Last week I was beyond excited to spend a day at River Cottage, doing some of the things I love best. Cooking, eating and blogging. I am sure that you have all seen River Cottage on the TV and know about their passion for organic food and less waste.

First up, my group went to the cookery school with head chef Gill Meller. River Cottage have a wide range of cookery courses from butchery to gluten free. If this taster is anything to go by then you are in for a treat. We were shown how to make butter and a soda bread.


We then used the leftover buttermilk to make some amazing soad bread filled with goats cheese apples and freshly picked blackberries. I will be making this again this week so watch out for the recipe on the blog soon.



Next up was a photography styling session by the lovely Capture by Lucy. This session was full of helpful tips, such as colour wheels, props and camera angles. Photography is something I am really keen to work on so you will see these tips being put into practice.


Our last session was a tour of the farm my head gardener Nick. His passion shone through.

There were beautiful wild flowers to attract the bees, and golden raspberries which the birds don't eat yet taste delicious.


There were a variety of herbs I had never even heard of before. Nick talked us through the principles of crop rotation. He also explained that instead of pesticides, they planted companion plants like nasturtiums to attract the pests away from the vegetables.


We also met some lovely pigs and chickens.


I can't finish my post about River Cottage without mentioning our lunch. It was fantastic. It wasn't fussy food, but it was good wholesome rustic food with flavours that packed a punch.  The raviolli with ratatouille was full of flavour. I can safely say it was the best ratatouille I have ever tasted.


Dessert didn't disappoint either. Fennel meringue served with coffee ice cream with salted caramel pieces, damsons and crumble. If you are ever near Axminster, I would certainly recommend checking out their dining calendar.


I had an absolutely fantastic day at River Cottage and would recommend the place to any food lover. In addition it really got me thinking about my food. Maybe eating less meat, but better quality. Trying new flavour combinations and growing more of my own produce.

Have you ever been to River Cottage? What part of the day would you have liked most?

Middle man (5) and Little man (3) love The Furchester Hotel. Infact one of the highlights of visiting Disneyland Paris this year was the fact that we were greeted with luggage trolleys "like they have on The Furchester Hotel Mummy!" I was therefore pretty certain that they would be keen to have The Furchester Hotel DVD.

It contains the lovable favourites from Seaseme Street like Elmo and Cookie Monster who are on an extended holiday to the UK.

The DVD contains 6 fun episodes from the hit series on CBeebies.


Welcome to the Furchester
Mr. Director and his assistant Carol are visiting The Furchester Hotel to shoot a video to promote the establishment and are very surprised when they find that it is run by monsters! Mr. Director follows the exciting escapades of the hotel and its residents, uncovering lots of unusual activities along the way.


Don’t Eat the Guests
Catastrophe strikes when the hotel runs out of cookies and Cookie Monster descends into panic. The arrival of Mr. Crumb, a living cookie, does little to help matters and responsibility falls to the Furchester Hotel team to ensure his safety whilst they wait for the cookie shipment.


Very Important Porcupine
The arrival of Pierce the Porcupine causes alarm amongst the hotels residents who fear his prickly appearance. Elmo and Phoebe relish the chance to make a new friend and ensure that Pierce has a fantastic stay at the Furchester.


Yodel-Ay-Hee-Hoo!
A kerfuffle is caused when the hotels telephone ceases to work, calling for some creative thinking from the Furchester team. After trialing a series of tin can telephones, Furgus, Phoebe and Elmo turn to the hotel’s newest resident, Professor Fleece, for lessons in yodeling.


Count Your Chickens
Local tour guide, Griff, turns to the Furchester team to watch his latest group, consisting of five chickens, whilst he fetches his bus from the garage. Following his departure, chaos descends across the hotel as the chickens disappear and the Tea Time Monsters run riot.


The Veggietones
Funella hires The Veggietones to serenade the hotels guests, much to Elmo and Phoebe’s delight. The group’s initial performances cause concern amongst the guests but a helping hand from Furchester team ensures everyone is able to enjoy the show.


My boys giggled away at The Furchester Hotel and it was lovely to watch them watch it. The DVD is out now and can be purchased on Amazon. I also have a copy to giveaway to one of my readers. Just complete the rafflecopter below. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A couple of weekends ago you may remember I went up to London to speed up the Thames like James Bond to celebrate my friends turning 40. I keep the company of friends much older than me *cough cough.* Once our exhilarating experience was over we met up with everyone and headed to The ICEBAR London which is just off Regent Street.

My boys have all been fans of Dora The Explorer and Go Diego GO! Now there is a new spin off that your little ones can enjoy: Dora and Friends.


Dora has moved to Playa Verde which is by the sea. She enters a diverse new school, and is busier than ever. She's also found a new group of friends with a shared passion for learning and exploring who join her on new adventures in the city. Together, all for one!


Dora and her new group of friends are ready to go on exciting adventures in a new city. But this is no ordinary town. Around every corner, there are portals to magical worlds filled with surprises, obstacles and villains waiting to test Dora and her friends with challenges. Luckily, Dora has new tools to aid her and her friends.  Her map is now a smart phone featuring Map app! She has magical gadgets galore to help her on her journey.

Dora and Friends is out on DVD now and can be purchased from Amazon.  I also have a copy of the DVD for one of my lucky readers. Just complete the Gleam entry below. Good Luck!

Dora and Friends DVD

- See more at: http://www.theprizefinder.com/content/dora-and-friends-dvd#sthash.gIcEAT1X.dpuf

Last week you may remember that I got confused and baked a leftover's pie as well as a Charlotte Russe. This week I was sure it was chocolate week, until that is, I spoke to Jenny and asked her what she was making. She has made some fabulous Ferrero Rochatines. OK so time was not on my side and I hadn't a clue. So what does a baker do when she wants to take part in a linky, but hasn't got time? She cheats a little. Well I do. I am a total snob when it comes to packet mixes. But as I had been given a Green's Profiteroles cake mix when I worked with them recently, I thought I would give it a go.

I have to say the results were pretty good and they are so easy to make it is one you could get the children doing without fear of your entire kitchen being covered in flour. So please don't judge me, and think of the flavours instead!

You will need:

For the eclairs

I box of Green's Chocolate Profiterole mix
2 eggs
25g butter

For the mint filling

Custard packet filling (included in box)
60ml milk
75ml double cream
3-4 drops of peppermint essence

For the Chocolate

100g dark chocolate drops (included in the cake mix box.)
1tbsp butter
2tbsp icing sugar
1tbsp water

First you need to pre heat the oven to 180C.

Heat 25g of butter and 160ml of water until the butter has melted and then mix it with the pastry packet. Whisk two eggs and slowly combine this into the pastry mixture. When smooth place into a piping bag and pipe the eclairs to your desired length.


Cook for 25 minutes and then leave to cool.  Make up the custard filling by mixing the packet with 60ml of milk and 75ml cream. Add a few drops on peppermint essence. Cut the cooled eclairs in half and pipe in the peppermint cream.


Finally make the chocolate topping by melting the dark chocolate drops and mixing in the butter, icing sugar and water. Spread on top of the eclair.

Do you know what, they tasted good. I will definitely be having a go at the real thing soon. But for now I will put my packet mix snobbishness aside and have one of these with a cuppa.

I had such a special bond with my Grandparents and it is lovely to see that my boys have such a special bond with their Grandparents too. On Sunday 4th October it is Grandparents Day and Debenhams Flowers offered to send me a bunch to review. Luckily my parents came down to look after the boys whilst I spent a day at River Cottage, so I decided I would let big man chose a bunch that he could give to his Nanny.

He chose the Moonlit Meadow as he thought it looked pretty and it came with chocolates that he could give to Grandad. I am not usually a lover of a blue coloured bouquet, but these were beautiful. We weren't in when the flowers were delivered but they were left safely at the side of the house. Nanny was pleased with them and Grandad was pleased with his Guylian chocoaltes.

The general excitement of seeing Nanny doesn't lead to the most perfect photography, but a perfectly natural one.

We have received flowers from Debenhams Flowers before which have also been beautiful. If you would like to treat the Grandparents or anyone else come to that matter, Debenhams Flowers have kindly offered me a discount code to recieve 25% off a bouquet if you would like to treat someone special with flowers delivered. (Excludes flowers by post.) Just use the discount code at DFBLOG25 the checkout.

One of the nice things about being a blogger is that sometimes you receive a surprise package through the door. Who wouldn't be pleased with some love Avocados from Peru? First thing I did was make a chicken, bacon and avocado wrap.


However, I also fancied trying something a bot different and made these avocado and cheesecake bites.

You will need:

1 Avocado
2 tbsp of cream cheese
2tbsp icing sugar

A packet of Oreo biscuits - the mini ones would be great but I used the large ones as that was all they had when I went to the shops.

The recipe is really simple, just put the avocado, cream cheese and icing sugar into a mixer and pulse until smooth. Transfer into an icing bag and pipe onto the Oreo biscuits.


 I then topped them off with a little chocolate heart. Something a bit different but really tasty! What is your favourite recipe for avocado?


For delicious recipes visit www.avocadosfromperu.com

The decision has been made. As much as I love our house, we will be putting our house on the market within the next few months. We bought our house as a couple and now with three growing boys we are bursting at the seams. It is not a decision that we have taken lightly as we are talking about a huge amount of money just in the cost of the move. Luckily MoneySuperMarket has been on hand to help us make the decision and provide tips along the way.

I used their cost of moving calculator to help us understand what the costs of moving actually are. I can't pretend I like the numbers but at least we are going into the process with our eyes wide open! I put in the "worst case senerio" values. So for example the highest budget we could stretch too, the lowest we could sell for and opting for a full survey. I think it just highlights that moving isn't always the easy answer and sometimes it may be worth looking into how to extend your home instead.




The Home Movers Hub is full of lots of helpful moving advice. I particularly like the checklist of people to inform once you have moved. Speaking from experience it is always worth double checking that companies have done what they say they have. We found that we were being charged for phone connection at our old house even though we had been told that it had been disconnected.

If you are unsure about what value house you could afford then the Mortgage Calculator will give you an idea as well as the best deals available at the moment.

There is also a home bills checker that will give you an idea of the cost of home insurance, energy and broadband in your area. We plan to move locally so I thought I would put our details in just to see whether it corresponded to what we are currently paying. The guidance for our home insurance was on the top end of the scale so it is worth us doing a price comparison when our policy is due for renewal.

It is a real help to have such information to hand. Moving house is stressful at the best of times, but to know where to go for checklists and advice helps alleviate that pressure a little bit.

Have you moved recently? What is the best advice you have?




I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Network Research Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I was given a voucher to thank me for blogging about MoneySuperMarket. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity.

We love trying new things and I was intrigued by the Chimasu box. It is an oriental snack box that is delivered. Inside were a variety of treats and the boys were keen to help me review this box!

We started with the seaweed which did not go down well, but luckily the Hello Panda were winner! Infact we enjoyed all the other products. I particularly liked the mustard peas and the original ramen. Of course I was pleased to see some coffee flavoured boiled sweets.


The box had a good mix of sweet and savoury products. A single box costs £18 which I think is on the expensive side, however, the longer period you subscribe for the cheaper the cost. If you signed up for a year it would be £14 a month. It is worth noting that these prices do include delivery.

I think the single box would make a perfect gift for a student planning a year out in the far east, or maybe someone who has returned from a work placement and is missing their favourite snacks.

You can purchase a Chimasu box here but if you are feeling lucky, they have kindly offered a box to giveaway to one of my readers. Contents will vary from this one and delivery will depend on when the winners details are recieved.

Just complete the Gleam entry below. Good Luck!


Chimasu Box

More competitions at ThePrizeFinder - See more at: http://www.theprizefinder.com/content/chimasu-box-oriental-snacks#sthash.IT34kWw3.dpuf

Once set I took it out of the tin. And it was freestanding. Phew! I then decorated with some squirty cream and watermelon.



I was really pleased at how my version of a Charlotte Russe turned out. I would have liked a bit more Pimm's in it and if I did it again I would make the base thinner.

I received a Tesco Voucher to purchase the ingredients required for this post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


This giveaway is being run across a few blogs, but if you found it here please comment below and tell me what you love about Scooby Doo. 

You may have seen that last week I was luckily enough to attend a "Love Your Leftovers" event where last years Bake Off contestant Martha Collison talked to us about how she was trying to reduce her food waste. I was therefore inspired to make a leftovers pie for this week's challenge. Well it would be if it used the leftovers of Christmas dinner but as we didn't have any I had to cook the turkey and sausagemeat. Anyway the idea is there and it is a fantastic way of using up any left over meats from Christmas dinner.


I started by making the pastry by mixing 225g plain flour, 100g salted butter and 3 tablespoons of water. I rolled it really thin and lined my pie dishes. I also cut circles of pastry that would be used as the lids.

I then cooked up 4 turkey steaks (325g) and 350g sausagemeat in a frying pan. I also added 20g of Paxo stuffing mix and 500ml of Bisto Chicken Gravy. I the put this mixture into the pie cases.


Don't forget to pop an egg wash on top to make them go golden brown. (I did and did it halfway through!) Cook for 40mins at 150C.


I think I should have added slightly more gravy to the mix, but I just added some on top instead. Unlike a lot of the shop bought pies, you couldn't argue that there was a lack of meat in it. I think I will go for a bigger turkey this year so that we can have this on boxing day!


It also turns out that I got so over excited about this weeks Bake Off that I ended up doing two. (Take that as I was so over organised I did the pie early and then thought oh no not another pie this week I will make the Charlotte Russe.) So look out for my take on the Charlotte Russe in a couple of days!

This week the Great Bloggers Bake Off is being hosted on An Organised Mess.

I have never made marshmallows. But now I have a book that tells me how. Written by Ross O'Brien and Amy Nelson from The London Marshmallow Company this book tells you how to make a variety of marshmallow themed treats. From marshmallow fluff and S'mores to sweet potato cake with a vanilla mallow topping there is something for everyone. The photography is amazing and you spend your time flicking through wanting to make and eat all of it.


I decided to have a go at the marshmallow creme first as it looked quite easy. It can also be kept for 3 days in the fridge, if you can keep it away from the children that long.


I put a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (it shouldn't touch the base of the bowl) and using an electric whisk mixed 3 egg whites with 30ml golden syrup and 150g caster sugar. It takes around 12-14 minutes to form stiff glossy peaks. That is it. Simple!



I served this on Ritz crackers with banana on top. It was delicious and I am looking forward to making some marshmallows in the near future.

You can purchase All Things Marshmallow from Amazon. I have also been offered a copy to giveaway to one of my readers. Just complete the Rafflecopter below. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to enter my other giveaways including the chance to win £150 Smyths Toys Voucher!

- See more at: http://www.theprizefinder.com/content/all-things-marshmallow#sthash.8ewfgFfg.dpuf

Last week I got to team up with some of the local community and take part in the Less Waste Challenge with greenredeem. For those of you that have never heard of them before, Greenredeem are a company who the local councils in my area use to incentivise us to recycle more.

This weekend I headed up to London with some friends for some Birthday celebrations. Two of us decided to go up early and make a day of it. We decided to head to the river for The Ultimate London Adventure with RIB Voyages.

We booked the tour online a couple of days before and headed down to the pier directly under the London Eye. We were given life jackets and boarded the speedboat.

The tour starts with a fun sightseeing tour. Our tour guide Hannah was fantastic and I was pleased to learn a thing or two. I hadn't really appreciated how much of London you could actually see from the Thames. We also learnt about the bridges and Hannah made us laugh with her humorous facts.

Once past Tower Bridge, music is played and the speed goes up!

It was great fun and on the way back once we slowed down again we took some photos. We recently took the boys on a bus tour which was good fun, but heading down the river meant no traffic jams and we saw pretty much the same buildings. 

Who doesn't like to pretend they are James Bond once in a while? 

If you want to see London in a totally different way, this sightseeing and high speed tour is fantastic. 

There is now doubt about it, big man is getting bigger. He is now at a stage where he wants to watch things that aren't quite as tame as his brother's favourites on CBeebies. Top of list was to watch Transformers. The Transformers Prime Beasthunters: Predacons Rising is a PG certificate and is out on DVD and Digital Download on 14th September.

It is a full length movie where the Autobots, Decepticons and Predacons join forces in order to protect the planet Cybertron. I am sure that big man could explain the story much better than me, but I wouldn't want to give too much away! The celebrations following Megatron's demise come to an abrupt end when Unicron leaves his lifeless body and takes Megatron's in order to seek revengeagainst his enemy Primus. In order to destroy Unicron for good, the Autobots, Deceptions and Predacons are forced to work together for this battle.

You can purchase Transformers Prime Beasthunters: Predacons Rising from Amazon. I also have a copy to giveaway to one of my readers. Just complete the rafflecopter below. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to enter my other giveaways including the chance to win £150 Smyths Toys Voucher!


- See more at: http://www.theprizefinder.com/content/transformers-dvd-predacons-rising#sthash.hiK988qs.dpuf