Sam, co-founder, Lick:
“We started working with Sarah before Lick had even launched. She helped us figure out our tone and wrote the earliest pieces of Lick copy – colour guides so that we would immediately be seen as an authority. She’s fluent in tone (in colour) and tone (of voice) – ideal!
That was several years ago and Sarah stayed writing for us ever since. From designer collaboration storytelling to snappy advertising lines and heaps of longform SEO blogs, she’s been a core part of Lick’s content from the word go.
She’s also just a really nice person to work with. No fuss, never needs a massive brief, knows interiors and colour theory like the back of her hand, and just cracks on.”
Clients Include
The Newt / Rowen & Wren / Neptune / Heckfield Place / Inigo & The Modern House / COS / Lick / Papier / Sims Hilditch / Willow Crossley / Wool and the Gang / David Austin Roses / Rebecca Udall / Navygrey
Services Include
ATL and BTL copywriting / Print and digital copy (from physical brochures to optimised copy for Google and Facebook ads) / Content strategy / Tone of voice development & guidelines / Editorial calendar creation / Creation of new content concepts for brand development / Copy-editing and proofreading
Inigo
A Home with a History: how Luke Edward Hall and Duncan Campbell raised resplendence from the ashes in their Cotswolds cottage
Driving down a lane that looks as though it’s been designed for cattle rather than cars, the first thing we spot when approaching this house are the spires of jolly hollyhocks peeping over a Cotswolds dry-stone wall. It’s a sign of what’s to follow – a riot of colour and an infectious feeling of fun and frivolity. None of this is to say it’s surprising, however; all is as you’d expect if you’re an admirer of Luke Edward Hall and Duncan Campbell, their father-and-son whippets, Merlin and Dragon, and the glut of green-fingered triumphs from their Gloucestershire garden. And, after all, who isn’t?
Read the full piece
Heckfield Place
Thanksgiving on the Estate
THINGS FOR WHICH WE’RE THANKFUL
There are so many ways in which fall welcomes you here at Heckfield. The comforting crackle of the open log fire that roars without respite in our entrance hall is one. The low morning mist that pours over the lakes is another. The seasonal fare too, harvested in our biodynamic market garden, that will open and close each day spent here, nourishing you in the hearty manner that Fall does so well, is but another way to be thankful of all that autumn gifts.
Whether joining us to celebrate Thanksgiving or simply to huddle away and hunker down before winter takes hold, fall very much feels around the corner here on the Heckfield estate…
An excerpt from one of the many email newsletters I write for Heckfield Place
Inigo
A Room of One’s Own: Luke Edward Hall on the vintage ephemera and collected costumes in his Cotswold studio
A self-confessed hoarder who moves between the worlds of fashion and interiors, the artist and designer Luke Edward Hall has transformed a farm barn in Gloucestershire into a treasure trove of relics, remembrances and ever-evolving work. We asked his husband, the interior designer Duncan Campbell, how might he describe Luke’s creations. “Luke’s a romantic,” Duncan replied. “His work is optimistic, enigmatic and transporting. It’s about stories, myths and legends. It says a lot, but with very little.” It looks, he explained, completely effortless. “He can capture the a nose or jawline with perfect simplicity. It’s all so beautiful.”
The Newt
Apple-y Antics
October is all about apples here at The Newt, where we use every part of our county's signature crop – baked into cakes, simmered into soups, dried into granola, pressed into juice and fermented into cyder. Any waste pulp that we can't use in the kitchens or bakery, goes to the farmers to use as feed (the deer love it).
This month, the orchards are having their moment as we begin harvesting ready for the Cyder Press. In the Parabola, home to a maze of apple trees arranged by county, the hard work of pruning and tying is done and it's time to enjoy the fruits of Andy Apples labour as the leaves turn and the apples fall.
We'll be hosting cyder pressing workshops, orchard tours, woodland walks and the grand finale…two days of apple antics at our annual Apple Day Weekend!
An excerpt from one of the many email newsletters I’ve written for The Newt as well as blogs, packaging copy, footpath routes and a book on its many makers.
R & W
Rowen & Wren is the expression of our founders’ opposite but curiously complementary attitudes to design and life
While Lucy is stirred by the aesthetic, the creative, by details and a love of antiquity, Graeme supplies a contemporary and commercial counterbalance. Their united belief in building a slow design business that would exist to deliver modern classics was the founding block of what would, in 2011, become Rowen & Wren.
"I’ve always had a thing for older pieces," says Lucy, one of life’s great collectors. “I like things that wear well, that feel nostalgic somehow, and that have something special about them that makes you want to keep them safe and pass them on."
As a team, we strive to achieve heritage character, reinventing the classics in a design language that speaks of the bucolic, the refined and the urban. The onus is on quality, weight, the handmade – and on relationships with our wider family of makers, who similarly strive to create pieces that will last beyond our lifetimes. We hope their stories will be passed down the generations yet to come.
Lick
Colour explained: everything you need to know about beige paint
Beige is by no means bland and boring. Beiges range from light and airy to rich and grounding, playing a substantial part in the neutral tribe of paints. Strictly speaking, neutrals refer to those colours that are ‘without colour’ – your whites, your blacks, your greys. But most people will count soft, biscuit-y beige hues like taupe, putty, and caramel as first-generation relatives within the neutral family. Wondering whether to ask a beige paint to move in with you? Here’s how you can get colour confident and know which beige is destined to become your bestie…
An excerpt from the many brand and SEO blogs I’ve written for Lick alongside packaging copy, collab campaigns, product copy and advertising lines
Neptune
A warm welcome
Autumn is one of our favourite seasons, and this year, we’re looking forward to it more than ever. After a long-stretching summer and continuous balmy evenings, the thought of wrapping up, putting the log burner on and having heartier suppers feels especially appealing. Autumn is the season for enjoying that hunker-down quality of our homes, but with enough warmth to still savour time in the great outdoors.
These thoughts are what led us to Scotland for our new collection’s inspiration – a place that’s a real celebration of the British landscape but equally of creating shelter and safe harbour. While Stories brings you all sorts of articles that we think you might find of interest, fundamentally, every volume embraces the spirit of the season. So, in our latest autumn edition, expect to find out more about life on Scotland’s remote islands, to read about how to get your home at its cosiest, and find recipes to make and pack up for an autumn’s day picnic.
We really hope you enjoy the latest volume, and that you come away armed with interiors ideas for your own home and with thoughts on new things to try, whether it’s recipes or places to visit. As always, if you want to tell us what you thought or have any suggestions for the next volume, our Stories inbox is ready and waiting...
The foreword from Volume VIII of Stories, Neptune’s lifestyle magazine of which I was editor for volumes I-X.
David Austin
Book of Roses, 61st and 62nd Editions
As our name suggests, it all began with a young and earnest David C. H. Austin, known as, Mr Austin. As a twenty-something in the late 1940s, he developed a passion for plants, but it was roses specifically for which he fell hard. Fast forward to 1961 and Mr Austin released his first rose for public sale – the mid pink, fragrant climber, Constance Spry (Ausfirst).
During his lifetime, Mr Austin bred more than 200 English roses, building a great British business and raising a family on the farm as he went. It was to his son David J. C. Austin that the secateurs were passed, as a new chapter in cultivating the finest English roses began…
An excerpt from the opening story in the David Austin book of Roses for which I’ve written the past two editions. You can reach the 2024 edition in full by clicking the image.
A few cherry-picked samples. Further written work available if needed.