Be ready for the outdoors with Simply Hike

I love getting outdoors, having always been active and one for an adventure I also know how important it is to make sure you have the right clothes for the occasion. Making sure your dress appropriately will mean enjoying what your doing that much more, no one likes being cold and wet on a hike or too hot for that matter so when it comes to outdoor pursuits investing in some decent clothing is key, also they tend to last much longer making it a much more economical choice long-term. I do think that outdoor clothing gets a bit of a bad wrap for not being cool, on trend or stylish and that simply isn't true! The people over at Simply Hike have asked me to put together an outdoor wish list of what looks great but will keep you outdoor ready this winter season so if you have some adventures planned to take a look. One of the most important things if your planning on heading outdoors for a few hours during the colder months is a good jacket and fleece and opting for a dec......

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Getting Party ready with JD Williams

Who else is starting to get really excited about the festive season and to many that means parties, events, seeing family and friends and socialising. Even for those who work from home like I do it's a time for meeting up with friends, enjoying good food and a time to step out of those day to day clothes and into something a little bit more special, I mean who doesn't love an excuse to dress up. Long gone are my twenties however and I do sometimes struggle around this time of the year to find something that is fun, stylish and festive while still being a little bit more sophisticated and me. As I have aged my personal style and changes and developed with me so finding somewhere that captures my needs now is really important. JD Williams recently got in touch to see if I would like to work with them in the run-up to the Party Season and I have been extremely excited about this collaboration as their collections are so well curated and certainly tailor to the more refin......

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Our Stylish Family Stay at Cotswold Grange Hotel, Cheltenham

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you may have seen we headed off to the beautiful spa town of Cheltenham for a weekend break away. The last time I had been in Cheltenham was around 7yrs ago when I was shooting a wedding and it was as wonderful as I remembered. We took a slow drive from our home in Cardiff, first stopping off in Chepstow and visiting Chepstow Castle (which I highly recommend) and then driving up through the Wye Valley, along the Severn River to the historical town of Cheltenham on the edges of the Cotswolds. While I know Cheltenham makes for a fantastic adult break away, with its boutique stores and stylish eateries, we were a little concerned there wouldn't be a lot for the kids to do but we needn't had worried as we had a great time from start to finish and I will be writing a separate post about family-friendly things to do there. For this post however I want to focus on our stay at The Cotswolds Grange Hotel as it was such positive experie......

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Little Freddie paving the way with Recyclable Food Pouches

As you already may know I am working with a fantastic small family driven organic food company called Little Freddie. It's a dream partnership for me as I am passionate about providing my kids with healthy and nutritious food and being really busy and on the go Little Freddies Food pouches are just a great option for me as they are packed with the best ingredient with no preservatives, additives or any hidden nasties at all. I also feel reassured by their passion as a small company who have researched every flavour combination, have visited the growers of the fruit and vegetable included and have poured their hearts and souls into making the best pouches on the market. I have also been lucky enough to have attended a focus group earlier this year, try out some of their products right at the early stages and meet the founders and be able to put a face to a name and I am over the moon that they have been taking on board feedback from their customers, especially with regards to ......

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5 Meaningful Gifts for Mothers this Christmas

Gender roles aside, Mother's or those who assume a mothering role,  are often the glue that is holding things together plays while we are often balancing work life, home life, family admin, school runs and everything in between. Personally, I know there are many times when we prioritise everything else before ourselves as long as our family is happy and healthy and it's true what they say I know appreciate my own mother a hundred times over seeing how many balls she had juggling in the air at all times. I think that it's really important for every role in the household to be celebrated although acknowledging everything a mother does really goes a long way, especially when parenting comes with so many highs and lows, even if it's just treating her to a cup of coffee & baked treat. Here are a few meaningful ways to show the woman in your life that you car. 1. Never underestimate the power of a homemade Card It may be a little cliche and perhaps I'm j......

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7 essential Family Travel hacks to reduce stress

Before I had kids I did a lot of solo travel, working in a variety of hotels, bars and backpackers across Europe, I could come and go as I pleased and when I felt like a change of scenery or simply wanted to move onto another city I could. I did learn a lot about making budgets stretch, staying safe while travelling, packing minimally as well as picking up a few hacks on saving money and making travel less stressful, these hacks I apply to our family adventures, even though they are vastly different experiences. While we all have the dream of picking a destination on a whim it is a little tricker (although not impossible) with kids bit if you don't do some preparation and research beforehand it could end up being costly. 1. Research your destination Yes this is an obvious one but you would be surprised how many people don't do the basic research of what there is to see and do as a family. Now we don't particularly go to "family" focused destinations as ev......

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8 Ways to naturally combat stress in the Modern world

National Stress Awareness Day took place this week and it's something I feel it's important to talk about as stress is something I have certainly struggled with over the past few years and it can cause real havoc for both your physical and mental wellbeing. I think we are more aware than ever that more and more of us suffer from things like stress and anxiety and it's easy to see why life has become increasingly manic and busy as well as more expensive with longer working hours and less free time. Living in today's world is massively different to our parent's generation and even when I was younger, it wasn't really until I was in my teens that mobile phones were even accessible to the masses (anyone remembers beepers?). In today's busy times we find ourselves having to navigate real life, online life, social media, heavy workloads, lack of support, kids, family and everything in-between and it's exhausting I find it's really important to know......

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Glamping in Cwmcarn Forest

Over the half term I decided to take my boys on a last minute glamping trip to Cwmcarn Forest as I had come across their stylish pods on local instagrammer Hayley's feed  and was inspired to check the Pods out and see what they were all about. If you read my blog you will know we have done a fair bit of glamping from vintage caravans , tipi's, medieval tents to even a horse box we have pretty much done it all except these wooden style pods. Cwmcarn Forest itself is only around a 35 min drive from where we live which made it a great base as I was doing this solo parenting and with little phone reception as the pods are located at the base of a forest meant we felt secluded but not isolated. There are a few options when it comes to these Pods as you can go very basic where you bring your own airbeds or mats and sleeping bags and use them simply as "wooden tents" or you can opt for a few more luxuries and go for the furnished option which is what we......

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Small changes that make a big difference

Think about it, you walk into a major store or supermarket for your weekly grocery trip for you and your family. You walk around, pick out all of the items that you need for the month and head to check out and let's be honest most of us at this point are giving more consideration to the amount of money that it is going to cost you, than paying attention to the amount of plastic being used to wrap the items you have picked and on top of that you may have forgotten your reusable bags (it's an easy mistake to make). The thing is we really do need to implement some changes as most people will be aware that now more than ever we are seeing first hand the impact our disposable ways are having on planet earth, our only home. According to the  Environmental Protection Agency  in 2015, 34.5 million tons of plastic were land-filled in the US alone. Of that, 100 billion plastic bags are tossed away each year by and it takes 300 years for each one of those little bags to go away!......

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