I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels over the past couple of years. Initially it’s exciting, spending the night somewhere different, snaffling the free toiletries and watching TV in bed, but after a while it can become a bit boring – there are really only so many white bedrooms and smiley yet blank receptionists that you want in your life.

Our stay at the Bella Vista in Weston-Super-Mare then was the perfect antidote, just what we needed to balance out all the sterile chain hotels we’ve endured. We were checking them out on behalf of Approved Family Friendly, and so had our best hotel inspector hats on, but really found it difficult to fault them.

We were welcomed by owners Bev and Tim, who took on the Bella Vista two years ago, and it became immediately obvious that the couple have a genuine love of children and a desire to give families a wonderful holiday experience. The Bella Vista is a classic seaside town hotel, but with a personal touch and friendly welcome that you just don’t find in many places.

Bella Vista hotel Weston-Super-Mare Bev and Tim acknowledge that the accommodation is a little dated in parts, but the Bella Vista is a work in progress, with the eight bedrooms in the process of being brought up to date. We stayed in a comfortable family room with one double bed and one single, and had the chance to check out some of the other rooms too. The rooms that have been redecorated have been very tastefully done and there is plenty of space for families, with some rooms sleeping up to five people.

Bella Vista hotel Weston-Super-Mare

What’s lovely about the Bella Vista is that families really do come first – if you can think of anything at all that you need, Bev and Tim will do everything they can to provide it. Belle had an absolutely lovely time and when we left was already talking about wanting to go back again, and thinking about the home made presents she could take with her to add to the seaside themed décor.

If you’re looking for a comfortable, affordable family friendly hotel then the Bella Vista really should be top of your list.

Bella Vista hotel Weston-Super-Mare

Disclosure: We spent a night at the Bella Vista for the purposes of this review and to carry out our inspection.

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My very first smartphone was a Blackberry Curve. One of these cute little things, remember them?

I’ve never been very on top of the latest phone technology, so until I got this one, I think in 2009/10, I just had a phone that sent text messages and made calls – very retro. Being able to reply to emails FROM MY PHONE was a massive thing and the start of a flourishing if not slightly unhealthy obsession with being able to respond Very Quickly Indeed to everything. Just in case. View Post

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Bingo

I’m sure we all have the same preconception of the stereotypical bingo player. Not exactly a great advert for what i believe to be one of the best forms of gambling available to us today. You usually think of a trip to a bingo hall and you’re probably thinking about groups of retired ladies, all with the same blue rinse, jostling for the best seats, handbags full of those special bingo markers. (I do think the woman on the right looks like she might have a jab with her pen if you don’t keep an eye on her.) Sure, you’ll still find the older demographic in bingo halls around the country, but think about any advertising you’ve seen recently for bingo – both online and in bingo halls – and you’ll probably recall images of groups of younger women rather than the stereotypes that you’d expect.

The cynical amongst you may be thinking, “Yeah, but are those adverts just trying to attract a new demographic that they don’t have, positioning bingo as a younger person’s game before all of their customers die off?” The answer, actually, is no. Go to any bingo hall and you’ll see groups of younger women and even – shock horror – MEN! Who’d have thought it. View Post

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I’ve always looked young for my age. So young that I still get asked for ID in the Co-op when buying gin from time to time, probably more than my 18 year old daughter. I’ve been very lucky too that I’ve never suffered with any serious skin conditions, like eczema or acne, although acne definitely doesn’t have to be something you just put up with. Products like ClearAwayAcne are well worth exploring – don’t suffer in silence.

This is me. In make-up for a change. (I like this photo as I have deliberately cut off the top of my head so you can’t see my huge forehead or flat hair.)

Slummy single mummyWhen people ask about my children I am deliberately casual as I love to watch people’s reactions. “I have two daughters,” I say, “one is 11,” (pause slightly for people to look surprised that I am old enough to have an 11 year old), “and my eldest is 18.” View Post

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Guest post from Bee Richards

On my way out to buy hand wash recently, I decided to check my post box. Inside was a parcel slip, and inside the parcel was some hand wash! What are the chances?!

This wasn’t just any old hand wash though. This was Method gel hand wash – designed for good. This hand wash has been designed by Method, the eco friendly cleaning products company, to help raise awareness for the fair treatment of animals.

Method hand wash cruelty free

Method believes that “guinea pigs should never be used as guinea pigs” which makes me happy, with guinea pigs being my favourite pet and all. Method never tests any of their products on animals and, better yet, their products are actually safe to use around your pets. That means no excuse for any guinea pigs not washing their hands after they’ve been to the toilet.

As well as the hand wash being pet friendly and pro fair animal treatment, it’s the most adorable hand wash I’ve ever seen. The bottle is a lovely teardrop shape and is decorated with bunnies! I love bunnies.

I received the Mimosa Sun variety, and there’s a Botanical Garden scent available to buy too. Mimosa Sun smells gorgeous – orange, peach and lily of the valley are some of my favourite smells and they are all combined into this refreshing hand wash. It really does smell like summer sun in a bottle. It also made my skin really soft; usually most hand wash just dries my hands out and I have to put hand cream on straight after. Not with this hand wash though, as it contains no harsh chemicals making it great for your skin.

All in all, this hand wash is one of the best I’ve ever tried, and it’s against animal cruelty message gives you a happy little buzz every time you wash your hands.

Disclosure: I was sent this and other products to review and in return, Method is donating £100 to Cruelty Free International! 

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You might not immediately make the link between sponsoring a child with World Vision and National Stationery Week, but then the talent of any writer is take two seemingly unrelated subjected and weave them together into a convincing story.*

Now I am a massive fan of stationery and love any excuse to buy a new pen, but in today’s modern touchscreen world I don’t often get to do much actual writing. One of the only times I ever sit down to write a letter is when I write to Eyerus, the child I sponsor through World Vision. I began sponsoring Eyerus after my trip to Ethiopia last year and it’s always lovely to get a letter from her – we’ve never met and yet she always shares such interesting details about her life. Child sponsorship really makes you appreciate how your money makes a difference to individual people and their communities.

Child sponsorship with World Vision National Stationery WeekRyman very kindly gave me a voucher to spend on treats to celebrate National Stationery Week – 31 March  – 6 April – so I thought it would be nice to share this with Eyerus. I bought myself a lovely new red pen to write my letter in (rather worryingly the same type of pen my Grandad used to insist on writing all his notes in when he was very old and forgetful) and I bought Eyerus a notebook and some coloured pencils.

Child sponsorship with World Vision National Stationery Week

Child sponsorship with World Vision National Stationery Week

Child sponsorship with World Vision and National Stationery WeekI’m pretty sure they won’t be celebrating National Stationery Week in Ethiopia but I hope that Eyerus gets as much joy from a notebook and coloured pencils as I do.

Do you still write letters to anyone?

*I’m not sure that is actually a writing thing, but one thing writers do need to be able to do is make a story convincing, and I pretty much convinced myself of that fact.

Disclosure: Ryman sent me a voucher in return for mentioning their pencils.

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Today is International Happiness Day.

I’m cool with that, there’s nothing wrong with taking a day out to make sure you’re feeling perky.

What I am most definitely not cool with though is the press release I received yesterday from a married dating site claiming that the secret of happiness is an extra-marital affair.

What the proverbial f*ck?

According to their research, “89% of people who are actively looking for an affair claim it has made them feel happier” and “78% said they feel their marriage has improved since joining the site”.

What a pile of crap. These people haven’t improved their marriage because they don’t have a marriage – they are cheating. How can you possibly for a minute believe that a relationship based on lies and deceit is a happy and healthy one? 

Can an affair make you happy? International Happiness Day

I’m not trying to take some moral high ground here or present myself as totally naive – I understand that people have affairs. What I don’t understand though is how these people can claim it makes them happy. Being at a point in your marriage where you are having an affair in the first place is bad enough, but most affairs are in themselves miserable, wretched and exhausting things.

What made me most furious though was the blatant exploitation and manipulation on the part of the dating site. Do they honestly believe that they are somehow contributing to the nation’s happiness and helping to create happy marriages by promoting their services? Are they actually trying to win new customers with the promise that an affair will lead to happiness, all on the back of something like International Happiness Day, something that is meant to be positive and uplifting.

A spokesperson for the site comments: “Our members, whether they have found an illicit partner or not, are taking control of their lives and looking for that something that’s missing from their current relationship, be it physical or mental; they are taking a positive step towards personal fulfilment and that is going to make you happy.”

What a crock of shit. A positive step would be to talk to their partners and tell them how they are feeling, not to start living a deceitful double life.

What do you think? Am I being unreasonable is being so cross about this?

 

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Today’s post is from my sister Annabel.

Time.

Remember it?

There used to be lots of it. Time to spend with friends, time to cook and eat a meal, time to shop without persuading a toddler that traipsing around a supermarket is definitely a Fun Activity. I was a student for a leisurely six years, so I was very familiar with the art of wasting time. Then a mere eight months after I’d handed in my last dissertation I was pregnant. Time disowned me.

These days with two young children if I have two minutes spare…oh no… no, that doesn’t happen.

So when I heard about Box Upon a Time I saw an opportunity to recoup lost minutes (and sanity). Box Upon a Time is a clever idea in which you receive hand-picked baby or toddler clothes tailored to your requirements each month. Box Upon a Time is joining the growing range of on-line subscription services where you sign up and receive a monthly parcel to your door; think organic veg box but with lovely clothes instead of carrots, potatoes and that random item that you’re not exactly sure about and have to Google.

Box Upon a Time

A super speedy, fun questionnaire to determine your ‘fashion profile’, (such as, what colours and patterns you prefer), on their easy to follow website and a few measurement details about your child and you’re done.

At present Box Upon a Time caters for the 0-3 years age range and aims to offer quality brands at a guaranteed minimum 40% discount; for the £49 monthly payment you receive a minimum of £82 worth of goods. Box Upon a Time currently work with 20 brand partners including Tartine & Chocolat, Diesel and Toffee Moon.

Splendid! No more hideous clothes shopping trips trying to persuade my children to adhere to basic social norms and not wipe their noses on shiny new garments or play hide and seek within the clothes rails. (My daughter also insists on individually greeting each mannequin with a cuddle).

If, like me, you tend to grab clothes for the children in the supermarket whilst you are grabbing everything else you need, at the same time as negotiating your child down from standing in the trolley seat, it may seem like quite a departure. When I considered it however, I potentially spent more on clothes grabbed for convenience but not really wanted than this would cost each month. The average parent spends £63 a month on clothing their children, plus the time and stress saved is priceless.

Profile complete, I sat back and awaited my parcel for my two year old daughter. I LOVE getting parcels delivered. The excitement of wondering what is inside and thinking that someone has bothered to consider what you might like takes me back to being a child at Christmas.

Box Upon A Time

Elegantly packaged, the much anticipated box arrived….I opened it slowly, trying to prolong the moment. Three lovely little items awaited us.

All well made and matching the fashion profile I had created, the clothes were a very pleasing addition to my daughter’s wardrobe. Any concern I may have had about whether I would like the items was gone. However, should there be any reason to exchange an item it is dealt with free of charge and there is also no commitment to subscribe for any set length of time.

Box Upon a TIme

A lovely selection, available from Box Upon A Time

Box Upon a Time is such a lovely idea, it saves you valuable minutes and brings you a little bit of Christmas excitement month after month.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post and Annabel was sent a sample from Box Upon a Time for the purposes of this post.

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Before you get too excited, expecting me to introduce some sort of celebrity ambassador, I should clarify that it’s me. You don’t get any season 3 Big Brother finalists or anything, just little old me.

OK, I know we’ve met before, so it’s not terribly thrilling for you, but it is exciting for me to have been chosen as one of Thorpe Park’s new team of blogger ambassadors. You will just have to live out all of your rollercoaster dreams vicariously through me.

(This is in fact not even true. You could actually just buy tickets and go yourself. That would be much more fun and to be honest would take the pressure off me a little bit.)

Colossus Thorpe Park

Happy Height Day

My first job as a Thorpe Park ambassador is to tell you about Happy Height Day. Happy Height Day was conceived on the back of research that highlighted just how important height is to kids. Did you know for example that 60% of kids would rather be taller than older? Belle certainly would. I think she is adorable but she gets annoyed about being small, particularly when it comes to things like theme parks where you have to be a certain height to ride the biggest rollercoasters. Last year when we went to Thorpe Park she wore boots with a heels especially, and at Disneyland Paris a couple of years ago she developed a trick where she sort of stood on tip toes, but inside her shoes. It was very clever.

Happy Height Day then is about celebrating reaching that elusive 1.4m and being able to join in the fun without cheating.

Thorpe Park Happy Height Day

To celebrate the reopening of the park for a new season on March 20th and as an extra bonus for all those children that have reached the magic height of 1.4m, Thorpe Park is offering free admission to the first 500 children who measure between 1.4 and 1.5m, plus a guest, on both Saturday 22 March and Sunday 23March! For more information visit The Thorpe Park website.

Angry Birds

If your kids aren’t quite up to 1.4m, don’t worry, there is plenty still to do! There are over 25 rides and anttractions throughout the park and from May there will be the brand new Angry Birds 4D experience.

(I’ve never been entirely sure what a ‘4D’ experience really entails, so will definitely be checking this out. Do you actually travel in time?? That would be pretty cool, but I suspect not.)

Packed with special effects it will form the unique centerpiece of the new character land, complete with 100ft rapid drop tower ride Detonator and ‘Red Bird v Bad Piggies’ dodgems. A must for Angry Birds fans.

Book now for up to 60% off

Between Monday 3rd and Wednesday 12th March 2014 you can buy tickets in advance online for just £20. That’s an almost 60% saving on full price tickets! Once you’ve booked online, you can upgrade your ticket to an annual pass on the day of your visit, for just £28, meaning you can visit as many times as you like for the whole season.

To take advantage of this awesome offer simply visit the website and book online before 12 March.

Disclosure: We are Thorpe Park ambassadors. We have received Merlin annual passes in return for sharing our news and views but all opinions are my own.

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My sister Annabel is back! Following her Galt Toys review she’s now talking stainless steel soap and chalkboard walls…

It first needs to be known that I am hideously indecisive. Just leaving the house takes me longer than the average human (much to the exasperation of friends and family) as I dither. About. Everything. Size of decision is not an issue, should we move house/have more children or do I eat cereal/yoghurt/both for breakfast. It does not matter, I agonise for longer than is healthy about what is the best option.

This indecision has not been useful during the recent renovation of our house. As diligent readers of Joey’s will be aware, I now live in my grandparents former home and our major structural changes to the kitchen brought her to tears. So, she very kindly passed me some items for said kitchen from Red Candy. View Post

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I was having a disagreement with Boyfriend the other day.

It all started because I have been taking part this month in the Great British Budget challenge and have been using Money Hub in the new YourWealth app to get my finances in order. If you are the sort of person that likes lists and charts then you’ll love Money Hub. You can test out all sorts of different scenarios to see the impact of certain financial decisions on your future wealth, as well as budgeting for the day to day stuff.

For example, based on my current earnings and level of spending it is projecting my net worth at retirement to be -£173,962.

*whistles casually* View Post

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Have you ever thought about how being in a relationship can save you money?

I’ve been taking part in the Great British Budget challenge this month, so have been forced to think a lot about cashflow, and it has struck me how unfair life can be to single people sometimes, especially single parents.

When you’re young and child free it’s a bit different; you can simply share a house with friends, split the cost of all the beer and takeaway and generally have lots of fun. (I’ve never been an adult without children, but I’ve been led to believe this is how it works.) As a single parent though, it’s not as easy as simply finding a room mate – you need the same space and privacy as any two parent family, and yet somehow you have to find the money to pay for all the bills, toys and gin yourself. There is always the option of sending the kids up chimneys, but this does tend to be frowned upon nowadays.

Of course you could argue that a partner often just adds to your costs, insisting on meat with every meal rather than cereals and making you feel like you should do things in the evening other than just watch back-to-back Jonathan Creek, but overall surely the financial impact of a partner should be a positive one? (I say this with an air of hopeful optimism, having been in a relationship in the past that somehow always left me with less money than when I started.)

What are your top tips for saving money as a single parent? Are there any things that you find are actually cheaper when you’re single?

Find out more about cheap electricity suppliers.

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post.

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