Out & About | The Womens Room

Art & Culture, Out & AboutJuly 12, 2013

Things to see in London this Summer: Dalston House

By Jane

Honestly, sometimes I wonder why anyone would live anywhere other than Hackney – every day I hear of anther interesting bar, shop or event, happening in the borough and last week it was all about the opening of Dalston House.… Read More

Out & AboutJuly 5, 2013

See this: The Powell-Cotton Museum in Birchington, Kent

By Amanda

As the long summer holidays approach, can we recommend anyone with small boys, a love of taxidermy and/or Africa plans a trip to the Powell-Cotton Museum in Birchington? It’s a gem. The current thinking is that Margate (which is three… Read More

Out & AboutJuly 1, 2013

Gilbert’s Gin Garden for grown up girls

By Amanda

What is it with gin? We thought it was just us, but everyone’s loving it now. if you want a very nice place to go and chill with girlfriends while appreciating lovely artisan gins, many made locally, can we suggest… Read More

Out & AboutJune 18, 2013

Ginstock & Street Feast

By Jane

Food is quite possibly the most interesting/fashionable thing happening in London at the moment, as entrepreneurs turn previously disused buildings into coffee shops, start micro breweries and distilleries, sell food from round on the world on market stalls and trucks… Read More

Out & AboutJune 5, 2013

Laurie Anderson and LUCZA give-away

By Amanda

Exciting news…we have two tickets to see Kronos Quartet & Laurie Anderson at the Barbican…. TO GIVE AWAY! I know, aren’t we the big hearted blog! The tickets, which are for 28th June 2013, have been kindly donated by LUCZA,… Read More

Out & AboutMay 22, 2013

Chelsea in Bloom: Our winning windows

By Amanda

Hard to believe it’s been a year since we did the last Chelsea in Bloom windows, with all that Jubilee fever. This year (most) of the retailers who’ve entered the competition have done less showy, more considered windows that I… Read More

Out & AboutMay 15, 2013

Stoke Newington Literary Festival

By Jane

If you haven’t already realised, Stoke Newington is really the only place to live in London. A vibrant, creative community on the edges of Islington and Dalston in the borough of Hackney, it’s like living in a village in the… Read More

Out & AboutMay 7, 2013

Simple Pleasures: The British seaside

By Jane

Sunshine, friends, children and dogs and a huge sandy beach are just about all you need for the perfect weekend. Throw in a few portable BBQ’s, a beach hut, ice cream and fish and chips and I could stay forever!… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Out & AboutApril 29, 2013

The Vogue Festival

By Jane

This weekend I spent some time at the Vogue festival on the Southbank. It promised to be an interesting two days with an impressive line up of speakers from the media and fashion industry. The founder of Net-a-Porter Natalie Massenet… Read More

Out & AboutApril 25, 2013

Ruby’s and Black Pig with White Pearls

By Jane

Over the last couple of years, Dalston has transformed from interestingly creative and slightly down at heel to an achingly hip, centre of cool. Just a few yards from my house, new underground bars, quirky cafes and interesting restaurants pop… Read More

Out & AboutApril 24, 2013

Back to the 70s with Kaffe Fassett

By Amanda

There’s something fabulously old-school hippy about the textile artist Kaffe Fassett and his quilting,needlepoint and knitting style. Maybe it’s his upbringing on the Californian Big Sur coastline where his parents ran a restaurant popular with artists, or his move to… Read More

Out & AboutApril 15, 2013

We loved: So Dior at Harrods

By Amanda

I’m afraid to say we dropped the ball on this wonderful exhibition So Dior, of Dior clothes, perfume and accessories at Harrods, which finished yesterday, by not mentioning it when it first opened. If I hadn’t read Disneyrollergirl’s fabulous post… Read More

Out & AboutApril 2, 2013

Nana’s Cafe

By Jane

High on my list of local places to visit is Nana’s Cafe in Elderfield Road, Clapton. Run by local women who are all over 60, the cafe was set up by Katie Harris, who has always worked with older people… Read More

Out & AboutApril 1, 2013

Regent Street, what’s not to love?

By Amanda

One of the slightly more acceptable things about the economic downturn and the rise of internet shopping is the fact that we are going off big box, indoor shopping centres. It might be something to do with Mary Portas… Read More

Out & AboutFebruary 21, 2013

Luxury hotels, with kids? Surely not!

By Jane

When our kids were little, family weekend breaks involved a lot of research in order to find somewhere that offered kids activities, babysitting and listening services, kids tea and toys and games (for when you wanted an early drink), as… Read More

Out & AboutFebruary 18, 2013

Artangel’s A Room For London, also known as my favourite hotel room in the world

By Amanda

What did you do for Valentine’s Day last week? Ignore it? Do token gesture presents to keep the love alive? I bought middleagedad a Led Zeppelin DVD from Amazon and he took me here, to A Room For London’s boat… Read More

Out & AboutFebruary 5, 2013

Something for Valentines day: a trip to the cinema

By Jane

The back row at The Electric I don’t know about you, but my days of celebrating Valentines day are long gone. What was once a really important event (remember how excited/nervous you would get as a teenager, when the post… Read More

Out & AboutJanuary 9, 2013

Best bargains with perfume sale buys

By Amanda

Last week I did something I’d never done before and actually didn’t think was possible – I searched for sale bargains in perfume. It is generally believed that perfume brands -particularly top end ones- don’t ‘do’ sale, as there is… Read More

Out & AboutJanuary 2, 2013

Go See: The Rain Room at The Barbican

By Amanda

Happy New Year to you all, we hope your festive season was fun and you are all nicely relaxed and ready for whatever 2013 brings. We both had a fabulous break and return re energised to inspire you anew. After… Read More

Out & AboutDecember 24, 2012

We love: Brasserie Zedel

By Amanda

If anyone is thinking of coming up to London during the festive period for sales, the theatre or some culture, can I recommend heartily the Brasserie Zedel as a great place to stop for refuelling? Canny Londoners may already know… Read More

Out & AboutDecember 14, 2012

New store love: Bloom Perfumery in Spitalfields

By Amanda

We have a new perfume-store-favourite, the seriously interesting Bloom Perfumery in Spitalfields, owned by Oxana Polyakova. What I loved about the store was the curated selection of really beautiful smells from interesting and below the radar niche, artisan and specialist… Read More

Out & AboutDecember 11, 2012

The Town House: Spitalfields

By Jane

Fournier Street in Spitalfields is one of my favourite London streets, home to Gilbert and George and some of London’s most exquisite Georgian houses, it was developed by the wealthy French Huguenot community who came to Spitalfields, bringing with them… Read More

Out & AboutDecember 7, 2012

Christmas at the Design Museum

By Jane

As you would expect the Design Museum are very good at decorating their Christmas tree and this year they have enlisted the help of fashion designer Mary Katranzou. The 3m height tree incorporates patterns from her Autumn/Winter 2012 collection, was… Read More

Out & AboutDecember 5, 2012

Donate Your warmth: Bowowows Christmas Cracker

By Jane

If you live in East London and are a dog lover, you might want to get yourself and your pooch down to the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club on Saturday, where there’s a unique charity event happening. Bowowow’s Canine Christmas… Read More

Out & AboutNovember 30, 2012

We love: Paperplain Letterpress personalised printing

By Amanda

There’s a lot of similarity between stationery and fashion. Both are about the appreciation of beautiful textures and surface details, clever design and a sense of beauty. OK, so it might seem a long stretch from a designer-of-the-year Stella McCartney… Read More

Out & AboutNovember 22, 2012

Angela Flanders new store and Aqua Alba perfume

By Amanda

While we are on the subject of women achieving success in the world, one of our favourite female perfumers, Angela Flanders, has got a new shop in an extremely cute space in Artillery Passage, which is a Dickensian-style, history-soaked backwater… Read More

Out & AboutNovember 14, 2012

Christmas present ideas for Iphone users

By Amanda

So, in other news… Can I point you in the direction of the rather fabulous Olloclip, an uplifting little gadget for anyone who uses their Iphone to take photos and an absolute MUST if you are a keen instagram user.… Read More

Out & AboutNovember 10, 2012

Sign up for our newsletter! The Women’s Room

By Amanda

Can I start with a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all our brilliant readers who have left such supportive comments on yesterday’s post about our current predicament. It’s is heartening to have such intelligent comment, we are very cheered… Read More

Art & Culture, Health & Happiness, Out & AboutNovember 9, 2012

The importance of research: who owns the Women’s Room?

By Jane

The Internet is a truly fabulous thing which has opened a world of possibilities, conversations and online opportunities for everyone, from big brands, the lone voice shouting about a cause, or someone hand making candles in their kitchen. Democratising and… Read More

Out & AboutNovember 4, 2012

Something for next weekend: Selvedge Winter Fair

By Amanda

Can you believe it’s that time of the year again? Christmas fairs are upon us, how can that be when it’s only just been summer…or whatever that wet patch was. Walking through London this week I noticed all the Christmas… Read More