This post is very apt after Tuesday’s short trip to snowy Sweden. In a quintessentially English cobbled street, just a stone’s throw from the River Medway, sits the 16th century Upnor Castle, near Rochester. But far more intriguing is this red house that shrinks somewhat self-consciously behind trees and bushes at the opposite end of the lane. But ha! It can’t hide from me! In typical Scandinavian-style, it’s a looker, incredibly striking in perfect red and white simplicity. There’s something playful, childish and unfussy here: the deliberately assymmetric windows flout the rules, and the defiant red looks sensational against the sky, especially on a cold winter’s day in sunny England.

.(Gothenburg, Sweden, taken this week after a blizzard)