There is something magical about a carpet of bluebells in woodland; the colour is so pretty and brings such a smile to my face. Somehow I've always managed to miss the brief bluebells of spring before but this year I wanted to make the most of these beautiful wild flowers.

Wayland Wood is a patch of ancient woodland just outside the small town of Watton, I've wandered round the woods a couple of times before. When I visited on Saturday the light was low, the breeze light and the ground firm. We hardly saw another soul about which made for a very peaceful hour, with just the wildlife for company.

Dress and jacket – ebay, boots – Yull, necklace – George at Asda, bangles – gifts

Being haircut day, I was given the traditional hair straightening which although is neat enough I feel really isn't my style any more. Give me some casual waves in my barnet any day please!

Sophie

No flowers were harmed, I was super careful not to damage any.

On Wednesday I went along to the preview evening of the Norfolk Boutique over at Coltishall near Norwich. As the little billy no-mates that I am, I went on my own to have a jolly good peruse in store and report back to you lovely readers.

The boutique was beautifully furnished and laid out; it was so pretty with plenty of room to wander round to take a look at the collections. My eyes spied the amazing LAMB bags, which are still playing on my mind, with this one being my favourite. Maybe one day...

The stairway (the store is at first floor level) - What I wore (I dressed in a hurry!) - My favourite piece, the Kara navy lace dress. Oh it was gorgeous!

Some fifties style dresses, halter necks and flared skirts. The red one was fabulous! - Skinny jeans

More of the beautiful store

A rail of party style dresses; embroidery, sparkles and wow factors – This is a hell of a dress (it was really heavy too but such a standout piece – A flowing maxi perfect for summer

Some very cute blouses with my favourite being red with polka dots – I adored the printed maxi dresses

The colours of this scarf grabbed my attention – You can follow @BoutiqueNorfolk

So what did I buy, well I bought arguably the least exciting thing in store but something I do need; a good quality black vest top which I've been meaning to buy for ages. Here's hoping that investing more wisely reaps rewards!

I was given a goodie bag as a thank you for coming to the preview; a mini bottle of prosecco, a Lindt bunny, a pretty heart decoration and a bottle of local goat's milk hand and body lotion (review to come when I've used it). Looks like I didn't get lucky with the gift voucher, shucks!

The Norfolk Boutique store is opening to the public on 12^th April where you can shop their designer clothes and accessories to your heart's content.  I know that I'll be dropping by to peruse all the stunning pieces whenever I'm nearby!

Sophie

As a former fish-hater I can fully understand how trying to cook use fresh fish is a major turn off for some people. FEAR NOT; there is hope for you. I want to trickle feed you my favourite ways to eat fish that I think could bring you round too. Pan fried thin fillets of fish are one of my favourites to eat; this butter basted sea bream is really tasty, not all that fishy at all. The most important thing is to serve the fish with something you really like the flavours of and lettuce peas and bacon is a true winner

This recipe is one I found after a good googling following the purchase of some sea bream, it's one from Nick Nairn but I've tweaked it a touch, the original can be found here.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Two large or four small fillets of sea bream. The most important thing is that they are fully prepped for you by your fishmonger so that you need only have minimal contact.

50 – 100g of smoked back bacon, chopped

A handful of shallots or small onions peeled and blanched

2 crushed cloves or garlic

2 little gem lettuce, washed and chopped

75 – 100g frozen peas

150ml chicken or vegetable stock

40ml double cream

salt pepper, olive oil, butter

Method:

Fry your bacon in a saute or non-stick frying pan until starting to go crispy then add the shallots and fry for 3 minutes before adding the garlic. Keep an eye on it and keep things moving for about 30 seconds before pouring in the chicken stock. Bring to the boil and reduce by half then add the double cream and reduce by a third.

Add the lettuce and peas and stir then pop on a low heat, checking it to ensure it doesn't burn. Add a splash more stock if it looks too thick.

To cook the fish: heat a large frying pan on a fairly hot heat with a splash of olive oil. Place the seasoned fish in skin side down for 2-4 minutes until the skin is crispy then add a knob of butter, turn the fish over for around another minute and then back on to the skin side all while basting. If the fillets are larger they may need another minute. Make sure the butter doesn't burn!

To serve, put the lettuce and pea mix on the dish then add the fish. I served ours with home grown purple sprouting broccoli.

I hope you enjoy this one, more coming soon.

Sophie

A quick easy DIY for a naughty treat: how to make a homemade Daim bar.

Daim (or Dime, if you know it by the old school name like I do) is the ONE chocolate bar I truly love that contains nuts so I thought I'd rustle up one of my own.

First I finely chopped some raw almonds. Then I popped on some blobs of salted caramel sauce (though in hindsight I would have mixed the caramel and almonds together.)

I melted some milk chocolate and poured it over the top, left to cool and then left in the fridge to chill.

Lovely stuff!

Sophie

I'm pretty sure you can take on the world wearing a leather jacket and dark sunglasses. The weather foiled my plans for looking carefree and casual by whistling up a strong breeze forcing me to walk around with a bunch of tunic in my hand to prevent the world from getting a good look at next week's washing. More encumbered than effortless, story of my life.

Dress and jacket – eBay, boots – T K Maxx, sunglasses – QD, earrings – Pretty Cute Jewellery, bracelets - gifts

Aside from taking horrendously out of focus pictures (lets call them arty) and getting my pasty white legs out I spent quite a while in the kitchen this weekend finishing the last of my smoothie recipes as well as cooking a few other things, recipes coming your way soon.

I was feeling a bit sorry for myself looking in the mirror that morning; the dark eye circles never seem to fade and I was convinced that I was looking old and tired. It does always seem to be at these very points that fate somehow kicks me up the arse by me getting ID checked as if to put me back in my place. Maybe I just look like a teen insomniac? Note to self: get more sleep! Stop burning the candle at both ends and in the middle. Easier said than done, eh?

I have so much I want to blog about lately but no time to get it all ready; I seem to be glued to my camera at the moment and less so with the photo editor. If only I could persuade Chris to run the blog jointly – him doing the hard work and me doing the fun stuff! I don't think he'll buy it, funnily enough.

Sophie

Smoothies. Such an easy way of getting some of your five-a-day down you without too much effort. I've been experimenting in the kitchen last week, making some wholesome tasty smoothies to share with you using Blue Diamond Almond Breeze almond milk, which is a brilliant way for nut-haters to shoehorn some nutty goodness into their diet without noticing. Minimal ingredients but maximum flavour is the order of the day. No faffing.

Raspberry frangipane smoothie

Two cups of almond milk, a large handful of raspberries, one banana, small handful of finely ground almonds

Peanut and maple smoothie

One and a half cups of unsweetened almond milk, two heaped tablespoons of smooth peanut butter, one banana, one to two tablespoons of maple syrup

Super green smoothie

Two cups of unsweetened almond milk, one small avocado, one small banana, large handful of fresh spinach, small handful of fresh kale (remove woody stalks)

Pear and chocolate smoothie

One and a half cups of almond milk (this would work even better with chocolate almond milk), two ripe peeled and cored pears, one banana, two heaped teaspoons of flaxseed, cocoa and berry mix

Will you be giving any of my smoothie recipes a try? I'd recommend them all, thoroughly delicious and nutritious and my own creations. Let me know how you get on.

Thanks to Blue Diamond for sending me this lovely package to get creative with! You can find my recipes for some super-scrummy almond snacks from last week.

Sophie

This post was sponsored by Blue Diamond, all content and opinions entirely my own