Weekend Meanderings | Country Gardens, Films and Fall Finds

Four house tours, two films worth watching, and fall finds from TJ Maxx

Good morning, friends. It is Saturday. Pour a cup of coffee, tea or chocolate and sit for a spell.

It has been a hard week. I am with my brother-in-law, who has Alzheimer’s, and caregiving at this level is something I have never done before. If you are in this season of life, caring for someone whose mind is leaving before their body does, you are doing something extraordinary. My heart is with you. Between the worrying and the not sleeping, I am running on fumes. But here we are, on a Saturday morning. I hope this little corner gives you a few quiet minutes, a little beauty, or at the very least a good link. We are all carrying something. Some weeks the load is just heavier than others.

Kim, Juliet and I have lots to share, so let us meander.

Home Tours

Four this week, because I could not choose a favorite.

A Timeless Country Garden. This was Pepperidge Farm, the actual Pepperidge Farm, where Margaret and Henry Rudkin built their bread and cookie business in the 1920s. The estate once ran to 125 acres. Kathryn Herman has lived in what was originally the groom’s cottage since 1998, and for nearly thirty years she has been bringing the grounds back to life, one garden room at a time.

What she inherited were magnificent bones: enormous weeping cherries, a rare American elm, mature trees that had been standing for a century. What she built around them is a greenhouse, a hedge garden, a vegetable garden, a meadow, an orchard, and a pool garden, all of it evolving slowly and without any sense of having been imposed on the land. The greenhouse alone is worth the watch. She dreamed about it for years after seeing one in England, and it took seven years to build. It is now her favorite place on the property, and you will understand why the moment you see it.

She has also written a book about all of it. A Moment in Time: Designing a Country Garden covers the lessons, the sources, the garden antiques, and the philosophy behind thirty years of patient, thoughtful work.

Speaking of gardens, if you need tips on drying your hydragneas for Fall, Kaleb has you covered.

Katherine Ireland has been transforming a derelict 1820s farmhouse in the French countryside for decades, and this is our first look inside. Every room is layered with color, pattern, family heirlooms, and things she has collected over a lifetime of living and working with beautiful objects. Nothing feels designed in the way that makes you afraid to sit down. It feels lived in, because it is. She has a philosophy I love: a home should evolve, not arrive. This one has been evolving for thirty years, and it shows

Go pour yourself another cup, because you are going to want to settle in for Alfred Parade’s house. He worked for Ralph Lauren from 1986 to 2020, and every room reflects that sensibility of old money, old books, art, collected layers and an eye trained for decades on beautiful things. I watched this one twice and may watch it again there is so much to see.

And then this one. Matt Gibberd visits landscape designer Dan Pearson at his remarkable home in Somerset. The outdoor kitchen alone is worth the watch. Dan cooks and eats outside whatever the weather, the wild garden is all tall grasses and self-seeding plants, and there is a Japanese-inspired guesthouse tucked on the property that I love.

At the Cinema

Charles Dickens fans and Kit Harington(Game of Thrones) fans, mark your calendars. A Tale of Two Cities is coming, and the trailer alone made me want to pull my copy off the shelf before it arrives.

And this one I came across and could not stop thinking about: Elijah Peel. A rock star whose life falls apart after a heart attack nearly costs him everything. In the quiet of his recovery, he meets a young girl whose faith is so clear and so unguarded that it finds its way through every wall he has spent years building. It is a story about healing, about the people we did not know we were waiting for, and what it takes to finally let something good in.

On the Blog This Week

I joined my friend Cindy for our fall finds from TJ Maxx and Marshalls, and I will tell you, there is real treasure in those stores right now if you know where to look. Stock up for Fall and maybe do a little Christmas shopping too.

Sheri and I shared the latest in our monthly Sweet Treats series. If you have a sweet tooth that needs attention this weekend, that is your destination.

And I shared September Musings, which felt timely this week. Maybe for you too.

That is everything from me this week. I hope your Saturday is slow and that something in this morning’s post gave you a little smile. Be sure to visit Kim at Northern California Style and Juliet at Make Mine a Spritzer for everything they are sharing this weekend.

You can find me on Pinterest and Instagram for more of what I am loving this week.

I would love to know: which of the home tours caught your eye? And is there a film you have been looking forward to this fall? Tell me in the comments below.

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