30 Apr 2026
Notes on nature and travel from The Pumphouse
I step softly out the bedroom with the baby on my hip, trying to stay quiet so as not to wake everyone else in the house, but when I glance out the landing window, I audibly gasp.
We are staying in The Pumphouse, a lone structure perched on the side of a river in the Fens, and the misty sunrise outside is spectacular. I am in my wellies and out there quicker than I ever usually move at that time in the morning. I can practically hear the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack playing as I walk through the dewy grass, watching the sunlight sparkling through the mist and listening to the geese gently honking in the fields beyond. My lungs exhale a lot of tension I didn’t even realise I was holding.
I need to be in nature more. Whilst I don’t have plans to move, for the first time in my life, I can understand the appeal of living in the countryside. I’m not sure I ever would – I think my desire to live very close to both a coffee shop and a bookshop will probably always win out – but I have a feeling my nervous system would be a lot happier if I were surrounded by trees. I’ve noticed how much happier Alfie often is when we’re in the middle of a lot of green stuff and I think noticing what the kids need is a very good way to learn, or at least be reminded of, what you need.
I keep having this feeling of wanting to disconnect and simplify. I suspect it’s simply a product of being a mum of two young children in a system that demands perfection and offers very little support to achieve said perfection, but I find myself fantasising about throwing my phone in the sea, going and living in a cabin in Scandinavia. In the meantime, a peaceful, misty sunrise definitely helped.
Later, my step-mum and I have a conversation about travel and what we want from it. I used to feel a pressure – almost certainly derived from social media – to go everywhere. And actually, I don’t regret leaning into this in my twenties. There are a lot of places I want to go, and I feel very lucky that I ticked off quite a few bucket list places before we had kids. But I feel a lot more intentional and selective about it now. It’s got to feel worth leaving home for – I like being at home (despite fantasies about upping and leaving for Denmark)! I don’t want to go somewhere less nice than my home and my own bed. I don’t want to go somewhere just because the masses declare I should. I want to go somewhere because I know that if I were in my eighties and I had not gone, I know in my soul that I would regret it. Letting go of this pressure is quite freeing; it allows you to focus on where you truly want to go.
We stayed very close to home last year; I vowed I wouldn’t force us into stressful scenarios with a new baby and a three-year-old just because I felt like we should and so we none of our trips took place outside of East Anglia. I have learned that the feeling that we often chase from a holiday is perfectly possible to find without actually going very far. The Pumphouse was a twenty-five-minute drive from our house and I left feeling refreshed, like I’d been somewhere different, like I’d cleared my head and taken a pause. And the lack of travel is such a perk; we left on Monday morning and could still be back in time for Gary to start work and Alfie nursery. It means that the refreshed feeling doesn’t get ruined by a long, stressful journey.
I sometimes miss the freedom I used to have when it comes to travelling. I never enjoyed the travel per se – it was a necessary evil to get where I wanted to go – but I miss how I could just go. Not having to weigh up the multiple needs of multiple people, questioning how fair it is to put young children through the stresses of travel when you know in your heart that they are probably happier pottering about at home. I hope to show my children more of the world as they get older but in the meantime, I hope to teach them that you can still gain a lot by hardly travelling at all.
Written November 2025
25 Mar 2026
If we were having a coffee, I would tell you…
28 Feb 2026
Some Lovely Things
14 Jan 2026
New Year Possibilities
Well, okay, I might be a little disappointed if I don’t do any of it, but the point is: this is not about punishment and pressure. It’s about looking at the blank page and musing about what could be had from the year. Mostly, I want the same but more. More of this lovely little life. More of the everyday joys of watching my babies grow. But maybe slightly more balance? Taking a bit more time to ourselves once I’m less confined by breastfeeding. Reintroducing our monthly dates. Have a day in London with my sister. Have a solo date – take myself out for lunch and to browse bookshops and just let my brain breathe a bit. Occasionally see friends without a baby in tow. Treat myself to a manicure. Have a massage! Live in delusional hope that one massage can cure all the aches caused by childbirth/breastfeeding/general day-to-day parenting!
Be intentional. With everything. Quality time, hobbies, habits. Try not to do everything in impossible levels of multi-tasking frenzy. Be realistic about what can fit into one day; make peace with reaching the end of the day with a long to-do list still ongoing. Good enough is excellent, perfection is impossible.
Get offline. Life should be more analogue; my phone should be like a tool – a Swiss Army knife. You wouldn’t sit and pointlessly stare at a Swiss Army knife instead of doing things you love. I deleted instagram off my phone before Christmas – the difference! This has to stay the case. No screens in the bedroom. More TV free evenings. Writing things by hand – it’s grounding. Journal. Note down thoughts on books and bakes. Opinions formed outside of the internet. Hobbies that use my hands; baking, of course, and maybe some scrapbooking this year? With stickers! Learn more about my iPhone camera. Print out that nice photo of the sunset or a cake or a pretty building. Put it in a scrapbook, make it physical.
Prioritise offline writing over online writing. But also, don’t overthink online writing. I love this space, I love Substack. Good enough, not perfect.
Invest time in things that will make my life easier in the long run. Declutter the house in tiny increments every day. 10 minutes a day to reply to messages (Stop! Taking! Weeks! To! Reply!). Back up & organise photos once a month. Write a seven-day meal plan - breakfast, lunch & dinner – and the full shopping list to go with it. Use it when I’m exhausted, overwhelmed or busy. Don’t do meal planning and the food shop at 10pm on a Sunday. Use the emergency meal plan when it’s 10pm on a Sunday and I’m cursing myself for not having stuck to this. Go shopping for good jeans; I hate it but I don’t like any of the jeans in my wardrobe and it’s just getting silly. Go shopping for glasses; my prescription is wildly out of date. Simplify my skincare (just can’t shake the feeling that most of it is all a scam?).
Pay attention to what my kids need and then apply it to myself. If I think that they need to be drinking enough water, eating enough veg and spending plenty of time outside, then so should I. If I think it’s good for them to feel boredom rather than having constant stimulation, then perhaps I need to allow the sensation too.
Expand my brain. Read outside my comfort zone. Authors I want to read more of, or try, for the first time this year: Zadie Smith, Maggie O’Farrell, Fredrik Backman, Eliza Clark, Saba Sams, Brit Bennett, Alison Espach, Ian McEwan & Nora Ephron. Read more of my cookbooks – I love reading cookbooks! Cook recipes with unfamiliar ingredients. Try five new bread recipes. Nail a really good tiramisu recipe, both vegan and non-vegan. Make a Bundt cake. Perfect really good porridge. Eat lots of beans, like nice, good-quality beans. Those fancy ones you see in jars. Plenty of veg, plenty of pasta. Ooo try five new pasta shapes. And unusual pestos! There isn’t a rule that says New Year’s resolutions can’t be daft and fun, although we all seem to act so.
Take the boys for a weekend in London, take them on the London eye, see it through their eyes. Go back to Center Parcs. Keep going to national trust places on the regular. Go on mini adventures. Put my toes in the sea at least once.
Live seasonally. I spent 2025 writing could-do lists at the start of each season and I found it energising, having that little re-set every 2-3 months. It made me feel like I was making the most out of the moment. Leaning into the feeling of each season (see above about January being gentle). More of this. I want to live slow enough to notice the seasons change. Cook seasonally, switch things around in the house. Even just changing my phone background to a recent photo of the snow. Small changes stop me feeling sluggish and I struggle to care if others think it’s all a bit silly. More silly little things that make me happy!
Happy new year folks!
P.S. I have been poor at sharing posts on social media in recent months so if you've come from that direction, here's some ones you may have missed:
Summer Journal | Slipped Away Like A Moment In Time
One Minute Book Reviews | Summer Reads
The Golden In-Between Month | An Ode To September
Why I'm A Center Parcs Convert
October'25 Scrapbook | Primrose Hill & Other Autumnal Days
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.
31 Oct 2025
The Golden In-Between Month | An Ode To September
That refreshing new-school year feeling that always has me wanting to buy a fresh notebook even though I don’t need one. It has me shaking out limbs that have been languishing in the humid air and want to get organised, shake things up a bit. Arthur turning six months felt like we were saying goodbye to those sunny newborn days. We were both in need of a little more stimulation now and we’ve started baby yoga and tumble tots each week. I’ve had a restlessness around the house, wanting to move things around, update photos, get new curtains. Have it looking nice and fresh before we hunker down for the colder months.
The feeling has felt particularly poignant this year as we started looking around schools for Alfie. I have literally been amongst kids with their new pencil cases, trying to imagine my baby joining them in less than a year’s time. Our annual September holiday was laced with a little melancholy as this is the last year we won’t be confined to school holidays. We have often gone away in September, and it has always been my favourite time of year to do so; I will miss it.
There’s the familiarities of September that are as comforting as pulling on a favourite jumper. Perusing candles for the autumn, booking pumpkin patches and Christmas lights, doing the little dance by my sock drawer every evening… is it cool enough for the fluffy socks?
Whereas August melts into September, October seems to arrive with announcement, leaves whipping around in sharper winds, the smell of spice hitting your nostrils, soft golds replaced with vibrant reds. All confirming that, yes, we are definitely here now. Soon there will be glowing pumpkins, the skies will sparkle with dancing fireworks and windows will illuminate with decorated trees. Autumn has arrived.
27 Oct 2025
One Minute Book Reviews | Summer Reads
Here’s what I read over the summer!
Table for One by Emma Gannon
Willow’s settled life falls apart when her partner leaves her, and phases her out of the business they set up together. She is forced to start over and in doing so discovers a relationship that she has long neglected: the one with herself. A couple of my personal bugbears cropped up with this novel – wooden dialogue that doesn’t read how people actually talk and a title which didn’t feel quite representative of the story. Didn’t blow me away but enjoyable enough with some fun characters. 3/5
Knife by Salman Rushdie
Rushdie’s memoir about the knife attack that resulted in him losing his eye, and the following year of recovery. This was a fascinating, if grisly, memoir. It is so personal that at times, it’s almost uncomfortable to read. There were some meandering tangents which I didn’t necessarily think added much but, on the whole, this was a powerful book that was hard to put down; I read it in a couple of days. 4/5
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Set against the backdrop of the NASA space shuttle program in the early 1980s, we follow astronaut Joan Goodwin, jumping between a disaster on the space shuttle and the events leading up to it. This was my first TJR novel and I loved it. I was hooked from page one, adored Joan and Vanessa and didn’t want it to end. Those final few pages had me weeping. I’ve got a lot of TJR novels to catch up on! 5/5
How Not To Be A Supermodel by Ruth Crilly
A nineties memoir about Ruth’s time not-quite-making-it as a supermodel. This had me snorting aloud on more than one occasion. A bit like sitting down with someone, glass of wine in hand, and them regaling you with funny stories from their unusual past. 3.5/5
Who Wants To Live Forever by Hanna Thomas Uose
Yuki and Sam are a happy couple planning on spending the rest of their lives together, until a miracle drug is released which can extend a human’s life indefinitely. Yuki campaigns against it, Sam chooses to take it. Following a cast of intersecting characters, we travel over the next few decades exploring the effect of the drug both on the world and individual ordinary lives. My only gripe with this book was that I wanted it to be longer; there was so much detail to unpack, and there wasn’t quite enough book to do so. But I loved the idea behind it, loved the themes around society’s fixation with aging and the parallels that could be drawn to the current alarming trends around Botox and weight loss injections. Would recommend. 4.5/5
Bikini by Amber Eve
Greek island, pop star, enemies-to-lovers, good dose of silliness. Perfect summer beach read. 3.5/5
One More Croissant For The Road by Felicity Cloake 4/5
Peach Street to Lobster Lane by Felicity Cloake 4/5
Red Sauce, Brown Sauce by Felicity Cloake 3.5/5
These brilliant foodie travel memoirs kept me company for six weeks over the summer and I was genuinely sad when I had finished all three and was no longer cycling around with Felicity. A food and travel adventure is right up my street, and I loved Felicity’s writing style and funny stories. I thought the UK trip wasn’t quite as fun as the others, mostly because of the Covid restrictions, but these were all really enjoyable reads – I particularly enjoyed the American trip. If you’re a fan of cycling, food or travel (or all three!), I would definitely recommend these.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Within a few minutes of starting this book, I thought uh oh and my bank balance groaned. Because I knew that I had just found an author whose entire back catalogue I now had to read. I know, I know, I’m late to the party, but I instantly loved Fredrik Backman’s writing style. And this story! The way it was peeled away, layer by layer! It’s hard to describe without giving too much away but it is the story of Louisa and how she is one of the few people who notices the teenagers at the end of the pier in a world-famous painting, and how the painting ends up belonging to her. And it is also the story of the teenagers in the painting, twenty-five years earlier, whose friendship will change Louisa’s life. I adored this. 5/5
Happy reading folks x
24 Sept 2025
Summer Journal | Slipped away like a moment in time
Meanwhile, after a glorious summer where I have spent so much time outside that my hairdresser recently asked me if I’d had balayage done to my hair without her knowledge, my teeny tiny newborn has suddenly turned into a chubby six-month-old who is making it quite obvious that he needs to move into the bigger buggy, the bigger cot, the bigger high chair, needs to start trying food and is politely waiting for his mother to stop standing there in disbelief and make these things happen. I will, soon, but I might just need a mo to mourn packing away the baby things for the final time.
(I wrote a whole post on the postpartum summer over on Substack should you fancy a read).
I am an Autumn girl at heart, but I have really found summer hard to let go of this year. It has melted away, no matter how hard I have tried to cling on to these fleeting days with my beautiful newborn.
Things I’ve loved lately
A couple of hours with just the one child (the one that currently can’t run away) eating cheese and drinking wine to celebrate six years of marriage.
A lovely, if full-on, holiday in Norfolk, our first holiday as a family of four.
Arriving home from holiday to a gorgeous bunch of flowers that my sister had left in the kitchen.
Focaccia sandwiches from the Italian store on the market.
Dresses and sandals.
The flowers in our front door pots looking gorgeous – thanks mum!
Alfie splashing in the paddling pool.
Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream.
Arthur’s first proper laugh.
‘Foodie Fridays’ in our town – recent delicious tastes include some Thai dumplings, a bhaji burger and honey lemonade.
Neck fan saving my sanity in a heatwave.
The lavender in our garden bringing all the bees to the yard.
Skin smelling like floral scents and sun cream.
Catching up with my friend Alice and our babies in London, our lunches are somewhat more chaotic these days!
A day in Cambridge with my sister, lunching at Dishoom, appreciating the smell of bookshops and chatting constantly for hours.
Alfie wanting to hold Arthur’s hand whilst he walks next to the buggy.
Post-nursery pick-up picnics in the park.
A trip to Kent to catch up with family and friends on Gary’s side, including a trip to Diggerland (a rip-off but hard to argue with the joy on Alfie’s face when he got to operate a real digger) and to the seaside at Whitstable.
This bakery in Faversham which did incredible cruffins.
Arthur’s first time in a swing.
A trip to Hertfordshire zoo with old friends and our six kids. Absolutely impossible to catch up but so lovely to see all our brood playing together. Also, the three-year-olds firmly established that fake dinosaurs are far scarier than watching a jaguar devouring a rabbit….
Being able to take both boys out by myself and it no longer feeling daunting.
An hour to myself in the kitchen baking without interruptions.
My brother-in-law making us amazing pizzas in his new pizza oven.
Arthur’s current habit of grabbing my face with both hands and giving me extremely slobbery kisses/trying to bite my nose/eat my hair.
A trip up north to visit my dad and step-mum – walking through the gorgeous Peak District and eating National Trust scones.
Extended family coming to visit and kids running riot in the garden.
Fresh tomatoes, courgettes and green beans from my parents' garden.
Catching up with my friend Jordan and our kids playing hide & seek in National Trust grounds.
Taking Alfie blackberrying.
The golden, in-between weather as summer starts to melt into autumn.
31 Aug 2025
Ten Years of Blogging
In a way, that moment signified the start of my ‘proper’ adult life. I was 23, had been out of uni for 18 months and floundered about a bit in a way that we probably all need to do. Lived at home, went on some questionable dates, drank a lot of wine with friends, did two internships, an admin job, one random shift at an event venue (which somehow ended up with me on the back of a stranger’s motorbike… but that’s a story for another day) and 6 months at what I thought was going to be a dream job and ended up being slightly hellish (did pick up my future husband though so all was not lost). But by summer 2015, I’d just landed a job that essentially kickstarted my career, was three months into my relationship with my now-husband and just felt like I was… on my way, I guess? I have always kept diaries or journals in some capacity, always put together scrapbooks and photo albums, but this is the most consistent I have ever been, and I think it’s pretty special that I’ve got my first decade of adult life documented like this.
That first post was a list of things that had made me happy recently and whilst I am so far away from that 23-year-old woman sat on her bedroom floor, ultimately this blog is still, and has always been, about capturing the good stuff.
There have been a few times when I’ve debated putting it to one side - particularly now that my life looks so different – but, whilst I’m sure one day the time will come, there’s still something in me that wants to write here. I don’t think my small-town life as a mother of two young children is as bloggable (that’s a word right?) as a twenty-something experiencing lots of new things and places, and I am certainly more cautious about what I want to put on the internet these days, but writing and documenting is still in my blood so I will keep doing so here for as long as it feels right (I do also write over on Substack these days if you want to come and join, you can subscribe for free :))
If you read this little blog and particularly if you’ve read it since the beginning, thanks for coming along for the ride; it’s been so much fun to have you here.
31 Jul 2025
How To Spend A Week In North Norfolk (With Young Kids)
When it came to planning our summer holiday this year, our first as a family as four, an hour’s drive was all I was willing to commit to. With a 3.5-year-old that cannot sit still and a 3-month-old in tow, I just couldn’t face a long journey and to be honest, I liked the idea that we could go home without too much fuss if we really needed to. So we settled on North Norfolk.
Our Airbnb was an old farm, all the barns converted to cottages and one very picturesque shared indoor swimming pool, where each cottage had allocated times to have it to themselves. The cottage was on one floor, and the garden backed onto a large field with a playground area and ride-along tractors. It was really peaceful (well until we arrived with our 3-year-old) and there were dozens of rabbits just hopping about. It was perfect for families, and we used the pool nearly everyday.
North Norfolk also turned out to be extremely child friendly. And my favourite kind of child friendly, where things directed at adults still had things for the kids or vice versa. So, here’s what/where I’d recommend for adults and kids alike:
Wells-next-the-sea
This cute little town is perhaps a tad overhyped in my opinion but definitely still worth a visit. There’s lots of cute shops – I sadly didn’t really have the opportunity to delve into the homeware places thanks to buggy/small children, but I was itching to all the same. We did, however, explore some of the food places along the front which is an activity the entire family can get on board with. Two Magpies Bakery was my favourite (excellent cakes, and decent hot chocolate) and we had a tasty lunch at Wells Deli. For the kids, there is a very good playground right in the harbour – big slide, pirate ship, tractor, obstacle course; enough to keep a kid entertained for a decent amount of time basically.
Hunstanton Sealife Centre
Depending on how much you love sea life, this leans more towards the kids than it does adults. But then, what adult doesn’t want to walk through an aquarium tunnel and see a shark swim over their head? It was the first time we’d taken Alfie to something like this, and it was a lot of fun seeing him so engaged with it – in particular, how much he loved watching one of the seals swimming around. We named him Sammy obviously.
Beaches
I can’t talk about North Norfolk without mentioned the stunning beaches – Brancaster and Holkham in particular (if you go to Holkham, The Lookout café is worth a visit) but I’m not going to pretend that I massively enjoy going to the beach with a young baby. Trying to breastfeed as the wind whips sand around you is not the one. Neither is trying to keep the baby in the shade when the sun beats down (although I think my idea of using the buggy parasol and wandering up and down the beach like a Jane Austen character was kinda genius). But obviously worth going if you don't have a freshly baked one.
Pensthorpe
Hard to know who had more fun here, me or Alfie (okay, it was Alfie but only by a small margin). This is a very beautiful nature reserve, humming with wildlife – don’t forget to check out the flamingos – but it was the epic outdoor and indoor play areas that made it worth every penny of the ticket price. The slides were so much fun and Alfie had the time of his life – we literally had to haul him out kicking and screaming when it was time to go. Also, the shop was a dream if you’re into interiors.
Droves Orchards
This orchard includes a lovely farm shop, various lifestyle shops and some very good food places. Eric’s fish and chips was very tasty, but their sister pizza place took it up a notch – would highly recommend the goat’s cheese and pumpkin one. They had a great sandy children’s play area with a big boat to clamber on. The ice cream place was also good, and they also had a children’s play area with a kitchen and plastic ice creams that kept Alfie entertained for ages.
Stiffkey Stores
I would put this firmly in the ‘for-adults’ category if it wasn’t for the fact that, once again, little touches had been added to make it appealing for kids as well. This picturesque coffee shop / interiors and homeware shop / general store is a lovely quiet spot for a coffee and (really good it has to be said) brownies, as well as a browse around the kind of homeware shop that makes you want to buy everything. The little courtyard area had a mud kitchen so kids can happily play in the outdoors whilst you enjoy your coffee, and the kid's area of the shop also provides a great distraction as long as you’re prepared to part with money.
Fat Cow Burgers
Situated in a beautiful wildflower meadow, these guys serve delicious burgers (and soft serve ice cream, although the machine was sadly broken on our visit) in a gorgeous setting. If you happen to time your visit on a hot summer’s day, which we did, it makes for one of those dream-like summer scenes that you envision when fantasising about the summer ahead. Colourful wildflowers swaying in a gentle breeze, soft music playing, that golden light as the sun gets lower in the sky. The perfect dinner setting. And if you’re thinking this sounds like it wouldn’t be child friendly, the first thing I noticed upon arriving was a neat little row of Ikea highchairs lined up in the grass. Also, only a few minutes from Pensthorpe. Would highly recommend this place.
Pretty sure we’ve only scratched the surface of North Norfolk but the great thing about holidaying not far from home is it won’t be long before we can go back for more.
30 Jun 2025
One Minute Book Reviews: Spring Reads
A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J. Maas
In the mood for fantasy and having heard a lot about this series, I thought I’d see what the fuss was about. If you imagine Beauty and the Beast, but the beast is a fairy, you’ve got a pretty good gist of the plot of this book. I know this series has a bit of a cult following so apologises if you’re a fan, but I was so unimpressed. The two main characters had no personality? It was kinda… boring? Why did the love interest keep giving her looks described as ‘predatory’?! (Much of the language felt so outdated that halfway through, I found myself checking when it was published – things have changed a lot in the last ten years!) I can’t adequately describe why, but the whole thing gave me the ick. Each to their own, but not for me. 1/5
Cry When The Baby Cries by Becky Barnicoat
I read an extract of this here and laughed so hard that I immediately pre-ordered a copy of the full book. I read it in almost one sitting when my baby was just five days old and it was the perfect first book to read after becoming a new mum for the second time. This graphic memoir brings the first few years of parenthood to life; it’s spot-on and snort-out-loud funny. 4/5
The Farmer’s Wife by Helen Rebanks
Sprinkled with recipes, this is a gentle memoir about life on a farm, food & cooking and the unappreciated labour that goes into raising a family. It was a nice read, if a little slow at times. 3/5
Swept Away by Beth O’Leary
My favourite Beth O’Leary yet. It’s so exciting to see a writer developing and trying something different. Two strangers have a one-night stand on a houseboat and wake the next morning to find they have been washed out to sea. Part romantic comedy, part survival thriller; this is an excellent amalgamation of genres, and I loved it. 5/5
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
Early on in my maternity leave, I found myself re-watching all the Hunger Games films and it spurred me to look into the prequels. I am a huge fan of the original HG series but have always found myself a bit dubious about prequels, so had not previously paid much attention to this but, wow, was that an error. This is Snow’s origin story, the story of the very first District 12 winner and the story of the tenth hunger games and how they turned into the games we see in Katniss’ story. I have mulled over this book a lot since finishing; I thought it was so clever. Eighteen-year-old Snow was a real three-dimensional character. Even though you know where he eventually ends up, you still find yourself hoping he’ll choose the right side as he grapples with his own morality. I can see why it might not be as popular as the original series as Snow is an unreliable narrator and there is very little to root for - it’s pretty bleak – but I thought it was brilliant. 5/5
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
And moving straight on to Haymitch’s story. And christ, if I thought Songbirds was bleak, it was nothing compared to this. I will require therapy for at least three years to come to terms with this book but urgh, excellent, no notes. 5/5
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Two writers compete to tell the life story of heiress and tabloid princess Margaret Ives who hasn’t been seen in over twenty years. Flashing between Margaret’s mysterious life in the past and the enemies-to-lovers story between Alice and Hayden as they try to win a book deal, it soon becomes clear that not everything is as it seems. I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as Henry’s last book, Funny Story, but it was still a fun read, including the picturesque settings, great dialogue and quirky characters that Henry does so well. 3.5/5
Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley
Ooo this was a good one! Coralie arrives from Australia to London and, following a meet-cute that involves stopping a young girl from drowning in a fountain, starts to build a life with a husband, step-daughter and Hackney townhouse. We follow her life over the next decade, as we do the tumultuous political landscape in the UK; Coralie’s ordinary life taking place against the backdrop of five prime ministers, Brexit and the pandemic. Ten years in though, there is a moment of reckoning about her relationship, her life choices and who she has become. Brilliantly observed and completely absorbing, I would highly recommend. 5/5
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
Otherwise known as the Facebook book. A memoir from the former Director of Public Policy who worked amongst Facebook’s leadership team for seven years. This book is juicy from the get-go, exposing so much about what really went on at Facebook in the early 2010s. There are some truly wild and deeply disturbing revelations but if anything, it’s the ambivalence that Facebook have as the wreak total havoc on global politics that is more terrifying. The biggest question that runs throughout the book is – why did it take so long for the author to leave when the corruption and lack of morality was so obvious? There is never really a satisfying answer (and therefore her own complicity is somewhat glossed over), although her husband’s suggestion of Stockholm syndrome does not seem even remotely far-fetched. An extremely interesting, if alarming, read. 4/5
Happy reading folks x
31 May 2025
March/April/May Journal | A Sunshine-Filled Newborn Bubble
He’s called Arthur and he was born in mid-March, 9 days after his due date at a very similar time and weight to his older brother. He looks almost identical to his brother aside from slightly different shaped eyes and a much more gummied-smile. My iPhone facial recognition thinks they are the same person.
He sleeps. Not through obviously – he’s only two months – but he’s willing to go into his cot for some of the night and I haven’t been afraid to co-sleep from the offset this time round which means he sleeps in chunks that allow me to reach that precious deep sleep that is vital for functioning. It’s a revelation. The sleep deprivation last time nearly killed me. It seriously made me question whether I could have another baby; it’s no exaggeration to say I didn’t know whether I could survive that level of exhaustion again, let alone with a toddler in the mix. I was so fearful of the newborn stage. So, I’ve been living in a state of surprise and wonder at how lovely it has been. I mean, life with two is hard, unbelievably chaotic and sometimes I feel like I am being pulled so hard in all directions that I might snap, but sleep is my superpower. We can keep afloat if we have sleep.
Everything has felt different this time. As corny as it sounds, it felt like Arthur literally and metaphorically brought the sunshine. The sun shone every single day for the first month of his life. His arrival was the end of a difficult pregnancy and I’m still high on no longer feeling unwell all the time. Feeding issues was another fear leftover from last time and, whilst he was tongue-tied just like Alfie, we had it cut on day 4 and breastfeeding has been a dream since then. Physically and mentally draining at times of course, but I am so grateful for how smoothly it’s going.
It felt like I had a lot of making up to do. We didn’t really get the lovely newborn bubble with Alfie and it always makes me a bit sad, so I have really tried to soak it up this time round (if I haven’t replied to you in like two months, this is why, sorry, thanks for understanding xxx). I was out on day 3, sat in my favourite coffee shop, Arthur in the carrier, Alfie on my lap, hot chocolate being spilled all over me. Gary and I tried to make the most of his paternity leave with lunch dates, brunch dates, walks by the river in the sunshine, day trips to Cambridge, lazy afternoons on the sofa, a squishy newborn sleeping on us.
The difference between having a newborn in the dark depths of January and in the sunny Spring months has been quite something let me tell you.
Naturally, the novelty has worn off a little now and the relentless hard work of two young children often feels like a lot. Sometimes I vaguely wonder when we will ever have time for anything else. And sometimes I feel like the bubble is lovely, but I’m also stuck in it and not sure how to participate in the life outside it. But I also feel like I am a lot more mentally stable this time around and therefore able to keep it in perspective. It’s all just a phase. Time will pass quicker than I like, freedoms will come back and then I’ll probably be nostalgic for these days. I have no intention of having any more kids so I’m just trying to soak up my little boy and sunshine baby as much as possible, whilst also trying to not to scream into a pillow when the chaos of it all overwhelms me. It’s a balancing act…
Twenty(ish) Things I’ve Loved Lately
Nutella crumpets. First thing I ate after giving birth, favourite food of choice during those early days.
When Alfie met Arthur for the first time – ‘that’s a good baby brother!’. No, my hormones could not cope.
When Arthur’s eyes focus on me and then I get a huge smile and little excited leg kicks. Cannot beat that level of joy.
For a girl who doesn’t drink tea or coffee, I really love a pretty mug and my sister bought me a beautiful one just after I gave birth.
Reading my book in a café whilst my baby sleeps next to me. I am managing to read so much at the moment, mainly thanks to breastfeeding, and I love it.
Teeny tiny toes.
Wearing my normal clothes again. Selling my maternity clothes on Vinted and using the money to buy colourful, Spring, don’t-need-to-accommodate-a-giant-bump clothes. So nice to feel more like me.
The return of Race Across The World. Love that show.
My sister and brother-in-law moving literally around the corner. Still not used to the fact that they are RIGHT THERE.
Living in such a friendly place is just the best when on maternity leave. I have had conversations with so many strangers in the last few weeks and it’s just so good for the soul.
Our favourite coffee shop sending free cookies when they heard that Arthur had been born.
Easter egg hunts in the garden.
Cards and gifts arriving from family and friends. People showing their love from afar is everything when you’re in that vulnerable post-birth state. Particularly when that love comes in the form of baked goods.
Gentle, postpartum Pilates.
Alfie really getting into baking. A joy to share something I love with him.
How similar the boys and Gary look. They got my eye colour and that’s about it, but I don’t mind. The identical noses and slightly sticking-out ears make me smile.
My mum and step-dad who have gone above and beyond to keep us afloat in the last couple of months. Highly likely Gary and I would have both had a breakdown if they hadn’t been constantly around.
My friend Lizzie coming to visit for the day; something so special about seeing your childhood friends meeting your children.
The roses in our garden looking truly spectacular.
National Trust places. Thank fuck for these big dollops of nature where we can go run around and breathe in country air. Fully credit them with stopping us from killing each other at weekends.
Getting together with friends who have also had a baby recently. Managing a day out with four kids three and under is naturally chaos, but a very nice kinda chaos.
It’s peony season! The grin on my face when I found a market trader selling a huge bunch for a fiver.
The fact that Arthur has been asleep long enough for me to write this!
Hey there!
