Helen

Colourful midlife mum to two teens. Determined not to do as she's told and slide off into invisible old age. Much cooler at 50 than she was at 15. Host of the Teenage Kicks podcast, about mental health for teenagers.

Gorgeous BOGS Wellies (review)

We tested out our new BOGS wellies on a fun photoshoot for friends.

It had to happen, didn’t it? The great British Summer is not complete without at least a few days of pouring rain, and inevitably, the heavens opened on the one day we’d arranged a school meet up at the local park. These girls are off to secondary school in September, and though they’ve known each other since birth – their mothers met through the NCT – they’ve never been at the same school. So we sat in the drizzle while they and their new classmates hung out on swings with phones and did what girls do at this age. (Don’t …

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5 Decades of School with M&S

I’m buying school uniform. I’m in Monkhouses, the shop I only visit once a year, to queue, and queue, and queue – or so it feels, to a ten-year-old desperate to cling on to the last days of summer. The shop feels vast, though I know it must be ordinary, in its ordinary precinct location. It smells of newness, and stiff, shiny leather shoes. It fills me with apprehension for next week. When I ‘left’ school in 1983, this was the motley take on our uniform. As long as it was some kind of brown, with some shade of cream, it passed. …

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A Day Out at Liverpool’s Albert Dock (review)

Imagine a square half mile that provides enough entertainment for the whole family for an entire day. It’s not a theme park, or a festival (although it has a festival atmosphere this summer); it’s just a city attraction that will keep all ages happy just hanging out together. I’m talking about the Albert Dock, in Liverpool, a small but vibrant commercial centre built around the historic old dockyards of Liverpool’s port. It’s years since I’ve been to Liverpool, but it’s only 2 hours from London on the train, so we decided to have a day out somewhere different now that …

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Back to School: 5 School Uniform Mistakes, and how to avoid them

Making sure you get the right school bag is an essential part of uniform shopping

This is how the Bug looks today. It’s hot, they have a non-uniform day, and a water fight on the field, so he’s in his coolest new t-shirt. I love this final week of the summer term, with teachers finishing off admin while kids let off steam and have fun after all the hard work. But nonetheless, mean mother that I am, I made him put on his brand new winter uniform trousers and shoes, just so I could show our readers, and get you thinking about adding school uniform to your summer to-do list. You’re welcome. Common School Uniform …

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Food: Zesty Strawberry Mojito Sorbet (recipe)

Combine mint, strawberries, lime and a magic ingredient to get the perfect dessert sorbet for summer

  A frozen strawberry dessert based on the classic cocktail After loving our Strawberry Mojito mocktails, I got a bit excited about what else I could do with the recipe. We may have been a bit over zealous at our local fruit farm this week, and had rather a glut of gorgeous strawberries beginning to soften in the fridge. So, never one to waste food, and bearing in mind that July is national ice cream month, I had the idea for a strawberry mojito sorbet. We have the Smart Scoop ice cream maker from Sage by Heston Blumenthal, and we’ve …

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Zesty Lemon Meringue Ice Cream (recipe)

A zingy, crunchy, refreshingly sweet lemon meringue ice cream recipe you can easily make at home

This lemon meringue ice cream is refreshing and zingy – perfect for a summer treat. Scroll down for the recipe, or watch the video. As if you needed an excuse now the hot weather is here, it’s ice cream month. It’s an actual thing – July is national Ice Cream Month. There, it has capitals, so it must be true. In 1984, Ronald Reagan signed ice cream month into US law, and it’s been celebrated in America ever since. Must have been the cold war…   Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Recipe Joking aside, there’s nothing nicer than a scoop of …

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Gravity Force: Why Trampolining is the new Clubbing

Trampolining is the new soft play! Gravity Force is a new trampoline park in St Albans that the whole family can enjoy.

“Whether you’re a freestyle pro looking to showcase an insane routine on the Tumble Tracks or an average Joe looking to get stuck into a game of trampoline dodgeball there really is something for everyone.” Does that not just make you want to jump? And that’s just the adults! My kids cannot be the only ones to have recently discovered the craze for trampolining – it’s the new rollerblading as far as they’re concerned, and it’s always top of their list when you ask them what they want to do with a free day. So they are beside themselves with …

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Affordable First Laptop for Kids

GG is off to secondary school. It feels like yesterday that I photographed my 4 year old in her first school dress, book bag clutched to her tummy, precious despite its emptiness. And now she is leaving. Now she wears mirror sunglasses and lip gloss, listens to Meghan Trainor and likes to tie dye – because it’s a bit different. I have a nearly teen, and she knows more about some things than I do. She knows how to code, and how to spot a phishing attack, what to say to strangers, and where the best sales are. So she needs …

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Food inspiration for all occasions

As a mum, the need to provide food for your family feels never-ending. The continual roundabout of shopping, cooking, serving, and cleaning up feels monotonous at the best of times, and often it’s a point of despair. Before I was a mum, I loved nothing better than to spend entire Saturdays menu-planning for dinner parties with friends. I would browse recipe books the night before, and head out early to buy ingredients. I have shelled walnuts for soup, shucked fresh oysters, lovingly created foaming hollandaises, and whipped up meringues to rival Mary Berry’s. But with children, my love of food …

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Why Theresa May should be Prime Minister

  Theresa May for Prime Minister Look, I know this is not going to be a popular post with a lot of my friends. She voted remain, we (allegedly) wanted to leave. You all seem to hate her, declaring her anti-feminist, a homophobe, and a racist. Ok I’m exaggerating, but largely the Facebook posts of my online contacts are not indicating joy at her appointment. I’m not going to comment on her politics. I know very little of them, I’ve paid her no attention in the past. Does that mean I should be disqualified from my vote in the next …

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Travel: Treehouse Glamping in Norfolk

Sunrise treehouse at West Lexham in Norfolk is the perfect home from home for a relaxing glamping break.

Advertising disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission if you click them, for which I thank you. All opinions and imagery of West Lexham are my own.  Treehouse Life Is there anything more lovely than camping in the woods? Waking early to sunlight peeping through the leaves, and the sound of birds singing the sunshine into the day. Or snuggling down by a log fire in the dusk of evening, hot marshmallows roasting in a flame as fairy lights twinkle. It turns out there is. Sleeping (and living) in a treehouse. I have always wanted …

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Why Kids are a Chip off the Old Block in Sport

Children’s sporting choices influenced by parents, study shows If you’ve ever worried about putting too much pressure on your children to participate in sports just because you’re interested in them, you might be relieved to hear that it’s not just completely normal – but also the decisive factor in how your kids learn and play. According to new research by health and wellness provider Benenden, three in four parents are more likely to encourage their child to play a sport that they’re either already passionate about or had played themselves. That’s a pretty sizeable statistic, and proves that parents can …

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Family Time at David Lloyd Clubs

My kids love swimming. Don’t most? Of course, when I say they love swimming, what I actually mean is they love larking about in the water. Ducking, diving, floating, handstanding – there’s just something about water that is irresistible to children. So it’s logical that the first place they wanted to check out when we toured our local David Lloyd club was the huge pool. We’ve been invited to review a six month membership at David Lloyd, to see how their family offer measures up. On the day, my two were straight into the water, but I was exhausted, and …

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Get Involved in a Great British Tennis Weekend! #GBTW

Pock, pock, pock… The soundtrack to my July. My laptop finally becomes synonymous with its name, leaving my desk to take up residence on my sofa for the next two weeks. Pock, pock, pock… The crisp, clean companion to my keyboard clicks, overwhelming the sound of the clock while time runs away with my work plans. Wimbledon and British Tennis It has always been thus. Wimbledon is a fixture on my calendar that has seen me loosen my usual work ethic for a few days every year, for as long as I can remember. I once booked my annual holiday …

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Looking at Shakespeare from a different angle #ShakespeareLives

Shakespeare Lives! When she was seven, my daughter suddenly discovered Shakespeare. She had read a children’s version of a Midsummer Night’s Dream, and she was hooked. She asked for Shakespeare for Christmas, and began to talk of the tragedies of Macbeth and Hamlet – though she has always loved Bottom and Mercutio more than the great dramatic characters. Conversely, I came to Shakespeare late, and it took a passionate English teacher to make me love his plays. I’m impressed by how far Shakespeare’s PR campaign has come in the intervening years, that a primary school student not only understands, but …

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Why everyone needs flowers

I remember very clearly the first time I was sent proper flowers. I’d had flowers from my Dad when I passed my driving test, but I’d never been the recipient of a bouquet delivered by the flower shop, complete with gift card, and it was something I had longed for. In my mind, flower delivery was for wedding anniversaries and thank you gifts, and I held out no hope. I must have mentioned it, though I don’t remember. All I know is that someone paid attention. They came the day of my 18th birthday. A boy at school. We’d exchanged …

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Old Bidlake Farm – proper camping, without the hassle

What happens if you take not two, but four kids camping, on your own? In torrential rain? Four hours from home? This is how I spent the half-term holidays. Actually Daddy has no more holiday left to take from his job, but the offer from Old Bidlake Farm to check out one of their bell tents was too tempting to resist, and I’m always suspicious of a school holiday that has nothing written on the calendar. “It’ll be great!” I decided. “I’ll go on my own, we’ll have fun, all under canvas together. Actually,” – I felt brave – “let’s …

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Mindful Chef Review: Healthy Recipe Box Meals

Mindful Chef recipe box review: a box zingy with fresh vegetables and seasonings

Mindful Chef: the Healthy Recipe Box I don’t often post about food on this blog, but when I do, it’s because I’ve found something that really makes life a little bit better. I’ve talked before about how my love of cooking has diminished since having children. It’s something to do with the endless nature of feeding a family. No sooner is one meal consumed, than another has to be prepared, and the cycle of menu-planning, shopping, prepping, and cleaning up seems to go round too fast for me to ever feel like food is not on my mind. Add to …

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