Homeware buys for perfect summer entertaining

(or how to be the hostess with the mostest)

Welcome to The Frill, a weekly interiors shopping newsletter! As an interiors journalist, I spend my time looking at and lusting over stunning things for the home. I walk around with images of products in my head, just waiting for an opportunity to tell someone about a perfect curtain fabric, a cool looking lemon-squeezer or a kooky interiors shop in a tiny town. I’m as happy shopping for others as I am shopping for myself, so this newsletter is a way for me to spill my insider info and share my love of all things home-related. Please do subscribe and join a fledgling community of interiors addicts.

It’s been an absolutely beautiful week - I'm writing this whilst sitting on our terrace in Shropshire, SPF on, bees humming next to me. When the weather is like this, I find it hard to imagine it ever being cold again. I’ve been dreaming of summer entertaining, planning post-school picnics on the lawn and imagining candlelit suppers in our new greenhouse.

It’s easier having people over when the sun is out - they can be out in the garden, food can be served chilled and I find that I’m more relaxed. I often think about how to dress the house and garden to make it as appealing to summer guests as possible. As with most hosting, it's really about being generous and making people comfortable. But there are also a few choice things that I think could make a big difference to the ambience. Here’s my summer entertaining wish list.

Hand blown jug and glasses

There is something very classy about arriving somewhere and being served an ice cold drink - complete with clunking ice cubes - from a beautiful glass jug. I have a thing for heavy, hand blown Murano style jugs - and this one from Late Afternoon is on my wishlist. It has tumblers to match. Elderflower season is nearly here and I’m imagining it filled with chilled cordial.

Earthenware salad bowls

When menu planning for summer entertaining, I think it is hard to beat the combination of a BBQ and beautiful salads - simple and crowd-pleasing. So I’m always looking for pretty salad bowls. They need to be big, quite shallow, and colourful. I came across Folk Interiors when we were in Totnes last summer (as an aside, there is much excellent interiors shopping to be done in Totnes) and they stock a really thoughtful selection of tactile ceramics, including this pink and orange-toned salad bowl. A perfect bowl for a roasted zucchini salad.

Guest Towels / blankets….

I love a woven towel for summer - and these ones from Mungo are just divine. They are woven at Mungo’s mill in South Africa - if you find yourself in SA you can actually visit the mill which is architecturally quite extraordinary. Their towels look as lovely hanging on a hook in a guest room as they do spread on the lawn as picnic blankets.

Twinkly garden lights

Strings of lights or lanterns hung from trees give me all the Midsummer Night’s Dream vibes. I love the shape of these Starburst ones from Sparkle - they are more delicate than festoon lights and would look glorious in the greenhouse…

The perfect parasol

When I worked in Paris in my twenties, my (English) colleagues and I would always have to beg for a parasol when dining out at lunch (you’d be surprised how few there are - Les Parisiennes will happily eat their Salade de Chêvre Chaud in full sunshine). I still can’t stand eating in the sun and I think parasols are one of those things that are worth spending money on. The cheap ones don’t withstand much wind, or the fabric fades and they just look a bit sad. I have been lusting after a parasol from Plia - traditional-style wooden parasols, sewn in Cornwall - since they launched a couple of years ago.

The perfect swinging sofa

Last up - my fantasy choice - is the garden seat of dreams, a swinging sofa from ODD - they only make a small number of these amazing rockers each year and they sell them to all sorts of famous and lucky people. They are undeniably chic, but for me, their appeal is the layers and layers of beautiful fabrics - the cushions, the tented canopy, the trim - it is all so gorgeous. A swinging sofa is the perfect spot for a whispered conversation, cocktails in hand, or a post lunch snooze. There are cheaper alternatives - see Wilverley - I also have a friend who found a basic one on FB Marketplace and made all her own drapes and cushions.

Other things I’ve loved this week:

Ffern, the perfume makers, have launched a folk foundation, supporting folk art and traditions. I live in a part of the country where folk is thriving and is still a part of local life - so it’s amazing to see it being championed by a cool brand.

I’ve just started an online “Conscious Cooking” course with Georgie Soskin, a chef, yogi and reiki practitioner. The course is designed to teach people how to cook in an intuitive way that supports the nervous system. Takeaways so far? It’s all about adding good things to your food - we made a boosted sourdough this week containing over 15 plants.

I took part in an actual cake walk last weekend (long story short, a 22 mile challenge walk in the Shropshire hills with homemade cake served at each checkpoint). At the midway point - a beautiful church below Wenlock Edge - the organisers had set up a scone station. Pick your scone - plain, fruit, cheese - and topper - jam, honey, butter, chutney etc - it was actual heaven and I’m stealing the idea as a cute tea party format.

I am in love with these handmade bubblegum bead necklaces from Lucy Simmons Jewellery. They’ve got that whole friendship bracelet / summer camp / nostalgic vibe that I seem to chase every year.