It's the second week of the Easter Holidays and we are staying at Bredon Vale Camping and Caravanning in Norton, Worcester. We chose this site as it was ideally situated between the Malvern Hills and Stratford Upon Avon to visit Shakespeares Birthplace as my son has just studied at school his first piece of Shakespeare text. The campsite is intimate and peaceful with stunning views of Bredon Hill and The Malverns a bit further in the distance. It also has lovely clean amenities and a small shop with essentials, croissant orders for the morning and some carefully curated walks from the campsit ..read more

We have just upgraded to a caravan, primarily as our boys are getting bigger and we now have the dog, but we have kept our camper van for towing for now as I couldn't bear to part with him! Ahead of our holiday later in half term we wanted a quick test run to tow the van before we head off further afield later on. Sadly our first campsite in Dorset called to cancel as the weather in March in the UK has been pretty much constant rain and it was waterlogged so we had a day to find an alternative, which was difficult. Lo and behold Farway Countryside Park came to our rescue, and after our very ..read more

Our spring equinox walk this year took us Dunbridge in Hampshire, where we planned to walk around the Mottisfont estate and then go for some lunch after. We parked at the Mill Arms as we planned to finish here. The initial stages of the walk took us past the railway station to the signpost to Mottisfont Abbey. Initially you are walking though farmland fields and some with livestock, so at the beginning Digby did need to be on a lead but the views are vast at this stage of the walk, and you do come across some ancient oak trees, and being spring we witnessed the first lambs of the year and two ..read more

We are still preparing ourselves for taking trips in the van with a Dog now, but as a test to see how Digby does away from home and his crate, we took a weekend trip to Shaldon in Devon and stayed in a lovely Air BnB that was perfectly situated called Paddle Cottage. We arrived late Friday afternoon, after unpacking we decided to head to the Teign Estuary to stretch all of our legs. We arrived in time for a sunset walk and with the tide out you walk along the estuary in and amongst the resting boats. There are big pools of water to splash in which Digby loved. We also used to come here in the ..read more

It's half term so I took the kids back to Windsor, the last time we were here was laying flowers when the Queen passed away, this time we wanted to go into Windsor Castle itself and now visit the resting place of the late Queen. I love the cosiness of Windsor with the castle nestled at its centre. The original castle was built shortly after the Norman invasion for William the conquerer to protect the Western approach to London. Henry II replaced all bar one area of the Castle with stone and Hennry III continued to build into a bigger castle. However, it was Edward III that turned Windsor from ..read more

I wanted to find a walk with a bridge as the star feature of the walk, and I didn't have to go far to get a really good one! I cannot believe I haven't done this walk before but there is a first for everything. Starting in Winchester, we headed down to the path next to the River Itchen opposite the City Mill to walk to College Walk to continue on the Itchen Navigation Path that leads you to St Catherine's Hill. If you want to make this hike longer you can head up to see the views over Winchester at the top of St Catherine's Hill. As I have recently walked here with my puppy I didn't want to ma ..read more

We are starting to be able to get up to a 2 mile walk now with Digby, whilst this is still a little small for me, it is plenty for him so I am adapting until he's a bigger boy. However, what I do love to do is take Digby on new walks to get the new sniffs and, this one also introduced Digby to cows for the first time. As short dog walks go this one is great, there is a car park at the foot of the hill next to Handlebar cafe so a nice place to grab some refreshment after. You can do the circle walk around the hill before going up to the summit, each turn affording you a high up view of the city ..read more

It was a beautifully sunny January day and Mum and I decided we would take Digby dog to the sea for the first time. I am also doing Country Walking Magazines walk 1000 miles this year and a mini challenge this month was to walk to a lighthouse, so we went for the one nearest to us as we have not been here before. We parked in Keyhaven opposite the Gun Inn as we wanted to finish our walk here for some refreshments. Our walk started next to the boat house then along the sea wall towards Hurst Spit. The sea wall was full of different sea birds; big and small, and when the tide is out there are al ..read more

We are at the start of the exciting dog walks now with Digby, although we can't let him off the lead we are doing more and more exploring which is great fun for him and us. Today I decided to take Digby and my Mum to Stockbridge. This is an annual outing for me as I love to order my fresh fish and cheese for Christmas from the wonderful Thyme and Tides Deli, where after our walkies, we can grab some brunch. This is a dog friendly deli with a heated garden area, perfect after a Winters walk, and they also have a little tin of dog treats for you furry friend. The walk itself takes you down a riv ..read more

I got this book last year for Christmas, so this year I had the chance to really absorb myself in some of its recipes. I am a bit of a fan of Nigel Slater, I love the way he writes, the way he looks at the world, I think I'd throughly enjoy a day of pottering and cooking with Nigel in London. This book is a real joy, I urge you to buy it beginning of November as it can really get you in the best mood for Christmas, rather than the tiresome commercial push we are used to having to kick start our Christmas', often not when we are ready! Not only is it packed with delicious recipes, the narrative ..read more