Future holidays

With the ball now rolling towards our new home by the river, I can well imagine holidays being taken at home, with bunting and picnics and days cooking up treats, but sometimes a break away from the usual is really what you need. I am now firmly decided that it is unfair on both infants and other travellers to take babies and toddlers on planes, so all foreseeable holidays must be reachable by train, car or boat, which actually opens up whole new horizons, as by narrowing your search criteria you begin to fins all sorts of gems:

Here are my picks for a top family holiday:

The Scarlet Hotel, Corwall.

Beautiful setting, with an indoor and a landscaped outdoor pool as well as seaweed enhanced hot tubs overlooking the stupendous bay.

Jolly Days Luxury Camping

Camping with a BIG difference. Huge luxurious tents within an idyllic setting in Yorkshire countryside.

The Cumberland Hotel, Bournemouth

Art-deco hotel in this most British of seaside towns.

Burgh Island Hotel

Another Art Deco gem, this time on its own island, accessed by boat or helicopter.

Ickworth Hotel, Suffolk

Set in a National Trust property amongst hundreds of acres of land, the house was given in lieu of debt on the death of the infamous Marquis of Bristol (the Hervey Family). A special place is held in my heart for this hotel, as many family New Year's were spent here, when my Aunt and Uncle used to be National Trust wardens, occupying the top floor flat in the Rotunda. A full makeover has turned it into a luxury hotel aimed at young families.

Bedruthan Steps Hotel, Cornwall

A family hotel of considerable luxury, again in Cornwall. Plenty of facilities for adults and little ones, with beautiful beaches on your doorstep.

In November, summer seems so far away, but British beaches never get overly warm, so why wait till summer? Beaches are often at their most beautiful bleak best in greyish, lilac light of winter. As can be seen from this photo of West Beach, Clymping, Littlehampton.

Mummies, living room birthing space and some cool stuff.

Today was a good day, despite it seeming ridiculously long. A huge massive, long, long, long antenatal class culminated in the arrival of three mummies (and one unexplained granny???) and their babies.

Having spent last night discussing birth options and still not feeling comfortable about the nearby hospital, we had pretty much decided to go with a home birth, for the following reasons:

- Less chance of unwanted intervention.

- One-to-one midwife care.

- Can cater to every whim, music, TV, food, drink, bathing, position, etc.

- Easier to stay calm.

- No need for my husband to come home alone to an empty house.

- No need to stay in hospital.

Anyway, there was one particular Mummy who sealed our decision in our minds. Smiley, positive, honest and just generally amazing, she had fought for a homebirth and had her perfect scenario come true. The residual memories are still clearly a source of great joy for her and it seemed as though her appearance was a message to us to just go ahead, just have to confirm it with the midwife tomorrow! It feels like the actual birth itself is now something to look forward to, as well as the final outcome (of course).

So today's top tip, if you have any niggles now, speak to a mummy who has had a positive experience of your ideal birth and use this as a platform to build your own positive affirmations.

And so, it's getting close to christmas and for those of us who may have a very busy holiday period, thoughts may have already turned to presents...here are some little gems I have discovered:

London Skyline T.Shirt, Muji.

Wobbly Rhino, Muji.

Patchwork sausage dog - Muji. (Ours is called Ferdy)

The Wild Things - Dave Eggers' adaptation of his film script, adapted from the brilliant Maurice Sandak book: Where the Wild Things are.

Patchwork Sausage Dog

Tag - continued

What room are you in? Living room.

What is your hobby? Books, films, writing, yoga, autumn, fashion.

What is your fear? The universe's immensity.

What did you do last night? 'stenders.

Something you are not: Fluent in Hindi

Wish list items: All the books in the world. ALL of them!

Tag - A Beautiful Mess

Another set of questions, this time with photo and short sentence answers.

1. Where is your cell phone? On the bed.

2. Your hair: At it's best, in a quiff.

3. Your mother: Mental! In a good way.

4. Your father: Dry, witty, hilarious!

5. Your favourite food: Magic Tofu from Saint's Alp Teahouse - Hong Kong.

6. Your favourite drink: Easy, Dr Pepper.

7. Your dream / goal: To have a happy family, in a happy house, where everyone is doing the things that make them happy.

Monday 2nd November

So, having not been exactly brilliant at the upkeep of this blog, and knowing that in the next 6 weeks this may get even more difficult to pursue, I have actually been getting hugely into other people's blogs, particularly those with a design / aesthetic lilt to them. The wonderful thing about blogs is that most of them have a role call of blogs they like, which will inevitably lead to discovering more delicious blogs, which then leads to the whole afternoon being lost in someone else's creativity, instead of your own. Which is the reason that my own writing has been subjugated to the middle of the night and probably means that the other people on my writing course think I'm some kind of nocturnal creature, due to the late hour of my postings.

Anyway, today, on my blog hunts, I came across this and decided to participate in their J.A.M of things that I was mainly doing in August, so here goes...

Reading: mainly other people's beautiful blogs (rolecall to come soon), also books on gentle birthing techniques and inspirational parenting books. And Alain de Botton's "A Week at the Airport," a philosophical look at his appointment as Writer in Residence at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5.

Keeping: A positive attitude about birthing my baby, despite some people's attempts to regale me with horror stories.

Sewing: A cat cushion made from an old pillow case and a pair of pyjamas.

Watching: Films I have been recommended and ones that have received interesting reviews: Paranoid Park, An Education, The Visitor.

Trying: to enjoy the final 6 weeks of pregnancy and savour the moments, not wish them away.

Making: time to carry out my writing course and to participate in Nanowrimo, hopefully to actually complete it this year!

Congratulating: my brother on passing a naval firefighting course!

And that's all there is to it, if you want to participate too, you can add yourself by going to the August Street website (link above).

Finally, today's photo, is not an outfit, but a yummy breakfast which looked so beautiful I had to photograph it!