Hi I’m Karon Grieve and I live in an old cottage with no straight walls and a few wonky floors. The living room is deep red, the dining room is mustard – I just love colour. This quirky cottage is in rural Ayrshire in Scotland and is surrounded by fields of grass and cows. The cows sometimes break into the garden, the grass is no trouble at all.
I live with my gorgeous daughter Imogen (Idgy) and various furry friends; Harry the fabulous ferret (he wants his own blog and is not happy with just a few photos on this one) and my gorgeous cats Berti and Minou. Berti is a huge British colourpoint cat with a raspy voice that is impossible to ignore, especially at 5am when he wants out, Minou is a beautiful Bengal cat who looks like a mini leopard and is a very demanding and dramatic lady indeed, ain’t nobody puts Minou in the corner!
I’m a lifelong crafter and started my Dream Acres business in 2004 as a way of merging my love of herbs with a love of sewing and making. What started as sewing and stuffing a few footsees to keep your wellies fresh while sitting at the kitchen table, soon expanded and grew to a buzzing little herb crafting business with it’s own HQ in a log cabin in the garden.
HQ in the snow
This blog was originally started as a business blog, but it soon morphed into a daily chat page with business rarely mentioned. It has grown and changed over the years, it is a very personal diary, sometimes happy, sometimes sad and reflective, hopefully always readable.
Dream Acres herb filled goodies have been sold worldwide both online and in shops, including the prestigious Liberty’s of London and The General Trading Company. They have been featured in loads of glossy mags, including Country Living, BBC Good Homes, Period Living, Country Homes and Interiors and Period Ideas, to name but a few. I’vealso been featured in Country Living, Your Home, Scotland On Sunday and Scottish Field magazines.
So Easy Herbal
In 2010 I put pen to paper and wrote my first book “So Easy Herbal – Ten herbs, how to grow them, use them and save money” and this lead on to my position as Herb Expert on Scottish Television’s “The Hour” daily magazine programme.
I then went on to write “So Easy Christmas” in 2011 and seemed to spend the entire year wrapped up in the festive season even when the sun was shining and temperatures rising.
I’m the Homecraft Expert on BBC Radio Scotland’s McAuley & Co show and go on there regularly chatting about everything from Christmas crafting to detoxing your home.
I love the whole Show & Tell aspect of writing, talking and presenting and do lots of talks and demos for different organisations. The Country Living Magazine fairs, Homes & Interiors Scotland shows, Hopetoun House Present Event. I do smaller events too, like talks for WRI and other social groups and schools.
I’m a freelance writer and have a regular column in “Handmade Living” where I do recipes and lifestyle tips. I also write for “Simply Beautiful” and “Scottish Woman” magazine.
So what else can I tell you, oh yes, I like taking photos and doing show and tell with them on these pages. I like to travel – especially France, and might just have a house there one of these days. I want to go back to Italy and tour the country in style.
I love chocolate and pizza, French food and love, oh love Italian. Greek lamb is a delight and a Greek mese or Spanish tapas a joy. Nothing beets coffee and cake in my book. I like cooking and baking and eating good food, drinking wine with friends, watching romcom movies (fav acress Meryl Streep, fav actor Johnny Depp closely followed by Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor and Russel Crowe), collecting all things vintage and pottering around French brocante and junk shops. My TV tastes run to Gilmore Girls, Two Broke Girls, Rosemary & Thyme, Midsomer Murders and Extreme Fishing with Robson Green!
I like country music and jazz. Amy Winehouse, Adele, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, Cara Emerald and Westlife. Kinda varied I guess.
I write my blog Monday to Friday and like to have a lie in at the weekend!
Enjoy!
Karon x
