How to take a white kitchen from cold to gold

As you may already know when we are not traveling or exploring somewhere new outdoors I am usually indulging in my love of interiors. At the moment we are just doing a few finishing touches to our house before we sell and I have been focusing on the kitchen this past week. White kitchens have been on trend for over a decade or so, and with good reason. The cool clean look is perfect for hygienic kitchen areas, white goes with everything and just doesn’t date if done right and can be a good investment for your home. However, there’s one obvious flaw in the logic that kitchen designers up and down the land are spending a lot of their creative time addressing. How do you inject some warmth and personality into a space consisting predominantly of hard white surfaces? How do you take the edge off a stark white kitchen ? Is it possible to achieve a cosy, comfortable and welcoming vibe in a modern white kitchen to create the beating heart of the home? Here are 6 tricks to show you ......

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Exploring Rhossili Bay

A place I instantly fell in love with on our recent trip to Swansea and The Gower is Rhossili Bay and I cannot believe we haven't been to this beautiful beach and cliffside spot before. As soon as you pull up into the National Trust carpark you are hit with the most fantastic view across the bay and coastline. You have a few options when it comes to what to see and do here - you can walk down to the long sandy beach, popular with surfers or you can head out for a hike on the Rhossili headland which is what we decided to do, water bottles in hand, eager to build up our appetite for lunch.  As you start out on the headland path you can see the small tidal island of Worms Head out in front of you,  you can walk all the way to worms head if you plan the timing right as it's accessible for just over 2hrs during low tide but beware many have found them stranded here. The walk along Rhossili headlands is simply breathtaking with sheer cliffs along one side......

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Discovering a city with GPSmyCITY

When it comes to discovering a new city and what makes it tick I am very much a walker and always have been. As long as time allows I rather walk everywhere to get a real sense of the city and culture as well as spotting all those interesting things you may overlook if your whizzing around on the metro, underground or buses. I have walked pretty much the length and breadth of Amsterdam, London and Paris to name a few and it's just the best way to really get to know a place. What would of made these experiences even better is having a guide in your pocket and that is where GPSmyCity comes in. I just love the concept of this app and is a fantastic way for locals to put together self-guided and easy to follow walks through a city, usually with a theme such as a historical walk or sightseeing one it fits all your needs. There are plenty of self-guided free tours but there is also the option of connecting with other like-minded travellers and doing a paid guided tour with a highly......

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Win £100 to spend with Frederick Thomas this Fathers Day

So what felt like a really slow January and February the months just seem to be flying by now. I promised myself I would be more organised this year with things like Easter, Birthdays and celebrations as they always just seem to sneak up on me and life is already chaotic as it is running out to a shop at the last minute to buy an underwhelming present isn't ideal. I have got to grips with using a life planner and I reminding myself of things a few weeks before hand to give myself plenty of time. This includes Fathers Day which seems easy enough except it can be pretty hard to find that perfect gift for the man in you or your children's life. This year Fathers Day is on the 17th June and if your stumped for ideas I might have just what your looking for, the chance to win a £100 voucher to spend online at Frederick Thomas which stocks some fantastic products to add that something special to Dads wardrobe. They have an array of cool, colorful and pocket squares, stylish ba......

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Using a Social Detox as a Therapist

Regardless of what you do, your background, your family dynamic, your size, where you live or how large your social circle is, we all experience up's and downs in life, this is a fact. The body and mind is made to feel certain emotions, it's how we grow and all apart of the learning process. Some days, weeks or years are simply harder than others and often when it happens it feels like it happens all at once. As i'm now on the other side of what has been a difficult start to the year I wanted to share a little bit about the curve balls this year has thrown for me and how even when you try to just power through there is a point in which you have to stop and gather yourself before it really starts to cause havoc and admitting you need to slow down for a moment is not a sign or weakness but rather a sign that you care for your own wellbeing. At the end of last year, just before Christmas I felt exhausted and burnt out and not just from work but from the constant jug......

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King Arthur Hotel & Dinning at Swansea's Tallest Building

On our recent weekend trip to The Gower and Swansea Bay we checked into the quaint and chic traditional inn that is the King Arthur Hotel in Reynoldston right in the heart of The Gower Peninsular and a great place to switch off and take in the countryside setting and is a world away from the vibrant Swansea City Centre. The King Arthur Hotel offers a variety of accommodation options from double and family sized rooms to character filled self-catering cottages. We had a  spacious family room in a converted annex around the back of the Inn which was perfect for us as it was away from any of the noise of the pub and had wonderful views. As we had a very busy first day Paddleboarding and then an afternoon walking along the pier of the Mumbles we decided to dine in the pub restaurant which is full of character but still very light and airy and the menu is modern and contemporary with great children's options. I opted for a delicious Chickpea veggie burger which w......

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5 Short-Haul Exotic European Destinations

When it comes to exotic destinations we often thinks of places like Thailand, Costa Rica or far-flung Caribbean islands but you really don't have to hop onto a long haul flight to find those white sands and crystal blue seas as there are plenty of short haul exotic destinations right here in Europe, making them a great for a mini-escape when you have had frankly enough of the unpredictable British weather. This list could easily be doubled what I am going to share but I thought I would put together a mix of places I have either been to or want to visit and certainly capture that exotic far-flung feeling. 1. Isles of Scilly Less than a 10-minute flight from Lands End and you are instantly transported to somewhere so unique and special you will wonder why you have never visited before. We spent a week exploring the Isles of Scilly in 2016 and have been dreaming of going back ever since. Every morning we woke up to the most beautiful views and would take barefoot strolls on ......

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Standup Paddleboarding and exploring Swansea Bay

If you follow me on instagram you may already know that we recently spent a fantastic weekend exploring Swansea Bay and the Gower and wow what a weekend it was. Even though technically we don't live that far from Swansea as Cardiff is only an hour away we didn't actually realise how much of the Swansea peninsular we hadn't seen, despite having visited Swansea city centre and Mumbles before there is just so much more to this part of South Wales. It was a long overdue trip especially as I am very keen on watersports having grown up surfing in South Africa and the first activity of the weekend was Standup Paddleboarding with Matt from SUP Gower on the beautiful Swansea Canal at the Cyldach Heritage Centre. Having not put my wetsuit on since before having my youngest 3yrs ago I was a little worried it was going to be on the tight side but luckily it was okay and I didnt even need to breath in too much to zip it up. Once all suited and booted Matt took me thro......

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Designing our Dream Pet with PetPlan

Petplan recently got in touch and asked if my eldest would like to have a go at designing his own dream pet and as my 7yr old absolutely loves spending hours drawing and getting creative as well as a keen animal lover I knew this was a match made in heaven. Now I didn't tell him that his drawing was actually going to be made into a real soft toy, I left that as a surprise and what a surprise it was. Both of my sons grew up with our family dog Sam who sadly passed away last year after a long and happy life and has been really missed by all of us. We have discussed the possibility of getting another pet or as we like to call it a "new member" of the family. My son absolutely loves everything about Cats so I wasn't surprised when that was his natural choice when it came to designing his own dream pet, although this cat is different, it's a superhero cat with wings who flies around helping others.  When it arrived I was really excited to see w......

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Get Active with Cyclefest and Experience Freedom

As my children are now a little older the one activity we love to do as a family is hitting the cycle track near our home which runs all the way along the River Taff from the Brecon Beacons to Cardiff and has become one of our favourite weekend past times that we can do all together as a family because lets be honest it can be pretty tricky to find a physical activity that crosses the age divide as much as cycling does. I have struggled up to this point to fit in consistent physical activities and exercise since having kids. Which is why activities we can do altogether are the best and since my eldest has taken to cycling so much it's become something we really look forward to on weekends and we even have a trailer so our toddler can come along for the ride. As my fitness and passion for cycling increases, I am always looking for little challenges, whether that be to do longer stretches of our local cycle track or see how long we can stay out on our bikes it's good to......

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Adagio tea review and giveaway

I have always been a big herbal tea drinker, coming from South Africa I was brought up on Rooibos from a very early age as it's caffeine free and high in antioxidants and is common place in most homes in South Africa. I also love drinking tea in its most natural form as loose leaf so when Adagio Teas got in touch asking if I would like to review their large range of loose leaf teas I of course said yes. With so many health benefits drinking a daily cup of herbal tea can be a very positive thing as well as your morning ritual and a calm way to start the day. Loose leaf tea is often in general higher quality and I love that Adagio offer sample boxes which give you the chance to try four different kinds of tea to find of for yourself which one you like best and each sample box has enough loose leaf tea for around 40 cups. I really enjoyed trying out their Honeybush tea which is a sibling of Rooibos, also cultivated in South Africa and naturally caffeine free and subtly ......

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