The Get-Started-With-Gardening Guide
The Little Plum
by Chloe Plumstead
8M ago
Here’s the thing about gardening: if you’re just starting out, there are an overwhelming number of resources and ports for advice. There are countless books and TV shows and YouTube channels and people like me, offering guidance that should be simple but inevitably ends up trailing off tangentially into particulars you probably don’t need to know right away. There is so much to learn and so many places to learn from that it can be quite intimidating trying to flex your green fingers for the first time, especially because the availability of so much information can make you feel like you sho ..read more
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Clueless About Gardening? This Is Your Guide
The Little Plum
by Chloe Plumstead
8M ago
Here’s the thing about gardening: if you’re just starting out, there are an overwhelming number of resources and ports for advice. There are countless books and TV shows and YouTube channels and people like me, offering guidance that should be simple but inevitably ends up trailing off tangentially into particulars you probably don’t need to know right away. There is so much to learn and so many places to learn from that it can be quite intimidating trying to flex your green fingers for the first time, especially because the availability of so much information can make you feel like you sho ..read more
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Idle Waters: Quaint Cottage Countryside Retreat
The Little Plum
by Chloe Plumstead
9M ago
I value privacy when it comes to going away. The luxury of room service or convenience of proximity makes way for seclusion and silence - solitude and separation - which might explain why I've always been more of a self-catering girl than full-board. There does exist a sweet spot, however - the point at which self-catering is elevated to the same level of indulgence that underpins a hotel room. Idle Waters, sitting neatly upon the bank of the River Stour, so close that within a few stridesof the back door you could dip a toe in, or perhaps paddleboard if you felt so inclined, is a dazzlin ..read more
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“I don’t want to be left behind”: is Botox the new beauty norm?
The Little Plum
by Chloe Plumstead
9M ago
There’s something about turning 30 that just feels the ‘right’ time for Botox. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is; as I sit and think about it now, it seems there’s no one reason, rather a muddle of intersecting motivations that lead me towards the erasure of wrinkles, freezing the evidence of time. I’m sure a healthy portion belongs to fear, the cresting of a new decade ahead with one fast-spent behind me, and to the confronting realisation that despite what felt like a certainty in my teens and early twenties, I won’t be young forever. Some of it is simple defiance: if I want to smoo ..read more
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Ian McEwan & The Great Morning Riddle
The Little Plum
by Chloe Plumstead
9M ago
What do Ian McEwan and social media have in common? Not that much, it turns out, but one did make me think of the other.  When it comes to starting the day off on the right foot, I’ve absorbed and digested a smorgasbord of well-meaning tips. I’ve tried drinking a glass of water first thing - particularly before any caffeine - because this is meant to - well, sincerely I’m not sure what the intended benefit is but anything to do with H20 inevitably welcomes benefits, so it does something. If I ever do this, pour a glass of water straight from the tap while morning mouth still fuzzies my t ..read more
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Compromise in Love: How Do I Know If I’m Accepting Less?
The Little Plum
by Chloe Plumstead
9M ago
Never lower your standards, never accept less than you deserve; though I haven’t physically seen these adages immortalized in canvas form, I can almost guarantee that they exist somewhere, probably in the arse-end of Redbubble or emblazoned across the back of a phone case, mocked up in stoic black font by an opportunist Etsy seller. See also: acceptance is the equivalent to settling; or: we accept the love we think we deserve. Basically anything which champions an individual’s right to only the best kind of love by refusing anything less than. I see this kind of advice echoed online a lot. He ..read more
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Sorry For The Slow Reply (I Just Didn’t Want To Text)
The Little Plum
by Chloe Plumstead
9M ago
I don’t enjoy texting. This will come as no surprise to those around me who often have to wait 3-4 business days for a belated response (should they receive one at all, eek), which inevitably begins: ‘sorry for the slow reply’. I can’t rely on the excuse that I’m not on my phone because the type of work I do requires me being online and available for most of the day, nor can I claim that I’m always exponentially busy because it’s very well documented how idly I spend my weekends. All circumstances point towards me being a swift responder - a professional texter, if you will - but years of bei ..read more
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A Solo Trip to Edinburgh
The Little Plum
by Chloe Plumstead
9M ago
It was the morning of my first full day which brought the sincere satisfaction of only having to cater to myself. After arriving into Edinburgh around 4:30 the afternoon before, I'd dropped my bags off, gone for a wander and then happily waited for a table at Dishoom (mattar paneer is the stuff of dreams), but it wasn't until the next morning, with a full day of unconstrained freedom stretching about before me, that I truly got to appreciate why travelling alone is so enjoyable. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to see but nothing too rigid, so after a cuppa and a biscuit and a delightfull ..read more
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Why Solo Travel & Why Now? What Solo Trips Mean To *Us*
The Little Plum
by Chloe Plumstead
9M ago
Am I about to Eat, Pray, Love my life? I may be about to Eat, Pray, Love my life. Just with less money, less divorce and no James Franco. Also I’m going to Edinburgh and not India or Bali, but it’s my first solo trip ever so I’m starting small. Challenging myself to face my front and do things alone: that’s my driver for the year. It’s something that has been on my mind for a while (in fact I wrote a piece for Aurelia last May about never having lived alone), and now I actually am alone for the first time in nearly the entirety of my adult life, the world is my oyster. Naturally, my brain has ..read more
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Unplugged Retreat: A ‘No Phones’ Countryside Break
The Little Plum
by Chloe Plumstead
9M ago
I'm a great believer in the countryside retreat. In a bid to live a more sustainable life, I decided a few years ago that I would take a break from travelling by plane and would instead keep my adventures more local, looking at destinations I could reach via train or car. I've never taken a long haul flight or travelled further than Europe so this wasn't too difficult an ask for me, and then COVID happened and we all went into lockdown so it became much easier, but the motivation was always to try and travel without the huge carbon footprint of air travel. I'll get on my soapbox another day ..read more
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