A little girl rolled over in bed, gingerly glancing at her bedroom window to see whether daylight was peeking through. It was still dark and the house was wrapped in silence. Disappointed and with no idea of the time she …
Travel France Online has just published Shutters and Sunflowers’ article about Christmas Puddings as part of a wonderful collection of Christmas wishes from all over France put together by Diane de la Guillermie, this fabulous website’s founder. For me, as a child, just as it …
Boxing day is an English tradition, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is also St Stephen’s Day and has been a public holiday in England since 1871. There is much debate as to where it gets its name. Some …
Christmas day would always begin in our parents’ bedroom, just as it has for our children. Three excited little people, (and as the years slipped by, not so little people!) would drag their bulging stockings to our parent’s bed, it was …
The time next week it will be Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas, probably the most magical night of the year. One when children everywhere (big ‘children’ too) really want to ‘believe’. Excited, eager, little faces press their noses to …
As a child, just as it is now and probably has been for several generations, the days before Christmas were always busy, collecting greenery to decorate the house, finding the tree, buying and wrapping presents, writing cards, standing in endless lines …
I grew up in a family with an abundance of Christmas traditions, many from my incredible grandmother, my father’s mother, who, despite having twelve children never set a table without a fresh flower and who could make the simplest of …
As many of you know, when I’m England I love to visit the Cotswolds. It is only about an hour from where I grew up but quite different and distinctive. Charming little towns spreading across Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, built mostly …
When ever you visit a major city don’t you feel you walk miles? I think it is one of the best ways to see everything, to become part of where you are and notice the details. With the hectic pace …
Join me as we explore the London of Charles Dickens where Dickens first moved to in 1815 at the age of two. He described his time both here and then in Kent as the most idyllic period of his life, …
