Easy Camping and Good-for-Them Pizza

A couple of weekends back some girlfriends and I took our kids to Canfields, a Feather Down Farm in Horsham, West Sussex, for a weekend of ‘glamping’ (I dread this word, as I mentioned in my post 18 months or so ago about Mount Harry near Lewes, so as then I would rather here describe it as […]

Read More

Creative mess-making: pre-school drop-in kids craft at The Arty Space, Lewes

As the new term started, I received an email from a lady called Claire Fowler, who in April started up new drop-in art and craft sessions for pre-school kids in Lewes called The Arty Space. I feel so lucky to be asked to try out classes and activities, but sadly many of them we have to turn down because […]

Read More

SPRING + SUNSHINE (at last!)

You knew I wouldn’t be able to shut up. However I’m not ‘back’ back, this tiny post is just celebrating the end of that crappy rainy weekend and the sunshiny start of the holidays today with some love for Lewes small business Magnificent Stanley’s Liberty-lettered children’s tees and babygros. As of now they come in YELLOW. Chicks, daffs and shiny gold Easter eggs, MOVE ASIDE!

Read More

Guest Post + GIVEAWAY: Melanie Smith on 'Story', its Kickstarter, and three amazing Brighton tales to tell your kids

Post updated 23/03/15: Congratulations to Louise Porter for winning STORY ‘Adventure to the Woods’ on Saturday (and apologies for not updating this post until today – we were away this weekend and nowhere near a computer)!  Last week, Melanie Smith contacted me via Twitter. She’s a designer and mother-of-two from Brighton who’s launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise […]

Read More

Guest Post: Nancy Meiland's 'Smell Collecting' Activity – or a Whiffy Wander Around Lewes

Perfumier and trained nose Nancy Meiland is a great friend of mine and, I’m lucky to say, one of my clients. At the tail end of last year she launched her beautiful, high-in-naturals perfume brand, Nancy Meiland Parfums, with a first collection called Paper Leaf. In response to her careful and considered brief, I developed her brand’s tone of […]

Read More

Lunch with Your Bunch: Marmalade, Kemptown, Brighton

As I mentioned in my post about the Giles Leisure hot tub/swim spa (have you entered the comp yet?), my son broke a limb in November. We’ve spent a bit of time at the (fabulous) Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton, because it turns out bones heal slower in winter due to children absorbing less […]

Read More

'The Book of Things' by Sarah Dyer: Review + READER GIVEAWAY

Post updated13/02/15: Congratulations to Kate Malbon, Lisa Wheeler and Seonid Beecham for winning the three copies of ‘The Book of Things’!  And so finally the day comes where I get to pen a post about the work of my friend Sarah Dyer, a very talented children’s book illustrator who is Sussex born and bred and now […]

Read More

Easy Kids Christmas Craft: Handmade Cocktail Coasters

Let’s all admit what Christmas is really about: drinking. So last week when my sometimes-daughter was over, we made some (VERY SIMPLE) coasters. A cinch to make after school, these Fimo-and-glitter beauties will lift the festive fog from too much grog, and add a little charm to that glass of champagne (you know, the one your hangover’s telling […]

Read More