The great thing about having the family around over a holiday period is the fun and jolly atmosphere when everyone’s gathered. Snippets of gossip and news are exchanged and views sought. Everyone should be mucking in to make it a truly happy occasion. There is the drawback though of a lot of work and if […]
One of the lovelier aspects of not having to go out to another liocation to work, is the chance to really get to know my house well. For many years I would trundle out of the house early in the morning, sit in the commuter queue going into the next town. The days when I […]
I do love a good lifestyle programme on tv. I try not to put the box during my working hours so 5pm is the earliest I allow myself to do so. I like to get inspiration for upgrading my home and toss the ideas around for a while. There is a certain amount of satisfaction […]
It’s that glorious time of year when christmas and new year are well and truly behind us, the spring is thinking about making an appearance, and we have a few weeks to think about how we want to redecorate and reorganise our homes. Decor can be such an emotive subject – as can how we […]
I had a visit to make to a former committee colleague from years ago. We’ve remained good buddies and she is one of those people who busies themselves on behalf of the entire village. When she was really poorly last month, I did some visiting and realised why she’s so popular as a member of […]
Usually at this time of year we enjoy a little indian summer – lots of warmer than expected weather with no rain and just a little breeze. Nowhere near as balmy as a hot summer day, but good enough for a picnic in the park on a Sunday or a bar-b-que on the patio with […]
We’ve enjoyed several big public occasions this year – two royal weddings and at least two royal babies born and now we have the excitement of yet another royal pregnancy to keep the news editors happy! These incidents are the mainstay of our newspaper industry and for the most part, keep the rest of us […]
When you study old houses, it’s amazing how labour intensie those kitchens and laundries used to be. I help out at a heritage house ad pat of the attraction is to see the ewly opened ‘below stairs experience’. The Butler’s Pantry starts that part of the tour off – where the footmen used to take […]
Last night was something of a revelation – I’d been looking after a relative’s little dog whilst they’d been away on holiday and a ‘thank you’ evening was arranged. Great idea, they’d brought back port and ideas for tapas and other fist foods for an indoor picnic. I tried all kinds of things that I’d […]
As we sit here in the blistering heat of a summer’s day it probably seems a bit strange to be also thinking ahead to winter time and that comes with it – the marvellously over the top festival period of christmas and new year. Previous years have been anxiety ridden, very spending based and not […]