So here's the final reprise of my birthday weekend. We had decamped to Nautilus Cottage for a few days which was sheer luxury. The views across the islands stretch out from every vantage point.
I could imagine that this must be a lovely spot in the summer.
The cottage has an upside down layout meaning you can lounge around upstairs all day long as you take in the stunning views.
See the professional shots of the house here.
Birthday cards, flowers and presents from family and friends - I felt very spoilt!
A sumptuous photo album.
Personalised gift vouchers.
Sasha gave me this fabulous memento of my blogging days.
The Neil Pinkett painting was a gift from Steve.
He also gave me this silver and gold ruffle ring by Emily Nixon.
My niece Kate gave me the splendid tome from Vogue.
I had arrived before the rest of the family and once I'd set the house up, I decided to do a photo shoot. The light was a bit challenging, especially as I was using the timer on the camera, but at least you get a bit of an idea of what I was wearing to chill out in. The sweater is from TK Maxx, as is the fur coat and the funky trainers. My jeans are pre-loved (by Next) and caught my eye because of the metallic buttons in different colours. Sunglasses are my old faithfuls by Quay Australia.
This cottage is part of the Sea Garden development which was built on the the site of the old Island Hotel, the place that I came to work in all those years ago (40 to be precise). In fact, the rooms that I cleaned were numbers 37,38, 39 and 40, and this cottage sits exactly where they were, so it was funny to imagine myself beetling about making beds, cleaning baths and hoovering in this very same spot during my time as a chambermaid. Myself and the other chambermaids were a scatty bunch, but we worked hard and played hard and we constantly played tricks on each other. One of the favourites was to sneak along the corridor when someone was vacuuming, then switch off their hoover and hide nearby. As they were puzzling over what was amiss the game was to jump out and make them scream. Much hilarity ensued, followed by the housekeeper's footsteps as she came to tell us off. The trick was to make yourself scarce so that you weren't caught as the perpetrator. (The housekeeper just so happened to also be my mother-in-law!)
This was taken in 1986. Myself and the other chambermaids were waiting, nay loitering about, in the hope of seeing Prince Charles who was making a visit to the island for the day. What a long time ago that seems now!
Anna x
