Into The Weekend: Charcuterie, Patio Pots and Hammam

Like most of us, I live for the weekends. Nothing beats the full two days of quality off-duty time, whether with friends, family or just me, hubs and bubs doing our own thing pretending Monday will never resurface. Here I’m sharing a helping of the little things across home and lifestyle that are totally elevating our Saturday’s and Sunday’s at the mo, and I hope you’ll be able to pluck some inspo to turn any standard weekend into something stand out too.

Dress, also in white, £19.99 New Look Sunglasses, similar here, £18 Topshop

Turn Your Hand To Charcuterie

I promise you this looks way fancier than it is. I started noticing the trend for rustic, piled high cured meats, hams, cheeses, nuts and fruits making a comeback on Pinterest. (I’ve pinned some faves over on my Food board.) It’s tipped as the new wedding food du jour and most of all, I just love anything that can be plonked on wooden boards and served up in minutes. These end up looking pretty impressive at dinner parties or even when it’s just the two of you and a bottle of red watching Love Island on catch up. (Sorry, not sorry.)

Begin by stocking up on the charcuterie combo you like best. For me it’s always Parma ham, Serrano ham, mixed Salami, wedges of Comte and Gouda cheese, those little Ricotta stuffed peppers you can get in the delicatessen, some seasonal fruit, biscuit/cracker action and then something to cut through it all, here I’ve used Caperberries. I’d also usually have thrown in a fig or two but couldn’t find any at the time. Then, create little mounds of scrummy meats, cheeses, fruits and so on, accessorise with a stack of vintage plates, have some cocktail sticks to hand and you’re good to go. Impressive, non?

Try A Hammam Home Spa

Who doesn’t love a spa? But let’s face it, most of us don’t have the spare cash to mini-break it to Champneys every weekend. Cue Rituals The Ritual of Hammam collection. The age old tradition of cleansing becomes a real event when you’re on holiday somewhere like Turkey or Morocco. In fact, most of us have probably taken an excursion or two in our time to experience a really good Hammam, or Turkish bath. Now, the ceremony of cleansing comes to your bathroom.

Body Cream, £19.50 Rituals Body Scrub, £19.50 Rituals Shower Gel, £8.50 Rituals

In five steps – nourishing Black Soap deep cleanse, purifying sea salt Hot Scrub, mineral-rich Body Mud, repairing Foaming Shower Gel and soothing Body Cream – you can mentally decamp to faraway shores. Mind-transporting notes of ginger and eucalyptus (I love eucalyptus with a passion!) will refresh and awaken. And don’t forget the mindfulness side to it all – a five-step ceremony like this will if nothing else, do a fantastic job at re-setting your state of calm and focus. Zoning in on something simple and escaping the week’s tempo is a wellbeing win in my eyes.

Product-wise I’d make a beeline for the Foaming Shower Gel (what is it about these whippy gels that feel totally luxurious and such a treat?) the Hot Scrub (gingery and that liquid sugary texture is perfect for ridding mid-summer dead skin cells and promoting a longer living tan) and the Soul Uplifting Body Cream (eucalyptus plus rosemary equals something calm and zingy in equal measures.)

Give Patio Pots Some TLC

Treating any outside space like an actual room of the house at this time of the year is a real must. Use it, enjoy it, and even if we’re only talking about a small square of courtyard, front porch or balcony, be sure to invest in your garden room so that it can be your place of calm and serene before the summer’s gone. I recently spent some time working on my patio pots. I’m not a huge fan of flower beds to be honest, I’m not all that into the effort and upkeep when a few well-placed pots can have the same visual effect with the bonus of being low maintenance and easy to move about.

Palms, ferns and anything green and grassy will always be a good idea as they’re full, make a big impact and wont need hours of your time to look their best. Small trees work wonders too. We invested in a couple of Bay trees for our wedding day which are still going strong in some robust grey square pots. More recently, we snapped up a Ficus in the local garden centre to introduce a more unusual leaf that really pops against our black fences. Add in a few hits of colour – try Lavender, Dahlia, Bergonia and such like – and then play around with the positioning in your space. Come back to it a few days later once you’ve had some time to pass by them in your day to day activities, tweak, tinker and fine-tune until you’ve got yourself your own little slice of Kew Gardens at home. A mini oasis. (Some of you may know from my Instagram that I painted my shed pink this summer too – what a transformation – promise to share those pics soon.)