Pumpkin Picking With Picking Patch

Over the years Halloween in the UK has got bigger and better than ever, and I am most certainly here for it! Decorating the house, ‘trick or treating’ and probably my favourite activity of them all – pumpkin picking.

We normally have to head a little further afield for this, so I was over the moon when we were asked to visit Picking Patch’s new site in Warlingham, Surrey.

As we arrived in the field we were greeted with a sky full of orange flags wavering in the breeze, lines of wheelbarrows all smartly stacked and ready for use and a band of happy helpers that were there to let you know exactly what was going on and the best way to plan your day. The pumpkin patch is completely free to enter and once you have selected your favourites – they have an impressive twenty varieties to choose from! you can the head to the pricing boxes to see what you need to pay and finally finish things up at the till.

The boys loved being able to push the wheelbarrow through the fields and spent a good while selecting their favourites.

The fun didn’t stop there for us as we were booked onto the Halloween Maize Maze. We followed the story of the Feather Family, joined them for a selfie or two, sat down for a spooky dinner, left our spells on the haunted tree and whiled our way through the apothecary only getting lost once!

We ended the day with a bite to eat. There is a van serving hot food and drinks and an ice cream van if you are looking for a sweet treat.

We had an amazing morning and if you fancy seeing a little more then head over to Instagram or book your places HERE.

Our Top Places For Halloween Fun!

Spooky season is upon us so I have compiled a list of our favourite places to visit at this time of year. I would love to know if you have anymore to add to the list!

Secretts Of Milford: 2nd Oct – 29th Oct This has been a favourite of ours for years now. There is of course pumpkin picking, a spooky trail and the best pumpkin cake I’ve ever tried!

Chessington World Of Adventures: 15th Oct – 30th Oct Howl ‘O’ Ween is always a great day/or night out. All the fun of the theme park plus lots of scary extras. We love being able to take to the rides in the dark!

Godstone Farm: 22nd Oct – 30th Oct They have so much on offer this year from wand making, meeting Griswalda the witch, a spooky trail and lots more!

Picking Patch: 8th Oct – 30th Oct Now this is a new one to us this year so keep an eye out for what we get up to!

Hever Castle: This is another one we never miss! This year they have another fantastic trail, some gouly ghost stories and even the chance to plant some garlic to keep the vampires away!

Hobbledown: 26th Oct – 3rd Nov Meeting creepy crawlies, mystery boxes, puppet shows, ghostly tales, crafts, pumpkin bowling and sooo much more!

Let us know your plans!

A Calmer Christmas With Calmer Bannanas At Buckland Park Lake

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but the hustle and bustle, packed scedules and lack of time can take a toll on us all and the need to switch off from it all can be much needed.

Its not just the adults that need to take a break. I am definitly guily of trying to put too much on the kids at Christmas. I want these few short weeks a year to be crammed with as much magic as possible, but in reality it can all be a bit too much and they need something that give them a more chiiled day out – and this is were I was hoping the ‘Calmer Christmas Experince from Calmer Bananas would be perfect.

On Sunday morning we headed to Buckland Park Lake, Reigate to take part in this event. We parked up on the edge of the lake which was a stuiing sight to see and so surrene – however the boys were a little worried I was going to get them to join in with the wild swimmers!

We headed towards the gingerbread house where we were greeted by a super friendly elf that told us all about what our morning was going to hold. Buckets and scavenger hunt sheets in hand we headed off on our scavenger hunt to find all the pieces we needed to build our own snowman. In my head I had imagined a much lower key hunt, with us literally finding bits and pieces in the wooldna, so I was thrilled to discover a huge trail filled with activites, questions to answer and lots of little elves scattered aroynd to make it a really thetrical dispaly.

At each stop thier was something to keep the boys brains ticking over and thet loved the challange of having to complete a task to gain a piece towards their snowman.

After walking through the beautiful woodland we troated across a liitle bridge over a stream to play a few games of Pooh Sticks and made our final journey toward a pretty shleter nestled betwwen the trres. The numbers are kept low and we didnt bump into anyone the whole way round which made it even more speical and you didnt have the anxiety of having to rush trough tasks to let ohter people in for thier turn.

As a big fan of outdoor fun I actually think I was more excited at the sight of the shelter than the children. I was beatifuult decorated and homed an open fire where we sat down with a hot choclate after building our snowman.

Hot chocolate in hand and toes nicely warming up there was even more fun to come. We each had a gingerbread man to decorate and the boys made thier own christmas decorations. Whislt all these activites were being completed Mother Claus read the children christams stoires and sang a few songs to really get us in the christmas soirit.

There is also an option to have lunch whilst you are there and i was amamzed at the quality of the snack boxes. The boys has christmas tree shapped sandwithes, a candy cane cheese straw and a super cute reinderr brownie. so much thought had gone into it and they gave a big thumbs up for the taste test!

The adult boxes were just as good, and I enjoyed a festive treat with a turkey and cranberry sandwich, homemade sausage roll and a gooey chococlte brownie.

The whole experince was as relazing as i had hoped for. The boys are extremlly boysterous and can sometimes get more than a little over excited, but being ocupied the whole time gave them a mental workout, alonf with a good walk trough the woods, allowing them to really kick back and enjoy the peace and quiet of the calm actitives in the twnt.

This experience far excided my expectations and I would defintly put it top of our activites this year. It was someting differnt ans we will definlty be retrning next year!

Getting That Festival Vibe At Chessington World Of Adventures – Wilderfest

[PRESS TRIP] As a family we have a huge love of festivals and a huge love of Chessington World Of Adventures, so can you imagine how excited we were to find out these two had been combined to come up with Wilderfest – a festival within Chessington World Of Adventures itself, and during the summer holidays we were lucky enough to go and check it out.

We arrived to singing and dancing whilst we queued, which was great for getting you into that festival vibe and a good distraction for the little ones. After a very short queue we made our way inside and it was that tough choice of what we were going to do first. As I only had the younger two we opted to take advantage of the smaller rides, check out the animals and soak up the atmosphere of Wilderfest.

A lot of people think that its all about thrill seeking rides at Chessington World Of Adventures, when in fact some of the days we have chosen to enjoy the smaller attractions and these have been the best ones.

We headed straight for Sealife which we haven’t done for a long time now and we absolutely loved spotting all the different fish and getting the opportunity to hold a huge African snail – well I did as the kids chickened out!

From here we passed by the penguins that were relaxing in the midday sun and made our way to the monkey enclosure where the boys absolutely love the play area. This gave the adults time to take five minutes whilst they played.

Staying on an animal theme we hopped onboard Zufari which is one of my favourite attractions. The big Jeep takes you past a whole host of animals such a Rhinos and Giraffes and then gives you a pretty big surprise at the end, but I won’t spoil that for you.

Feed and watered we hit the rides, which in hindsight probably wasn’t the best idea as sugar doughnuts and fast rides aren’t exactly the best combination! We flew down the log flume at Tiger Falls, got soaked again on the chair swings and plummeted into the ground on the all new Croc Drop which called for some time to chill out at Wilderfest.

Throughout the day we were treated to music that popped up all across the park and lots of characters milling about and introducing themselves to the children, but there was also a whole area dedicated to Wilderfest where you could join in with funfair sytle game, grab some steet style food or just chill out.

The higlight for Oscar though was definitely meeting the baby panda and hippo – even I had to do a double take as they were so life like.

All in all Chessington World Of Adventures didn’t disappoint again and for me the thing that pulls me back time and time again after being a visitor for over thirty years is the fact one trip is never the same. They are constantly evolving to create a different and magical experience each time you vist.

Now I need to wait and see what they have in store for Halloween!

Messing About On The River With Go Boat

[GIFTED] I’m sure that anyone who has followed me for a while now will know of my love for water. Ordinarily the sea is my first passion, but anything that brings me close to the water makes me happy.

So as you can imagine when we went along to Kingston the other day to try out a trip on a boat with Go Boat you know how happy I was about this!

We regularly visit Kingston for a walk along the riverside and to grab a bite to eat and I have always seen the boats sauntering up and down the river and fancied getting onboard myself, so this was the perfect opportunity for me.

Go Boat is electric, self-drive picnic boat that has is situated along the Riverside Walk just on the edge of Kingston town centre.

Upon arrival we were created with a smile, lots of hand sanitiser and plenty of social distance markers which made us feel at ease right away.

All payments are contact free along with signing in and each boat is sanitised before each trip.

Safety instructions were given, life jackets were issued and we were shown to our boat. Each boat holds up to eight people and we took my Mum and Dad along…Dad was made to take the helm and become captain for the afternoon.

We all got comfortable whilst locating the umbrellas that were provided, and with the sun beating down they were very much welcome.

Our trip was for two hours which would allow us to get to Hampton Court and back but you can opt for just an hour or three hours which means you to take in both Teddingdon and Molesey Lock too.

With six of us in total there was still plenty of room to put your feet up and relax whilst taking in the sights of the stunning riverside houses, paddle boarders and swimmers and of course the grand Hampton Court Palace.

We took our own picnic with us which is a must if you ask me and I think if we had a return trip we would definitely go all out with this as the table really lends itself to this.

We ended our trip by passing under the bridge which the children absolutely loved – especially as I fell off the end of the bench trying to get a good picture!

The two hours absolutely flew by and my preconceived ideas about the boys being a pain were completely quashed. They loved sitting taking it all and helping grandad to steer and can’t wait to get onboard again soon, so I think the Paddington morning will have to be out next port of call!

Our First Trip To Godstone Farm After Lockdown

[PRESS TICKETS] Godstone Farm is one of our favourite places to visit and I can safely say I must have racked up a fair few visits with my crew over the years – so after months of being stuck inside with very limited time outside of our own four walls we couldn’t wait to have our first real trip out at Godstone Farm.

Ordinary Godstone Farm is really good at putting hygiene first and I was at ease knowing they would do their upmost to get the farm ready for visitors after lockdown.

I wasn’t disappointed as when we arrived there were very clear instructions as to what is expected of you on your visit and wash stations and hand sanitizer at every turn.

You need to pre-book online before your visit, time slots have been made to stagger people on entry and numbers have been limited to make sure it is easy to stick to government guidelines.

Due to the amount of open space at the farm keeping your distance can be done with ease and in the few areas that it may become tricky, one way systems have been put in place and reminders dotted around the floor telling you to keep ‘2 pigs’ apart.

One of the first things that really struck me was the fact all the animals looked as happy to see the children as they were to see them. They we happy coming over the the children to say hi and the boys couldn’t have been happier.

We spent ages walking around and seeing if there had been any new arrivals since our last visit and I was happier than the boys I think to see the gorgeous little piglets that were only a few days old.

My children are always thinking about their bellies and although we took a picnic with us there were plenty of places to grab something to eat, and we enjoyed a coffee and an ice cream on our way to the play area; and I can say I was definitely tempted with the delicious looking pizzas.

My main worry of getting back out again was letting the boys on play equipment, but I shouldn’t have worried as the farm had carried out a deep clean and with it being so vast it was easy (even for my boys) to keep a good distance from others and still have a great time.

We finished our day with a walk around the Dino Trail and can safely say that even though a few areas of the farm have been closed we still had a day as full of fun and adventure as always and will be back again more than a few times over the summer I’m sure!

The Light Bar:From Brunch To Cocktails

[GIFTED] Nestled away just on the outskirts of Coulsdon town centre is The Light Bar – a cafe by day and bar by night.

I had passed by so many times since it’s recent opening and never had a chance to stop until the other day when I popped along for breakfast with a friend.

The decor is cool and edgy and something a little different to what you usually find in Coulsdon which makes for a very refreshing change.

We were greeted with a warm smile and given a menu to peruse. Breakfast was well catered for and you could have something as simple as a pastry to a full English breakfast, tasty treats on sourdough bread, gorgeous bagels and lots more.

For those of you that have followed me for a while will know I have a bit of a thing for pancakes and The Light Bar didn’t disappoint. The fluffy and light pancakes were served with yogurt and berries and I could have easily gone back for more; whilst my friend opted for the avocado on sourdough which was presented beautifully and I was told it tasted as good as it looked!

We sat for a while chatting over great coffee and taking a look at everything else they had to offer, and there really is a vast choice of things to do.

The Light Bar has an equally good lunch menu and I think aside from the quality of the food what really stood out for me was the great prices, which isn’t always easy to find these days.

They run special events such as afternoon teas and bottomless brunches(which we are already planning on coming back for).

In the evenings they offer a huge range of cocktails, a resident DJ on a Saturday night and even the option of private hire and I can assure you it would be the perfect venue for a party.

I was super impressed with my first visit and will certainly be back very soon…probably to try out that bottomless brunch!

Frankie’s Lego Inspired Birthday With The Hip Hooray Co.

[GIFTED] ‘All I want for my birthday is a party with my friends’ – this was a kick to the stomach after realising Frankie had reached the grand age of eight without having a party with his friends.

I think due to the combination of his birthday being so close to Christmas and getting into a routine of doing a special day out with the older ones rather than a party, it has always just passed by without me getting anything arranged.

I was eager to resolve this and after discussions of a sleepover I sought the help of the lovely Tasha from The Hip Hooray Company.

I have followed her beautiful feed over on Instagram for a long time now and had high hopes that she was going to be able to create something special for Frankie and she certainly didn’t disappoint.

After a few emails to figure out what Frankie and myself were looking for and what his likes and loves were, Tasha soon came up with a Lego inspired theme that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. It was the perfect idea for Frankie and gave me lots of ideas of what I was going to do to work around it.

The Hip Hooray Company specialise in sleepovers and luxe picnics for children and adults alike. There are teepees that are perfect for indoor sleepovers and even the option of bell tent hire for the warmer months.

We went for a teepee and picnic table package where every little detail was thought of and we couldn’t have been happier.

Tasha and her equally lovely Mum came along on the afternoon of the sleepover and set everything up for us, I didn’t have to lift a finger whilst Frankie stayed in the front room so he could have a grand reveal!

We had six teepees set up which come with a mattress, pillows, duvet and decorative cushions. To this bedside tables are added with little glass bottles for their drinks and nightlights and the teepees were given a finishing touch by being draped with bunting and fairy lights…I found the addition of lighting not only very pretty but good for those that aren’t keen on the dark.

As I said we also had the addition of a picnic table which I’m extremely glad we did as it was a great way to get them all seated to eat and doubled up as the perfect place for games that we played during the evening.

The table comes complete with tableware, lunch boxes that I used as the children’s goodie bags and of course popcorn boxes for the all important sleepover movie.

All set up and Frankie over the moon with what had been done the guests arrived and the fun began. Gaming was set to be a big part of the evening, but I made sure we had plenty of games to keep them amused too.

I went with the Lego theme and had a design your own mini figure area, a game to see who could break their mini figure out of ice the quickest, guess how much Lego was in the jar and plenty of games of who could build the biggest Lego tower in the shortest amount of time.

Take away pizza was on the menu but I also created a grazing section for them so they could go back and forth as and when they wanted too.

All played out it we time for a movie and popcorn maker from the Lekue microwave popcorn maker. It was so lovely to be able to be enjoyed in the cosy set up of the teepees and the fairy light lit room.

As expected bedtime took a while with six over excited eight year olds, but upon getting up in the morning they all said what a great nights sleep they had had in the teepees.

Before we knew it the party was over and the team were back to take down and put away after all the fun.

The party was noisy and not much sleep was had and this is exactly what I was expecting – but what I do know is that each and everyone of them had a wonderful and unique experience that they will remember for years to come and I couldn’t have hope for more.

Hi-Fu Face At Re Nue London:Review

[AD] My big 4 0 is fast approaching and my usual routine of soap and water isn’t quite doing it anymore.

Over the past few years I have started to look after my skin a little more as the fine lines have certainly been setting in and the youthful glow has been diminishing.

I’m still pretty clueless when it comes to what I should and shouldn’t be doing and I was in need of a little professional help!

When I was approached by the lovely Gulden at Re NUE London a gorgeous new salon in Banstead, Surrey I knew I was in safe hands.

I opted to try the Hi-Fu Face treatment that is said to be the closest thing to a facelift without surgery. This sounded to good to be true and although Gulden said my skin wasn’t in bad shape this was certainly a treatment I was excited to try.

The minute you walk into Re Nue London you are made to feel at home in their super stylish yet comfortable salon.

After relaxing with a beetroot latte – yes you heard me right, and it is way tastier than I sounds! I gave Gulden a little bit of background knowledge on myself and she set to explaining what the treatment would involve.

The treatment would last a little under two hours and was a painless and non invasive procedure using high intensity focused ultrasound – hence the name!

The ultra sound heats the cells under your skin which are then flushed away naturally by your body over the next three months.

First my skin was mapped out to target the areas that were going to be worked on. My double chin and yowls were areas I was most self conscious about and I was assured there would be immediate results in these areas.

All mapped out the ultrasound treatment started which I found a little uncomfortable but not painful and Gulden checked in on me regularly to check I was comfortable and coping with the treatment.

It took nearly two hours and to be honest this wizzed by and I was over the moon to see definition appear in my jaw area straightaway.

This treatment had really spurred me on to make changes to my diet and water consumption so that I can get the best results from my treatment, so keep an eye out for my final results soon!

Our April…

As expected I have already fallen behind with this series and am writing up ‘our April’ at the end of May! At least it’s easier to catch up then last years series where I committed to a post a week.

Anyway it’s actually been really lovely looking back and here are a few of the things we got up to.

I kicked off the month at an event set in a tree house in the middle of Shoreditch…yes you heard that right; with Cetraben who have released a new oatmeal based cream that is set to rival their already brilliant creams that are perfect for problematic skin.

It was lovely to catch up with Nadia Sawalha who I had worked with on a campaign last year. She really is a lovely as she comes across on TV.

From here I went onto getting a new hairdo with the lovely Frankie from Blown Away London they I have written all about ‘here’.

It must have been a big boom in babies at this time of year as we have been inundated with kids parties from the teens right down to the little ones.

It was a special time for Frankie who took part in his first Thai Boxing tournament. I think the nerves were running higher in me than him and after he had competed and I took my heart back out of my mouth I realised how proud I was of his grit and determination. He is certainly walking in his Father’s footsteps.

A while ago now a meet a lovely lady called Charlotte who runs an agency called Blooming Mummas. Her love and passion for what she does shines through every time we speak and I have been lucky enough to attend a whole host of events through her.

During the Easter holidays she set up and event at Yo Sushi that brought together a whole range of different, inspiring and wonderful women and their little ones and it made for a fantastic afternoon.

The boys were as hyper as ever when we made our way to the London Transport Museum for a day with Greg Rutherford and the Lego City Hero Academy talking about how to encourage our little ones ‘hero gene’ and of course play with a whole heap of Lego!

It was a pretty event filled Easter holiday and one that really stood out for me was the Easter Egg Hunt. We were invited into the store before opening to take part in an egg hunt that ended in a supermarket sweet style run around the sweet emporium! It was certainly something dreams are made of!

We are still in the process of getting our house complete and as I’m sure everyone knows it can be a costly process so I try to save as much as I can and I find the bargain corner at IKEA brilliant for this. I picked up a beautiful lamp and gorgeous rug for under my dining table which I have since found out looks better on Pinterest as the practicalities of a rug, food and children isn’t really a good combination.

The last two events of the holiday involved a trip to Sony HQ to take a look at the new episodes of the Cookie Monster’s Food Truck that was a barrel of laughs and a trip to London Zoo for the launch of George at ASDA summer range which we all loved.

Just as we were ready to set off for a few days of fun in Chichester for the Bank Holiday weekend we ended up with an overnight stay courtesy of the NHS with a poorly Frankie. He had been suffering with terrible headaches and after a few tests we still didn’t get to the bottom of it but he was fit and well to get on with his holiday.

We certainly didn’t get the weather we were hoping for but we had a few days filled with beach trips and ice cream which is the perfect combination in my eyes.

Date nights are few and far between in our house and I was so happy to be able to get to spend a little adult time with Darren when we went along to see Hall and Oates at Wembley. A night of 80’s cheese is just what I needed.

I ended my month on a high with a treatment at the new Re Nu salon in Banstead which I will be telling you all about very soon.