True Story

Once upon a time there was a Happy Little Blogger.

The Happy Little Blogger would sit at his computer and write happy little blogs about all the things in the world he liked. Sometimes he wrote about interesting objects, other times he wrote about inspiring places, and once in a while he wrote about ideas that he had.

One day, the Happy Little Blogger wrote a blog post about 'School Style'.

"...it's quite amazing how fascinated I am by educational style" he wrote, "I dream of modelling a room after a 1940's school gym - filled with leather mats, metal lockers and a sculptural wooden pommel-horse as a centrepiece."

Now, it just so happened that the Magical Blog Fairies were surfing the web that day, and came across the Happy Little Blogger's post. "What a happy little blog" they said to one another "Let us make his dream come true".

So, it came to pass that, about two months after he wrote that blog post, the Happy Little Blogger found himself in the gym of an old Victorian school. It was more beautiful and exciting than he could ever have imagined. He gathered all his money together and bought the gym, making him the happiest little blogger that ever there was.

The End.

Actually, that's far from the end of the story, because buying the gym was just the beginning of a massive adventure. The space is incredible - huge and stunning and full of character, but the work and renovations have been so all-consuming, I've been completely unable to blog for the last few months. So I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the Magical Blog Fairies for the lack of recent attention and thank them very much for granting my wish.

It's not exactly the dark wood and leather space that I had imagined - but soaring vaulted ceilings, amazing daylight and loads of period features more than make up for it. I haven't bought that pommel-horse yet, but give me time...

Built in 1906 in East London, it's part of a classic Victorian red brick school. Originally used as a gym and assembly hall, it has functioned as an artist's studio for the past 40 years. Now I am lucky enough to be the latest occupant.

I'll be blogging the progress that I make, and sharing some of the wonders of living and working in such a special building.

Watch this space...