I have to move to Hastings. No, seriously.

And it’s all Ruth and Jeska’s fault. On Saturday they arranged a Gathered Cheer Social down in Hastings that involved a tour of the best shops, a walk along the beach front, lots of blogger chat and lunch in a pub – bliss!

If you are a fan of antiques, vintage and unique homewares then Hastings is the place for you. Just in case you fancy a trip to the coast any time soon, I will tell you about some of the wonderful shops that Jeska, who writes on of my favourite blogs Lobster and Swan, took us to so you don’t miss out.

We got off the train at St. Leonards Warrior Square and I immediately bought two lovely stoneware bottles at Arthur Green’s Antiques Centre, which is just opposite the station. We then stopped off at the most wondrous florist called Bobo Flower and Garden Shop on London Road. Oh my word, the Peonies!

Next stop was Norman Road, which I enjoyed the most. We went to an amazing traditional haberdashery, full to the brim of ribbons, bobbins, fabric, linen, beautiful cabinets and haberdashers drawers. You know one of those shops where you want to buy the display cases. Yeh, that.

At the end of Norman Road is ‘Shop’, which was full of beautiful homewares from ceramics to gorgeous throws (and an incredible wooden board that Sarah-Lou bought that I’m super jealous of).

Image: Cool Places

We wandered along the beach front to the old town from Norman Road and chatted and laughed and took photos. So lovely.

We arrived at the old town and it was so pretty with its winding streets and brightly coloured painted houses; it turned out to be such a treasure trove.

First stop the beautiful Butler’s Famed Emporium with so many wonderful trinkets and vintage loveliness.

And on to Robert’s Rummage. I can’t describe this place, you just need to go for yourself and find your own treasure.

And we finished at the amazing Hendy’s. Walking in there was like stepping back in time and I could have bought ALL of it!

Image: Remodelista

After all that shopping we were ready for a delicious late lunch at the Crown Inn on All Saints Street, which I would definitely recommend. It was really good food and perfect pub decor.

Thank you to Ruth and to Jeska for hosting and organising the perfect day as well as the lovely ladies who attended and made it so much fun – I totally loved it and will be back. With a car. So I can buy everything.

Katy x

P.S. You can sign up to learn more about future Gathered Cheer socials here.

I’m going to be completely honest with you, when the lovely folks over at Samsung got in touch about trying out their 34 inch curved monitor my initial thought was, “what about my aesthetically pleasing home office?!”. Jules is always trying to convince me that function trumps form and in this instance I have happily acknowledged that this monitor makes my every day work so much easier and more pleasurable and because it is a sleek flat screen it fits right in. As soon as the monitor arrived, I quickly figured out its functions and I am now completely hooked. I don’t think I will be able to go back to a small laptop screen (and lucky for me, the monitor is staying!).

Let me tell you a bit about how I use it and why it’s made such a difference. I’m not going to use any technical jargon as I don’t understand that stuff but you can find out all of those details here.

Firstly, this screen is huge at 34 inches so I can have multiple screens in one. As you can see below, I can have my emails, social media, blog, Photoshop and whatever else not only open at the same time but viewable so I can can work on different things simultaneously and keep an eye out for social media updates and so on. I hook my lap top up to the monitor, which sits in front of it, and work on blog posts and I can see the post developing on the monitor, rather than having to constantly hop between tabs. This is a revelation.

Another major benefit of this screen is that it is curved, which makes it so much more immersive than a flat screen and perusing a site such as Pinterest becomes a completely new experience. The photographs are wonderfully large and clear and I can get lost in a world of beauty.

The last thing that I have discovered about the curved monitor, which is amazing, is that you can split the screen in two. One side can be hooked up to my laptop and one side can be hooked up to someone else’s laptop. This is going to make collaborative work so much easier and more enjoyable – perfect for my big desk, too, as two of us can sit side by side. Anyone fancy a joint project?!

I’m sure there is much more to discover about this new addition to my working life. I’m totally sold (and Jules is totally jealous!).

Katy x

*This post was written in collaboration with Samsung.