I arrived at the Cary Arms in Devon at about 5pm on a Sunday evening and was shown up to my room. We walked through a door, and I could see a few different rooms leading off the hallway. ‘That’s odd,’ I thought to myself, ‘that the doors to the other bedrooms are open. Perhaps there’s just no one staying in them, and they like to show them off.’

I dropped by bags down on the floor of my bedroom, and opened the window. The view out to the sea was amazing. They don’t call The Cary Arms ‘the inn on the beach’ for nothing. It literally is.

I also took a moment to admire the pillow treats. I like a treat at the best of times, but a stick of rock on your pillow when you’re by the sea? Such a clever idea! (Plus it meant I didn’t have to buy Belle a gift.) View Post

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Only a woman can understand the absolute pain in the arse that is having to wear an underwired bra every single day, always, forever, regardless of what you’re doing, the weather, your clothes – it’s a non-negotiable and it kind of sucks – but will the Ideal Beauty Bra from Playtex change this forever?

I shared a picture on Twitter this week which sums up my life over the last 25 years:

In desperation, on days when I don’t have to impress anyone, I do have a couple of those bras that you see advertised in the back of Sunday supplements – the sort that old ladies buy, that say they are as supportive as an underwire bra, but really aren’t. They’re damn comfy though, and if you’re particularly delusional, you can almost make yourself believe they’re a sports bra, and that at any moment you might decide to go for a jog.

It seems I’m not alone in my yearning for comfier breasts. According to research from Playtex, 9 out of 10 women would like to see a bra available on the high street with no wires, and a comfortable fit – a bra that didn’t give them the profile of a braless 87-year-old within ten minutes, as my Sunday supplement ‘bras’ tend to. (That last bit wasn’t in the actual survey, I’m just adding that for colour.)

So, to try to answer this problem, Playtex have come up with the Ideal Beauty bra. It’s a ‘completely wireless bra that gives women shape-enhancing support, whilst offering all day, light-as-a-feather comfort’. Sounds ace doesn’t it? I’m going to be trying one out, so go and follow me on Instagram or Facebook for pictures coming soon.* View Post

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Thinking about all the cars I’ve ever had (which must be in double figures by now), I don’t think I’ve ever owned a Volvo (and especially not a Volvo V40). I did have a rather natty 21-year-old Metro that I bought from eBay for £87, and named Little Mo, but never a Volvo.

In my mind, Volvos have always been the sort of car that your sensible middle-aged neighbour might have. That neighbour that cuts his grass religiously every Sunday afternoon and oils his hedge clippers regularly. You know, the sort of person who actually takes care of things, and is concerned about rust and safety and what not.

Not so.

NEWSFLASH – the Volvo V40 is cool!

Who knew?!

Volvo V40

(That’s me in there, driving! It was rather disconcerting, as the photographer was hanging out of what looked like the driver’s window of another car.)

The Volvo V40 is definitely not your stereotypical box-shaped Volvo, with a tartan rug and pair of sturdy binoculars in the boot. Nope. The Volvo V40 is a cool, funky, hi-tech, girl about town sort of a car, with technology to match, as I discovered when I spent 24 hours in Stockholm, Sweden, reviewing the V40 by driving it around and testing out all of its super cool functionality.

(Can I just say – I was very brave indeed driving in Stockholm. It’s not easy to suddenly drive a brand new car – even a car as safe and cool as the Volvo V40 – around a large city, on the wrong side of the road, especially when a photographer is crouched in the passenger foot well and you are trying to look casual yet engaging at all times.) View Post

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Did you read my alternative fashion shoot post a little while ago? It was the one where Bee was my photographer and director, and got me to do things like stand next to a wheelie bin, and pretend that I was a contestant on Countdown. It was very funny, so you should definitely read it. And so fun, that we had to do something similar when we holidayed at the National Trust’s Vineyard Farm Cottage in Dorset.

In fact, it proved so popular that I thought to myself, ‘What better way to showcase the National Trust Vineyard Farm Cottage than to have Belle and I pose in and around it in interesting ways?’ I can see you’re already excited about where this is going.

We went off for the weekend to stay in Vineyard Farm Cottage, a National Trust cottage that you can rent out for holidays, and that sits at the foot of Corfe Castle in Dorset. It has everything you would expect from a holiday cottage, including two spacious bedrooms, a wood-burning stove, well-equipped kitchen, great bathroom, National Trust cookies on arrival – the works.

National Trust Vineyard Farm Cottage Corfe Castle review

National Trust Vineyard Farm Cottage Corfe Castle review

National Trust Vineyard Farm Cottage Corfe Castle review View Post

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A couple of weeks ago Belle and I went to stay at Glamping West Midlands. As the very informative name suggests, it was glamping, in the West Midlands. Dur. It’s part of a smallholding, and has a very relaxed, homely feel.

We’ve done quite a few glamping style holidays, in yurts and vintage caravans and whatnot, so we’d consider ourselves seasoned glampers. Glamping West Midlands, as I’m sure owner Chris won’t mind us saying, is probably slightly further down the ‘glam’ end of the spectrum, but the lack of fancy vintage touches or local pork sausages for sale is balanced out by a very real, unforced connection with nature and the surroundings. If you love the idea of being woken every morning by a persistent cockerel, (sniggers), or have children who love the outdoors and getting hands on with animals, then Glamping West Midlands is definitely the place for you.

Glamping West Midlands

Glamping West Midlands View Post

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We have a long standing Prezzo-related family joke. It’s not funny, I’ll warn you now. It’s so unfunny, that it barely counts as a joke, and I feel bad that I’ve even mentioned it now, when reviewing Prezzo. So bad, that I’m considering making up a funnier joke, just so as not to disappoint you. I can’t think of anything though. So, whenever we talk about Prezzo, we call it ‘Pressos’, in a strong Somerset accent. (We’re from Somerset so it’s okay.)

That is the entire joke.

I’m so sorry I put you through that.

Anyway, Belle and I went along to Pressos in Taunton a couple of weeks ago for dinner, as Prezzo wanted us to sample their new menu and let you know what we thought. (I’m stopping with the joke now, partly out of shame, partly for SEO purposes). Even though we’ve been back in Taunton for a couple of years now, I’ve not eaten in the Taunton Prezzo in all that time, so reviewing Prezzo in Taunton was a treat. (Weirdly, I have eaten in the Bridgwater Prezzo.) I don’t quite know why the Taunton version isn’t on my radar, as it has a very central location and, as I discovered when I went to the toilet, an outdoor seating area that would be lovely in the summer – definitely one to keep in mind for a cheeky summer lunch with a glass of wine.

I’m going to start with the pudding, as who doesn’t look at the puddings first and use that to plan their main course? No? Just me? View Post

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If I had a pound for every time someone offered to send me a canvas print to review, or to print my Instagram pictures into fridge magnets or similar, I’d have at least enough money to buy my own canvas print, the size of an entire wall in my house (and yet here I am, with a Cheerz review).

Of all the random things I get offered to review – like Tena Lady or Love Logs – printed paraphernalia is the one that tops the frequency charts. Now, because I don’t want to turn my house into a cheap looking gallery, I almost always say no.

A few weeks ago though, I said yes, to a company called Cheerz.

(I’m trying to put this into context for you, making the point that the product must be good for me to say yes to reviewing it. I feel I’m labouring it rather though now, so I’m going to stop.)

I said yes to a Cheerz review for a number of reasons:

  • They asked nicely.
  • The website and app looked stylish, and easy to use.
  • The quality looked good.
  • They did some fun looking products, that I hadn’t seen anywhere else.

All good reasons, and they didn’t let me down. View Post

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I’ve always had a bit of a thing for old-fashioned caravans. Not the modern ones that are basically like tiny houses, (although I do like those too), but the little ones, where you have to clear away the dinner things before you can turn the table into a bed, and a night time wee involves getting dressed and walking across a field.

I’ve always felt that a retro caravan held a promise of adventure, and an air of mystery. I can remember being quite small and going to play with a friend one weekend. I can’t remember who the friend was, or what the context of the visit might have been, but I do remember that said friend had an old caravan at the bottom of their garden. You could only get to it by what, at the time, felt like a trek through miles of undergrowth, but I suspect that in reality was just having to push a few branches out of the way and then, as if by magic, there it was.

The caravan wasn’t used anymore for holidays, and instead had become a sort of secret play room.* You could sit down around the wobbly formica table top to plan adventures, Secret Seven style, and all of a sudden I wanted, more than anything, to have an abandoned caravan of my very own. I would decorate it exactly how I wanted, and fill it with spy equipment. Nobody would be allowed in unless they knew the top secret password, and from my caravan of mystery I would solve crimes that had kept the police baffled for decades.

It’s no wonder then that I loved our weekend at Mad Dogs and Vintage Vans, in the beautiful Wye Valley. View Post

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Have you ever backed a Kickstarter campaign?

I’ve backed a few. I love the idea of being able to directly invest in someone’s dreams. Sounds a bit soppy, but that’s basically what you’re doing isn’t it? It makes product development possible for people who might never have been able to do it before, and you get something back yourself, which is fun, because then it just feels like shopping. Generous shopping.

My favourite Kickstarter product at the moment is the Bundle Bed.

Here it is:

Bundle Bed

Casual surfboard. Living the dream.

 

We’ve done a lot of camping and festivals and what not over the years, and my absolute least favourite bit about the whole process is the sleeping arrangements. There is nothing fun at all about trying to sleep well at a festival. First of all you have the kerfuffle of having to carry everything from your car to the camping area, which is normally about seven miles away. Then you get there and realise you don’t have a pump for the air bed, so you have to do it with your mouth. 

Once you’ve come round from your faint, you bundle in all the sleeping bags and blankets, only to come back in the evening to find it’s deflated just enough to ensure your hip touches the ground when you lie on it.  View Post

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Have you ever found yourself away for the weekend in a lovely self-catering cottage, snuggled up in front of a roaring fire, or maybe even at home, tucked under a blanket, and thought to yourself, ‘what would make this perfect right now would be if someone were to bring me a tray of tea; some sort of friendly, discreet butler would be lovely.’ Well, that’s what happened when we visited Weeke Barton for the weekend, anyway.

*Cue Sam, half of the couple who run Weeke Barton guesthouse in Devon, arriving with a tray of tea and offering to add another log to the fire in the huge living room, full of squishy leather sofas.*

Often when we go away for one of our weekend mini-breaks, we end up doing that thing of tiptoeing around our unfamiliar surroundings, unsure of where you’re allowed to go or what you’re allowed to touch. Come dinner time, you loiter in your room, nervous about how to strike the right balance of smart / casual, and concerned about the embarrassment of a child refusing everything on the menu.

Weeke Barton is exactly the opposite of this.

From the moment we arrived, we were made to feel as welcome as if we were old family friends. A converted long house, Weeke Barton has a wonderful mix of cosy fires and character features alongside spacious rooms and wide windows. Inside, you feel cocooned and yet free, both at the same time. It’s jolly clever.

Review Weeke Barton hotel B&B Dartmoor Devon View Post

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While reviewing the Bishopstrow Hotel and Spa, I’m not sure whether to begin this post with the anecdote about my fiancé accidentally setting fire to a menu, or the one where, smooth talker that he is, he tried to woo me at dinner by telling me that the dots on full-length glass doors are there as a legal requirement to stop people banging into them.

Both made me laugh a lot.

Fortunately, the menu incident happened the next day, when we were visiting Lacock Abbey, rather than in the luxurious surroundings of The Bishopstrow Hotel and Spa, although it was at The Bishopstrow that my fiancé had an awkward moment with the duty manager.

He had come over to have a chat with us at dinner, and to be fair, it was a little bit noisy and he did have an accent.

“I understand from my colleague that you’re from the media,” he said.

“Very pleased to meet you too,” said my fiancé.

Cue both of them looking slightly confused.

Anyway, you’re not here to read about that – you want to know if there was decent tea in the room, and what the bathroom was like, and things like that, don’t you? View Post

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Today I have a review from my technology correspondent, otherwise known as my technology-loving fiancé. He’s been putting one of the new Venturer 2-in-1 laptop and tablets through its paces. Venturer have just launched two new 2-in-1 laptops and tablets – the BravoWin 10KT and the EliteWin 11KT.

Venturer 2-in-1 laptop and tablet for children

There comes a time in every parent/child relationship when it’s time to invest in a computer that will belong to the child. As a parent, you’ll have got to the stage where the sticky fingers on keyboard and screen have taken their toll, and you can no longer stand having to be held ransom to the electronic needs of someone else. Either that, of you’ll be at a stage where your tablet has run out of room, because of Peppa Pig and Horrible Histories apps. View Post

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