A Festival of Tulips at Standen House

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When I was looking at the best places to see tulips in the UK, I came across Standen House, which puts on a festival of tulips every year. We are big fans of the National Trust, and Standen isn't too far from us, in West Sussex, but for some reason is a place we'd not visited before, so I was keen to head down last year to see the tulips. Standen is an Arts and Crafts house, filled with Morris & Co wallpapers and prints, and really is worth a look round. We arrived a little before the house opened, so we took a stroll around the grounds, finding this beautiful cottage, and then at the back of the house, ...

The Pressure of ‘Self Care’

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Self care is definitely the buzzword of the moment isn't it. You read about it everywhere you go, and for so long it got my back up. Whenever I saw people talking about self care, it was all about long bubble baths, trips to the spa, getting your nails done, or your hair cut. All things that I just didn't have the time or money for, and it just felt like one more thing on the list that I didn't have time to tick off. One more pressure. One more thing that I wasn't managing to keep on top of, and one more thing to feel guilty for not doing. I've written a lot about how much I struggled in the ...

The Giant Houseplant Takeover at RHS Wisley

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Houseplants are tricky beasts. I'm pretty good in the garden, but when it comes to looking after plants indoors, I have something of a black thumb. When I saw RHS Wisley were putting on a their Giant Houseplant Takeover display in the glasshouse I was really keen to check it out and maybe get some tips. When you head inside the glasshouse, the main part of the exhibition is laid out straight in front of you. It's set up as a series of rooms inside an old Victorian house, as if it had been abandoned and taken over by the plants. I love the look of these kind of abandoned places, it's amazing to see how things can get reclaimed and ...

What’s In Our Christmas Eve Box | AD

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This is a paid advertisement feature in collaboration with Sainsbury's When it comes to Christmas, I'm basically a big kid. I love continuing the traditions that I grew up with, and I love being able to create new traditions with my own children. One of my favourite 'new' traditions has been the Christmas Eve box, and it's something that we've done for the last 3 years. They originally came about from the German tradition of opening presents on Christmas Eve, and its a lovely way to start off the excitement of Christmas with the children (although if your children are anything like mine, they've probably been hyped up throughout the whole of December!). We tend to keep Christmas Eve as a fairly ...

Making our Christmas Wishes at Lapland UK’s Wishing Store at The Lexicon | AD

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We are lucky to have visited Lapland UK twice over the past few years and it really is a truly magical experience. When I was invited to visit their very first Wishing Store at The Lexicon shopping centre in Bracknell, I had high expectations and was really excited to see what they'd set up. The Lexicon is one of my favourite places to shop, with great stores and easy parking, and Lapland UK is just down the road from The Lexicon, in the beautiful Swinley Forest, so it's an ideal partnership. An extra touch which the LaplandUK Wishing Store offers is a storytelling session, which costs £5 per child. Of course, you are welcome to visit the store, and to write ...

Getting in the Festive Spirit at Hever Castle | AD

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Hever Castle has been one of the best discoveries we've made this year for our family days out. It was a recent discovery, as I tend to stick to National Trust and RHS gardens as we have membership so it's a 'free' visit, but Hever has fast become one that we love. And if you're an RHS member, you can often visit Hever Castle for free during the week - it was news to me! We loved our visit back in the summer, and there was so much that we didn't have time to see in one visit. So when we were invited to visit last weekend for their Christmas Alice in Wonderland Light Trail, we were all really excited. Hever ...

Four Go Camping in North Norfolk

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We've talked about camping as a family for years, but if I'm honest, I've not been keen. Although I love the outdoors, I'm not keen on sleeping there, and I do like my home comforts! With all the building work we've done this year, holiday funds were very short this year, so we'd not planned to go away this summer, until we stumbled upon Amber's Bell Tents on Instagram. Their beautiful bell tents looked like the perfect setup for us to trial out a couple of nights camping, and we made a last minute booking for a summer getaway in North Norfolk. Ambers Bell Tents have sites across North Norfolk, and we opted for the site at Mannington Hall. The 10 ...

Autumn Delights at The Lost Gardens of Heligan Harvest Festival

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Every year I mourn the end of summer, but when autumn arrives, with it's host of golden leaves, orange pumpkins and golden light, I can't fail to be won around. Harvest time is such a wonderful celebration of all that autumn has to offer, and the Lost Gardens of Heligan always put on a beautiful harvest display. We've visited in autumn before, but this time it was just me and my husband, no kids! Our visit this year was in early October and the Barn was filled to the brim with pumpkins, onions, gourds, grains, and vegetables - it really was a sight to behold and I couldn't resist sharing some of the photos from our trip. There is something undeniably comforting ...

Family Fun at Carters Steam Fair | AD

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Disclosure: We were given a bundle of ride tokens in exchange for this blog post and promotion on social media Our visit to Carters Steam Fair last autumn was one of the highlights of our year. Their beautiful colourful rides absolutely charmed us all, and I've kept a keen lookout to see when they would be visiting near us this year, and I was thrilled to see they would be close to us again in Woking. If you've not heard of Carters Steam Fair before, you'll more than likely recognise them, as they've featured in numerous films and TV shows, including Paddington 2, and Call the Midwife. They've spent the past 40 years rescuing and restoring vintage fairground rides and taking them ...

A Bedroom to Inspire a Reluctant Reader | AD

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This post is an advertisement feature, written in collaboration with the Great Little Trading Company. For as long as I can remember, I've been an avid reader. I could read before I started school, and I would devour books as a child, coming away from the library with stacks of 10, only to return a week later having read them all. But it's not a trait that I've passed on to my eldest son. Despite my best efforts in reading to him, he's shown very little interest in books and stories and the huge emphasis that school places on the importance of reading and writing has been a worry for me. Slowly but surely, he is starting to find a ...