This is Belle’s entry for the Capture the Colour children’s photography competition from Travel Supermarket. To enter, Belle had to take five photographs that captured her summer – one red, one blue, one yellow, one green and one white.

Tyntesfield Gromit

Over the summer we spent a lot of time hunting Gromits – we found all 80! This one is a bit scary. It was at Tyntesfield.

View Post

Follow:

Hoorah!

Less than a month to go now until I get a legitimate excuse to go for several days on the trot without a shower! There’s the music and everything too of course, but I do hate showers.

Camp Bestival have now announced their full day-by-day line-up, so as well as the live-like-a-tramp excitement I can also think about exactly who and what I want to see. Plus, if you’re not so keen on being a bit stinky then a limited number of day tickets are now on sale at www.campbestival.net.

Check out the full Camp Bestival line-up here: View Post

Follow:

We may still have a week of the summer holidays left, but already I’m thinking about Autumn breaks. It’s a bit sad really isn’t it?

I think it’s a positive thing though – I’ve enjoyed my summer breaks so much this year that I obviously just can’t wait to do it again. It’s not that I’m work-shy or anything, honestly.

Travelling and holidays with children is always a bit of a gamble, and not always terribly restful, as toddlers don’t seem to quite get the idea of lazing around on the beach. They tend not to enjoy sightseeing tours of cities much either in my experience, unless the sights you are seeing are play areas and ice cream vans, in which case you may as well save the petrol money, stay at home, and just pop to the park in the afternoon to be honest.

Going on holiday with friends has always worked well for me – friends who have children the same age and can share the ‘work’ of the holiday with you. When Belle was about a year old, we had a really lovely few days in Centre Parcs with a friend and her one year old, and it meant that the babies could amuse each other, while we concentrated on important holiday tasks like finding the corkscrew.

We’ve continued the holiday with friends idea ever since, and it has proved a big hit. Belle is ten now, but she still enjoys having someone to play with, and this year her holiday companion was her friend Ashley. He and Belle got to sleep in a yurt, climb trees and chase the farm dog, while Ashley’s mum Vicky and I had a little lie down with a book and a glass of wine. Are you noticing the theme here?

"yurt holiday"

Our holiday home this summer

Back in the spring, we were planning our holidays. “The kids will play of in the woods or something,” I say excitedly, “and we can lie around reading and drinking!”

“Hoorah!” agrees Vicky.

You see? Simple.

The risk of course, especially in small spaces like yurts, is that the kids start bickering and your friend drives you mad, but fortunately this hasn’t happened to me so far. It may have happened to Vicky of course. You’d have to ask her that…

Follow:

When Littlewoods asked me to take part in their style challenge, to choose my perfect child-friendly holiday outfit from their women’s clothing range, I felt it only fair to warn them what they were letting themselves in for.

“I’d love to take part,” I said, “but I should probably make it clear upfront that I have no style.”

Sad, but true. I really have no sense of what looks good, and am renowned amongst friends and family for having always had a ‘unique’ dress sense.

“Interesting choice of outfit,” my sister said when I was staying with her recently.

“It’s my Easter outfit!” I replied, beaming. “See? It’s yellow like a chick.”

“It wasn’t really the yellow I was concerned about,” she replied, eyeing my leggings, bright yellow t-shirt and denim ra-ra skirt combination suspiciously.

If I’m going anywhere important I’ll always get Bee to check what I’m wearing. Sometimes it’s immediately clear I’ve gone horribly wrong. “No,” she’ll say, shaking her head pityingly, “just no.”

Other times it’s less certain. “Well… I wouldn’t go out in it, but it looks very you.” I don’t think that is meant as a compliment.

Littlewoods assured me that it would be fine to get help, but I thought perhaps it was time for me to go it alone, so I tried to pick something all by myself. I started in dresses. I like dresses.

Initially I found a rather colourful long pink and purple one that I liked, but I’m guessing it doesn’t really fit with the whole practical/casual beachwear thing.

So I looked a bit more, and found a natty stripy number, which is very me. I thought it might look nice perhaps with some cropped leggings underneath. Wonderfully practical for when I jet off on my child-friendly summer holidays.

Given the British weather though, I thought I should be prepared. So to go with it I’m taking this lovely hat in case it’s sunny and a nice rain coat to protect me from any sudden spring showers.

And that’s me done. I’ll be looking pretty hot don’t you think?

PS I am currently on the short list for the ‘Style’ award in the Brilliance in Blogging Awards. Please take half a minute to cast your vote and tick the Slummy single mummy box.

Follow: