Home from home...

When we set up the apartment in Helsinki, we wanted it to feel like a family home, even though most of the time I am here on my own. One of the things we love at home is the garden; we are fortunate enough to have a decent size lawn. A couple of years ago, our collection of sheep (which started as a joke in the kitchen) spilled over to the garden and we now have a small flock of half life-size glass fibre sheep, which look quite at home in the English countryside.

In Helsinki, I have no garden, but I do have a small balcony. Big enough for two chairs and a wine bottle, it was a pleasant place to watch the world go by from during the summer. But it was a bit shabby, with a very tired straw mat on the floor.

Now, it is transformed. A lucky find at Bauhaus (a Finnish version of B&Q) means I have the look of an English lawn, albeit 1.2 by 1.8 metres! The sheep has been here for a while, but looks much happier now.

As I look out on a snowy Helsinki, I can now dream of summer, sitting on my balcony with a glass of Pimms and thinking of home!