper is from J.Crew (in Los Angeles, not London; I can’t afford what they want for cashmere on Regents Street!) and my jewellery is an old mix from J.Crew, Kate Spade and Hobbs. The coat as well, really old (yes Mummy, I actually wear the school coat I refused to wear at the time every day!) and pretty much the only thing here that you can still buy are my jeans. They are actually a brand new pair from Levi’s. They are my second pair of Levi’s, and I use their fantastic Curve ID system and their free in store hemming to make them the right length, which means they are a perfect fit. In case anyone wants to find similar clothes, I’ve put together a little widget that includes the jeans and some similar items to the rest.

Hi, I'm Rachel!

I'm a food writer living in the English Countryside. Welcome to my online diary where I share easy, weeknight recipes, foodie travel diaries and some of the best places I've eaten out recently.

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