Stories behind the origins of music. Behind the Beats is a new YouTube Originals show which is aimed at children and families. It's for music lovers, and those who want to know more about how different forms of music were founded. The whole series is a great way to introduce young kids to incredible music. It's also an amazing way to start help children find a passion for music. Each episode of Behind the Beats takes you on a journey through music history. You will be told the stories of how musical genres came to life and the legends that paved the way.   From HipHop to Techno ..read more

Lockdown Rescue Dogs: Managing Anxiety Lockdown was tough for so many reasons, but it had one huge benefit for us as a family, and that was getting a dog. I know it's a cliché getting a lockdown dog, but this was something we had wanted to do for a very long time. We didn't want a puppy though, and I had been home-checked by two different dog rescues, but never found the type of dog we wanted. Then I found a charity who rescue gun dogs from Cyprus and within a month we had been matched to Lewis, who had been found starving by the side of the road. He was just under 12 months old and had h ..read more

We all need a little help with changing up our spending habits and purchasing items which are better for the environment, more sustainable, biodegradable, not plastic. These are twelve small changes you can make which will collectively will have a positive impact on our planet. Deodorant Swapping a spray or roll on deodorant is relatively simple and has a big impact. You can also look at ethical products, or items which are kinder to your skin. Brands that I have tried are Wild, Salt of the Earth and Pitrok. My personal favourite is Salt of the Earth, and it's a brand I use every day now. The ..read more

March is birthday season for us, with both children a week apart, and also my aunt and uncle, one of my best friends and my goddaughter. It's a busy old month! It was also the month we bought our first ever chickens, which is very exciting. When we are allowed to open the B&B up again, we'll be able to serve people eggs from the garden, which is amazing. Admittedly, they will have to start laying eggs first! I really enjoyed the couple of weeks that the children were back at school. It felt so nice to feel a little bit of normality again! I'm looking forward to April and counting down t ..read more

I was unfortunate enough to end up in A&E in October. I hadn't anticipated it, but my GP said my headache sounded like it could be a bleed on the brain, and sent me straight there. I was seen quickly and processed through to the AMU unit where I was given a bed for the night. The communication was pretty poor to be honest, and I didn't realise I was staying on the ward until around 9pm, at which point I asked if I could have some food as I'd been in the hospital since 4.00pm. I'm not a fan of a tuna sandwich, but wolfed it down. At this point I still didn't really know why I was being a ..read more

Well January, what a month you were. All the anticipation of the end of the Christmas holidays, looking forward to the children heading back to school and having some time alone again only to enter a third lockdown. I have spent a fair amount of this month wondering how long it will be before I get some time alone again! We have knuckled down and got on with homeschool though. It's infinitely easier now that my son is at secondary school as all of his lessons are online. It leaves me homeschooling my daughter, which is definitely simpler than with both children needing me. My own work has t ..read more

November was all about the rainbow. I have never seen so many in on e month before. Sometimes we would see around 5-10 just in one hour on a walk. England went into a second lockdown, but not a lot changed for us because the children were still at school. The only real change has been that their clubs have been cancelled, so we haven't been dashing around after school trying to get everyone to different places at the same time! I still haven't been into a pub since March this year, and it feels so far off that we might get back to that again some time! I am looking forward to December. We h ..read more

I am not sure where September disappeared to. It's been a blur of a month. We managed a couple of days away together, which was really nice to chill out. It also meant we could introduce Lewis to the beach, which he absolutely loved. I think we wore him out with some long walks on coastal paths near Saltburn. It's one of our favourite places to visit in the UK. Then it was back to school (finally). My son started secondary school, which was a big deal for me, but he was totally ready for it! The B&B has been really busy and I am getting to grips with all the different rules and regulati ..read more

Have you ever thought about switching to a more natural deodorant? I hadn't really thought about it before, but once I started researching and realised the links between aluminium and breast cancer, I wanted to switch. I also wanted to try a more eco product as well, a more ethical brand that is cruelty free. I didn't know which brand to go for, so have tried a few and wanted to share them with you.  Wild is a sustainable Natural Deodorant which is delivered straight to your door. The case is made to be used again and again and you simply use a refill when you have run out. This is a ..read more

We were invited by Viking to try three great craft activities for children during lockdown. Viking are an office supplier who also sell stationery, craft supplies and cleaning products. We joined in with a zoom chat one Saturday morning with our children to get creative. We knew that it involved chocolate, so we were excited to join in! We'd been sent the products we would need by Viking ahead of the chat, including toilet roll, and hand soap. Both children were keen to join in, which surprised me as my son doesn't tend to enjoy crafts. We knew we would be making bubblewrap chocolate, a fir ..read more