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Thanks for visting Simply The Nest. I'm an English girl married to an Portuguese boy, and I blog every weekday about our house renovation, DIY projects, delicious recipes, design, inspirational interiors, and life in a little Manchester nest. Oh, and Jack Russells (we have two). And our five year masterplan to move to France. Très bien.

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Entries in West Didsbury (4)

Tuesday
16Feb2010
DateTuesday, February 16, 2010 at 4:52PM AuthorSimply The Nest | CommentPost a Comment

Stunning Manchester Photography By Neil Roland

In the course of undertaking jury duty (I'm now in the second week) I've visited various buildings and rooms within the Manchester courts complex. One of them is a very modern building with a huge foyer, cathedral ceilings, and several gorgeous large-scale photographs hanging on the walls in front of the main entrance.

I felt immediately drawn to these photographs, went to take a closer look, and immediately realised that I had responded to them in this way because they were taken by Neil Roland, a well-known Manchester photographer. 

I have admired Neil's work for years (his photographs can be found all over the city in galleries, restaurants, cafes, even my local GP surgery) - in fact I like his work so much that I commissioned him to create a bespoke set of photographs of the West Didsbury area, which I gave to Andre as a wedding present.

Neil takes photographs of Manchester and the surrounding urban area - usually with a focus on capturing particular colours, street signs, and types of buildings, which he then displays in sets. He often takes the photograph at unusual or close-up angles, so it's not immediately obvious where the photo was taken, and a little detective work is required to identify the location. He also uses film rather than digital, and therefore has no reliance on PhotoShop to alter his images in any way.

Here are some of Neil's photographs of our local area - Didsbury, and West Didsbury:

And here are some of Neil's photographs of Manchester city centre:

It's very dark and gloomy in Manchester at the moment, so taking photographs is a bit tricky. But if it ever lightens up, I'll take a photo of our very own Neil Roland, which hangs in the living room, above the sofa.

Psst! If you like this, you may also like...

Neighbourhood: Winter morning tour of our local area

Shopping: Assembling our Perpetual Paris calendar

Garden: Our magical garden by night

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Monday
08Feb2010
DateMonday, February 8, 2010 at 4:00PM AuthorSimply The Nest | Comment3 Comments

How To Make Sunday Lunch

Here's a simple recipe for making Sunday lunch.

1. Wake up on Sunday morning and decide you are feeling far too lazy to do any cooking at all.

2. Call up The Lime Tree Restaurant and book a table for two:

Sources: Flickr and Neil Roland

3. Roll out of bed and into a waiting taxi.

4. Order smoked haddock fishcakes and goats cheese with sesame seeds:

5. Followed by roast beef with yorkshire pudding and horseradish sauce, and roast lamb with red wine jus:

6. And finally crème brulée, and chocolate truffle cake:

7. Roll into a taxi and spend the rest of the day sleeping it off on the sofa.

Oh yes. This is what Sundays were made for.

Psst! If you like this, you may also like:

Recipe: Eggs Benedict (or, the laziest Sunday breakfast ever)

Interiors: Fabulous London home

Neighbourhood: A Sunday morning tour of West Didsbury

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Monday
07Dec2009
DateMonday, December 7, 2009 at 5:00PM AuthorSimply The Nest | Comment3 Comments

Christmas In West Didsbury

On Saturday, Andre and I saddled up the Jack Russells and took them for a spin down the road to West Didsbury to check out Xmas West Fest - a local Christmas festival that promised a Christmas lights switch-on, magical window displays, a Christmas tree, festive events, and mulled wine.

After warming ourselves with some mulled wine and lamb koftas from Pinchjos, our favourite local independent tapas restaurant (while simultaneously keeping both dogs on very short leashes to prevent them from jumping enthusiastically onto unsuspecting passers by) we wandered down Burton Road and took some photos of the Christmas displays in the shop windows.

Here's the window from Moth home accessories:

In typical understated Moth style, they've added a gorgeous paper snowflake to their window display.

David Gavin (interior design services) had a display of snowmen:

The wonderful Living Flowers had added twinkling fairy lights, lots of red and pink flowers, spruce brances, miniature Christmas trees, and little snowmen to their usual street display:

Even the new bridal store The White Closet had a Santa Claus in the window, who looked very happy to be sitting among the gorgeous vintage gowns and accessories:

Finally we reached the Thyme Out Deli (who catered our wedding last summer), where Enrique chose a Christmas tree from the mini-forest that Thyme Out had created in their back yard:

A certain someone was very sleepy after all that exercise:

More crimson and blue - man, I love that colour combination. The cushions are made from silk. I originally had them as curtains in one of the flats I lived in over the years, but when we moved into our little Nest, I turned them into cushions. Little Penelope loves to sleep on them. Someone is very, very spoiled.  

I hope you enjoyed this little festive tour of my local area. If you'd like to see more, you can take another tour of West Didsbury here.

Back tomorrow with a sneak peek into a gorgeous black, white and pink Swedish-style English country house. Stay tuned!

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