Hello! Ellea here. A very warm welcome to the first of our new 'Escape with 100 Acres' series.
We’re all about escapism. We adore exploring places (the British countryside especially) - really getting to know their character and then encapsulating their glorious essence in botanical fragrance form, so that we can escape back again and again and again, wherever and whenever we feel like it. Escapism through fragrance, is what we’re here for.
And, we really do practice what we preach. Lovers of the British countryside, we manage to escape out there most weekends (or at least, when not in lockdown).
So, we wanted to create a series to document and share our escapes with you. To divulge where we love to go and the things we love to do, in the hope of inspiring your future weekend escapades too. We’ll also often hand the mic over to some of our favourite people (mainly because we’re total travel pervs, always on the lookout for the best kept secrets) to see where they like to escape to on their weekends, both in the British countryside and beyond. Expect all things wild and wonderful, and some seriously cool hidden gems.
This first edition of our escape files, however, collides with UK lockdown 3.0, meaning it felt wrong to write about our favourite countryside stays, wild swims and meandering meadow walks when we know no one (us included) can go and actually explore them.
So, this first edition is all about escaping…at home. It’s a love letter to both the familiar, steady sanctuary and the endless potential rabbit holes in the home just waiting to be discovered, and shows how just because you might be stationary physically, doesn’t mean you have to be mentally. Our motto? If you can’t go out, bring the outside in.
It's currently it’s mid-January - nearly a whole year on from the beginning of the pandemic - and it’s no secret that most of us would really rather not be at home right now.
But, in the knowledge that we're still going to be here for a little longer, we're taking time to ensure home really is a sanctuary, a cross section of life so far, filled with treasures (books, photos, fragrances, furniture, fabrics) from favourite places near and far (no minimalism here, thank you very much). Things that bring the outside, inside. So, we can still all go on our weekend escapes…just from the comfort of our armchairs (which, actually, are highly preferable to plane seats anyway). Here’s how....
Pre-lockdown, Saturday evenings were strictly reserved for supper parties. And while our guest numbers are now capped at just two (i.e...me and my partner), our supper parties are still going strong in the name of table travel. So, on Saturday night, we went to Morocco. Via the kitchen. We’re certainly not chefs by any stretch of the imagination, but this rice (we added cloves and cinnamon too) is so delicious, and this salad is so good with homemade pita and a quick tahini-lemon-honey drizzle. Ok, it's not quite the same electric atmosphere Marrakech's medina, but light our orange, cinnamon and frankincense candle and you'll be pretty close.
We then went on to India, via Wes Anderson’s 'The Darjeeling Limited'. Wes Anderson + India = a match made in heaven. Packed with sublime colours and scenes, it made me (perhaps counter productively) desperate to book a flight to India as soon as possible. To temper this urge for a short while at least, I’ve just purchased this book (which I'm saving for next weekend's lockdown sofa excursion).
And onto Sunday. Sundays usually, whether at home or elsewhere, are nearly always punctuated by explorative walks, and a good few hours curled up with a book and a candle.
This Sunday’s literature of choice (along the theme of escapism, of course), was Cabana. While not strictly a book, if you know Cabana, you’ll know that it’s pretty much the finest visual escapism money can buy. So, on Sunday, I spent hours immersed in Cabana’s printed treasure troves of, well, cabanas(?) from all corners of the globe. Personal highlights included a lusciously botanical, very 100 Acres property in the Dominican Republic, and Luke Edward Hall’s gorgeous ‘Postcards from Italy’. Cabana truly is armchair travel at its finest.
And while Sunday's simply aren't complete without a countryside walk, I'm locked down in London and so to get my Sunday countryside fix (and to complete my reading corner), our sublime Signature Candle is perfect. We’ve created it to quite simply be 100 acres of heavenly British countryside condensed into candle form and honestly, the smell is just heavenly. Packed with luscious, fragrant botanicals including lemon myrtle, rose geranium, lavender and underpinned by a base of rich cedarwood, it will make you feel like you’re lying in a warm, wild meadow at the height of British Summer. it fills the whole room with ease - simply light to unleash.
To help you escape, we're actually gifting you this gorgeous candle, for free, on all orders over £60 (but be quick - there aren't many left). So to complete your Sunday stroll, pick up ‘Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds’, light this gorgeous candle and get lost in the abundant Cotswold countryside.
And so, I really hope you've enjoyed our first edition of ‘Escape with 100 Acres’. While a little different to the initial intention of the series, I hope it’s proven that weekend escapes don’t have to just be literal, and that you can still experience the the best aspects of travel and escapism (smells, tastes, sights) from within your own four walls, thanks to the curation and collection of a few characterful, fragrant things to help you along your way. If you can’t go out, bring the outside in.
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Ellea
Co-Founder
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