Little houses and prairies: Why homemakers love 'cottagecore'  

We come to grips with the influence of social media on interiors and how the pandemic has sparked a trend for nostalgia

Cottage what? My daughter was disappointed, but not for the first time. Jurassic M had struck again. “Cottagecore? Cott-age-core? The CORE” she intoned with impatient, rising staccato. 

Having exhausted my ability to interpret words, she stabbed a finger toward a squat mug dribbled with emerald glazes — that I, the dopey, aged guardian, had rescued from a skip when the Dean of Lismore retired.