Sunday 29 June 2014

Hidden Cupcakes

Firstly I'm not even going to apologise for the amount of photos in this post as I fell head-over-heels, wholly and completely in love with this place!

Secondly, sorry for the lack of outfit, but originally it was supposed to carry on with the previous post - however I decided it was so amazingly perfect it needed its very on post.

So anyhoo after wandering round Kelvingrove we ended up in The Hidden Lane Tearooms, an absolutely gem of a place that if you weren't keeping your eyes peeled or didn't know it was there you would stroll on by without even realising what you were missing out on. It's hidden - hence the name - in a little multi-coloured courtyard full of charm.


Inside I felt like I was stepping into my own vintage dream. There was towers of mismatched vintage crockery, almost too many teacups for me to handle, there was vintage style bunting and signs adorning the walls, even an old-fashioned typewriter! The furniture was adorable too, with comfy vintage cushions and pastel painted chairs with floral seats - I loved the fact that my jeans matched! Everything that was on the table was pretty and vintage - from the retro tin sugar pots to the jam-jar water glasses.


We opted for the Luxury Afternoon Tea - as we wanted as many of the amazing looking sweet treats as possible.  The tea arrived first in gorgeously pretty floral teacups, with a mismatched teapot and milk jug, that just added to the charm. And when the two-tiered feast arrived our eyes almost popped out of our heads! There was a selection of sandwiches, scones overflowing with cream and jam and a selection of the cutest - and tastiest - treats you've ever seen. There was lemon polenta cake, mini victoria sponges, banana cakes, a raspberry and date delight and my favourite a deliciously rich and gooie chocolate brownie.


It was a lovely, long and lazy afternoon as we munched our way through all that was on offer. We stayed so long we polished off the first pot and ordered a new one - more to see what teacups we'd get this time than anything else! And we weren't disappointed when a new elegantly decorated set were placed in front of us.


Adorable, cute and vintage, with plenty of amazingly perfect teacups, it sums up all that I love! I would highly, highly, recommend a visit, just please take me with you?


Saturday 28 June 2014

I Want to Conquer Paris with an Apple

"I want to conquer Paris with an apple" - Paul Cézanne

I came across this lovely little quote printed on the wall of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. My sister and I decided to go and immerse ourselves in a little culture on a grey Tuesday morning so wandered down to the impressive building.

It was a bit grey and miserable so I wrapped up in my favourite slouchy red cardigan teamed with a plain black t-shirt and floral print jeans. I love a bit of floral and these were picked up in the Zara sale for an absolute bargain price. The muted colours make them not too obvious, so they work perfectly for Spring, Summer and Winter. It's an easy outfit to throw on but looks just jolly dee. 



I popped on some statement jewellery to jazz it up a bit - my gold spiked necklace that I wear allllll the time with a chunky gold and black bracelet. My comfy brogues were ideal for wandering around all morning and I got this lovely little bag as a present from holidays. It's gorgeous and brightly coloured - lovely for summer and to top it all off I adore the smell of new leather!



We wandered down the big and impressive building. It's a huge building, built in an almost gothic-style back in 1901, the red sandstone bricks makes it look like a pretty grand and imposing building.



Inside is just as magnificent with huge domed ceilings and hanging chandeliers.

Strolling around the collection was a lovely way to while away a morning. We took in all the animals and the suspended planes from the ceilings, the impressive suits of armour and the lovely Charles Rennie Mackintosh collection.


But, museums aren't all serious and we played about being scared of the tigers and having a go at all the games that we found!


Some of my favourite pieces were of course the hanging heads installation. They all have loads of different expressions from happy, sad, mad and even a little bit crazy! I also adored these piece by John Lavery - Anna Pavlova 1910. Lavery painted loads of famous people, but I think this portrait of Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova is beautiful. She posed for him in his studio, but the artist cleverly makes it look as though she's dancing on stage to a crowd of adoring fans. Another favourite was when the organist struck up a tune on the giant organ in the main hall and we watched, mesmerised as his feet tapped all over the place. 


A perfect Tuesday morning was follwed by an AMAZING afternoon tea, it was so good though it deserves it's own post so stay tuned....

Cardigan - Missguided
Top - H&M
Jeans - Zara
Brogues - River Island
Necklace - Primark
Bracelet - Primark



Sunday 22 June 2014

Saturday Strolls

Something a little bit different today...

It's not my usual post to make you all go out shopping or to eat loads of pizza and cake, but this weekend I had such a lovely Saturday I thought it would be nice to share some of my snaps with you guys!


Don't get me wrong I love Glasgow, but every now and again it's so nice to get out of the city and back to the countryside. There's nothing better than Scotland on a sunny day - it really is beaut! We drove out to Balmaha, on the shore of Loch Lomond, even the drive out is so pretty, with blue skies and green surroundings. You definitely appreciate the country more when you've been in the City for a fair bit.

We had a wee stroll by the shore watching the boats, getting some good ol' fashioned fresh air before we climbed up the stone steps through the woods to check out the amazing views at the top.

Ok so I couldn't resist some clothes popped in! I got these trainers 11 - yes 11 - years ago in San Francisco. I'm not going to lie I'm not a massive trainer person - as you can probably see... But hey if it ain't broke don't fix it. And adding some frilly socks just makes me smile.

Once we'd hiked - cough cough - we went back down to the cafe we'd spied earlier - The Oak Tree Inn. It was lovely to sit outside on at the pretty wrought-iron tables and people watch. An amazingly huge slice of carrot cake was washed down with some big frothy coffees - bliss.


On the way home we went to have a nosey at Buchanan Castle Golf Course - not my idea I can assure you, but we did stumble across this lovely little tumbling down castle, so it was alright in the end. Unfortunately it was surrounded by a bamboo forest - odd I know - so we couldn't explore it too much, but I love it when you find little gems like this.

It was such a relaxed day and was just ideal, will defos be making more effort to get out of Glasgow more often!

p.s Letters From Marion has a brand new Facebook page! Follow the link at the side to give a wee like if you fancy.