Category Archives: Family

Posts on our family life. The successes and failures, happy stories and sad.

Our family photo projects including ‘Siblings’ and ‘Me and Mine’.

Plus ‘The Twinterviews’; Q&A sessions with other mamas of twins.

235 weeks and 2 days | Our cool caravans are in print!

Exciting news! Dolly 1 and Dolly Too (that isn’t a spelling error, by the way, she is Dolly ‘also’) have been featured in this month’s issue of Reloved magazine! SO amazing to see our cool caravans immortalised in print. I was expecting a little mention but incredibly there’s a 4 page article on the two Dollys! It makes me feel so proud to see them in the pages of a magazine. But even prouder to receive so many lovely messages from people, to say that our caravan makeovers have inspired them to do the same with their own vans. There used to be such a stigma surrounding touring caravans. And they have certainly always been regarded as the poor relation when it comes to VW campers, that’s for sure. Campervans have an air of cool about them whereas caravans have always been seen to be a little bit dowdy and —dare-I-say-it — embarrassing. Not any more though. People are swiftly realising that campervans and motorhomes are costly to run; you have to pay road-tax, insurance, MOT.   Plus there’s the inconvenience of getting to your destination and setting up — only to have to put everything away again if you… Read More

By The Twinkle Diaries | Filed under Brand Collaborations, Caravan Love, Family, Interiors, Life | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A week at Bosinver in Cornwall

After our St Mawes adventure in February, we followed it up with another trip down to Cornwall in May. This time to Bosinver, near St Austell. I wrote a little post saying that we’d booked to go, back in September of last year, and we’d been looking forward to it for the best part of 8 months. That said, when you book so far in advance you can’t always guarantee the weather and even though the days leading up to our holiday were warm and dry, the week that we were there was not. It rained and rained. Perfect weather for ducks in fact. But the wet weather didn’t dampen our spirits and my three boys and I had such an amazing time. Bosinver Farm is almost like a little village in it’s own right. There are 20 separate dwellings on the site; everything from chocolate box cottages to a state of the art eco-house. I’m going to write a dedicated post about the accommodation. I was lucky enough to check out a few of the houses whilst I was there and they’re so beautifully presented they definitely deserve a little write-up of their own. Plus I took far too many… Read More

By The Twinkle Diaries | Filed under Adventures, Brand Collaborations, Family, In the UK, Life | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

222 weeks and 2 days | Twin Milestones {Siblings June}

How strange time is. I wrote recently on Instagram about how fickle ‘time’ seems to be. A strange commodity — always the same amount of seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour. But when you’re wishing and waiting for something, time drags it’s heels and takes on a much different pace than when you’re busy and happy. I remember trying to fall pregnant so vividly. Each month seemed longer than the last. Time was governed a small window of opportunity; the four hallowed days when I was ovulating. Then rudely punctuated by the appearance of Aunt Flo; which signified the end of another cycle. A very visual reminder that our wishes hadn’t been granted on that occasion. Time was a spiteful old woman. Sneering at me. Slowing her pace and making me despair that I’d never be a mama. And then we were lucky. Mother Nature smiled kindly on me and time changed tempo again. Slow-slow-quick-quick-slow The first 13 weeks of my pregnancy with the twins was agonisingly slow. Each day seemed like an eternity. And even after we’d had the scan to say that the babies were doing well — and they had good, strong heartbeats — it didn’t… Read More

By The Twinkle Diaries | Filed under Family, Life, Photography Projects | Tags: , , , , , ,

On life lately {and why making Easter bonnets is good for the soul}

I began this blog 4 years, 5 months and 8 days ago. To the day. When I started writing I had no idea that it would become such a permanent fixture in our lives. Or be the bearer of so many amazing and wonderful experiences and life-changing opportunities. It was just an online diary, to share my thoughts and feelings. A cathartic escape, if you will. But over time, it’s become the keeper of our big family milestones and ordinary moments. A place to document the boys’ early years; for them to look back on when they’re a little older. I don’t tend to write about sad or negative things on here. This is my happy place after all. But when life-changing things happen, I do occasionally cover them on the blog. I wrote about the time my dad was gravely ill and rushed to hospital — and about losing our furry faced child Widget. I wrote about the death of my grandad and losing my nana. So whilst this little corner of the internet is mostly about the good things, it does occasionally bear witness to the bad too. Accidents Will Happen If you don’t follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you may not know that I fell on… Read More

By The Twinkle Diaries | Filed under Brand Collaborations, Family, Life, Made | Tags: , , , , , ,

Our stay at the Hotel Aiguille Percee in Tignes | With Mark Warner

For someone — like me — who’s never been to the mountains before, the coach journey from Grenoble airport to the ski resort of Tignes was pretty spectacular. Winding through the French Alps, looking down over vast canyons and valleys — all smothered in a thick layer of snow — was breathtaking. And as we pulled in to Tignes-Le-Lac and the coach stopped, we were able to get a proper look at where we were going to be spending our first ever family ski holiday. Tignes is located 2100 metres above sea level; and due to the high altitude offers skiers the chance of fabulous snow, even late on in the season. We arrived on 12th March and — apart from the roads which were clear — everywhere else was covered in a dense blanket of snow. The coach dropped us off and we walked up the footpath to our home for the week; The Hotel Aiguille Percee. Looking every inch as chalet-like as I’d hoped, we were warmly greeted at the front desk by Wayne — the lovely general manager — who checked us in and let us know when, and where, all the welcome meetings were; plus the times of the meals etc. The Accommodation We stayed… Read More

By The Twinkle Diaries | Filed under Abroad, Adventures, Brand Collaborations, Family, Life | Tags: , , , , ,

The GLTC Skinny Oxford Desk {not just for the kids}

Since I’ve been on the GLTC testing team I’ve come across so many of their products that cross over from being just a ‘kid’s thing’ to something that seamlessly fits into any location. Take the Pigeonhole Wall Shelf that I featured a couple of month’s ago. Use it in the hall, bathroom, nursery. Or pop it in the kitchen, study or garage. It works everywhere. So, these days, when I’m looking for a specific piece of furniture —even for a room other than the boys’ bedroom — the Great Little Trading Company is often my first port of call. So many of their products are so much more than ‘just’ for the kids. I decided just after Christmas that one of our guest rooms needed a little desk or dressing table. Although there is built in shelving and other storage in there, it felt a little bit basic and sparse. It’s a lovely room, situated up in the eaves. But the quirky angles and beams — coupled with the fact that it’s not the largest space — make it tricky to find things that suit the scale and style of the room. I took some measurements and the piece I needed had to be fairly short — and not… Read More

By The Twinkle Diaries | Filed under Family, Interiors | Tags: , , , , , ,

5 Weird and Wonderful Things To Do at Camp Bestival

Hurrah! The clocks have gone forward!! This annual event literally makes me smile from ear to ear. Goodbye winter. We’ll miss you! Said no-one. Ever. It’s that time of year where I start coming out of hibernation and begin to look forward to the warmer months that lie ahead. We bought a family calendar a few weeks ago in the Kikki K sale and have been merrily filling out the boxes; marking off when we’re away or have people staying. One of the things that certainly puts a smile on my face is planning our festival weekends. Thinking about the colour and joy of festivals is always a lovely distraction. Having a look at what bands are on, at which particular festival. Take Camp Bestival for example. This year they’ll be celebrating their tenth anniversary and have got a stellar line-up in place. They’ve got Mark Ronson gracing the Castle Stage on the Friday night. Madness are doing a slot, plus Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys is the Sunday headliner. The thought of long hot days, sipping cocktails, watching the bands; then sloping back to Dolly, tired and happy, to have a  lovely sleep in our cosy Duvalay beds makes me smile from ear… Read More

By The Twinkle Diaries | Filed under Adventures, Brand Collaborations, Family, In the UK, Life | Tags: , , , , , ,

207 weeks and 2 days | Me and Mine {February} featuring Joules

February. A very short and very memorable month for me and mine. We’ve done some decorating. Been  planning and getting very excited for our upcoming ski trip with Mark Warner. And, of course, we celebrated our wedding anniversary down in Cornwall; at lovely Dreamcatchers; courtesy of St Mawes Retreats. It is definitely one of the most beautiful houses I’ve ever had the privilege to stay in; but bricks and mortar aside, Cornwall was breathtakingly beautiful. Even in early February. The sun shines differently on that little corner of the British Isles and even on the darkest, stormiest day, the little fishing village of St Mawes was bathed in a magical, clear light. Inside, outside and exploring… We took some family with us; my sister-in-law, her husband and our niece — who is the Twinkles big cousin — and her husband. Spending time with our nearest and dearest is always something I treasure; our annual family BBQs are something I really look forward to and it was lovely hanging out with them for a few days. Really freeing not to have a fixed agenda for a change; to not have to be at a particular place; at a particular time. To have leisurely lunches, bimble around the little towns; browsing shops and… Read More

By The Twinkle Diaries | Filed under Adventures, Brand Collaborations, Family, In the UK, Life, Photography Projects | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,