We live in the heart of Kent and are so lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful family friendly attractions. This year I’ve made a summer bucket list of things we’d like to do & places we’d like to go to make the most of our beautiful county and here are just handful !  

Have Afternoon Tea at Little Fant Farm 

Is there anything that sums up our county more than having afternoon tea in the heart of the countryside? Little Fant Farm opens it’s gates every Sunday and welcomes visitors to their Farm Yard Tea Barn to try a wide selection of their farm made cakes, snacks & produce as explore the farm and meet their rare breed piggies & Charlie the Cockerel. We can’t wait to spend a lovely summer afternoon there as a family. 

Pick our own wildflowers at Blooming Green

We love a Pick your Own farm and my obsession with wildflowers this summer seems to have been taken to a whole new level so what could be better than an afternoon out surrounded by beautiful flowers picking my own selection? Blooming Green run Pick Your Own sessions every Friday afternoon, June through October and we’ll be heading there to get some to decorate Florence’s Christening venue at the end of the month. They also offer floristry courses and wedding flowers too! 

Picnic on Bluebell Hill

No summer would be complete without a good ol’ British picnic and what better place to lay your blanket and fill your face than Bluebell Hill Picnic Site. Part of the Kent Wildlife Trust, the site is surrounded by big open spaces to play in and vast woodlands to explore. Child & dog friendly, it’s the perfect location for a family afternoon in the sunshine. 

Forage for Berries & fruits at Milebush Farm

Another Pick your Own Farm has made the list, this time we’ll be revisiting Milebush Farm to forage for some summer berries to add to a crumble or summer pudding. We loved it when we went earlier in the year so can’t wait to go back! 

Get lost in the Maize Maze at Penshurst Place

We’ve already paid a visit to Penshurst Place once this summer but we are looking forward to heading back to explore more of what is on offer there soon. The Maize maze is the main attraction during the summer and really quite good fun for all. While not exactly pushchair friendly, if you have a baby carrier it’s a fab sensory activity for baby too. Florence loved the leaves tickling her as we walked through them and was transfixed by the speckling light shining through. As well as the maze, Penshurst Place are hosting a range of activities for families throughout the Summer Holidays including falconry, bushcraft skills and story telling session with Aardvark Productions. 

Keep a look out for more things to do in Kent this summer next week.

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It has been almost 10 months since we moved into our little house on the High Street and I can’t quite believe how quickly the time has flown. As you know if you’re a frequent visitor here, I found out I was pregnant just five days after we moved in and while we managed to add some personal touches here and there downstairs, our main focus was on our bedroom and the nursery in time for our little girl to arrive. 

Now that she’s here, my focus has turned to our two main living spaces – the lounge & the garden – and so over the Summer I’m hoping to turn those from drab & dreary to bold & colourful. First on my list is the lounge and I’ve been busy scanning the shops online for ways to simply brighten up the most used room in the house!

We rent our home and so we are fairly restricted on what we can and can’t do when it comes to decorating, but that doesn’t mean we can’t accessorize and often that can make more of a difference than you might think. I’m opting for quite bold & bright colours and I am a sucker for geometric prints at the moment too. As we continue to make our house a home for our little family it’s important that it and its contents are protected and so we’ve been looking at ways to best insure it with a little help from chill.ie too.

Storage is something we really need more of in our living room now that Florence is here. Babies come with a LOT of stuff and each day our living room floor becomes a sea of baby paraphernalia, not to mention dog toys and other junk we tend to accumulate throughout the day. We already have one of these Form Storage Units from B&Q and we’re going to get another one with some of their bright coloured MIXXIT Storage boxes which fit perfectly inside. We’ll be able to easily put all of Florence’s toys & changing bits away and out of sight when they’re not being used.

Like most rented homes, the flooring here is a pretty drab brown carpet all the way through. In a bid to make it all a bit more exciting and welcoming I’d really like to add a large geometric rug like this one from Benuta. The creams & earthy colours will mean it won’t clash too much with the existing carpet and are still bright enough for the look I want to achieve. Plus a rug is much easier to clean than a carpet which is an added bonus when you have a dog & a newborn!

Cushions & throws can make such a difference to the feel of a room and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and patterns. Etsy is a great place to find handmade cushion covers from independent brands and you can often request custom designs too. I’ve got my eye on this one from Pebble Blossom Designs and would likely pair it with some block colour cushions from Next. Throws and blankets make a fab addition to your lounge and can revive a tired sofa super easily. This Alexandria throw from Wayfair looks super snuggly and I really like the bright blue chevron print.  I’d also like to add some curtains and possibly a bean bag or knitted pouffe for some extra seating.

Little extras like ornaments, vases & clocks can work wonders in bringing everything together in a room and again I’m looking to Wayfair for these. And who could resist this retro telephone from Red Candy?

Do you have any top tips for making your house feel more like home?

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