A lifestyle blog
We haven’t been away as a family this summer, but have spent our summer at home, with days out and some more local exploring. We have also spent quite a bit of time around the fire pit, toasting marshmallows, chatting late into the night. It is amazing how much more talking goes on when you turn the TV off. Who knew?! One of the questions that sparked the longest
Toasted Marshmallow day is Wednesday 30th August. You would be forgiven for not knowing this of course since it is one of those “National Days” made up by an organisation with a vested interest: in this case The National Confectioners Association. Whoever they are. It used to be that toasting marshmallows was the preserve of cubs and brownies, Americans, or people who really knew how to do a festival properly.
Dear Giles Coren I have just seen on social media that you recently reviewed a cafe near a beach on the south coast and whilst doing so ranted about “tattooed fatties day tripping from Plymouth”. Now I can’t work out if you actually mean that or if you said it as some kind of traffic driving click bait exercise. Well if it is the latter it has certainly worked (much
It has been a while since I ranted on a Friday but I saw a headline yesterday that properly made me rage. And made me ask “when is a review not a review”? No surprise it was in the Daily Mail but hey ho. The article in question was this one: So it will also come as no surprise to you that it grabbed my attention
The story of Daffy’s gin is the story of a four year quest to make the best gin in the world and by jimmy it was a worthwhile quest, and it’s why it is my gin of the month for August. Made from grain spirit imported from France it is then mixed with eleven botanicals in an old copper whisky still in Edinburgh. This attention to detail creates
The Waitrose Summer Festival When my BFF asked if I fancied the Waitrose Festival as a venue for meeting up for a few hours on my birthday, well I couldn’t think of a more perfect way to spend a morning. What IS The Waitrose Summer Festival? As you would expect, the Waitrose Summer Festival isn’t like any other festival. You can’t camp for a start, which is always a bonus
Not Highclere as people often mis-hear, but Highcliffe Castle on Window Wednesday today The first clue we had were the ladies “of a certain age” occupying ever bench in the grounds. It wouldn’t have surprised me if they had a picnic and a Thermos hidden in their bags too because they certainly looked like this was a regular occurrence for them. Certainly in the summer, anyway. 4pm on a
You might not know what I am talking about when I say the Amazon Dash, so let me bring you up to speed. A while ago I wrote this: Genius or most stupid thing ever about how much I loved the Amazon Dash Buttons. In a nutshell, pre-programmed wifi enabled buttons that by pressing once their assigned item is ordered and delivered to you the next day. There was
I was standing in a doorway, my mum on her hands and knees in the far corner of the walk in wardrobe. There was a sizeable pile of assorted towels, sheets, duvet covers and pillow cases behind us on the bed. Some cushions already gathered up off the bed and stuffed into a bin bag looked like they were about to fall over. In the background I could
I have always said I would be suited to being a lady who lunches. It seems like the perfect way to spend your days, doesn’t it? A couple of weeks ago I had that very thought confirmed. Right after I had spent a leisurely afternoon on board the Betsie Jane on the River Hamble, glass of gin in hand. “Yes, this is the life”, I thought. You
Window Wednesday and it is London this week, not all of it, obviously, but the view from my parent’s apartment. Samuel Johnson famously said that “When a man is tired of London he is tired of life” and he wasn’t wrong. Though the other way round is not necessarily the same thing at all. This week on Window Wednesday it is the window that made me think about how
Roomba If Elizabeth Barrett Browning had a Roomba then Sonnet 43 might have read like this: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee for relieving me of the plight Of carpet cleaning that you get just right For your gentle whirring and idle grace. I love thee at 11am every day’s As you do your deed, come rain or shine. I love thee freely,