On our recent trip to Copenhagen we stayed in the Hotel Kong Arthur. I picked it primarily because I loved the look of the front of the building, which is surely as good a reason as any? I also loved the styling and the location – you’re only a five minute walk from the fabulous Torvehallern indoor markets and the Norreport station, which connects to the Metro and has direct trains to the airport and the Malmo in Sweden – perfect as we wanted to do a day trip while we were there. Top tip – Google Maps will try to take you to the main entrance, and while this is nice for the view as you round ..read more

On our recent trip to Copenhagen we stayed about ten minutes walk away from the Botanical Gardens. As the gardens open at 8.30am, it was the perfect opportunity for me to have an explore while Belle was still asleep back at the hotel. There was barely anyone in the gardens but me and I got to see a red squirrel – one of the highlights of my trip! Here are just a few reasons why the Botanical Gardens in Copenhagen are special. A Historical Tapestry As you step through the gates of the Botanical Gardens, you are immediately embraced by a rich tapestry of history. Established in 1600, the garden ..read more

Advertisement feature in association with Land’s End As of this week I have officially achieved a lifelong ambition. I now own a gilet. Okay, I get that this might not seem like a terribly lofty ambition, and you might wonder why I’ve never just bought a gilet, and honestly I can’t answer that. Suffice it to say that I now have one – a stylish emerald green number from the Land’s End women’s gilet range – and it is everything I ever dreamed of. I wore it on its first outing on Saturday to Greenway – Agatha Christie’s holiday home near Torquay – which is now owned by the National Trus ..read more

Advertisement feature in association with Buses of Somerset This weekend I did something I haven’t done for a long time, I got a bus. It’s been so long since I got a bus that I was oblivious to the amazing prices that buses have going on at the moment. In my mind, a bus into town was going to set me back a few pounds at least but nope, £1. Yep, as very clearly modelled so elegantly below, all single fares in the Taunton town zone are capped at £1 this winter, meaning you can go and do your Christmas shopping or meet up with friends and family without any of the hassle or cost of parking. The ..read more

It was back in June when I took a trip to Guernsey, my first time visiting the Channel Islands, and yes, it has taken me this long to mention it. One of the highlights of the trip for me was taking a boat trip over the Herm, so I wanted to tell you a bit about it as I’d definitely recommend it if you are planning a trip to Guernsey. We sent about three hours on Herm itself, which was plenty, but it could definitely be a whole day, especially if you wanted to have a go at kayaking or paddleboarding. Getting There The adventure begins at St. Peter Port, Guernsey’s charming capital. From here I c ..read more

A few weeks ago, Belle and I went on a mini break. Mini breaks have previously ranked amongst our top hobbies, alongside going for drives, escape rooms and trying to get the dog to do dance routines. Over the last few years, what with the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, they’ve got fewer and farther between, so we were really looking forward to this one. This mini break was going to be two nights at Tractors And Cream glamping site. I say ‘was going to be’ as though some elaborate chain of events meant that we ended up accidentally going to New Zealand for three months to volunteer in ..read more

Some people jump out of planes or bungee jump from tall bridges to feel alive. Others have to race motorbikes at high speed to feel that buzz of adrenalin, or maybe they cheat on their wives or accidentally gamble away the kids’ college fund at a Las Vegas blackjack table. Whatever. Our family is way cooler (and more wholesome) than that. We get our kicks from solving puzzles. We get a thrill out of cracking a particularly tricksy code, or unscrambling an anagram, ideally with the added buzz of having someone at the end to tell us how clever we are. In fact I love it so much that one of the it ..read more

Advertisement feature in association with Southern When I put ‘complete all three crazy golf courses in Hastings, the spiritual home of crazy golf’ on my list of 50 things to do before I’m 50, I didn’t realise I was carrying on a family tradition. Little did I know that my mother and grandparents before me had, in the mid 1960s, stood on the slopes of East Hill in Hastings, playing the 9 hole, council run, pitch and putt. That’s my mum on the left, my uncle Pete in the middle, and my Grandad on the right. My Grandad was rarely seen without a suit and tie, although we did find some other Hasti ..read more

Advertisement feature in association with Zip World – all views my own What are you really scared of? I like to think that generally I’m pretty confident. I’m not scared of a lot of big stuff like being a single parent, being self-employed and the only breadwinner, driving massive motorhomes by myself, going on stage in front of hundreds of people and trying to be funny, zip wiring off the end of a pier across the sea – all of these I’m good with. Stepping out onto a bridge made of planks though, high above the ground, with just a couple of carabiner clips to reassure me – THAT I am scared of ..read more

Advertisement feature When I made my list of 50 things I wanted to do before I was 50, I rather ambitiously included ‘visit every country in Europe’. It was pre-Brexit, and pre-global pandemic, and life seemed somehow much more straightforward, like I’d just be able to pop over to a European city every weekend if I felt like it. I also didn’t really appreciate quite how many countries there actually are in Europe. How many do you reckon? 30 or so maybe? Nope. There are 44 countries in Europe currently recognised by the UN, according to a quick Google, although more if you include states ..read more