Last week you got to hear what my boyfriend thought of the Harptree Court treehouse, now it’s my turn…

Harptree court treehouse review

I feel a little bit under pressure going second with the review writing. First off, a lot of the lovely things about Harptree Court treehouse have been said already; I can’t tell you all over again about the lovely food we were left, or the comfy bed, or the fact that I won the chess tournament. (Oh dear, I appear to have mentioned that again anyway.)

I mention the chess though not to gloat over my victory, although I admit there is a certain amount of pride there, especially as, unlike some people, I have never actually been the captain of a chess team. I mention it because it was one of my favourite bits of our stay. I know chess isn’t everyone’s idea of fun on a romantic night away, but I love a bit of mental battling; I’m super competitive and don’t like losing, so there is also something about things like chess that leaves me feeling strangely vulnerable and exposed. I quite like that. It feels like it’s probably good for me.

Of course this isn’t meant to be a glimpse into the depths of my psyche, it’s meant to be a review of a treehouse. View Post

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I get approached by a lot of companies asking me to write about their products or services. A lot of them go along these lines:

“I’m a parent, just like you, and have given up my job to concentrate all of my attention of a new app I have developed to help toddlers with potty training. It’s really like nothing else available, and I’d love for you to try to out…”

Cue the loud bang as I fall asleep and my head hits the desk. I am, fortunately, well past the stage of having to worry about toilet accidents other than my own and can’t help but wish, for their sakes, that these people had stayed in their stable, well paid jobs.

This week though I was approached by a new online investment company called Nutmeg and actually got quite excited, not least because there was a quiz AND charts. I love both of these things. I’ve had an online stocks and shares account through my bank for years, but have never used it as I’ve been put off by the transaction fees and have always been under the illusion that you need to invest thousands and thousands of pounds to make it worthwhile. I’m very aware though of the value of this sort of investment – one of the first things I did after going on maternity leave with Belle was to set up a stakeholder pension in a high risk portfolio. I couldn’t afford to pay much in, but every little helps and all that.

Nutmeg’s idea though is to make investments more accessible for people exactly like me, people who understand that simply putting money into a savings account isn’t worth the effort of setting up a standing order, and yet aren’t at the stage of wanting to manage their own investment portfolio. I suspect that the fact that the phrase ‘managing an investment portfolio’ makes me think of an actual folder of paper that needs sorting into colour order confirms that I should not be put in charge of it. You wouldn’t guess I had a first class economics degree.

So, how does it work? Well, the idea is that it’s meant to make investing as simple as possible, so you have a choice of investing in a basic saving account, and ISA or a pension. The minimum investment levels are low too – a £1,000 lump sum, plus a minimum monthly contribution of £50 per month if you pot is smaller than £5,000. Although this sort of investing works best when it’s long term, you are free to withdraw as much of your money as you like at any time – you’re not locked in at all and unless you need your cash super quick, there are no charges for withdrawals.* View Post

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I saw some people out at the weekend in t-shirts, which means it’s time to start thinking about summer festivals – hoorah!

This year we are off to Standon Calling. We’ve never been before, although it’s been going for ten years now, and it looks pretty cool – a perfect summer escape for festival-lovers and families alike, offering an intimate three day celebration of renowned and upcoming acts, art, comedy, fancy dress for all, the hilarious Standon Dog Show(!), workshops, family entertainment and of course its own heated outdoor swimming pool! I can safely say I have never been to a festival and packed my swimming costume before!

Set in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside from 31st July – 2nd August the festival has already announced a plethora of unmissable acts including a UK Festival Exclusive from The Dandy Warhols, Little Dragon, Basement Jaxx, Ella Eyre Roots Manuva.  View Post

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I have a confession to make. It’s a biggie, as I have two children, now 19 and 12, and it doesn’t reflect well on me as a parent.

*whispers*

I have never made a will.

I’ve never had any assets you see, so it’s never felt like something I needed to do. This is stupid I know, as I have two children and should I die I have nothing in place in writing to specify what I want to happen to them. I have a life insurance policy and various pension pots too, but at no point have I managed to get everything together in one place and make a proper grown up plan.

Silly isn’t it?

It feels even sillier as I have always had a bit of a reputation in my family as ‘the organised one’, but I fear this is based more on the fact that I used to spend a lot of time colouring in revision timetables than on my ability to manage important things like finances. View Post

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Last weekend my boyfriend and I spent a night in the amazing treehouse at Harptree Court. The idea was to tick off the ‘live in a tree’ item on my list of 40 things to do before 40, although it was so luxurious it almost feels like cheating. While we were there we talked about how strange it is that two people can experience the same event and have such different memories of it, and that made me think it might be rather fun to have a boy’s eye and a girl’s eye view from the treehouse.

This is his, mine will follow next week.

Harptree court treehouse

“Do you want to come and stay in a tree house with me?” Josie asked. 

“Yes” was my obvious reply, not just because of the obvious opportunity to spend time alone together, but because Josie has a wonderful way of asking questions – even about mundane, dull things (which this is not) – and making them sound like wonderfully exciting adventures.  Perhaps it’s just a sparkle in her eye and the way her lips twitch with excitement after she’s asked a question.  

If you’ve not come across Harptree Court before, it really is beautiful, nestled in some of the county’s most beautiful countryside. The village of East Harptree ies to the east, and, to the west, the aptly and unoriginally named West Harptree.  One likes to think that the village naming committee was in something of a hurry at that particular naming ceremony.  Perhaps they were exhausted after naming the nearby Nempnett Thrubwell and, feeling that they peaked too soon, decided it to play it safe for a while.   View Post

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I thought we had World Book Day sorted this year. To be honest, I was surprised Belle’s school were even doing the dressing up thing at all, I thought it might be more of a primary school vibe, but when we got the letter home Belle assured me that it was all in hand – she was going to go as Hermione Granger and it was all sorted.

Excellent.

Hermione Granger

In fact, judging by the costumes that some of her friends had chosen, Hermione Granger was basically Elizabeth Bennett. A lot of her peers were apparently going to be dressing up as the classic fictional literary character that is Zoella.  View Post

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Not by me personally – that would be pretty irresponsible. If I ever offer to draw you up a will or manage a portfolio of stocks and shares or anything like that then do say no. I am working with The Co-operative Legal Services though this month to bring you all the information you need to write or update your will.

Join me, alongside The Co-operative’s legal experts, at 1pm on March 11th for a Twitter party, and find out all about what’s involved in making a will. The party will coincide with the launch of a video we’re filming this week where I ask all the stupid questions about will writing that you’re too afraid to ask for fear of looking silly. Is it OK to scribble your wishes on a bit of lined paper, sign it and get a friend to witness it? Is it sensible to hide your will behind a painting over your fireplace or does that only happen in detective novels?

I will also be going through the process of writing a will with The Co-operative, and will be writing about this so that you know exactly what to expect.

If you’ve yet to get round to writing a will or want to find out more about updating an existing one then come along on the 11th March, follow the hashtag #ChoiceNotChance, and take the action you need to protect your family.

how do you write a will?

So how can I get involved?

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Tesco Mum of the Year AwardsAbout 97% of me always enjoys the Tesco Mum of the Year Awards. I’ve been to three of the annual award ceremonies now and this year’s, which took place last Sunday, was just as inspiring as always – eight amazing women going above and beyond to make a difference to other people’s lives.

Then there is this niggling 3% of me that I’m actually slightly ashamed of, as it feels pretty selfish. It’s the 3% of me that feels bad because I haven’t set up a charity or saved a life or raised huge amounts of cash for a good cause.

You see? Pretty selfish isn’t it? Because none of it is meant to be about me. I comfort myself with the thought that it’s all part of the normal parenting guilt thing, where nothing you do is ever really quite good enough. The internet makes it worse because things like Pinterest instil in you the idea that all the proper mums are creating simple yet elegant windowsill displays at the same time as preparing wholesome bento box packed lunches for their funky yet casual looking, ruddy faced children. View Post

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Gah!

March already!

Can you even believe it? It will be my birthday next month, which means two years already since I wrote my 40 things before 40 list and still plenty to tick off, some of which are not feeling terrible affordable. Panic not though, this time next year and all that.

In the meantime, while I save frantically for that trip to Iceland, here are a few things that are making March lovely…

Mother's Day Flowers View Post

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I heard a story on BBC Somerset last week that for some reason really wound me up. It was about three local cemeteries approving the use of QR codes on gravestones. After a little bit of research I discovered that this has been a thing for a while now, but it was the first I had heard of it and it made me inexplicably irate.

The idea is pretty harmless – scan the QR code and you can find out more about the person buried there. Nothing offensive in that is there? So why did it make me feel so uncomfortable?

Gravestones View Post

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When I was younger I slept like a baby. Even when I was an actual baby. I was always in bed by 9pm, (meaning that I missed most of the interesting family incidents), and would sleep pretty solidly through the night until 7am. I would even go to the toilet without waking up, a fact my Grandad would testify to if he was still alive, me having walked in on him in the middle of the night, causing him to leap from the toilet just before I sat down on his lap.

And then I had a baby.

Goodbye sleep, so long good friend, I enjoyed our time together.

It’s not so much that Bee was a bad sleeper, she really wasn’t, but there is a special secret switch in your brain that gets flicked when you become a mother that means that from that point on you always sleep with one ear open, just in case.

And then Belle was born and I was well and truly screwed.

She has many charming qualities, but the ability to sleep for longer than 40 minutes at a time until the age of about four was not one of them.

And so here I am, left with an annoying and yet fairly impressive ability to guess the time at any moment to within about eight minutes, so aware am I of the passing of time throughout the night. Impressive maybe, but not hugely restful. View Post

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I am in my office today, (by office I mean a small room I share with two guys who work in corporate sports hospitality, to stop me going insane at home by myself), and we are listening to Absolute Radio 90s. We have a three strike policy; if two out of the three of us agree that a song is awful it counts as a strike and when we get to three we switch decades.

I know, we are super cool and you want to come and work with us don’t you? Well I’m afraid the room is full of sports memorabilia, cups that haven’t been washed in 27 weeks and assorted men’s gym kit, so there isn’t room for anyone else. Bad luck.

(Bad luck for me too as I have just totally shattered the illusion of myself as some sort of glamorous social media type who works in a massive open plan room on the 14th floor of a office block in Soho, breaking from work every now and again to play some ping pong or sit on a beanbag to brainstorm something cutting edge.)

*clears old cups away, kicks dirty white socks to one side and continues typing* View Post

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