Ickworth House with The National Trust

We were very kindly sent a family ticket to explore a National Trust site, we decided upon Ickworth House as it was a place relatively close to us but we had never gone to visit. When we arrived the staff made us feel very welcome, as it was raining and Darcie was walking veeery slowly, one of the staff offered to give us a ride on the small shuttle bus up to the house. When we approached I couldn't help but feel I was being transported back in time, like a character from Jane Austen - just with a toddler attached to my leg. 

We arrived just as a tour of the basement had started, so the lovely staff took our bags and brought us up to speed. I have to admit, the tour was my favourite part. It was fantastic to see the volunteers share their knowledge and love of the history. It was so fascinating to see how a house of that size used to function - I can barely manage my own modern three bed!

The National Trust have restored the basement so beautifully, I was very envious of the kitchen! 

For children, the basement was perfect. They can play a song on the servants piano, handle the kitchen equipment and even play a game of "I spy" with the National Trusts's well thought out activity sheets. Its perfect for getting them excited about history.

After this, we were a little peckish. We were going to bring a picnic, but one, we were very disorganised and two, the weather wasn't in our favour anyway! Luckily they have a superb restaurant, we can highly recommend the pate! 

It was then time burn off some calories and explore the grounds!

Darcie loved to have the freedom of running around! We saw many families who were lapping up the grounds, either in their wellies or on their bikes - I'm thinking this would be the perfect setting for learner cyclists! 

Before we headed into the house to take another tour, Darcie spotted some children's activities that were available - perfect for them to get involved!

Then it was time for a walk around the house, this part is not so good for tiny tots and unfortunately we didn't get to see everything. 

That being said, I think Darcie was in awe with much of what she saw. She kept saying "oh don't touch it!" - at least that sank in! 

We had an absolutely fantastic day, and we were very grateful to all the help that was offered from the staff and how they engaged with Darcie - we were blown away to be honest!

Thank you very much the National Trust, we can't wait to come back, next time with our wellies on so we can tick some more things off our "50 things" to do list (find out more HERE)!

What's your favourite National Trust Site?

Mummy B xoxox

My top 5 blogging tips

I have been asked quite a few times now, about how to start a blog and even help friends get started. Now before I share with you my tips, I just wanted to say that I am no way an expert! I do this as a hobby, I have taught myself everything I know and I'm pretty happy with the way my blog is currently - though I am always looking for new ways to improve. So if you're looking to set a blog up or looking for ways to improve your blog, keep reading.

1. Keep it simple

When I first started my blog, my layout was very girly, bunting all over the place, pretty pictures everywhere. It was all a bit... busy. Keep your layouts simple and clutter free, your readers will want to be able to navigate with ease. You header should be clear and again its nice to just keep it simple.

2. A picture speaks a thousand words

If writing isn't really your thing, focus on your photography. Some of my favourite blogs keep me coming back because of their beautiful photos. Personally I'm a very visual person, and I like photos to look well thought out and actually add something to the content. You don't need to have a fancy camera, but do think about the positioning of your images and the lighting. You can also improve your photos by using editing software, or online tools such as PicMonkey (which I use and hold a subscription to).

3. Write about what you love

Seems obvious, but time and time again I have sat at my computer screen and thought "what the hell can I write about?". If you are not passionate about a particular topic, then neither are your readers. It's times like that when I often have mini blogging breaks to re-gain focus and do a little soul searching to reignite my passion. It's only natural for this to happen from time to time.

4. Get to know other bloggers

Get involved in the blogging community. It is (usually, as with everything there can be negative people out there) a great community with people who are happy to give out advice and offer support. When ever I have a blogging related question I turn to Twitter and within minuets a fellow blogger has replied!

5. Google is your friend

If all else fails just turn to Google! It may be a lame tip, but as I previously said, I self taught myself everything I know about blogging. I think to those people who don't blog, it could seem a little daunting and even overwhelming, but with time and patience it can be done. To be fair I know that I still have lots to learn! 

So they are my top 5 tips for blogging, what would you share to a fellow blogger or someone starting out?

Mummy B xoxox

The Little Snug, St. Ives // Review

A couple of people have asked a little bit more about where we stayed in St. Ives and our thoughts, so I thought I would put together a little review. When we booked our honeymoon I wrote a post including images from online (see that post HERE), so you can have a nosey at that and compare it to our original thoughts and my own snaps...

We decided to opt for a little cottage, we wanted somewhere to feel like a home to make sure Darcie was nice and settled and to be honest thats exactly what we got. The cottage felt like my dream home. The decor was completely to my taste, it was very light and airy, which they did very well to achieve given its down a very little road (literally right by the sea I may add!!) and a terraced cottage. 

One of my favourite rooms was the kitchen, again so light and I love the style. In particular the use of a touch of blue through the accessories. 

The kitchen was well equipped. Had everything we could possibly need, from straws and plastic cutlery to cake tins! We really should of made more use of the kitchen, we only ate and home twice during our stay!

The living room is equally as lovely, and keeps with the cottage's name and is nice and snug! I can imagine that this cottage is lovely to stay in during the winter, I would of loved to have tested out the SMEG fire! Also, LOVED the shutters, which where throughout the house.

The house, as you can imagine, had an unusual layout including lots of stairs. Darcie, who at home still has stair gates, only had one accident on the first day, she soon mastered them after her little bump. I would worry if she had been any younger and perhaps stair gates could be provided for future guests. 

Our room was gorgeous, plain white walls again with duck egg blue... oh so beautiful! There was plenty of room for clothes, lots of storage and a TV too which was useful when having lazy mornings as a family. 

Darcie's room was quite small, but they worked really well with the space they had. Darcie slept oh so very soundly in the bottom bunk, which was such a relief as that was something I was really worried about! 

Overall, we were sooo happy with our stay at the Little Snug and we hope to have future stays here. I also just wanted to thank the owners for there kind wedding card and Prosecco, such a lovely touch!

If you would like to find out more about the Little Snug click HERE or follow them on Facebook HERE. 

Mummy B xoxox

Darcie's Reads // Dragon Loves Penguin

Hi guys! I'm here today with a new feature which will be running every saturday until Christmas - Darcie's Reads. 

Darcie is a big lover of books, and to be honest I love it! From a very early age it was clear to see she was going to be a bookworm, and so now, at two, she has a pretty impressive book collection. I thought it may be quite nice to share with you some of her favourites. There is something about children's books that I just can not resist, the lovely stories and illustrations are just so magical. The first book that I'm going to share with you, is a very naughty purchase I made today. Yes Jamie I can picture you rolling your eyes... But it is an absolute beauty and the story so heart warming.

Dragon Loves Penguin, by Debi Gliori (RRP £6.99) is a tale of a dragon in need of an egg and an abandoned egg in need of a mummy. All would seem perfect but when the egg hatches the baby isn't like the other dragons, it is in fact a baby penguin! But his mummy loves him, no matter what, even when the other babies aren't so sure. Little do they know that being different can actually be good, and the penguin saves the day!

This story brings a tear to the eye, it mentions how you don't need to have all the latest toys and how all you need is a mother's love. So very true. The perfect read for bedtime, snuggling up with you little one.

This book has beautiful illustrations, perfect for Darcie to make her own story to (she loves to do this "Once upon a time...").

I would make this a must for your little ones book list, would be a perfect Christmas present too (yes, I really just said that in August!).

You can find this book in most good book stores like we did, alternatively you can buy on Amazon, HERE.

Mummy B xoxox

26th Birthday Wish list

In just over a month it will be my 26th birthday... closer to 30 than 20...! Anyway, I have been having a little think about what I would like, but to be honest I couldn't think of my usual long list!! I think as I'm growing older these "material" things are becoming less of a "necessity" than they used to be when I was younger. Having said that here are a few things that I have had my eye on. 

I have been wanting a new lens for a while now, I have decided on this one for more portrait shots and perhaps close up product shots. Its one of the cheaper lenses you can buy but I have heard wonderful things about it!

The make-up bag, I really hope I get (hint, hint). It has been designed and produced by Hannah Maggs, an amazing blogger & Youtub'er, so would be lovely to support her.

The Pandora ring has Darcie's birthstone (June) so I think it would be a fitting keepsake... don't you think?!

The rest are clothes items I have been eyeing up a while. I love the floral print by Joules, and I really love the fit of Next shoes, always comfy even for work!

Is it your birthday soon? Do you have an ever growing wish list?

Mummy B xoxox

Enjoying our home, Norfolk

When reading Kerri's blog Ginger Lilly Tea and her recent trip to Norfolk with her beautiful girls, it reminded me how much I love living in Norfolk. Having not even been home a week from honeymoon, it was a lovely to read someone's enjoyment of place in which I live and certainly didn't make me feel sad to be back home. 

Yesterday we spent some quality time with the family, it was Jamie's last day off after nearly three weeks. We decided to go for a family walk, and took our dog Lady to Santon Downham. Santon Downham is perfect for the whole family, it has a lovely walk along the river, you can walk through the woods or even have a splash or swim in the river if you're feeling adventurous! 

Lady was feeling especially adventurous, she never normally likes water but was completely lapping it up today! 

After Lady had finished playing in the river we headed for a walk through the woods. We managed to find blackberries and some pinecones too, though Darcie was way more interested in the blackberries!

Picking blackberries also meant that we ticked another item off the National Trust's "50 Things" (read more about this initiative HERE). 

It was so nice to feel like we were really appreciating our home, in fact I feel really lucky sometimes that we have all these beautiful places virtually on our door step!

Where is your favourite place in your local area?

Mummy B xoxox

Nescafe Dolce Gusto Mini Me Review

Just over a month a go, we were very lucky and got a very special delivery. We were kindly sent the Nescafe Dolce Gusto Mini Me coffee machine to review, how lucky are we?! This lovely machine retails at £99, but in my opinion is worth every penny. I have waited for over a month to post this because I wanted to make sure I gave this product a thorough testing out, after all, (well to me anyway) this is a bit of a luxury product. 

I have had a bit of a love affair with coffee since becoming a mum, meeting other mummy's in coffee shops, recharging after long and sleepless nights. But, lets face it, a good coffee doesn't come cheap these days, so to be able to have this luxury at home for a fraction of the cost is a big must for me! Plus I can now have our mummy chats at home, whilst the tots play... winners all round!

So, how easy to use is the machine? The Mini Me comes with some very clear instructions for first time use and then also how to maintain you product. The only problem came was when I actually came to make a coffee... It took two attempts because I'm a bit of a drip it would seem! Most of the Nescafe drinks have two capsules per drink, obviously labelled by having one white (for the milk) and one brown (for coffee/chocolate etc)... I didn't realise this to begin with, muppet! 

How does it taste? Looovely! I really like having the Caramel Espresso with warmed almond milk, the nuttiness of the milk along with the caramel is a winner! I also really like the Vanilla Latte and Chai Tea. I'm also loving using one of my big glass jars to keep the capsules on hand!

You can buy the capsules at most supermarkets, but we did order some directly from their website. When you buy the machine you get a £10 voucher to buy capsules - which is fantastic! The site is very easy to use and the capsules arrived in very good time. 

So if your thinking of buying a coffee machine, make sure the Dolce Gusto is on you wish list. 

Do you have a Dolce Gusto coffee machine? What's your favourite drink? If you are a Dolce Gusto fan be sure to share your pictures using the #dolcegustoblogger tag, I would love to see them!

Mummy b xoxox

St. Ives Honeymoon Day 10-13

We are back home, unpacked, house cleaned and all back to normality. With that in mind here is the last instalment of our honeymoon...

For the last three days, we took a couple of boat trips and had tried to lap up everything St. Ives had to offer. We had wanted to go on a boat trip for a while, so when we eventually got round to doing it, we were a little disappointed that the sea's were a little rough for, what they dubbed "Seal Island", so we had to make do with a trip around the bays. BUT we got extremely lucky... as this little chap swam by to say hello whilst we were waiting for our ride!

He came so close, as wasn't the least bit timid. We saw him then every evening in the harbour. Anyway, the boat trip was actually quite fun. The guy was very knowledgable and told us everything about each of the beaches. It was lovely to see the St. Ives area from another perspective.

When we got back the sea had gone right out, so we had to take a little paddle to shore... luckily we were prepared!

The next day was very drizzly, so we decided to take Darcie to the cinema for the first time. You can read all about that HERE. We also spent the morning mooching around the shops and nipping into cafe's.

Later on that day, we decided to try another boat ride to see more seals. It got a little more choppy, I was a little worried at one moment! Though Darcie didn't mind as she fell asleep!

We had some amazing views of this lighthouse, we also managed to see plenty of seals. Unfortunately I didn't have a big enough lens to zoom in! After the trip, we had worked up quite an appetite. We headed to The Hub in St. Ives as we had heard good things. My god, they were right!!!

To drink we had peanut butter and jelly milkshake.... I have no words to describe how amazing this milkshake was. To eat, I had Pulled Pork burger and Jamie had a Cornish Blue Burger and we also had Nachos to share. I loved the vibe of this place, out of all the places we went this was our favourite. Plus they were very family friendly too.

That concluded our honeymoon, a pretty good way to end I may add, and the next day was the very very long journey back. 

Thank You St. Ives, you made our honeymoon so very special.

Mummy B xoxox