The creative director behind the cult perfume brand shares her tips on spending a fragrant spring weekend in the English countryside
03 May, 2023
Growing
up in Somerset, on the lower levels of Exmoor, Emily
Cameron’s childhood was suffused with beautiful smells: the honeyed
notes of garden roses, a local herb farm’s botanical bouquet, the
bundles of sage that hung in her family bathroom. “I realised how
important scent had been in our lives,” she tells SUITCASE. “I set
out to create fragrances that could help other people make
memories.”
Ffern flagship, left, and inside the Soho shop | Photo
credit: Edvinas Bruzas
The sensory backdrop of her childhood inspired Ffern, a couture perfumery
created to restore the art of scent to its artisan roots. Launched
by Cameron and her brother Owen Mears, the brand’s subscription
model supplies fragrances that are organic, vegan and produced
using high-quality, sustainably sourced ingredients. Releasing just
four fragrances a year, the team aims to craft an ever-changing
fragrance landscape that aligns the wearer with the cycles of
Somerset’s seasons. Last year, they opened a first showroom on Beak
Street, Soho, but the brand’s lifeblood remains the duo’s childhood
home county. Read on to discover Cameron’s tips for exploring
Somerset, from its spring blooms to its apple harvest.
Late summer, just before the harvest.
Definitely Wiveliscombe, which is home to so many artists now.
It has a couple of lovely pubs, and a little town square that hosts
events throughout the year.
Apples before the harvest.
The Newt, left, and the Somerset estate’s Hadspen
House
The
Newt. It has been pioneering in its development of the
surrounding gardens and landscape, and the food offered there is
simply delicious.
Brazier Coffee Roasters – you can smell the beans from
a mile away.
The smoked trout bagel served at the White Post
Café is particularly good. Or, if you’re vegetarian, try the
sweet potato fritters.
It’s just over the border, in Devon, but The Lost
Kitchen is wonderful.
The Quantocks, left, and White Post Café
Try the White Horse Inn in Bradford on Tone. For dinner
indoors, we’d say Woods in Dulverton (again, it’s Devon, but
we’re claiming it as our own).
If you’re in the market, Triscombe Nurseries, at the foot of the
Quantocks.
Head to the Quantocks and retrace the footsteps of a famous poet
along The Coleridge Way.
For the best homemade pies in the county, head straight to
Wellington Cheese and Wine Shop. Homity, pork, apple –
they have the lot. The homemade chocolates are also delicious.
Hauser & Wirth | Photo credit: Lois GoBe /
Shutterstock
To Hauser
& Wirth in Bruton. They’ve brought contemporary art to the
Somerset landscape, and the garden designed by Piet Oudolf is
remarkable.
Forde
Abbey. It’s beautiful – we filmed our Spring 21 campaign in the
glass house.
Explore Silver Street Antiques in Taunton – you can pick up an
incredible bargain in there. Don’t be put off by the unassuming
frontage.
Try some wild swimming near Cow Castle on Exmoor.
Sadly, we’ve signed the Somerset Secrets Act and we can’t
share…
Jane Austen’s Persuasion is a classic, incredibly romantic West
Country novel, or, for something contemporary, you can never go
wrong with Tessa Hadley. Her 2015 novel The Past is set in an old
house deep in the Somerset countryside. For nature lovers, Robert
Macfarlane’s Holloway is a must-read – there are many ancient
holloways in Somerset, including along The Coleridge Way.
A bottle or two (or three!) of cider from Sheppy’s Cider.
Main photo credit: Aloha Bonser Shaw
