Julie and Julia in Derbyshire

Last month my partner I headed up to deepest Derbyshire for a walking-working weekend.  I had signed up wonderful Wild Olive: an award winning, British natural, home fragrance and bath products manufacturer, as one of my licensees.  My illustrated landscapes are being wrapped around their beautiful products to create a unique, locale themed home fragrance and body care range. We started with ... the Peak District ... in Derbyshire!

 

 

 

 

 

The colours for this design, of Britain's first National Park, are taken from the Wild Olive brand colour palette. I love the soft greens and pinks, which echo the muted colours of the Derbyshire landscape, which I walked through over the weekend. 

 

 

I met up with Julie Holmes, the founder and driving force behind this growing business, at their flagship store in the Peak Village, Rowsley.  Here we are with some wonderful products including natural canvas tote bags and accessory pouches printed with the Derbyshire design.

 

 

My partner drove us up to Derbyshire in his trusty camper van and we camped at Beltonville Farm near Monsale Dale, one of my happy places from the many years that I lived in Sheffield. 

Some of my favourite hiking memories have taken place in this small pocket of the world, and I miss the beautiful bleakness of the land and pretty, babbling brooks.  Eyam, Hope, Ladybower and Castleton are all part of my old stomping ground.

 

 

Before we headed off home, we had a pit stop at Bakewell to bring some of Derbyshire back home to Sussex with us, by way of the famous and one of my favourite sweet treats: Bakewell Pudding, which also features in my Derbyshire Dales design! :-)