As we leave the snowdrops behind and welcome the bluebells, we turn away from the world of wellies and jackets and towards a softer, lighter world, filled with silk scarves, wonderful wines and £10,000 Easter eggs. You know, just the normal things.
Spring has sprung and with it we enter a new season of Utterly Inessential products. Here are some of my top picks for this week, happy shopping!
Still a chill in the air?
Although we’re well and truly into spring (if you haven’t seen this year’s bluebells yet, they’re beautiful), there’s still a nip in the air, meaning many of us are resorting to carrying emergency jumpers for when the temperature turns in the evenings. I, for one, cannot abide carrying extra items – I drop them, leave them places and frequently thrust them upon the one person smart enough to bring a bag.
My point is, I need a twilly. You need a twilly. And we both especially need a twilly from Karen and James, the mother and son team behind Dalliance & Noble, a quintessentially British silk accessories brand who produce these wonderful products and many more besides. You may also need a headband.
The Terra Firma Pink Large Twilly, £135, and the Delany Damask Blue Silk Headband, £40, www.dallianceandnoble.com
A little earlier than usual…
It’s a bank holiday, isn’t it?! For this reason and no other, I have moved our weekly wine blast further up in the column today. After the Lambrusco incident of two weeks ago, Country Life wine columnist Harry Eyres returns to normalcy, promising ‘impressive minerality, structure and fresh acidity’ from this Regnié Château des Reyssiers 2016, a single-vineyard wine from the youngest of the crus, the perfect companion for Paschal lamb.
Regnié Château des Reyssiers 2016, discounted to £11.75; www.mrwheelerwine.com
‘It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much’ – Seneca, ‘De Brevitate Vitae’
Do your fingers ever get trapped when you try to put on your shoes without undoing the laces because you’re in a rush? Then, because your fingers are trapped, you end up late anyway and you realise the sensible thing would’ve been to just undo the laces in the first place?
Well, now you don’t have to.
Oxhorn Tip End Shoehorn, £39.99, Farlows, www.farlows.co.uk
Holy Honeycomb
I think we can all agree, this is as far as anyone is willing to go when it comes to chocolate. It’s gorgeous, it’s a showstopper and it’s logically far too much to spend on something both seasonal and edible. Really, this 1.1kg of amazing chocolate has to be the cacao de la cacao of the Easter egg world.
And yet…
I lied. I’m a fraud. I knew all along that Godiva had made something even more showstopping, and I knew I was going to have to share it with you today.
Over 200 hours of work and 65 kilograms of Godiva milk chocolate went into creating Cherish Finden’s second egg with Godiva. Describing the monumental task, Cherish said: “this year we wanted to go even bigger and more extravagant. The spring Atelier egg captures the artistic and premium craftsmanship of the brand, whilst celebrating the colour and energy of the season. Godiva is famed for its intricate artistry, and I think that comes across from the level of detail included in the design.”
The Atelier Easter Egg, worth £10,000, is on display at the St Pancras International Godiva boutique until Easter Sunday. To see Godiva’s delicious range, visit www.godivachocolates.co.uk
If you purchased our entire list this week you would’ve spent £10,276.74 and I’ll be the first to admit it, the giant egg that you could not possibly purchase may have skewed the total a little. All in favour of adding up the list by means of median calculations to negate the influence of outliers next week, say ‘buy’.
The Utterly Inessential Easter List: Bunny headphones, a terrific toothbrush and eggs, from scotch to cheese to (of course) chocolate
What ho! It's time for our regularly scheduled decadence to receive its regularly scheduled seasonal edit. This week we're considering
The Utterly Inessential Mother’s Day List: Cruising the Ouse, tea with Queen Titania and a massage for the future mothers among us
They love us unconditionally, unquestionably and, in some cases, utterly irrationally (there's always that one sibling and if there isn't,
The Utterly Inessential Shopping List: Whisky is coming, a hat to blow you away and shuttlecock swim shorts
Welcome back to our friendly neighbourhood round-up of the best wine, furnishings and completely, utterly inessential products available now.
The Utterly Inessential Shopping List: Scarves aplenty, whisky candles and some charitable cushions
In a world infested with 'must-have', 'don't miss' and 'buy now', one list stands alone as the voice of reason:
The utterly royal shopping list, from beautiful winter flowers to hand-made suits that defy disposable culture
For one week only we've transformed our regular utterly inessential shopping list into an utterly royal shopping list, to coincide
The Utterly Inessential Valentine’s Day Shopping List: Edible love notes, delightful decanters and gifts to sweep him off his feet
The chill of February is ill-fated to be accompanied by a day dedicated to those lucky few among us who
