A few weeks ago I was loaned a Skoda Octavia for a week by Autogas Ltd to test whether or not I could save money with a car that had been converted to run on LPG.

LPG Skoda

In case, like me, you’re not 100% sure what LPG actually is, here’s the science bit:

Liquefied Petroleum Gas is a natural hydrocarbon fuel made up of Propane and Butane. When placed under a small amount of pressure (7bar or 100Psi) it becomes a dense liquid, allowing large quantities of gas to be stored in a relatively small space.

So there you go. Crystal clear now isn’t it? View Post

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It feels like weeks since I was at Camp Bestival, but despite having been to Spain in between there are still a couple of acts that have stuck in my mind.

The wonderful thing about festivals is that you get to listen to all kinds of new music that you wouldn’t normally see, and this opens you up to all kinds of fun new experiences. One thing I particularly love about live music, and what draws me to the smaller stages to watch less well known acts, is being able to actually get up close and watch the musicians actually playing their instruments – you get to see the passion and concentration in their faces, individual muscles straining.

Anyway, enough of my babbling, here are my two favourite acts from Camp Bestival – my ones to watch. You should definitely check them out: View Post

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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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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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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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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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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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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

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I am a big believer in women supporting other women. As my career has developed over the last few years I have benefited a lot from the support and advice of other women in business and always try to give that back to others too. I will always try to answer questions, offer tips and meet up with local women for a coffee and a chat if I can.

In the blogging world too I see how important this network is and the value of women offering both practical and emotional support to other women.

We really can do and be anything we want. There is absolutely no shame in asking for help when you need it. View Post

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A couple of weeks ago Boyfriend and I took Belle for a day out at Berkeley Castle. Although it’s less than an hour away from us I have to confess I had never even heard of it before, let alone visited, despite the fact that we love a good castle and have National Trust membership and everything.

(Berkeley Castle isn’t part of the National Trust, I was just using that to prove my wholesome castle-loving credentials).

We were very lucky in that we ended up going on a rare sunny day – perfect for exploring the beautiful gardens and enjoying a cup of tea and an ice-cream outside the yurt tea room. I am a big fan of yurts and we have had several holidays in them, so thought this made for a really interesting alternative to a cafe in an outbuilding.

The castle was stunning, especially seen from the outside on such a beautiful day. There were a few places that felt like they could have done with a little TLC, but then I guess you can’t expect spotless paintwork in a building that’s hundreds of years old! Boyfriend actually preferred the whole feel of the castle to many of the National Trust properties we have visited – he said it felt much more authentic and liked that a lot of it was original furnishings, even if they were a bit battered, rather than spruced up versions of the originals bought in to create a nicer picture. I was really taken with a lot of the amazing carvings and knockers on the doors too.

One of the highlights for us was the butterfly house. There must have been something tasty in our suntan lotion because the most gorgeous butterflies kept landing on us and just sitting there for ages. Belle loved being able to stand like a tree and have them rest on her arms.

All in all we had a really lovely day out, and here are some of our favourite pictures to prove it:

Berkeley Castle

Door knocker
Carved door

Berkeley Castle butterfly house

Berkeley Castle

Berkeley Castle

Yurt cafe

Our top tipsfrom our own experience:

  • Either tag along with the guided tour or buy a guide book in the shop before you go in. We weren’t offered one when we got our tickets, but it turned out there wasn’t a lot of information generally lying around and we could have done with a few more pointers.
  • Think a little bit about when you want to have lunch. You can’t take picnics into the house and gardens, so you might want to time it so you can eat either when you first get there or when you have looked at everything and can come back out into the picnic area. We got there about midday so ended up doing an awkward in-out-in thing.
  • D0 go in the butterfly house (accessed through the shop) as this was one of the highlights for us.
  • Do visit the website before you go for opening times. These are somewhat limited due to weddings so it’s worth checking.

The Castle was recently awarded a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence, given to top 10% of attractions that consistently receive outstanding reviews. All profits from entrance fees go to the upkeep of the castle.

 

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Festival season is upon us.

(You can tell because it has been raining a lot lately.)

We’ve been to quite a few festivals over the years, and there are a few essentials that all families need at a festival. Wipes and wellies obviously are a must, as is a wallet bulging with twenty pound notes to pay for overpriced pies and chai teas, but one thing you absolutely cannot do without is a tutu.

Honestly, if I had a pound for every tutu I had seen at a festival – on everyone from babies to large bare-chested men in pink wigs – I’d have almost enough to pay for churros and chocolate for the whole family. (If I could be bothered to stand in the queue for half a day). View Post

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