The Beat That My Heart Skipped – A blog dedicated to daily design inspirations. By Rohini Wahi.

Have a magical weekend everyone! I hope I provided you with some great inspiration this week and if you are doing something for Halloween have a wonderful time, and do let me know if you tried out any of my ideas. If you are not doing anything Halloween related, I am sure you will still have a magical weekend as revelry is in the air! See you on Monday. xoxo

This weeks highlights…

- ‘My Interior Life’ Q&A with Harriet Hastings of The Biscuiteers.
- A pretty makeover of a duplex in Glasgow.
- Our several Halloween related DIY’s – decorating  Tricks for your Home and foodie Treats for your Table and our beautiful Halloween Invites DIY.
- A Magic and Whimsy inspired trend.
- A trip to Stockholm with Vanessa.
- This weeks not one but two book reviews for Halloween – The Little Stranger and Her Fearful Symmetry.
- An exquisite Day With the lovely Luna and Curious ladies – so worth a look, if only for the images.
- Our recommendation for this weekends festivities, In the Dead of Night at the V&A.
- Last but not least, usual Friday deliciousness sourced by Louise in the shape of amusing Meringue Ghosts with Blood Dip by Lorna Knapman of Love Food.

[1] Beetrool Relish £3.50, Jamie Oliver. [2] Diod tumbler £1.99 Ikea. [3] Halloween table confetti £1.50 M&S.

Wow. Although this manor stands with us in the 21st century, how could you feel anything other than transported to another time just by gazing at it. I would imagine if I were there, standing on its threshold, staring up at its dark unblinking windows, my modern clothes would feel strangely foreign on my body.

Unspoiled and untouched by the modern world, its rugged features and surrounding landscape feel like this could be a manor in wild Wuthering Heights country, until the delicate details – embellished stairwells, pointed arches and decorative paneling reveal in actuality a deserted chateau in Normandy!

This chateau overlooks its own lake, and is full of amazing period features, cloisters, stone stairways, a separate cottage and dormitories once used by nuns.

Immensely beautiful but haunting, I love the twists and turns and secretive spaces of this location – overgrown mossy walls and the warped tree in its gardens. Spooky!

Location courtesy of Tattersall Love

I love these tongue in cheek tea-towel references to domestic bliss from the Keep Calm Gallery! Brilliant work!

This week I want to introduce a truly amazing woman Lorna Knapman and her ‘Love Food’ festival. I came to hear about Lorna through a mutual friend and we’ve been following each other’s daily food musings since on our blogs and tweets. I was thrilled when Lorna agreed to provide us a recipe. With her son Ned [aged 4 ¾] they have devised a timely recipe for Halloween treats this weekend.

However I couldn’t just post the recipe without accompanying it with Lorna’s inspiring story of how her love of food came about and how she has turned this desire into something that many other people can now benefit from. Here is Lorna’s ‘story’ in her own words. I’m sure you will agree she should be very proud of herself ….

- Louise

I grew up loving food. I was very fortunate to have two grandmothers who lived on farms and ran traditional farmhouse kitchens. Feeding very large families they both were experts in traditional farmhouse cooking. The treats cooked up for us included huge ‘fry ups’ in the morning complete with crispy bacon from the farm, piles of hot buttered toast with butter [freshly made from Jersey milk]. Then there were the casseroles, stew and dumplings, huge roast dinners, lemon meringue pies, afternoon tea, drop scones … the list goes on.

Freshly picked vegetables and fruits from the gardens provided much of the produce as well as meat and eggs from the farm. The meals would be enjoyed sitting around a huge table with the whole family where we would talk, laugh and discuss the day’s work.

My primary school it seems were ahead of their time – or did we just forget for a while? There was a massive focus on nutrition and I knew the meaning of a healthy balanced diet from a very young age.

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