Ladybird, ladybird

POTS of jam and marmalade fill a worktop in Annabel Everett’s openplan kitchen. The 38-year-old is excited that she’s been able to make jam successfully for the first time.

“I bought a special kit from Lakeland,” she confides. “It’s the first time I’ve been able to get my jam to set.”

Annabel shares her North Yorkshire home with husband Simon, 43, their three children – Harry, 11, Lexie, eight and Bunnie, six – and enough animals to open a mini zoo; four dogs, four horses, four chickens, two budgies, two guinea pigs, two hamsters and a goat called Pansy.

In between caring for her family and pets, Annabel makes her own range of bespoke jewellery, using an exquisite collection of semi-precious stones and fresh-water pearls.

Her work has a defining look: it’s chunky and bold, a statement in its own right.

Fans of her work include Rebecca Howard, who lives a short drive away from Annabel’s base in Bulmer. “She likesoff-the-wallstuff,”revealsAnnabel of the chatelaine of Castle Howard.

“She commissioned me to make an art deco piece with lots of pearls.”

When we meet at her converted barn, Annabel is wearing several of her own pieces. Around her neck is a large freshwater pearl pendant and a piece of lemon topaz set in silver on a string of pearls. A charm bracelet dangles from her wrist, with the letters S A H L and B set in heavy, solid silver, attached. “They are the initials of everyone in the family,” Annabel explains.

Each piece is finished with Annabel’s motif: a tiny ladybird, made in Venetian glass.

Her love of jewellery dates back to her childhood. Annabel’s mother died when she was five, so she was raised by her grandmother, Ellen- Ruth Einhorn, a keen amateur jeweller.

“Granny used to bring me along to night school to learn jewellery making and silver-smithing and I absolutely loved it,” recalls Annabel. “I began by making rings and bangles, and hammering copper while Granny would work in silver and gold. I used to make things for her and for friends and for my godmother.”

Although Annabel has been creating her own collections for eight years now, she still spends time in the classroom. She is a student at the York School of Jewellery. “I make a lot of jewellery at home, but I go to the school to make me think more.

You need somebody to challenge your ideas and teach you new techniques or relearn old skills because you have picked up bad habits,” she says.

One of Annabel’s most expensive necklaces, worth around £400, was featured in Vogue last year. Besides taking commissions, she also sells her work at fairs and at a few local stockists including Genevieve in Helmsley; Georgies in Harrogate; Bubbles in Easingwold and The Star at Helmsley deli. Prices range from about £70 to £200 and above for a oneoff piece. “You are buying something that is thousands of years old and real,” explains Annabel. “It’s not plastic and it won’t fall to pieces.

Each piece comes with a lifetime guarantee and if you want it restrung to create something different I charge around £5 or £10.”

Annabel’s artistic energies go beyond jewellery-making. She also paints murals – ideal for nurseries and children’s rooms – as well as furniture, toy boxes and even hairbrushes as well as china. “Anything that can be painted, I can paint it,”

she said. “When Harry was born, I painted his bedroom. Friends saw it and I started doing it for them.”

Annabel believes she was born with a creative streak. She reveals that when she was younger she wrote two Mills & Boon novels. She still does creative writing and says she’d love to write a novel and children’s stories.

But jewellery-making is her first love. At her work bench in the corner of the living room, there are several ‘works in progress’. Squares of dark metal lie in wait for Annabel to work her magic. A firm polish reveals the mirror-quality silver beneath. Next, she shows me a pendant, and debates over which stone to set on to the base.

“I used to make jewellery for me to wear, but then people started asking about it which lead to commissions – and the business just snowballed,”

says Annabel. “It’s very exciting when you see somebody walking around with a necklace you have made.”

annabeleverettdesigns.com

Nibbling away at the wrinkles

This is not just a facial. This is an anti-ageing facial with knobs on, says Jenny Needham.

BANNATYNE’S Health Clubs are well known throughout the country and the one in Darlington is well established.

A later add-on was The Sensory Spa, which has just celebrated its first birthday. Enter the club and there’s the usual hustle and bustle around reception and the bar area, with friends meeting and gym bunnies swapping tales of how hard they’ve just pushed themselves, but around the corner is a different, and much more tranquil tale.

A long corridor leads to the beautifully appointed, atmospheric, pink and black treatment rooms, which are subtly lit with shower areas and comfortable treatment beds.

Understandably in our high-stress world the most popular treatments at the spa are the massages, says beauty therapist Claire Christodoulou – who in keeping with her exotic name has worked on cruise liners all over the world – but I’ve opted for an anti-ageing tri-enzyme facial.

The fruit enzymes are used do the same job as a grainy exfoliant, but much less roughly. The enzymes simply nibble away at the dead skin cells that accumulate on the surface of the skin, dissolving them, revealing the brighter skin underneath and bringing fresh blood cells to the surface. Claire uses three different enzymes.

The first has a heating effect on skin and breaks down all the dead skin cells. “It has a fantastic anti-ageing action,” says Claire. The second serum has a big tingle factor as it decongests the skin, before a third serum is applied. “This stays on the skin to help protect it and seal in everything we’ve done to it,” explains Claire. “But because the top layers of the skin are gently stripped away during treatment it’s more important than ever that you apply an SPF afterwards.” But this isn’t just a facial. Each time the serums are applied, the therapist treats another bit of the body.

First of all the feet are given a nice welcome, hands and arms are massaged, and finally the decolletage and neck and shoulders are stretched and smoothed and pummelled into submission. Add to that the sublime smells of the oils and masks – rosewood, lime and lavender – and this is a thoroughly lovely treatment which leaves skin glowing for days afterwards.

■ Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Facial (60 minutes) £65. Sensory Spa booking line: 0845-434-8466 or visit thesensory.co.uk

WIN A SPA DAY FOR TWO

Therapists at Bannatyne’s use well known products such as St Tropez and Elemis and treatments are being extended to include botox and other facial fillers.

To celebrate their first year the spa is offering one reader the chance to win a spa day for two, which includes full use of the gym and other facilities for the day, a deep tissue massage, tester facial and scalp massage.

To stand a chance of winning just tell us the name of the Bannatyne’s Health Club spa. Answers, together with contact details, to Spa Competition, Features, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF. The closing date is Monday, May 25, and usual Newsquest competition rules apply.