August 2026
WHEN I'M SIXTY FOUR
I turned sixty-three this year which seems to have concentrated the mind on what work life might look like over the next ten or so years. Inchyra is a passion for me, a hobby that got legs - I absolutely love doing what I do and I have no intention of winding down - but I think that it becomes ever more important that the way we run things allows for space to live life outside the business - to catch our breath, regroup, refresh and plan. So this year, for the first time, we took pretty much the whole of August off. We weren't entirely out of touch - there's no such thing when you run a small business, let alone three as we do - but close enough that by the middle of the month I noticed that I finally felt like I had properly left the coalface.
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THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC
We started our break by doing something we hadn't done for years - music festivals. We ran a music venue at Inchyra for eight years - the Inchyra Arts Club - before Covid closed it and it never quite reopened - so music is very much in our bones. I think the last time we festivaled (a verb, obviously) was in 2018. Huge thanks to the friends who swept us up to Belladrum in Inverness-shire and to Summer's End in Brechin, Angus. Both festivals were full of exactly the mix that reminded us why we loved doing this - music, obviously, but most importantly the people, as we bumped into old friends both on and off stage. And really joyful in both cases to be able to fall into a bed at the end of the night rather than a tent - fabulously spoiling.
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In between, a trip to beautiful, remote, Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides, to stay with old friends. It is wonderfully unspoilt - unsurprising given the nine-hour journey from Perth, let alone further afield! Alongside long lunches and dinners, much laughing and reminiscing into the night, we walked, flew kites on the white beaches and met the lobster boat coming in at the end of the day. Wild weather and good company is a combination to be savoured.
The middle image above shows machair. Machair is a grassland found only on the exposed western coasts of Scotland and Ireland and the finest examples are found in the Outer Hebrides on islands like Eriskay. This unique grassland supports an amazing array of plants with up to forty different species being found in a single square meter. As you can see, it is beautiful.
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POD LIFE
Then two and a bit blissful weeks at our cottage on the west coast - the Escape Pod - where the weather did its best to confirm the stereotype about the west coast and we responded by starting some DIY. We are embarked on slow decorating, the kind that happens in stages over years rather than a single bash at it, and ours has been slowly evolving over the past ten years. Last year we became the proud owners of six new windows and two new doors - unfortunately I am evidently not as good as I should be at reading the small print and I arrived one night last year to discover that the quote had covered replacing the windows but not making good after doing so. The cottage looked like someone had taken a chainsaw to it, as evidenced by these images. I kid you not, this is how they were left. I have to say this was a low point in our time at the Pod. It felt like one step forward and two steps back.
Finding someone to repair the mess proved tricky and, eventually, having reached the point when I found it so depressing I almost didn't want to even visit, our fabulous joiners from Inchyra, Kevin and Kenny, headed west and remedied the situation. The relief when we arrived to the repaired windows was palpable. Decorating around the new windows reignited my interest in improvements, starting with our bedroom. I have painted it brilliant white while I work out how I actually want it - I always think the freshness and empty canvas that brilliant white gives you is such a good place to start, with the advantage that it looks intentional if you never get round to it.
The room is dressed in Inchyra Balazuc Collection linens that we made up for the collection launch at Decorex in 2017. Alongside our newer Briar Linen on the headboard, there are Hattingley Linen cushions, Vintage Check Linen lampshades. Inchyra started from my passion for old textiles and I always try and add some into a scheme. Here I've added two exquisite Victorian paisley shawls, an old fur throw and beautiful woven throw I bought in India in 2016 is used as the valance. The hero piece is a vintage Indian toran that I bought years ago to decorate the inside of a tent which is now repurposed as a pelmet lining.
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When the weather improved a bit we finally got the boat out properly - to the nearby islands of Lunga, Belnahua, Scarba and Jura. Swimming, sunbathing, barbecues on empty beaches. It is hard to describe those days without sounding as though I'm selling something, so I'll simply say: heaven. Aside that is from the various boating 'events' that presented themselves this year - a bit of anchor drag where we suddenly noticed from the beach the boat heading slowly but surely out of the bay, we might have almost run aground on Belnahua and we may have gone through the notorious narrow channel of Grey Dogs between Scarba and Lunga when we shouldn't have which nearly led to divorce - all a part of the great adventure that is the Scottish west coast!
Belnahua, seen below, is fascinating. It is one of the famous west coast Slate Islands where slate was mined by hand for centuries. The island was once home to 200 people, the families of 30 or so slate miners with every single thing they needed, including water, having to be brought in by boat. Slate from Belnahua went to roof the growing town of Oban. All that ended in 1914 when the miners left the island to fight in World War I. Their families left for other, more hospitable, islands and Belnahua was mined no more. All that remains now are lanes of derelict cottages and huge, water-filled, slate pits.
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DOG DAYS OF SUMMER
One quieter note our Labrador, Fusca, turns sixteen this week and is slowing down fast. We are facing the decision every dog owner dreads, but this last few weeks with her in this place have been special. A smaller footprint for her to manage than at home and day-to-day life lived around her capabilities. She came into our lives aged three and what a dog she has been to us all. Irreplaceable and so loved.
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We've had the children with us in parts and friends drifting through one way or another. As is so often the case on the west coast plans have been changeable, very much much dictated by the weather and the sea-worthiness of boats. I look forward to our longer break here next year, when we won't feel we have to rush to fit everything in.
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Back to the real world now with a busy September ahead - including the launch of the new collection, Labeaume. My brilliant team have been hard at it prepping the display pieces and sampling for all our showrooms and we're ready to go for 7th September. I can't wait to show you properly!
If you're in the UK, come and visit us at LineUp on the Lots Road during FOCUS if you're in Chelsea where the new collection of fabrics, wallpapers and trims will all be on display. I'll be in the showroom on Tuesday and Wednesday of that week and it would be lovely to see you!
Much love
PS Fusca made it to her 16th birthday but no further. What a lucky family we were to have had her in our life xx
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1 comment
Diana Ferguson
What an inspiring post! I’m in St Andrews and I remember your little shop in Bell St many years ago! I still have the many lovely things I bought there. Your bed coverings here are gorgeous!