Red roses. Can you beat the simplicity of a red rose? Elegant and strong and beautiful. Can you believe how long my hair has grown? It's just how I wanted it and wearing loose with flowers makes me very happy.

Sophie

She will do as she pleases. Stepping stones, polka dot dresses and ankle socks over tights. It matters not what the world says for she is in her own bubble. The glassy bauble of identity floats her around; sometimes gently blown by the breeze, sometimes squeezing through tight gaps but usually freely drifting upward; dancing to it's own inaudible tune.

The warmth of the sun is enough to power her and give her strength. The dewy mornings quench her thirst. The starry skies watch over as she sleeps.

She is part of the world.

Sophie

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you will know just how attached I am to the fields cereal crops; it's surprising in a way that they haven't featured significantly more over here but that's just the way it's panned out. This green polka dot dress was a find from our blogger's holiday to Norbury last March and has only been worn a couple of times so far as in my mind it's not quite as nice as it is when it's worn. The frills concern me; they do look a bit over fussy but looking at these pictures they look pretty, with the best feature of the dress being the way the high neckline buttons up to the top. My style is most definitely top covered, legs out, though this dress is a most conservative length which does make it practical for a variety of activities, on this occasion walking around the arable fields during the golden hour. My floral crown is perfect for wearing alongside this dress, the colours are spot on to match.

The gorgeous evening light has made my make up look far better than it deserves to, it's not much different to usual; I only vary the lip colours but recently I have been popping on a bit of eyeliner in the form of a rather blunt black pencil (the proper kind naturally, not one from a pencilcase – I'm not that bad). I'd love to be able to wear liquid eyeliner with flicks but efforts to date have been horrific, please tell me I'm not the only lost cause at this?!

The hours are numbered for my beloved golden fields as they will be harvesting as soon as the conditions are right. They represent one of the highlights of the Norfolk summer countryside for me and I'll be sad to see them all vanish again. Do check out my Instagram pictures if you like, plenty of Norfolk countryside gets snapped and give me a follow if you want I'm sophieinthesticks

Have a marvellous day

Sophie

It's not often I wear orange but when I spied this old Debenhams dress for a single British Pound Sterling in a charity shop I knew it was meant to be. The absolute simplicity of the shape is particularly appealing to me, especially considering the rest of my wardrobe which is full of a whole mix of everything. Sometimes something really straightforward just feels right. A-line is A-OK.

What's that on my bonce? Another floral crown, that's what. It's not even the first time I've worn it, just the outing on the blog here. It's a sweet one from Johnny Loves Rosie “English countryside floral garland crown headband”  who make some gorgeous ones indeed (might have bought another, shhh). The ones that are a proper circle are my thing, not so fond of the bouquets on the Alice bands.

The white polka dots of the dress told me they wanted to be paired with those jolly uncomfortable which faux litas that I shouldn't have bothered buying (eyelets are trying to fall out). What better choice of footwear for climbing on logs in the forest? Naturally I wore some more practical ankle boots for our walk around Sandringham Country Park  and had a swift shoe change for a couple of minutes.

Arm party as standard. Vintage belt to match heels.

This is pretty much what I want to wear all.summer.long.

Sophie

Although I rarely venture on to the high street for bulk buying of wardrobe fodder I do still fall into the trap of stocking up on cheap basics from the usual haunts. Vest tops are usually cheap as chips and unsurprisingly tend to last as long as chips too.

When I attended the launch of The Norfolk Boutique earlier in the year I took the opportunity to invest in a much higher quality Switcher vest top, which is made from gorgeously soft cotton. To be fair I've not worn it much yet (else you would have seen it before) but it looks and feels exactly the same after a few washes. This is the start of making more considered choices with basics, I want to feel comfortable in everything I own so a cull is called for of all the aged vest and long sleeved tops that have seen far better days.

I should point out to anyone fairly new round here that the vast majority of my wardrobe is filled with second hand buys from charity shops and ebay, mostly newish pieces and a few good vintage items.

Vest top – Switcher from The Norfolk Boutique, blouse, jeans and necklace – charity shops, boots – yard sale, belt - QD

Five years ago I would have been the very last person to shop at an independent boutique as I didn't really buy all that much to start with and the idea of spending any more than the bare minimum would have filled me with horror. These days I am all about trying to shop local, buying quality over quantity (it's a work in progress ok) and enjoying the good things in life. Would I rather have four roughed up, shrunken vest tops or a single lovely soft one? It's a no-brainer surely.

If you're looking for a piece that you want to be sure you wont see another woman out on the street wearing then head to a local independent boutique. They will have a range of fabulous exciting pieces, a beautiful store and first class customer service. Why? Because they CARE. It's their livelihood and they have a vested interest in making it a success. This is why the high street can only ever crawl in behind that.

Have you shopped in a local boutique before?

Sophie

Can you believe I found this whole meadow of wishes? It was completely unexpected and fair made me let out a squeal of delight when we stumbled across it on a walk a fortnight ago, pictures coming soon. Sometimes things just come right out of the blue and take you by surprise; nature has a mind of it's own.

I thought this mini meadow made for a lovely place to show you my new to me dress. It's an ebay buy from back in winter when I was having a casual peruse of the 99p dresses. I barely own any polka dot items or monochrome pieces nor, racking my brains, anything with such a sweet collar.

Dorothy Perkins clearly have a different idea about what length a dress ought to be to me; it's only just long enough to be worn bare-legged but not on a windy day! Blimey.

I do love the way that because the waist is set high and it's so short it does make me look far taller than I ought to. That may also be something to do with the wedges I'm wearing. Black velvet shoes with a whopping gold wedge are the obvious choice of footwear for frolicking in the countryside, don't you know? These ones are Ruby Rocks Katie platforms which I bought from Amazon back in February for around £16 and I've been taking them in and out of the box ever since in that way that infuriates me because I feel they're too nice to wear and yet it's an absolute waste not to wear them.

What did I wish for? Shan't tell, else it wont come true.

May all your wishes come true too.

Sophie

The yellow stuff, my favourite crop of them all; oil seed rape has the most phenomenally bright colour and never fails to lift my spirits. In terms of scent I would describe it as “sneeze” flavour, not everyone's cup of tea by all means but one which immediately morphs me back in time to pre-teens when I would hack around the countryside on ponies with my best friend. Ah, this crop certainly takes me to a happy place.
The dress....THE DRESS! It's a beauty, isn't it? The niftily titled Elegant Keyhole Neckline Polka Dot Sleeveless Chiffon Maxi Dress from Sammydress.com was one that caught my eye as being something so different with it's gathered neckline and flowing fabric.
I was a little worried that the 'one size' fitting would mean it wouldn't look right but the nature of how to wear the dress means that it will comfortably fit the smallest of frames up to at least a 12 for the same loose fit. It goes over the head, you tie the neck and belt up; the belt is completely loose so you can place wherever feels best which is great. I'm around 5'4 and the dress looks far shorter on me than the model but I quite like the length on me.
Aside from the delicious frill to the neck, great shoulder reveal (not sure I've ever worn this style before but loving it), wonderful swoosh to the fabric there also happens to be the price £8.11 is the selling price (plus postage) and I can't really believe it! Perfect for daywear, evenings and occasions and as a beach cover-up too, it's pretty versatile and also comes in wine red. Everything else on their website is priced really low too, there are loads of pieces I have my eye already.
I went out solo to get these pictures a week ago, armed with the big lens, remote and tripod after earmarking this spot the day before. What I hadn't banked on was that to get the pictures I had in mind, I would have to be further away from the camera than the remote would work at. The old '10 second self timer' came into it's own, with me setting it, doing the 8 second dash and waiting for the shutter then head back to repeat. The exercise did keep me warm in the cool breeze so I guess all was not lost although I sincerely hope nobody saw me running back and forth like I was on a bit of elastic for the best part of 15 minutes by a field.
Dress & belt – Sammydress, sandals – TK Maxx, bag, bangles and ring – charity shop, sunglasses – forgotten already.
One of my favourite set of pictures in ages, I think everything just works. Are you a fan of the dress too?
Sophie
Thanks to Sammydress for sending me this dress to review, all opinions my own as always