This weekend will mark the opening show of the North East’s outdoor spectacular known as Kynren, in its second year, on a 17 show run throughout the summer. Last weekend, I was lucky enough to head up to Bishop Auckland, for the final dress rehearsal with two of the boys to experience Kynren in all its dazzling glory.
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My inbox can be a dull place to hang out most of the time, then, like a rogue Jelly Tot lurking at the bottom of your handbag, a little wonder can appear. The email from the DFS HQ asking me to head over to Milan to garner some design inspiration and soak up the lastest interiors trends from Salone del mobile (Europe’s largest design exhibition) with their design team was one of those Jelly Tot discovering moments.
You might think going to Milan Design Week with hopes of returning with concepts suitable for a family home, is the equivalent of bumbling along to LFW to find a suitable outfit for the school run; but the DFS design team trot the globe to ensure their sofa collections offer the very latest in interiors trends, whilst using their years of experience to ensure their sofas are befitting of family life.
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When I hit the very scary “publish” button for the first time two and a half years ago, I had the intention of bringing stylish family interiors to the masses. But I found bringing my interiors day job into my hobby of writing like latching on a creative leech to the heart of my ju-ju – it sucked the life out of my writing. In addition, I was about to drop our boy number 5 into the world so my brain was addled with all the new amazing baby garb that had been invented/re-invented since 2008; we were living in a rather uninspiring, dark rented house – so taking swoonworthy interiors shots was like trying to catch the slippery soap in a lukewarm bath (impossible) and I found it piss easy to bemoan life with a brood of boys to anyone that would listen, whilst struggling for my next interiors post subject matter. Something had to change – and it did.
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If you’re anything like me a month ago, you probably haven’t heard the word Kynren, unless you’re an avid watcher of my insta-stories, in which case a couple of Thursdays ago you would’ve been bombarded with my word du jour (I’ve uploaded the stories HERE for your viewing pleasure!). So, without keeping you on the edge of your seats, what is Kynren? Kynren is an outdoor spectacular of a show, which takes place through the summer months in the beautiful, almost Teletubby Land-like, lush green hills of Bishop Auckland in County Durham; each of the 17 shows, which “start in daylight and end in starlight” crams 2000 years of British history into 90 minutes, showered with fireworks, peppered with live-stock and a cavalry of white horses to boot, all with bucket loads of nostalgia.
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We might not have a home this Christmas due to the major renovations, haven’t erected our own tree and are haemorrhaging money left right and centre on project “build a house big enough to hold all our kids” (must come up with a better code/project name). But these aren’t the reasons we’re not “doing” presents this year. I get it, it sounds bloody harsh, with 5 kids to suddenly announce that no-one, not even that cute doe eyed toddler, will be receiving so much as a satsuma in their stockings this Christmas, so let me explain.
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