Postcard from the pool
A quick one this week
I’m on half-term holiday! My first all-inclusive! But more about that next week, I have free wine to drink and buffets to graze. In the meantime, I’m leaving you with a Home Comforts interview with a new friend, the brilliant artist Polly Morgan. Polly reached out to me after reading my Times article back in July. Turns out, we both lost our sisters at around the same age. We’ve since met and talk often – a reminder that connection can come from the most unexpected places. I’ll raise my next glass of rosé to that.
Where do you live and how long have you lived there for?
Near Stroud in Gloucestershire. We rented a cottage to spend weekends and school holidays in an old Tower here for seven years before moving out of London fully in July 2024.
How did you find your home?
We have friends who own a beautiful estate called Lypiatt Park that we used to visit for weekends sometimes. We now rent a cottage on their estate so we can enjoy the views and their company all year round. We plan to buy in the area when within a year or so but only when the perfect place comes up.
Who is at home with you?
My husband Mat Collishaw and our children Clifford (9) and Bruce (7). We recently got a lively Burmese kitten - called Elsie Bolt - who is nearly one and currently sitting sadly in a guinea pig run whilst she recuperates from pelvic surgery after falling from a window.
Your favourite thing about the house and your biggest niggle about it!
It used to be the studio of the sculptor Lynn Chadwick, whose family still own the estate. There are some great images of him making his sculptures in our sitting room, which now has soft furnishings and underfloor heating.
The only niggle is that there are no doors separating the bedrooms and if we don’t all go to bed at the same time we keep each other up.
Where did you grow up? Did anything about your childhood home inspire your current home?
I grew up in a village called Little Compton in the Cotswolds, about an hour from where I am now. After living for decades mostly in converted warehouses in London I could never imagine myself back in a Cotswolds stone cottage but as I’ve got older I’ve started to appreciate the cosiness of a beam and a log fire. We use the wooden farmhouse table I ate off as a child and, as our art and furnishings are more modern than those I grew up with, it’s a nice reminder of my family home.
How do you feel about household chores… are you a domestic goddess or a leave-it-to-the-morning kind of person?
We never go to sleep without cleaning up after supper. I like a clean slate in the morning. I love hoovering, it calms me and my family can gauge my stress levels by how often I turn on the hoover. Give the kids a clear surface and they’ll pile it high with clutter. I love space more than stuff so when they’re not looking I’m always chucking or giving things away.
What’s your current TV obsession?
I’m looking forward to the Netflix version of The Telepathy Tapes. The podcast was a fascinating listen but video footage of the experiments undertaken would have given it more impact.
Best home comfort meal?
Kedgeree. My mum used to make it for us and it’s always a fallback when I’m feeling uninspired.
Book currently on your bedside table? (or whatever else is on your bedside table if not a book)
Lucy Siegle’s To Die For. It’s currently out of print but I found it secondhand. She was warning of catastrophe and crying out for change in the fast fashion industry before the Rana Plaza factory disaster. Before this I read the more recent call to arms by Patrick Grant, Less, where he starkly outlines the damage being done by the likes of Shein. I’m planning a minor foray into fashion soon and want to do it properly.
Background noise in your house?
During school hours I hear nothing but the garden birds, whose food I sometimes think I spend as much money on as our own. The rest of the time my boys drown out the birds with the sounds of whoops, shrieks, laughter and tears.
My garden is….
Disorderly, but beautiful. We have a courtyard which my workshop looks onto. I buried as many bulbs as I could fit in the beds and have been surprised by late blooming Dahlias. I snuck some tomatoes and Kale in there beside the fig tree but it is also a mass of overgrown roses and Virginia Creeper. It reminds me of The Secret Garden which I loved as a child.
Have you ever lived elsewhere in the world (or country) - what was the most memorable thing about your home there?
No, but it’s something I’d like to do before the kids leave home, even if only for a few months. I recently applied to a two month art residency in New York and now I’m fantasising about renting somewhere upstate for the family whilst I commute to Brooklyn.
Your favourite home from home?
We don’t travel enough to return to the same places, life is too short. I try to make sure we are doing very different things with each holiday we take as they are so infrequent. I just need to be somewhere with a new view where good food, wine and coffee is available.
Find out more about Polly here.
Have a good week guys, I’ll be back next week!
P.S Who is Dominique Afacan and what is this newsletter all about?
Well thank you very much for asking! I started this newsletter when I decided to stop being a luxury travel journalist (fool!) and opted instead to ‘settle down’ and start a family. Initially, Nesting was a cosy compendium of all the things I loved about my new, grown-up life with two kids and a sausage dog – but it’s since become a place where I write about everything.
If you sign up, you can expect quite personal pieces about life, love (and death, unfortunately) to funny stuff, recipes, recommendations and interviews with fabulous folk. Some of the people I interview will be solo mums (I’m one too) and others will be people I find fascinating and who are open to having me snooping around their home. I’m very nosy.
Writing Nesting keeps me sane, so the mere act of signing up (or becoming a paid subscriber) is a huge favour – but I hope you get something out of it too.