Top Tip: YHA Holidays

http://www.yha.org.uk/

If you are looking for a reasonably priced holiday, have you checked out Youth Hostels recently?

There has been a dramatic change in the way Youth Hostels are structured in the UK over the past couple of years.

Most of the rooms are private rooms so no more dormitories, many are en-suite and they cater specifically for families.

Most of them also have self catering facilities (only the very small ones don’t) and many have restaurants on site that use local produce.

You no longer need to leave your room during the day either.

We are hoping to go Youth Hosteling in the autumn and spring next year, because I’m not a big fan of camping with a little one when the weather might be dubious.

Some of the best holidays I’ve ever had were with the YHA.

When I was 13 my family went on a weeks adventure holiday at the Wye Valley hostel which included:

  • orientering on bikes
  • a night kayaking down the River Wye
  • abseiling off a bridge into a boat
  • caving
  • horse riding in the brecon beacons
  • a medieval banquet at Briaval Castle

The two adventure holidays that we did when I was 13 and 14 were by far two of the best holidays I’ve ever had. Only my travels to Peru and Kenya compare!

There are several Youth Hostels that are just over an hours drive from here. One’s we are hoping to visit in the near future are Littlehampton and Alfriston.

Next year we also might try the new Youth Hostel campsite at the Eden Project.

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Top Tip: Weaning Food (Frozen Fruit in Porridge)

As a busy Mum (what Mum isn’t busy?!??!) I try to listen out for hints and tips to make life that little bit easier.

One of the things I’ve picked up on is using Frozen Fruit.

When Miss NHM was first weaning I would use frozen blueberries in her Ready Brek in the morning.

It helps to cool the porridge down very quickly and she seemed to enjoy eating them although the faces she pulled were hilarious.

They do make an awful lot of mess though and blueberries stain so make sure you put down a ground sheet if you have carpet.

Top Tip: Water wet wipes

http://waterwipes.com/us

One of my friends let me know about these when Miss NHM was only a few months old.

They are made from 99.9% purified water and are, apparently, the only wipes suitable for newborn babies. (You’ve gotta love marketing!)

You can buy them from Amazon, Boots, Superdrug, the NCT Shop, Ocado and a couple of other places.

They are quite expensive but I felt that they were worth while for the first 9 months of Miss NHM’s life. We couldn’t afford them after that! :-D.

Top Tip: Slow Cooker Roast Chicken

Apologies to the vegetarians who read NHM (Sorry Su!!! :-D) but this is a great tip for the meat eaters in your life.

I’ve raved many times about how slow cookers are fantastic and help me to feed my family healthily.

I can’t even remember where I found out about this, but it’s so easy and makes such a delicious meal.

Top Tip: Slow Cooker Roast Chicken

Buy a chicken, stick a lemon inside it and put the chicken in a slow cooker that’s large enough.

You can also put in an onion that’s been chopped into quarters and some peeled garlic cloves.

Put your slow cooker on for 7 to 8 hours.

That’s it.

This will be the most moist chicken you will ever eat and you can make it last for several leftover meals afterwards as the meat just falls off the bone.

I do this on Sunday’s as it means we can go out for the day, I don’t have to worry about dinner for the evening and we can still have a roast dinner or chicken salad.

Top Tip: Epsom Salts and a Detox Bath

I’ve always wanted to have a bath using Epsom Salts but I had absolutely no idea where to buy them from as I could never find them in Supermarkets.

Last year, whilst shopping for unique Christmas presents, I stumbled across some Epsom Salts at the Little Barn Gift Shop, which is next to Manydown Farm Shop, on the way to Oakley. You can also get the medical grade ones from Amazon.

I finally got around to using my Epsom Salts at the end of last month and it was AMAZING! After the bath, my skin was the softest it has ever been. I chucked in a little ground ginger (didn’t have fresh ginger lying around that week! lol) and it worked a treat.

The Salts themselves don’t cost that much. I think it was about £2 for 200g, but can’t remember exactly. Whatever it cost, it was totally worth it for a little bit of spa luxury at home.

However, if you are pregnant DO NOT use Epsom Salts.

You can find out more about how to have a Detox bath with Epsom Salts HERE.

Top Tip: Baker Ross

I found out about Baker Ross years ago but I had completely forgotten about them until recently.

They say: “Art and craft supplies to keep the kids busy, including craft essentials, themed crafts, seasonal craft ideas and much more.”

If you are looking for very reasonably priced crafting materials and projects, check out Baker Ross.

If you sign up to their newsletter email you also get extra discounts.

Top Tip: Bravissimo

This is a bit of an unusual “top tip”, but the whole ethos of NHM is to “share” so I’m sharing this with you as it might help someone else!  ; -)

If you are a larger busted lady and you haven’t discovered Bravissimo yet, you are in for a treat.

Bravissimo provides underwear for the bigger bust. I ONLY buy my bra’s from Bravissimo (sorry for the TMI! :-D) because they are always great fitting and they hold their shape longer after washing compared with other bra’s I’ve bought from elsewhere.

I also found that Bravissimo was the only place that did maternity bra’s and nursing bra’s that fitted me. (Again, sorry for the TMI!)

Our local Bravissimo is in Reading, down a side street that is next to John Lewis.

Bravissimo also now have a new brand called Pepperbury which is for clothing for the larger busted lady and are worth checking out if you need some smart clothing.

Top Tip: LeapReader

LeapReader

I did a lot of research for what to buy Miss NHM for her 3rd Birthday in March. We only wanted to buy her one present for her birthday as she gets spoiled by friends and family. I’m also trying to adopt the philosophy that “more is less”.

Since we got Miss NHM the LeapReader she hasn’t put the pen down! It’s been fantastic!

It keeps her busy and quite for up to an hour at a time. We asked friends and family to get her vouchers for her birthday, so we also bought some more books and the map from Toys R Us (the map is cheaper on Amazon).

She loves using the books and we’ve had a lot of fun with the map already. You can also download story books to the pen and Miss NHM will happily just sit and listen to the pen when she doesn’t want to “read” the books anymore.

I totally recommend this product!

Top Tip: Mini frozen croissants and pan au chocolate

Is your little one getting bored of eating the same breakfast every day?

Do you need to entertain in a hurry?

Are you looking for a little indulgence? (sounds like a proper sales pitch! lol)

Mini frozen croissants, frozen pan raisins and pan au chocolate

I discovered these awesome mini frozen croissants and mini pan au chocolates about a year ago but a lovely NHM Reader also mentioned them on the Food posts I did in April last year.

I buy them when they are on special offer, either 25% off or buy one get one free. I then just keep them in the freezer until I need them.

They are great for brunch with friends, which we do a lot of these days as it’s easier with small children and you still have the rest of the day to do other things or fit in naps.

They have saved my butt on a few entertaining occasions too!

I delegate the “baking” of these to Mr NHM and he has got them off to a “T” now! ????

You can buy the selection pack or individual packs from Waitrose:

12 Bake From Freezer Mini Butter Croissants Frozen Waitrose 300g

12 Mini French Butter Pastries Frozen Waitrose 340g

8 Frozen Pains Au Chocolat Waitrose 480g

6 Charentes Butter Pains aux Raisins Frozen Waitrose 6 per pack

Don’t eat them all at once though, as they aren’t that healthy!

Top Tip: Duolingo

I found out about Duolingo via one of my very favourite blogs, the Art of Simple.

It’s a free app that can teach you Spanish, German, Italian, French and Portuguese.

If you’ve always wanted to learn one of the languages above, but don’t have time, Duolingo is the app for you!

Also, if you want to help your little ones learn a language, Duolingo can really help.

We are currently learning German. I can speak Germany, although not fluently, so I sometimes use Duolingo with Miss NHM. She doesn’t even know she’s learning a language, she just repeats what she hears!

This would be the perfect app to use whilst breastfeeding or bottle feeding! lol.

Let me know if you download it (phone, ipad and computer) and whether you find it useful.