Bean Bag Bazaar ICON Classic Velvet Bean Bag review - and a Giveaway!

Friday, December 13, 2019 Permalink

This is an advertisement feature in collaboration with Beanbag Bazaar I've always been a bookworm, and love nothing better than cosying up with a good book. We've recently finished the boy's playroom, and despite being a large room, we actually have very limited seating space, so I knew that a beanbag would be the perfect addition. When Bean Bag Bazaar got in touch to ask if I'd be interested in one of their bean bags, I couldn't say yes fast enough! After a quick browse of their site, the ICON Milano Classic Velvet Bean Bag looked perfect for us. I'm a lover of anything velvet, so the soft-touch plush velvet looked beautiful, and the mustard yellow colour looked like a perfect match ...

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What’s In Our Christmas Eve Box | AD

Tuesday, December 10, 2019 Permalink

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 ...

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

Tuesday, December 3, 2019 Permalink
Little boy high fiving the elves at Lapland UK's Wishing Store at The Lexicon Bracknell

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 ...

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Getting in the Festive Spirit at Hever Castle | AD

Wednesday, November 27, 2019 Permalink

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 ...

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Encouraging creativity and play with BRIO | AD

Tuesday, November 26, 2019 Permalink
An aerial shot of a little boy playing with a figure of 8 train track. Including BRIO Smart Tech Lift and Load Crane and Smart Tech Lifting Bridge

We've been huge fans of BRIO for a long time now and when we tested their new BRIO Smart Tech range last year I thought it was a fantastic addition to their range which transforms the BRIO world into a truly interactive play experience. Smart Tech adds a whole new dimension to Brio. It’s fully compatible with the rest of the Brio World railway system and uses RFID technology to bring it to life, allowing your child to play with it in a new and exciting way; creating, experimenting, and customising their imaginative world. The Smart Tech Engine is the key to the interactive world. It's battery powered and propels itself around the track, interacting with a series of tunnels and other ...

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My Couch to 5k Diary

Monday, November 18, 2019 Permalink
My Couch to 5K diary

This isn't my first time around on the Couch to 5k programme. I'm embarrassed to admit that it's actually my 4th time! Pregnancy always absolutely floors me, with constant sickness, and then I find those first few years of motherhood so all consuming that fitting in exercise seems impossible so I fully fell off the running wagon. Back at the end of the summer, it finally felt like the right time for me to get myself off the couch and back into my running gear. I'd reached a point where I was a large size 16 and very unhappy with my body, and also felt like I needed to start making time for myself somehow. I wanted to keep a ...

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Four Go Camping in North Norfolk

Monday, November 11, 2019 Permalink
Dad and two little boys sat around a campfire, toasting marshmallows. The boys are wearing hooded grey dressing gowns and smiling

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 ...

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A Windy Autumn Walk from Mousehole to Lamorna Cove

Wednesday, November 6, 2019 Permalink
The South West Coastal Path walk from Mousehole to Lamorna Cove. View down onto rocky cove, with blue-green sea below and waves crashing onto rocks

We are regular visitors to Cornwall and love it just as much through the autumn and winter months as we do in the summer. I think the rugged coastline of the South West Coast Path is one of its most beautiful features, but I have to admit that we've not managed to explore it as much as we would have liked, due to our two small children, who are not huge fans of being dragged on long hikes. But for our most recent visit, we left the boys with my parents and headed down just the two of us. We were keen to fit in some walks that would showcase what Cornwall's coastline has to offer. I really wanted to ...

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Autumn Delights at The Lost Gardens of Heligan Harvest Festival

Monday, October 21, 2019 Permalink
Harvest festival at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall

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 ...

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Maximising Toy Storage Space in an awkwardly shaped Playroom | AD

Sunday, October 13, 2019 Permalink
Alba Stackable Playroom toy storage from Great Little Trading Company, using corner shelves to create best use of space

Disclosure: This is advertisement feature in collaboration with Great Little Trading Company, who kindly provided us with the Alba toy storage One of the things we were most excited about with the new layout of our house was the addition of a dedicated playroom for the boys. I'm not sure who was the most excited, me or them! Although we've made good use of toy storage solutions in the past, we've never had a room which was solely for the purpose of play, so it feels like a huge luxury to have that space now. Being clever with storage Despite our joy at having a playroom, we do have a few issues with the room that mean clever toy storage is absolutely key. ...

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