I know Woolacombe is already a well known destination for families, but I have to admit to not having had fond memories of it until recently, so for me it has until now at least been a hidden gem.

I had previously only been to Woolacombe once before, about ten years ago. It was one of those Monday-Friday breaks with coupons, in a caravan, in what turned out to be possibly one of the coldest Aprils known to man. Or at least it felt like it to me. We stayed on a small caravan park with fairly uninspiring facilities and at night had the dilemma of whether to put the extra blankets on the beds or up over the windows to try and block out some of the draughts.

Belle was about 9 months old at the time, waking about 27 times a night, not helped by a cold. The one day we ventured into Woolacombe all I can remember is my partner at the time insisting we get sausage rolls from Greggs and making us eat them, huddled on a windswept bench, before letting us all run back to the car to warm up.

Fortunately this rather bleak image couldn’t be further from the break Belle and I enjoyed at Twitchen House, a Woolacombe Bay park, a couple of weekends ago. View Post

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They say that smell is the most evocative sense, but I think there is a lot to be said for sound.

One of the strongest memories I have from my childhood is staying at my Gran and Grandad’s house and waking up in the small back bedroom to the coo-cooing of wood pigeons in the trees at the end of the garden. Waking up there and hearing those morning bird noises I always felt happy.

Where we live now, even though we are only a little way off the main road, birds are a familiar sound in the morning. Sometimes it is a little on the noisy side, but bird song is one of those sounds that I think we take for granted. Can you imagine waking up to silence? Taking a walk in the woods and not hearing a single bird? It would be pretty sad wouldn’t it? View Post

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Bee is writing for me again today. She is 18 tomorrow and so this is the very last post she will ever write for me as a child! *sob*

…

As a vegan there are many treats you have to sacrifice. People often ask me ‘but don’t you miss bacon and syrup waffles/magnums/chocolate gateaux?’ and they’re often shocked when I reply with the truth, that I really don’t miss anything that much. Obviously though I am only human so sometimes I do crave a moist slice of chocolate covered beef.

For these occasions, there is one secret weapon all vegans should know about. View Post

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I haven’t.

It’s something I think about quite regularly, but never get as far as actually doing anything about. I know I must,  I know I am a Bad Parent for not having plans in place, but it feels like a bit of a scary thing to do. Firstly it means acknowledging that I’m not actually immortal (whaaat??!), but also it’s dead complicated. Or feels it at least.

To try and inspire me, and to give a bit of a shove to other parents who haven’t got round to it yet, I asked Rebekah Hillman of Hillman Legal Partnerships to put together a few of the basics for me, so it didn’t seem so scary. Here’s what she said… View Post

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They’re here! The summer holidays are here! Don’t panic, put down the gin, we can do this! Deep breaths.

It is 10am on the first day of the summer holidays in our house and Belle is sat in front of the TV eating toast and jam. I suspect this could be a sign of things to come as I spend large chunks of the holidays juggling work and child care.

Summer holidays

Any time you come to our house, there will be a 79% chance you will find Belle in this exact position. It is her favourite.

I am envisaging a lot of conversations that go something like this: View Post

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Restaurants Blog Hop (1)

 

So, as you may remember, a little while ago I took part in my first ever blog hop as part of the Social Fabric community, and wrote about my favourite places to eat in Bristol. Today then I am sharing the links from everyone else that took part. Sure, you might not often find yourself in Charlotte, North Carolina, but when you do… well, you certainly won’t be stuck for somewhere to eat.

Even if you aren’t looking for restaurants in all of these places I hope that it might prove a useful list in terms of discovering new bloggers all around the world, which can’t be a bad thing.  View Post

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Creating a voice for your blogEarlier this week I asked Bee to have a look at a post I was drafting. This is always a little scary for me as she has a bit of an eagle eye for mistakes and isn’t afraid to be critical. As she read I watched her face, trying to spot the bits that made her smile.

“So what do you think?” I asked when she had finished.

“It was fine,” she said.

Fine? Fine?? I don’t want fine. That’s like telling a man who has just confessed to being in love with you that you think he’s ‘nice’. It’s not cool. View Post

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I’ve been having a bit of a wobble recently about Belle leaving primary school, it being the end of an era, me practically being old enough for Saga car insurance etc etc, but last night I had one of those moments that reminded me why saying goodbye to primary school isn’t perhaps such a bad thing.

At 10.30pm last night I was presented with a selection of notes. One required me to send in £12.34 (?) for a school trip on the penultimate day of term (!). One was an invitation to a party tonight that required me to bring drinks and provide a selection of ‘whacky wigs and hilarious hats’. View Post

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A seven year age gap between kids is a bit of a tricky one. It’s great when the youngest is about a year old and your eight year old loves playing with adorable babies, but when that adorable baby turns into an annoying six year old, the now teenager isn’t always quite so keen.

One thing we find it really hard to do is to find activities and days out that both Bee and Belle, now 17 and 10, both enjoy. It is getting easier as they get older but funnily enough Bee doesn’t always leap at the chance to do things like spend a weekend with me and Belle in a caravan building sandcastles and playing on 2p arcade machines.

Funny that. View Post

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Restaurants Blog Hop (1)I’ve never taken part in a blog hop before. I have heard that generally it’s a Good Thing though, so I thought I would give the Social Fabric restaurant blog hop a go…

I love food. If you’ve ever met me in person you can probably tell this by the size of my bottom. I don’t spend loads of money on things like clothes or shoes or holidays but I do like to splash a bit of cash on eating out. This is partly a laziness thing, but also I love the social side of it – it forces you to switch off from work and other worries and instead focus completely on the people you are with. At home, I like to making cooking easy – who doesn’t love a good spicy meal kit?

Moving to Bristol has been an absolute joy for food. Here are a few of my favourite places to go: View Post

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Living just off the Gloucester Road in Bristol I am totally spoilt for independent stores. In fact it’s one of the reasons I moved here. I love that when I have a friend’s birthday coming up I know I can walk just five minutes up the road and pick out a present made and sold by a local designer or craftsperson.

I am really happy then this month to be bringing you a competition from The Dressing Room to celebrate Independent Retailer Month. The campaign highlights the important role smaller, local, independent retailers play in the communities they serve, the local economy they contribute to, and in the retail sector as a whole.

According to the Centre for Local Economic Strategies for every £1 that is spent with a local, independent business, between 50p-70p circulates back into that local economy. Buying locally supports local traders, their suppliers and the people they depend on to run their businesses. Buying locally boosts the local economy, rebuilding confidence in the community, enabling local businesses to prosper and grow.

Besides, isn’t it just nicer to know you are supporting a real person, their livelihood and their family, wherever they are, rather than a massive faceless organisation?

In the spirit of all things indie The Dressing Room, an online indie fashion boutique, are giving one of my readers £150 to spend on their gorgeous American Vintage range. The range is full of really stylish but practical pieces in beautiful colours. One of my favourite items is this jacket, called the ‘Fayettville printed pineapple jacket’ because, believe it or not, of all the places in the US, I have actually been to Fayettville! It’s just down the road from where I drank my milkshake.

American Vintage

If you’d like to win £150 to spend on new clothes (obvious question of the day) then just get friendly with the little widget below. The competition will close at the end of Indie Retailer Month on 31st July.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Since Bee became a vegan, it’s not just food shopping that has become somewhat tricky. I had no idea for instance that nail varnish has fish scales in it! When we were offered a vegan pedicure then I sent Bee along to find out more…

Being a vegan is difficult because no matter how hard you try, there’s literally millions of non-vegan products you have to watch out for, from cheese (a bit of a shame) to nail varnish (also a bit of a shame).

Luckily, I got the chance to have a vegan pedicure done by Sabi. She believes in all natural beauty treatments using the least harmful ingredients possible, therefore all the products she used for my pedicure were vegan, which was amazing because I didn’t have to keep checking the labels of all the products and I could just relax. View Post

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