September 25, 2024

The Cabbage Despatch.. Ruminations Amid The Roses With Ros Atkinson

Ros Atkinson, known to an entranced legion of Instagram disciples as @her_dark_materials, is a food and lifestyle photographer based in the Cotswolds.
Her deeply atmospheric shoots are works of art, their breath-taking compositions steeped in the 16th-century Dutch still life tradition, and so evocative that we invariably yearn to while away whole days at her kitchen table.
Here, she shares just a few of the magical components that make for a life beautifully lived.
 
What do you love most about your job?
Being a freelancer, I’m constantly thrown into new situations, with very knowledge of what’s awaiting me. I quite like the fact that I have to snap into action in an unfamiliar scenario and produce something I’m really proud of. It keeps my mind fresh and teaches me never to take anything for granted.
 
Can you describe a perfect day?
I just went up to London to see an old friend. We bought flowers from Columbia Road Flower Market, and then spent the afternoon photographing them – a creative play date, if you like. Then we had cheese and wine, and then I hopped on the train home. That was up there with some good ones.
What are the most cherished items you own?
My first pair of scissors. I’m left-handed and couldn’t cut out at school, quite the trauma. My father brought me back some left-handed scissors, I must have been about six, and it was life changing. Also, photos of my children, and my father’s last voicemails before he died.
What’s your favourite failsafe dish?
Turkish eggs. A mix of garlic-infused yoghurt, poached eggs, chilli sizzle in butter, and a flurry of dill over the top. Big buttery sourdough dunkers. No one can resist.
Dog walks, country pubs or gallery hopping: how do you spend your Sundays?
Niche. I like watching Italian films.
Where do you go for inspiration?
My mother had a museum, and my early inspirations were shelves of fossils, and minerals. If I was off school, I’d get to organise drawers of fossils in her storeroom. I find museums very therapeutic and full of amazing stories.
What was the last book you loved?
My friend Danny just wrote a book called The Good Kitchen: Love and Connection Through Food about a community kitchen he founded in Sicily. I shot the book, mostly on the hoof, no stylist or props, just bare bones of what was there. I have loved reading the stories about how to set up a community kitchen in the middle of Sicily.
What’s your favourite hotel?
My friend has the most gorgeous Bed and Breakfast near Burford. She used to be a fashion buyer (‘Lacroix, darling!’) and the whole house is what I like to describe as Versailles meets the Cotswolds.
 
Favourite restaurant?
So many. I could write a list a mile long. But, if you’re in the Cotswolds, try to stray off the beaten track and go to Chloe’s in Charlbury or the Killingwoth Castle.
 
Your favourite artist, living or dead?
Again, too hard to choose, but Artemisia Gentileschi, a sort of female Caravaggio, fascinates me.
 
Name a song that is significant to you?
S Club 7, Reach for the Stars. My family comes from Cornwall and every time I drove down when the children were little, for years and years on end, that song would be played on a loop. For five hours solid. I absolutely loathed it then but I find myself plunged into the most lovely nostalgia if I hear it now.
 
Who would play you in a film? 
Oh, definitely Kate Winslet. For multiple reasons.
 
Who has had the biggest impact on your career?
My eldest daughter, who I dress up in all the Cabbages and Roses clothes. If I had her work ethic, I’d have three private jets by now!
Which delights you more: garden pottering or kitchen pottering?
I love pottering, but am quite random and would go from one to the other without noticing.
 
If you had to choose, are you happier in city or country?
I love going to a big city, but I’m more at home in the country.
 
Early riser or night owl?
Neither. I am most at home in the middle of the day.
How would you describe your style?
Land Girl attire.
 
Your favourite item of clothing?
I have a pair of gloves, much darned, that my great grandmother knitted me.
 
What job would you do in a parallel life? 
I always wanted to write those really surreal jokes on lollipop sticks.
What pieces from the Cabbages & Roses AW24 have you got your eye on?
Every season, there’s about three coats that I try and manifest into my wardrobe. The art of coating is one of Cabbages and Roses’ strongest talents. Each one – and I have many – is so well made, from fabric and lining and structure down to the little details like ribbons, and buttons. Absolute works of art.