Cottage Holidays in the Lake District – Watergate Farm
Loweswater is one of the quietest stretches of water in the Lake District, right in the heart of the National Trust estate. Almost on it’s shore, accessed down a long private track that follows the curve of the lake through lovely meadows, Watergate Farm is part of a tiny cluster of old farm buildings. The detached house behind the main cluster is separate (yes, we *may* have not read the instructions clearly and gone there...
Sprintzone – simply my all-time fave kids trainers
I hate kids trainers. There, I said it. I know, I know – they’re practical and sensible and necessary. But I’m sorry – they’re ugly. No matter how often my boys would fall gladly on a pair in the shoe shop and declare that THESE were the ones they’ve been waiting for, I never understood it. And girls trainers are possibly worse, splashed all over with lurid pink, often accented with pink glitter and...
Dyson V8 Absolute cordless vacuum cleaner | Review
I have a large hairy hound who sheds everywhere, plus four children who seem to shed on the carpets more than the dog does. I also home educate three of the four – which means the house literally gets no respite. They’re on the flippin floors all. day. every. day. Woe are my floors. So when we vacuum (I use the ‘we’ royally here – clearly vacuuming is not *my* job. It’s a child job. A quick schwizz...
Trying Harvester’s Brilliant New Kids Meal Deal (and groaning under chocolate cake)
On Monday we had a spontaneous trip out, courtesy of the lovely folks at Harvester, who thought we might like to try their new Kid’s Menu. I did point out that only one of us would be on the kid’s menu – teen boys tend not to be satisfied with the portion sizes for a 7yr old, I find – but that was all fine, so we duly headed off to Salisbury, to the Old Castle which happens to be very close to Old Sarum, a...
Oh the glamour of a Heated Airer. No. Really. Meet the Dry:Soon.
The trouble with having a family is the laundry. I mean, they’re awesome and everything (no, really, they are). But they do insist on wearing clothes. And sleeping in beds. And using towels. Which means when there’s six of us and we’re all at this laundry-making business, the bloody laundry mountain never ever ends. And actually, it’s okay in the warmer months – I’m fond of my washing line, and a...
Learning to code online with the brilliant Code Kingdoms (and Minecraft!) – plus 20% discount code!
It’s a simple fact of life that our children are going to need skills that we don’t even know exist. Their world is moving fast, and is ever more digital. My 9yr old is a slow handwriter but she can touch type whilst holding another conversation in the room – now I’m good, but I’m not that good. Naturally, where there’s tech-savvy kids in the house, there’s Minecraft. We’ve been old...