It always comes down to flowers for me. The slightest chance that I get to hold a few blooms and arrange them, photograph them, re-enact a ‘story’, and I am there. Never mind it is across the Atlantic. That is how I felt about this workshop and opportunity to style and photograph alongside Marte Marie Forsberg and her special guest Anna Potter of Swallows and Damsons.

On a brisk March Saturday morning we stepped into a room filled with flowers. Not just any flowers. Flowers that you dream about, but rarely see by the bucket. Jonquils, lilacs, ranunculus, roses, tulips and lots and lots of eucalyptus and brambles! Anna did a demonstration and expertly arranged a quick swoon-worthy looking arrangement (with foraged bramble branches!).  Then, it was out turn.

From the moment I picked up a copper vessel the time just flew by. All of a sudden it was afternoon and time to take my arrangement (above!) into a taxi to be whisked off to a lovely countryside restaurant on the grounds of a walled garden. Then the surprise Marte Marie was telling us about…Alice in Wonderland tea, cake and prosecco afternoon party in an old mausoleum. It was never consecrated, slowly falling into romantic ruins. A perfect backdrop for a story. We carried flower arrangements and chairs, in our wellies, to this moody spot. Snowdrops carpeted the woods…

As for Marte Marie’s collection of tea cups and plates, we got the opportunity to experience her countryside sources too. We visited a small antiques shops and larger antique centers. No cups for me, carry on luggage only, but I left with lovely copper pitcher, which will make debut on the Easter table.