Here’s a confession… as far as I can remember, our kids had never been to see Father Christmas in his grotto. Was it because it felt a bit kitsch, or perhaps simply because preschool or school had always done the job for us by providing Father Christmas or Dutch Sinterklaas at the right moment? Either […]
family fun
Celebrating spring with the Cow release- Uppsala, Sweden
The long, cold winter in Sweden has shaped the way things are done in all different walks of life. In Sweden the cows don’t get to enjoy as much outdoor life as they do in the UK; they need protecting from the harsh conditions and spend 8-9 months of the year indoors. They don’t have […]
Family bonding over Afternoon Tea at St Ermin’s hotel, London
Mummy, I really love peppermint tea! -Hugo exclaimed in the car homeward bound. This made me smile, especially as he usually shies away from drinking tea. In fact, all three of our kids do. Yet on Sunday both Angelina and Hugo chose to enjoy a pot of tea as part of their Busy Bees tea at […]
Anthem of the Seas
Hey, Sending lots of love from the Anthem of the Seas. We have now popped our family cruising cherry and are having a weekend extravaganza of sensory overload of great hospitality, amazing food, drink and music. We are only at sea for a short day and a half, but have already raced each other in dodgems, […]
Waddesdon Manor Winter Lights- ’twas step too far for me
Have you ever done something rather silly to capture that perfect picture? I’m thinking of something like going out on a cold winter night, stumbling along cold paths, dragging kids along. Ah yes, that! And then you go a step further! A step too far! Tonight we drove to our local National trust property, Waddesdon Manor, to […]
How to introduce kids to rugby
Who has heard the saying: ” Football is a game for gentlemen played by ruffians and rugby is a game for ruffians played by gentlemen”? Ruffians meaning tough, dirty Well, I had, but never quite got what it meant. I got the game for ruffians bit: rugby can be a rough game indeed. But where […]
A most magical Christmas…best sort the next one.
Hearing the word Christmas as the Summer turns to Autumn fills me with a mixture of excitement and dread. I love Christmas! However, I hate all the pressure that goes with it: The pressure to make a perfect day, to squeeze all the happiness of the year into a single day, to get the perfect […]
Follow Tolkien’s footsteps to a forest of magic- Puzzlewood
The Forest of Dean is a gorgeous spans of woodland, but it has a extra special corner-Puzzlewood, an eerie and mystical forest. This is a forest I’m not sure I’d dare to enter as the night draws in! A landscape shaped by, what geologists think are, collapsed caves and ancient trees. The floor of the […]
An enchanted hall, garden and castle, Belsay
Tucked away in the Northumberland countryside is a magical place: Belsay Hall, gardens and castle. Luckily for us I picked an especially lovely spring day to explore Belsay with the children. I really had no clue of what we were in for when I decided to add it to our agenda. It came highly […]
Ringside at Zippos Circus
For the last three years we’ve eagerly awaited the circus coming to town. The bright Zippos Circus posters go up in un-missable quantities; Then the caravans start arriving to the top of South Park. All of a sudden, within a matter of hours, there it is: the big top standing tall with one of the […]