25 Nov 2025
October’25 Scrapbook | Primrose Hill & Other Autumnal Days
Pumpkin Patch
I love this annual tradition of ours. This was year four of going to our local pumpkin patch and the joy of it only increases. I love looking through the photos and seeing my baby grow in the same spot over the years. This year felt special because we had Arthur with us for the first time but also because Alfie was now old enough to do most of the activities. Can’t say I was mad about the fact that he wanted mummy to come down the giant inflatable tractor slide with him *kicks wellies off and throws myself down with undeniable glee*. Was less keen on the tricycle go-karting – must up my glute workouts! Oh and crème brûlée crumble in the middle of a windy field – yes please. There were also pumpkins…
Trees and dahlias at Anglesey Abbey
We are now nearly four years into our National Trust membership, and I could write a whole article about how much I love it (*makes note*). It’s how we get a big old dollop of nature when we need it and Anglesey Abbey is our default place when we really feel like we need to be amongst the trees. It’s less than half an hour drive from us and the grounds are huge and gorgeous. Autumn really took it up a notch though; the colours were so gorgeous. And the NT chai steamers just hit different when the temperatures have dropped. When we were there one weekend, I overheard someone mentioning a dahlia garden so insisted we went and had a look (after several rounds of hide and seek). It was stunning. There’s something about the perfect symmetry of dahlias that really feels like Mother Nature is showing off.
Primrose Hill
Had such a lovely day mooching around Primrose Hill in London with my friend Lizzie. This is the kind of day one imagines maternity leave to always be like before knowing the reality and it’s nice to occasionally get one of those fantasy days. We had a brunch that I am still thinking about it. Challah french toast with cinnamon mascarpone and caramelised bananas – those bananas were the stuff of dreams. Absolutely delicious. We climbed the hill to get that view of the London skyline framed by autumnal trees and took a walk around the loveliness of those pastel houses. Also, the charity shops in Primrose Hill are next level, so pretty! I wanted to buy pretty much everything. Gorgeous day.
Things I’ve Loved This Month
Chai season. That first sip of cinnamon spice!
Visiting family in Kent and another visit to Grain & Hearth bakery. Those cruffins though.
YouTube has seen me coming with their recommendations of autumnal café videos that I play in the background for hours.
Autumn leaves – they have been particularly spectacular this year.
Autumn baking. Weekly Tuesday bakes for Bake Off. ‘Tis the season for cinnamon buns.
Arthur in his ‘little pumpkin’ sweatshirt. Adorable.
The smell of caramelised almonds on the market. Impossible to resist. Tucking a bag of them into the buggy pocket and eating warm whilst walking to the river to feed the ducks.
Candle season. If there isn’t a candle burning the moment the skies darken, it’s simply not right.
Reading by candlelight just before bed. On the rare days where I’m feeling a lil’ bit fancy.
The softer autumn light.
Soup season. Preferably with a toastie alongside.
Baby dressing gowns. Is there anything cuter?!
Alfie gleefully jumping through huge piles of leaves, throwing them up in the air with shrieks of glee. What joy.
19 Nov 2025
Why I'm A Center Parcs Convert
There are a lot of adventures I would like to take my kids on, but they all require them to be older and as a result, I have struggled to know what do if we have wanted to go away with young children. You don’t really get a holiday with young children I’ve found, not in the sense that you come away feeling like you’ve had a break (if anything, the opposite) and whereas once travel was just a necessary to get where we needed to go, it now feels like some bush tucker trial one must complete and I’m not entirely sure the results are worth it.
So when I was saying I just wanted a trip away where we could be outside a lot and I wouldn’t have to think too much about how to entertain the kids, Gary gave me a look and that was how I was persuaded to book a four night stay (I was unwilling to commit to more) at Center Parcs.
And do you know what? It was the first holiday I have been on since we became parents where I can honestly say I properly relaxed. I mean, stating the bloody obvious, but it turns out going somewhere that is truly catered to children makes it so much easier for the parents. DUH.
My fear that I might feel like I was stuck in a resort full of shrieking children (look, I love my kids, but I am not a natural when in a room full of children. I find softplay so overstimulating that I have to wear loop earplugs if I don’t want to end up rocking in a corner hyperventilating) was unfounded. Okay, the echoing swimming pool was a lot on the senses, but otherwise, I really did feel like I was in a quiet forest a lot of the time. The cabins are cleverly designed in such a way that you don’t feel like you have neighbours so waking up and looking out the window at trees and little deer scampering about was very calming.
The things that struck me the most was all the little details when it came to being set-up for kids. The child-sized trollies in the supermarket that turned a practical task into an activity within itself. The mini softplay areas tucked inside the restaurants that turned dinner into a relaxing experience as opposed to some weird challenge where you have to attempt to shovel food in your mouth whilst wrangling an octopus. The staff member who bribed Alfie into wearing a life jacket with a cuddly bunny rabbit when my pleas were falling on deaf ears.
We are a family that need to be outside a lot so being able to step out the front door and immediately be in nature was a delight. We taught Alfie to scooter in the forest, took regular trips to the beach, played in some epic playgrounds and would swing by Starbucks for a chai latte and a wander through the trees (yes, I enjoyed this first hint of Autumn), and that was before all the other options available to us. Arthur and I did a baby sensory class, we swam everyday, took a boat trip on the lake and discovered we all really like playing adventure golf together. Having it all right there and hardly having to think about what to do was such a treat for the ol’ noggin. My brain slowed down, and I can’t tell you how nice a feeling that was.
It meant that we could just focus on being together as a family. We made core memories. It will always be the first place Arthur went swimming, his little chubby thighs splashing about in the water. Him accidentally dunking himself is already turning into a family anecdote. It was the first time Alfie went on a water slide, the place we taught him how to ride his scooter. When we got caught in a rainstorm, we had no choice but to turn it into a game and we jumped over giant puddles and 'ran away' from the rain. Pausing on our way home at dusk so Alfie could quietly watch the deer walking through the woods.
Very happy to hold my hands up and say, okay, I was wrong. You gotta embrace the phase of life you are in and with two active boys (if you’re thinking, how can an eight-month baby be active, please feel free to come look after him for an hour), Center Parcs actually enabled us to feel like we were having a proper holiday for the first time since becoming parents.
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