Starting the day the right way

It's National Breakfast week and as some of you may know breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, it always has been and always will be but getting our son who is a very fussy eater to have something substantial to start his day can be tricky. We have never subscribed to those overly sugary cereals and because of this he has never asked for them with our regular choices being porridge, home-made naturally sweetened granola, french toast, multi-grain pancakes or scrambled egg. Recently however he has been getting a bit bored and we have been searching for something that is quick to prepare but full of natural goodness so when Bear Alpha Bites got in touch to ask if we would like to review their healthier kids cereal I was excited to see what Mr A would think. So what makes Alpha Bites different to the other cereals aimed at children on the market? Well first of all there is no refined sugar, instead it's sweetened with Coconut blossom nectar and even though per ......

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6 stylish hotels for Interior lovers

Rooms At The Chapel When we travel we are pretty happy go lucky although it's always a treat to stay somewhere a little bit special, that sends those senses tingling with inspiration and creates a space that is unique, stylish and comfortable. I thought I would share some hotels I have come across while researching family trips and put a little wish list together of places that combine travel and my love of interiors together. 1. At the Chapel , Bruton Somerset - as soon as you step into this multi-use Grade 2 listed former chapel with it's in-house bakery, wine store, restaurant and luxury rooms you will be bowled over by the stunning church windows and natural light flowing in. The rooms are modern and contemporary yet still make full use of the original features. The marble-wrapped bathrooms are a visual treat as well as having breakfast brought to your room each morning. This would be a fantastic spot for treating the lady in your life this Valentines or Mothers D......

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January through Instagram

As it's coming to the end of January (how did that fly by so fast?) I thought it would be nice to just share a little round up of what we have been up to through the eyes of my instagram . The weather has been so up and down but we have made the most of the dry days as well as enjoying some quality family time and good food...what have you been up to? 1. We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon in the park with friends and came across a beautiful wall with a dragon on it in Caerphilly 2. Both the boy and I are going to attempt to learn the Ukulele this year. 3. Finding those moments of calm with a cup of coffee, notepad and an inspiring magazine 4. Exploring Cosmeston country park 5. A little brunch date with this guy in Whitchurch 6. Nothing beats a good cup of coffee, this is a flat white but my new favourite is a Cortado 7. Some homemade gluten-free finger waffles and chopped apple. 8. Poached eggs with spinach and Hollandaise sauce is a great way to start the day 9. Even ......

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Top tips for going to Cheltenham Festival in Style

Although I’ve definitely had a fun festive period, I really love springtime because it’s the time when we can finally shake off the winter blues and enjoy the great outdoors. And I’ve been investigating a few options for getting out and about, and the upcoming Cheltenham Festival seems to offer a good combination of cocktails, horse racing excitement, sports fun, and of course, lots of fashion opportunities. But as ever, my main question is - what to wear? Races conundrum The hardest thing about putting together a look for the races seems to be how to look stylish without necessarily breaking the strict dress codes that are often enforced. Thankfully the Cheltenham Festival looks like it doesn’t suffer the restrictive dress code found at Royal Ascot, but it still requires a little bit of forward planning. Thankfully, the racecourse’s website gave a good idea of what was acceptable depending upon what kind of ticket you’d purchased. And similarly, I found that Betway’s site ......

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Winter Sun

It's felt like all it's done since the start of the new year is rain, well in Wales anyway but luckily during the last week we had a blissful break from that, for two days the clouds cleared and sun shone and the blue sky felt endless. We make a point of going out each day regardless of the weather but as you can imagine we made full use of the beautiful winter sun even though it was bitterly cold. As we had planned to pop into my mothers we decided to head up to"The Common" - a lovely greenbelt looking across the welsh valleys with Druid ruins, trees to climb, a small river to splash in and long grass to run through. I normally take Baby G in my Ergo sling but with the dry weather I thought I would put our new Eco friendly Greentom stroller to the test. I will be sharing a proper review of the stroller with you soon but I cant tell people enough how much we love it and it also happens to be "the greenest stroller" on earth with......

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The reality of getting your home ready to sell

Our current house, as nice as it is, is not a home to us and was never going to be, we bought it as a smaller project unlike the full renovation before that and we always knew we wouldn't stay more than 2-3 years in it and now it's very much time for us to move on. There are many great positives to our current property mainly being the large living room and a very spacious kitchen diner with french doors to a good sized garden but it's simply not "us", we bought it as an investment and I think we will always see it as that and we are excited to move onto another project and since John and I have been together it will be the fourth place we will call home. With each move, we have learnt something new about the whole property game and what not to do, especially as each time we have moved we have grown in size and now we will be selling with not only one young child in tow but two! We had hoped to have had the house on the market earlier but along came Baby ......

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11 month Breastfeeding update & Boobbix Review

So it's been a while since I have done any kind of breastfeeding update and thought I would share how things have been as at nearly 11 months we are still going strong. I feel very lucky that we have not really had any issues at all and since the beginning its been pretty amazing which was completely different to my first who was badly tongue tied. Even though physically we have had no issues it's still been hard at times especially over the past month when Baby G has been waking far more than usual and the only way to get him back to sleep is to feed which has meant that at times I have been feeding him of up to 6-8 times a night, which as you can imagine does not leave much time for sleep. Also as fantastic as Baby G is at feeding he refuses point blank to have any expressed milk which has limited my ability to be away from him for too long but now that he is also eating food and we are doing baby-led weaning it means he can go a little longer and John to......

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5 Lifestyle, interiors and travel blogs to check out

A vintage home by Owl and the Accordion  Being a blogger I always look to other blogs for inspiration, motivation, advice and a good read and I thought every now and then I would share my 5 fave reads of the month and share the blogging love for those blogs that I find interesting and inspiring. My main passion as you are probably aware off are travel, interiors, fashion and general positive lifestyle and these blogs are great if your looking for some happy in your life Owl and Accordion Written by the wonderful creative crafter, interior stylish and nature lover that is Victoria. I love how she styles her home with a vintage feel and captures it through some beautiful photography. She captures that feeling of simplicity and slowing down and I find her space a lovely calming place to be. Wild and Grizzly This cool mama makes you want to jump on a plane and explore all the colours and cultures of all those hip European cities while also taking in the Architecture ......

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Sleep stylish on a budget in London

Having lunch at Babylon in Kensington, London If you are a regular reader of our blog you will know we have a real soft spot for London and it's really hard to not fall in love with this vibrant, exciting and fast paced city. We are lucky enough to have a direct train from Cardiff which reaches the capital within two hours but as London is so vast and with so much to do and see we often opt for over nights or do a week long trip once a year, that way we can enjoy the city rather than rush around it in a day, which is always stressful. London as you know can be incredibly expensive and even a short trip can rack up a fairly large bill so we always try and find somewhere to stay that is reasonable but still stylish and captures that city feeling without breaking the bank. We love simple and well designed interiors and London as a city really captures that and you don't need to spend a fortune you just need to know where to look. My main advice would be if your s......

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Boys Club - Fjallraven Jacket

John has been eyeing up a jacket to carry him through from winter to spring since before Christmas although decided to wait and see if any popped up in the sales, luckily one of his favourites did - this Fjallraven Greenland jacket from OiPolloi . For those who don't know who Fjallraven are they are an stylish but durable outdoor Swedish brand, you have probably see their famous Kanken bags which have been incredibly popular for both men and women. They make their clothes to last and going by how long I've had my Kanken this is certainly the case. John has paired up his new jacket with a Ebbets Field flannels hat, Folk shirt, Edwin jeans, Converse and Chups socks. The great thing about a simple, waterproof jacket like this is you can layer a lot underneath making it perfect for the transitional time between winter and spring and hopefully it will come on use during some of our adventures we have planned for this year. ...

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Room - The stunning must-see film of 2016

Imagine life as you know it exists within the four walls of a tiny room? Imagine having your freedom taken away from you, to be confined to a small space and to bring an innocent child into that but you can only keep the reality of your situation hidden for a limited amount of time. Room is based on the novel by Emma Donoghue and is incredibly moving, even more so if your a parent as you cannot help but connect with Ma who is played by Brie Larson and has been nominated for an oscar for here stella performance in this film. I was lucky enough to watch a preview of Room before its release and can honest;y say I was drawn in right from the start and shed a tear or two as Jack and Ma bravely hatch a escape plan and then have to come to terms with what has happened to them and readjusting to life outside Room. The UK film distributors StudioCanal have been kind enough to offer one of our readers the chance to win an amazing hamper of goodies including - Soundtrack of Room......

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Eco friendly family fashion with Natureshop

We are actively trying to reduce our carbon foot print as well as be more eco conscious in our household in a variety of ways. Immediately one thinks of energy saving ideas such as turning off all the appliances from standby as well as making sure we recycle as much as possible and being less wasteful, all of which we do but you can also look beyond that to what one wears or purchases.  When it comes to food we try and eat as much organic or local produce as we can afford and we are aiming to do the same with the clothing we buy. I often pick up things from Charity shops as they are the perfect place to find something a bit different, at a very good price as well as upcycling an item but you cannot always find what you need, especially when it comes to children who are constantly growing.  So I was very excited when NatureShop got in touch as they have such a fantastic array of eco friendly clothes and accessories for the whole family. A lot of the brands they s......

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Why decluttering your home is good for the soul

I know it's not spring yet but after all the excess and mania of Christmas I feel the urge to simplify and reorganise our home and life. As I get older I have become more and more minimalistic although it can be hard when children come along and have felt the past few years we have built up too many things that we simply don't need. I was brought up in an un-materialistic household where less was always more and if you did need to buy something going with quality over quantity was key. I personally find having a more simplified household, which is in turn is easier to organise, much better for the mind and soul as clutter in your home can also clutter your thoughts. Of course it's much easier said than done and I too am all about sentimentality but if it's not useful, practical or atheistically pleasing then one should rethink about wether they really need it. The thing is I am not alone in feeling this way - experts actually say that disorganised people and t......

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Brunch, Boys and Motherhood

I have to be honest and say we are still adjusting to the new year and coming off the back of the wonderful but manic festive period. The baby is not sleeping at all lately, which has meant very long exhausting days but we have still made sure to focus on family time and creating some kind of equilibrium even when sleep deprived (such is parenthood). We treasure the two days John has off each week and always try and do something nice wether it be a walk to the park, hike up the woods or a spot of brunch (for those who know me you will know that breakfast and brunch is my favourite meal of the day). So last week we decided to jump in the car and take the short drive into the city which also gave me a chance to rock my new Selfish Mother jumper John picked up for Christmas for me.  Wearing M&S Jacket, Selfish Mother Jumper, Necklace from Tiger Lilly Quinn, Wallis Jeans We have been meaning to visit 29 Park place properly since going to their opening party la......

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