Love Letter to an Irish Summer

ice cream at home - office mum

White faces because Factor 50 never quite rubs in. Short-sleeves on the school run. Homework in the garden. Lunch in the garden. Dinner in the garden. A tidy kitchen because we've almost entirely relocated to the garden. Ice-cream every day - and twice on Sunday. There's nothing quite like the drop-everything wonder of an Irish summer. The summer ...

Three campsites in France: comparison and review

Beach in Carnac

Recently, I asked my seven-year-old if she remembered Sequoia Parc, the campsite we stayed in, two years ago in France. "Of course I do - it had a dragon pirate ship thing beside the pool," she said. "No," I said, "That was Clarys Plage, last year." She was sure I was wrong. I was sure I was right. ...

What makes a great day?

Office Mum photo of kids having coffee

Some days are just grand, and some days are great. Not for lotto-winning type reasons - just easy days, when things fall into place. We had one of those today. It started wonderfully - nobody cried during breakfast, and I didn't shout. Winning by 8am. On the way to school, Clara, who is six, told me ...