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Monday 8 November 2010

The Sense of Smell!!!


Sometimes a certain smell can take you back to a place and a time. I think smell is one of the best and most precious of our senses. When you go to the South of France the smel l of wild herbs just wafts through your car windows as you take your first breath of Provence air, you then visit the markets and the smell as you walk past the olive stall is so evocative. The smell of orange blossom as you arrive in the Greek Islands just divine.
But I think smell is a very important thing in your home, first of all I love to bring flowers in to the house in the summer that smell so sweet, and in the winter it is usually the lovely smells from the kitchen that tickle your tastebuds, when I make my Christmas Cake in November the smell that drifts through the house is just mouthwatering.

When you peel open your first Satsuma of the Winter you are taken back immediately to Christmas’s round the fire peeling fruit, or stuffing oranges with cloves.
But sometimes these natural smells need a little help especially when you live where I do – the farmyard has a lot to answer for!!!. So I adore to light my perfumed candles, now I have a few favourites but I have to say that top of my list has to be The Winter Candle from The White Company,
followed very closely by a Diptyque Fig Candle I light them every evening and the smell around the house is divine.


Nothing is better than lying in a bath surround by beautiful candles, well its okay until the OH comes upstairs and switches on all the lights and asks if I am saving electricity – they sometimes just have no romance!!


My favourite candle for the bathroom is this one from Nom de la Rose shop in Paris


and of course this lovely home made soap from Odds and Sudds in Tavistock Devon just sets the scene.


Well just a little word about my weekend we have my very bestest friend and her husband to stay, so we went for a lovely walk to Spekes Mill ( a beautiful waterfall by cliff-top)
in North Devon and then I promised them a cream tea but the cafĂ© was closed – much groaning!!! And then I treated them to a Moroccan evening, they were a bit disappointed that I didn’t get dressed up!!! Sorry about the picture, but I was trying to take it in too much of a hurry.
 I hope you all had a good weekend, and have a lovely week ahead of you.


8 comments:

  1. Hi, your so right smells are so evocative, I would choose the smell of baking christmas cake as one of my favorites,the smell of pungent warm spice,s allways transports me back to my grandmother and mother cooking together for christmas when i was a little girl, both long gone, but the scent memorie lingers on, Your table setting looked very welcoming and glam! back soon .Linda x

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  2. For some reason I could smell lemon bergamot all day yesterday, wherever I went. Don't grow it, have nothing with it in like soap or candles, so what was that all about? I often smell my late mother's face powder, and I know that for whatever reason, she is nearby.
    But like you, I love to lie in the bath at this time of year, with scented candles and the curtains open so I can watch the starry sky. And lighting scented candles to fill the house with scent, so much better than the fish stew I made yesterday!

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  3. Lovely Pictures!!!! I spent the weekend in SPain , close to Valencia.Now all oranges and mandarines are ripening! It´s a color spectacle admiring the trees! Wish you a lovely week!

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  4. I'm totally agree with you: smell is one of the most precoius senses!!! My favourites smells for my house are orange and figues!!!!
    Wonderful post!!!!
    Big hugs

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  5. Ooh I envy you your walk along the coast today Jill. Just the thing to blow away a head cold I'm currently nursing!

    I so agree with you about the fragrance of Provence - its just beautiful, especially around the Grasse area with the intoxicating smell of mimosa.

    I was looking at the candles in the White Company brochure the other day - your recommendation has made me think that I may just add one to my Christmas wish list from the OH!

    Have a great day!

    Jeanne
    x

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  6. Spice scents are my favourite too and I adore the White Company Winter candles so much that I buy enough to try and last me through the Winter!
    Shelly.

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  7. I'm sure I've said this before, but, Can I come live in your house?!
    Dreamy - I love it all. And as I read through the post I thought that amazing bath house was your bathroom for a moment - but it's from a website, isn't it?
    Scent is wonderful and for me the scent of Rose will always be the very best :-)
    I love all the scents of Christmas and winter though - lots of orange, cinnamon, etc - divine !
    D x

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  8. Hi Jill,

    I agree with you, smells can take you back to places you have visited or people you loved. I have some fond memories of my grandmothers apple pie.

    Some time ago you showed some pictures on your blog of the B&B you stayed in in Tenterden. Thanks to you I found the perfect location for a short holiday with friends in May next year. Thank you so much! It looks like a lovely B&B!

    Lieve groet & happy evening!

    Madelief

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Thank you for your lovely words