Month: Oct 2023

Bedtime Stories 🍂

We’re well and truly into autumn here in Scotland with frosty mornings, dark evenings, and the leaves turning all gold, amber and red, and decided to share a few of our favourite autumnal bedtime stories we’ve been enjoying together lately.

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

A story about three friends (a duck, a squirrel and a cat) who live together and all have a specific job to do when it comes to making the most delicious pumpkin soup, until one day the Duck decides he wants to try doing Squirrel’s job instead. This is a lovely story about friends falling out and making up again.

Little Goose’s Autumn by Ellie Woollard and Briony May Smith

One of two very different stories illustrated by Briony May Smith in this post. Little Goose’s Autumn is a gentle rhyming story about a goose trying to work out what she’s supposed to do in autumn by talking to other animals preparing for winter, before she finds others of her kind who show her the way.

Ollie’s Lost Kitten by Nicola Killen

We have a few of the books in this sweet little series about a girl called Ollie and her adventures. In this autumn/Halloween story, Ollie and her cat are out playing when she finds a lost kitten that she helps to reunite with his owner, but she gets lost in the forest in the process until she’s rescued by her own cat.

The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming and Nicola Slater

An amusing and fun story about a confused squirrel trying to investigate who keeps stealing the leaves from his tree in autumn, and the (long-suffering) little bird that tries to explain the changing seasons to the forgetful squirrel.

Witch in Training by Michelle Robinson and Briony May Smith

The other book illustrated by Briony May Smith in this post, which I bought as my oldest suddenly became scared of witches after watching Disney’s Tangled. This is all about a young witch learning to make potions and flying around on her broomstick searching for ingredients with her mum and familiars. A fun little story about learning, making mistakes and fixing them when the magic goes awry.

The Enchanted Dream by Sue Rawlings and Charlie Dear

Lastly, this is a recent purchase that I couldn’t resist when I saw it in a children’s boutique on our recent visit to Pitlochry and The Enchanted Forest. Written by a Scottish illustrator and writer duo, this is a simple story about a group of children and their carer making autumn crafts before going to visit the Enchanted Forest light show with lots of little references to the area around Pitlochry. It was a perfect souvenir from our recent trip.

Have a lovely week. X

Happy 8th Anniversary to Mara

After three years of managing to avoid it, our household finally succumbed to Covid19 this week, and we’ve spent the last few days recovering at home, which coincided with the 8th anniversary of adopting our cat Mara.

My husband and I were not long back from our honeymoon, when we decided we’d like to add a pet to our family. We had both grown up with cats, and already knew what affectionate, playful and quirky companions they are, so a feline was the obvious choice. We visited a couple of rehoming centres in our search, but we both felt an immediate connection with the tabby and white cat with the squeaky meow, and took her home with us the very same day. Through all the twists and turns life has taken over the last eight years, adopting Mara was easily one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.

We bought her a new feathery teaser toy as an anniversary gift and it’s been delightful to see her leaping, pouncing and catching it mid-air. Mara’s not as energetic or acrobatic as she used to be, but she’s still agile enough to jump onto the windowsill when she fancies a bit of birdwatching, or over the stair gate when she wants to escape the kids, and onto the bottom of our bed to sleep overnight.

Given that her original profile said she’d be best in a home without small children, I’ve been so impressed with how Mara has adapted to two noisy, little rugrats joining the family – both of whom absolutely adore her. Mara has proven to be a brilliant family pet, she’s been so patient and gentle with the little ones as we teach them how to care for and play with animals.

As we all seem to be recovering now, we’re looking forward to getting back out to our usual activities, but as always I love coming home to our sweet Mara for cuddles and coziness. Have a lovely week. X

Returning to the Enchanted Forest

This weekend we finally got to experience something I’ve been looking forward to all year – our long overdue return to The Enchanted Forest in Pitlochry! Strange to think that the last time we visited the Enchanted Forest was in 2019 I was pregnant with our oldest daughter, and we’re finally back in 2023 with our two little daughters in tow.

Jellyfish

The Enchanted Forest has been such a long standing annual tradition of ours and it’s hard to believe that it was ten years ago this month here in the forest that my then boyfriend asked me to marry him; our lives have changed so much since then, we’ve celebrated so many milestones, overcome so many obstacles and shared so many adventures together, and it’s wonderful that this annual event is still part of our story.

Stepping Stones, Kelp Forest Tangle and Slinkies

The theme changes every year and this time around it was ‘From the Deep’ which I thought would appeal to our mermaids and Octonauts loving three year old. Unsurprisingly, visiting The Enchanted Forest with kids was a very different experience than we’ve had before, they loved the interactive sections like the Kelp Forest Tangle that we walked through twice and the stepping stones that changed colour when stepped on, but our oldest found the Jellyfish and the Beastie in the Boathouse a wee bit scary, and neither had enough patience to stand and watch longer visual displays.

The Beastie in the Boathouse

We were fairly lucky with the weather which was mild and clear for the most part, though it was raining fairly heavily by the time we trudged back to the hotel, my husband and I each carrying a tired child. Back at the guesthouse, we all slept together in one big bed in the family room, which was very cosy.

I’m so glad we were able to return to the Enchanted Forest after such an unexpectedly long hiatus, to revive old traditions and start new ones with our daughters too. Have a lovely week. X

September Reading Wrapup

We’re into the cosy seasons when I love to curl up with a book and mug of something warming. In September, I was in the mood for magical stories, but instead of embarking on a Harry Potter reread, I decided to try some newer children’s stories about magic, witches and wizards, and the power of stories themselves.

The Ogress And The Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

This is the story of a lonely but kind Ogress and a greedy dragon, of practical and sensible orphans, and many fearful and suspicious people in a town that used to be lovely. The writing wraps itself around the reader like a blanket, letting this gentle, meandering, enchanting and poignant story of fear, greed and suspicion, kindness, generosity and community unfurl.

The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes

A lighthearted, fast paced fantasy adventure about a young thief called Nine who finds a a magic house and reluctantly agrees to help the cursed inhabitants, a wizard called Flabbergast, a troll and an animated spoon. This was such a fun and easy read, but one with enough mystery to leave me wanting more.

Hedgewitch by Skye McKenna

Hedgewitch is the first in a 5 part series about Cassie Morgan, whose mother went missing seven years ago, but she’s never given up hope of finding her. Just before her 13th birthday she finds out her mother was a witch and she’s taken to live with her aunt Miranda, the Hedgewitch, who guards the border separating the Britain from the land of the Fae, but someone has been tampering with the wards that prevent the Fae from crossing over and children have been going missing. This had a bit of a slow start but brilliant world building and was very reminiscent of Harry Potter and the Worst Witch.

Tilly and the Book Wanderers by Anna James

This is the first part in the Pages & Co series, and it’s such a story for book lovers. Tilly finds out that she has the ability to travel into stories and interact with the characters, but it turns out to be much more dangerous and exciting than she expected as she learns the rules of book wandering, and tries to solve the mystery of her mother’s disappearance. This was such a cosy, comfort read that had me wanting to dig out all the old classics like Alice in Wonderland, Anne of Green Gables, and The Little Princess that are referenced in the story, and I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next in the series.

Have a lovely week. X