OH MY MELLOW | No.4
We’re dreaming of…
Swaddling ourselves in a blanket over our Moon + Mellow PJs and listening to the orchestra of cicadas while counting shooting stars from our private balcony that in daylight overlooks uninterrupted bucolic views towards the coast… swoon!
This is not a mirage but actual reality if you stay at the Praia do Canal Nature Resort in Portugal’s wild western Algarve: a 56-room slice of contemporary design heaven set in more than 220 unsullied hectares within south-west Alentejo and Costa Vicentina Natural Park.
Taking inspiration from Iberia’s Moorish past, this low-rise, ochre-coloured idyll brings the outside in, with picture windows and stairwells framing both landscape and infinity pools, and sculptural wooden furniture juxtaposed with mid-century modernism in the swish bar and restaurant.
Huge beds, huge marble bathrooms, huge vistas, huge flavours in the restaurant and bar… oh, and cheerful in-room textiles that compliment our Moon + Mellow prints, thank you very much. B&B from €198 per night.
Mellowing out in front of…
Strictly Come Dancing! No longer a guilty pleasure, BBC One’s ballroom dancing competition saw more viewers last year than in its 20-year history and whose final – in which deaf EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis won with professional partner Giovanni Pernice – boasted an audience of 12.3 million, a 57.8 per cent share in overnight ratings.
If you weren’t sold on RTE’s franchised version, Dancing with the Stars, give its progenitor a whirl: its big-budget glitz, glamour, live music, dazzling visuals and high camp is well worth dancing around the living room for. In your Moon + Mellow pyjamas with sequins and heels, obviously. Fab-u-lous.
On our nightstand…
So we’re still waiting for the ‘Roaring Twenties 2.0’ we had been promised pre-pandemic. Instead, we live vicariously through the flappers, chorus girls, mobsters and molls of London’s sleazy Soho in Kate Atkinson’s new book, Shrines of Gaiety, that’s as lively as a corked bottle of champagne.
You can practically hear the strains of jazz and smell the whiskey breath while reading Atkinson’s yarn about Nellie Coker, a no-nonsense matriarch, nightclub proprietor and mother of six who has just been released from Holloway prison. In this criminal underworld, young girls go missing and detectives sniff around supper clubs, opium dens – and their staff. Pour yourself something fizzy, kick off your slippers and get lost in a golden age that, for most, was really only ever gilded.
Midnight snacking on…
Ballymaloe Desserts: Iconic Recipes and Stories from Ireland. Yes, we’re ditching the popcorn this weekend to dip into Phaidon’s mouthwatering new tome of puds, pastries, tarts, cookies and cakes.
Crafted by pastry chef JR Ryall and shot by ace photographer Cliodhna Prendergast, 130 recipes were inspired by Ballymaloe House’s venerated vintage dessert trolley – and are now attainable for our own delectation at home. Think retro ice cream bombs, Irish coffee gâteau, strawberry shortcakes, but with 21st century twists.
Bibs optional but recommended. We’d hate to see stains on your laundry-fresh Moon + Mellow nightwear
Cosy up in…
The Long Set 100 per cent organic cotton voile pyjamas. Outside, the leaves many be turning yellow but this cheery petal print is just the ticket as the nights draw in.
Piped cuffs and legs offer a bit of va-va-voom, while the softly elasticated waistband is just perfect after one too many Ballymaloe Desserts… ahem.
