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Why Millennials and Gen Z Are Choosing Antiques
From rented flats to period cottages, younger buyers are embracing antiques for their character, craftsmanship, sustainability and versatility. Discover why old furniture is finding a new audience.

Amanda Lennon
3 days ago3 min read


From Yorkshire to Hollywood? Chaos Cottage Joins Screen Yorkshire
When a childhood friend working in Hollywood asked why Chaos Cottage wasn't listed on a location database, it sparked an unexpected journey. From antiques and spaniels to gardens, ponds and a 1980s Land Rover, discover why our Yorkshire home has joined Screen Yorkshire as a filming and photography location.

Amanda Lennon
Jun 95 min read


Reviving Conscious Craftsmanship: The Story Behind Chaos Cottage
Recently, we were delighted to be featured by Wildflower Magazine, who described Chaos Cottage as a business dedicated to reviving conscious craftsmanship. It is a phrase that perfectly captures what we have been trying to build here over the last few years, although when we first started, we probably wouldn't have called it that.

Amanda Lennon
Jun 53 min read


Monday’s Musings: Caring for Family, Grief & Late Spring at Chaos Cottage
A reflective Monday’s Musings from Chaos Cottage on caring for ageing parents, family loss, late spring gardening chaos and the strange balancing act many Gen X families now find themselves navigating — all accompanied by a polytunnel full of increasingly impatient plants.

Amanda Lennon
May 183 min read


Why Buying from Small Businesses Isn’t the Same as Amazon
Why Buying from Small Businesses Isn’t the Same as Amazon (And Why It Matters). Etiquette - how and why to buy from independents despite what the T and TikTok might tell you!

Amanda Lennon
May 73 min read


Buying Guide: Vintage for the Garden
A guide to choosing antique and vintage items for the garden specifically.

Amanda Lennon
May 55 min read


Easter at Chaos Cottage
There are Easter weekends that involve chocolate eggs, family gatherings and gentle pottering… and then there are Easter weekends at Chaos Cottage!

Amanda Lennon
Apr 113 min read


Modern Heirlooms
the essence of a modern heirloom: something chosen today, used daily, and still worthy of passing on tomorrow. Not something precious locked in a cabinet, but useful in daily life – a desk where ideas begin, a chair that’s sat in at the end of a long, a plate that’s hung, moved, and rehung as the mood and decor shifts.

Amanda Lennon
Apr 44 min read


Creating a Living Spring Wreath
Creating a living wreath using spring bulbs and primroses. Celebrate Spring!

Amanda Lennon
Mar 84 min read


Caring for Our Orchard
Expanding and deepening our orchard pond in Yorkshire as a natural solution to garden flooding. A practical guide to wildlife pond creation, moving frogspawn, planting around a pond and building climate resilience in a UK cottage garden.

Amanda Lennon
Feb 274 min read


Monday Musings over an Early Coffee (5.30am)
The Future of Work, Ownership and a Slower Life: Climate, Resilience and Life at Chaos Cottage Mornings are early here at Chaos Cottage, the dogs tumble out and the kettle sings, there is chaos from the moment we wake but it’s our casual, enjoyable chaos made up of excitable spaniels – it’s the start of another day and there’s breakfast, right?! Once the coffee and tea are made there’s time for a breath or two, and everything calms down. This year though, calm has come with w

Amanda Lennon
Feb 175 min read


Silly Spaniels
We have always had dogs except for a brief time when we returned to the UK from New Zealand. Given the nature of our return (we had lost everything - house and belongings - in the Christchurch earthquakes of 2011) we were at a low point, to say the least. One of the hardest decisions we'd had to make was rehoming our pair of Golden Retrievers, George and Mildred. At the time Christchurch was still being rocked by aftershocks (more than 12 per day) and all of us were suffering

Amanda Lennon
Feb 72 min read


Welcome to Chaos Cottage
Chaos Cottage is a home, a smallholding and a way of life tucked away in a quiet part of British countryside.

Amanda Lennon
Feb 42 min read
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