• days out - Family Life - Local Review - London

    London Transport Museum Depot – We Love Steam!

    We’re huge fans of the London Transport Museum so when we heard they had an open weekend at their depot we bought family tickets for today. The last time we went we didn’t have children so I was interested to see how our visit compared. London Transport Museum Depot Happily we all had a great day out. This year they’re celebrating the 150th anniversary of the underground and we had the chance to see the newly restored Metropolitan Line Steam Locomotive No. 1 and the Metropolitan Jubilee Carriage 353 which was originally built in 1898 and is one of the…

  • days out - Family Life - Local Review - London - Wandsworth

    A very cold day out {Battersea Park Children’s Zoo}

    Even though we live in London it often doesn’t feel like we have time to enjoy it. So we were all very excited to find ourselves with a free day to do something last weekend.  It was a balmy 2° and we headed south to Battersea Children’s Zoo in Battersea Park. To be honest we very rarely go south of the river but I had always wanted to visit Battersea Park and after 10 years of London living we finally got round to it. A (very cold) day out at Battersea Park Children’s Zoo We decided to use public transport…

  • cooking - Family Life - recipe

    Easy Butternut Squash soup recipe

    Did you know that Whitworths have recently launched a new ‘Whitworths for Baking’ range, comprising of six high quality baking sugars – fine caster, superfine icing, fine demerara, crunchy demerara, light soft brown sugar and dark soft brown sugar, as well as a ‘Twist and Sprinkle’ icing sugar duster with built in sieve. The range has been made and packaged especially with home bakers in mind. Easy Butternut Squash soup recipe The Whitworths website has some great recipes and not all of them are cakey. As well as cakes, biscuits, and desserts there are also some savoury suggestions. I liked…

  • Family Life - holidays

    Can glamping ever be glamorous?

    I looked at the white bedspreads, white towels and my 2.5 year old jumping on the 4 poster with his muddy feet and wondered if glamping could ever be glamorous? It’s not a cheap holiday option and the champagne flutes in the cupboard hinted at visitors without children. I wondered if we were crazy to take a 2.5 and 9 month old glamping. Can glamping ever be glamorous? We’ve just returned from a week in our own eight acres of private woodland in Devon, called The Wood Life. Just the four of us, a large tent, real beds and a…

  • Buckinghamshire - days out - Family Life - Gingerbread house finds - Lego - vintage

    Beaconsfield charity shops

    Yesterday we took the toddler to Bekonscot Model Village and Railway, the world’s oldest, original model village. It has a model train so we knew the toddler would love it, and he did. It was a little hot for me but he ran round, pointing out the little houses and people and shouting “TRAIN!” every time one of the model trains went past. Beaconsfield charity shops The model village is in Beaconsfield which has been labelled Britain’s richest town so I knew the charity shops would be worth a look. I only managed two because I spent too much but…

  • Family Life

    Back to School with Clarks kids

    I know I’m not the only mother counting down the days until their child goes back to school. Mine only goes to his nursery for a couple of hours each week. We’re coping but I must admit to missing time spent with my 8 month old. Plus the toddler needs a lot of entertaining and I’m having to dig deep to keep him busy! Back to School with Clarks kids We were asked if we would like to review the Clarks kids new Back To School collection which is currently hitting stores. We always shop in Clarks as the poor…

  • baking - Family Life - gingerbread

    Daffodil biscuits for spring

    The sun is shining so I thought I would make some daffodil inspired biscuits. Daffodil biscuits for spring I baked simple biscuits using a gingerbread kit from Morrisons. The kit contains a gingerbread mix with a cutter, a tube of white icing, a sachet of golden syrup and raisins, so all you need to provide is butter and 2tsp of water. The mix made a satisfying dough which came together really easily and smelled lovely. The golden syrup made it quite sticky so I used plenty of flour when rolling out the dough. Instead of using the enclosed cutter I…

  • days out - Family Life - pregnancy

    Half-term fun at the Tower of London

    I never thought that we’d be affected by half-term with a pre-schooler but all our normal activities stop! This time we tried to be a bit more ingenious and made the most of activities at our local library, autumnal walks in the park as well as a trip to the Tower of London. Half-term fun at the Tower of London We’ve been meaning to go to the Tower of London for ages. It’s one of those iconic places which would be in my fantasy London Guide which represent London, along with Big Ben, black cabs and red telephone boxes. Despite…

  • Family Life - reviews

    New shoes from Clarks

    There’s something exciting about new shoes and Edward feels the same way. Last week we were invited to our local Clarks store so Edward could choose a pair of new shoes from the Autumn/Winter 2011 collection. His feet were measured and I was surprised that his feet had grown a whole size. As a size 7H he needed the widest fitting which unfortunately limited our choice to just two pairs in stock. One pair had flashing lights which were very appealing but I didn’t like the colours of the shoe and the other pair featured a rather fab dinosaur on…