My blog this week is about how nature and our physical and visual surroundings can deeply affect us. One of my daily treats is to exercise for @ 30mins in Kensington Gardens. It happens to be a 4 minute walk from my house and it is one of the joys of living in this area. The beautiful trees and gardens, the lake, the cute dogs, bumping into neighbours, the wild flower area to encourage bees etc., the sunshine, the rain, the seasons! It's nature in all its glory - I love it - as well as the exercise giving me a feel good factor, I find nature spiritually enriching. As it is often said "its the simple things in life". Nina Simone got it right with her song 'Feelin' Good' - listen to those words. It is a well known fact that appreciating and getting close to nature is good for us - but our physical surroundings at home and work do affect us too. I love having a beautiful home to come back to - the orchids, the fire, the cosy sofas - that's why I love to make properties look great! A visual feel good factor. Very important to our spirit and soul. It's proven that a lovely office has a huge impact on the way staff perform too. None of that hot desking either! Give everyone their own nest not to procrastinate but to make them feel happy.......that's one of the reasons why I started my own business. Flowers grow in the sunshine.
Talking of visual feasts I was invited last Monday to a Harvard Business School evening at Kensington Palace. It's 5 minutes from my house so we just walked there. Kensington Palace has been newly transformed by a 2 year (much needed!) £12 million refurbishment undertaken by Historic Royal Palaces. The evening was about the challenges and triumphs and the planning and realisation of the project. We arrived to a champagne reception by the Kings Stairway - a wonderful backdrop - then sat in the magnificent King's Gallery for the discussion and then drinks were served in the King's Drawing Room and Cupola Room. It really was an interesting evening - I love history brought to life and leaving the Palace on a dark moonlit night was very filmic - you felt you were in the deepest darkest Dorset countryside but High Street Ken was 2 minutes away!
My next visual feast was seeing Mike Newells film adaptation of Charles Dickens classic 'Great Expectations' at the Mayfair Hotel. It really is one of the best cinemas to view a movie by the way. The film is well worth seeing and looks wonderful. The DOP (director of photography) is John Mathieson who I have worked with on commercials - it looks stunning. Fantastic cast and Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch is brilliant.
My third visual feast was having lunch in the brasserie at the St. James Theatre (SJT). Le grand fromage of SJT very kindly bought me and a business associate - Caroline Garnham of Family BHive network - lunch. The food was not only a visual feast but tasted delicious too. Now you may think I'm biased but the brasserie is well worth a visit on its own, but great to have an early supper there before seeing a theatre production - and they do prosecco by the glass!
My fourth visual feast was a week-end in the country - heaven, heaven, heaven. It really looked like my favourite poem by John Keats 'Ode to Autumn' - season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.......the photos were taken on one of our walks - soothing eh?
National Poetry Day was 4th October 2012