I think I’ve reached the age, and stage in my marriage, where lingerie is not all about push-up bras, chaffing undercarriages and bells and whistles (was it ever?!). Whilst I’m not ready to give in to the sensible belly button warmers quite yet, I now yearn for comfy, everyday staples…
How I outran my anxiety – part 1
It struck me recently, after the topic came up on several coffee dates, school pick ups and Facetime chats that 2/3rds of my girlfriends do, or have at some time, suffered with mental health issues. That coupled with the current media storm around ‘Mental Health’, driven by the Duke and…
Chickenpox 101 – tips for surviving chickenpox in children
So the pox is upon us. What’s weird is we thought we’d escaped it. There was an outbreak at school before half term, but it took the 5yo a full 10 days to break out. And break out he did (sorry for the generic pic but taking snaps of him…
CF Review: Quinny Zapp travel buggy
I put a little shout out on Instagram last month for this buggy as my first impressions were pretty good. I picked it up on a pre-loved site because while our day-to-day buggy, the Britax B-Motion 3, is completely brilliant, sturdy and a total workhorse (I honestly can’t recommend this…
If Harry Potter made loos…
This would be it… Do you like what I did there?! I’m basically an architect. A bit of parcel tape and ta dah! One understairs loo, fit for this muggle family (I think our builder thinks I’m nuts). Aaaaannyway, this is what I’m envisaging… Now all we have to agree*…
Grief – what does it feel like?
Well, my plan to revive the blog went well didn’t it?! 12 months of nada. What can I say, life happened. I feel sporadically guilty that I should be sharing said life, but then well, life happens again. And I don’t. Our hectic life is still happily nomadic; countrybebe is…
Soundtrack to summer: Christophe Maé
You know when music can immediately zip you back to an exact moment in time – or can conjure up a feeling, period in your life or milestone in the first few bars? This album by French chanteur, Christophe Maé is already going to be exactly that for me, this…
A summer in France… writing, renovation and relaxing
Reliving my childhood summers in France - renovating a manoir, writing and wrangling two under 5s
CF Eats: Leon’s ‘Happy Salads’ cookbook review
This new cookbook from Leon has seriously upped my salad game in time for summer in France
CF Travels: Top 5 travel essentials for kids
After travelling a dozen times to France in the last 18 months, plus last week’s jaunt to Italy and various UK staycations with the 4yo and 10mo in tow, I feel pretty qualified to impart my top bits of kit for travel with under 5s. For what it’s worth. None…
CF Travel Guide: Naples with kids
Sometimes the simplest laid plans turn out to be the most stressful don’t they? In the midst of end of term mayhem, organising our 2-month trip to France for the next phase of Chateau renovations and a teething 10 month old, we decided to just nip to Naples for a…
CF Travels: Tips for long journeys with under 5s
So, we’re off back over the channel to France this week to meet the builders and get some more renovation plans scheduled for the summer (namely some more bathrooms, the house currently has an 11 bedroom: 1 bathroom ratio!). We are flitting back and forward every six weeks at the…