simple - seasonal - sustainable
From garden to vase, what does it take to create an environmentally conscious cut flower yard? And how do you turn a gardening hobby into a profitable business? Lessons on life, gardening and motherhood from writer and owner of the micro flower farm Offset Floral, Laura Tweedale
Read MoreRooms sealed up, black mould on the walls and plaster that shot off in sheets. Now was our chance to get started on a sustainable home renovation starting with the two most important rooms in the house: the childrens’ bedrooms…
Read MorePowercuts. Frozen pipes. No central heating in -6°C. Forget about hot water. The snows came blanketing the impassable village roads - no way in, no way out. We had become the 'escape to the country' cliche - and we loved it all.
Read More‘Take with today's hand only to give away what will come for their tomorrows.’ As I seek to rekindle a seasonal lifestyle I explore the interconnection between seasonality, modern motherhood and how navigating those choices impacts our daily lives. Plus, find 5 books to inspire your own seasonal living journey.
Read MoreThe clock chimes away the time I have left before my youngest starts formal education. I feel it deeply. But I do not wish to mourn that loss (children are not ours forever afterall) of the quiet absence from my days. Instead I will take that time and fill it with new life. This is how the idea for Offset Floral was born.
Read More“I upheld the expectation that this was the game, not once questioning the status quo - keep consuming, or fall.”
A story on expectation, consumption, and the power we hold when we spend…
Read MoreI have witnessed the debate in the school playground about what type of backpack my six year old has for school, and the pit of my stomach runs cold that already our children are associating their value with their possessions - that the ability to ‘fit in’ comes from the badge they sport on their shoulder rather than their thoughts and actions. I do not want that for my children. I do not want that for the planet.
Read MoreIt is no accident that many of these stories who chose to keep at home are the ones that align with our family values: purposeful, intentional living, minimalism and consideration for people and planet. Here are six books we have enjoyed for many years, their spines cracked, some pages now torn and corners bent as proof of just how beneficial they are to slow down, pause and listen.
Read MoreAs a new season of my life unfolds, I have been reflecting on the simple choices I have made to support my goal to live an intentional, sustainable life and some of the most inspirational resources I have read, listened to or watched to galvanise me on my journey.
Read MoreIt’s been eight years since we moved in our own home and over that time we have curated a secondhand home. The antithesis of modern living, the slow interior movement brings to the forefront what it means to make a considered home: a movement I did not know I belonged to until I sat down to write this piece. From my experience of shopping secondhand to creating a warm, vintage-inspired minimalist home, I share eight tips on becoming a seasoned thrifter and the importance of stories in our lives.
Read MoreCan you still embrace technology whilst seeking a slow, mindful existence? Is there a way to consume content in line with minimalist principles? And how do you approach that with a family? Here are ten ways I let technology have a place in my life…
Read MoreThere is a box under my stairs that contains a secret: I have a thing for jars. Beautiful jars. Useful jars. Purposeful jars. They help us stay organised, shop sustainably and be considerate with the things we buy. Managing my daughter’s childhood eczema with Balmonds Skin Salvation has given us a lot of jars to reuse, repurpose or recycle. Here I share how…
Read MoreEvery summer, the Plastic Free July campaign rolls back around and reminds me of our wedding day. Eight years ago this month, my husband Mark and I got married. In 2013, we had a somewhat unusual goal for our wedding day: to generate no landfill waste. It turns out, it was far easier than we thought. So if you’re getting married and worried about climate change, from our experience, you can have a beautiful wedding which doesn’t cost the earth.
Read MoreIt’s a strange thing to put on a bucket list - ‘appear on Gardeners’ World’ - but when I turned 30 I wrote down a handful of things I would like to achieve in my life and this was one of them. It fills my heart with joy to be able to share with you that you can see my ‘cottage style garden’, where edibles mustle cheek-by-jowl alongside the perenials we love so much, on national television. And I have all my family taught me to thank for that.
Read MoreIt felt a little like I'd hopped in my time machine and gone back to Lockdown 1.0, where I'd made the crazy decision to put myself forward as a guest speaker on the topic of cloth nappies for author Jen Gale's virtual Sustainable(ish) Online Festival. Fast forward to almost one year later, and to celebrate and mark the launch of Jen Gale’s new book, I was delighted to join her podcast to record an episode all about reusable nappies.
Read MoreThere is nothing quite like a crisis to make people address their values. This was certainly the case for me. But one person’s impasse doesn’t create global change. It turns out, it takes a pandemic to reach the masses.
My article, The Rise of Reusable Nappies, is published in the Early Spring 2021 edition of JUNO magazine. Want to read an excerpt?
Read MoreA poem for those who have lived a long goodbye.
Alzheimer's took my Grandmother from my family almost a decade ago; coronavirus set her free in December 2020. When it came time to finding the right words for her funeral, despite hours of searching, nothing in books or suggested readings fit our story. That was until I decided to write something of my own.
Read MoreWhen I cast my mind back to Christmases past, and the childhood gifts my sister and I were given, there is one memory that always comes to the fore. There, beside the tinsel-laden tree, was a lumpy, bumpy shape shrouded in my parent’s decidedly 1970s floral bedspread. The excitement and anticipation of what lay underneath still lingers on some thirty years later…
Read MoreI have never considered myself a political person. My enthusiasm for voting was somewhat lackadaisical. Fast forward fifteen years, and 'unpolitical’ me has not just one, but two letters with the infamous House of Commons crowned portcullis letterhead in my possession, addressed directly to me. One of which is from Rebecca Pow MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State herself. I have no doubt you can guess what those letters are about…
Read MoreOn Tuesday 20 October 2020, I woke up a published author. I had done it. And I couldn’t let the moment pass without doing something, and so I decided I would wear my ‘party dress’ and read a few excerpts from the book LIVE on my Instagram channel.
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