When you select gifts for folk, it’s obviously a good idea to check the type of celebration it’s for.  Birthdays can be a bit tricky,  some women, my mother included, won’t entertain the idea of any household or domesti article being given to her as a present.  So no fancy all singing, all dancing colour… Read More No Household Drudge Presents Here Thank You!

I have been helping out at a historic house in the way of hall stewarding.  This has been great fun and very interesting for me to learn about the house itself, the various owning families and the running of it from the staffing point of view.  There are basement rooms open now – some are… Read More Gifts To Fully Reflect A Good Day Out

One of the joys of looking after the home of an ancient relative is being able to poke around in the kitchen and other cupboards – during those quiet moments when attention is not needed in the sick room. . . . .  Whilst we were preparing for said relative to be admitted into the… Read More Great Aunt’s Memories Around Kitchenalia

I always need to have a pointer towards the perfect gift for anyone.  I find it extremely difficult to just look through a store and find exactly the right thing.  It used to drive me mad years ago.  Hours and hours of frustrated meandering up and down the aisles of the local independent retail outlet. … Read More Inspsired Presents Brought About By Surfing Heaven

How times have changed – I was talking with a group of rather senior ladies last week, we were at a fund raising event in the nearest big town.  We being of the country set, don’t you know . . .   were discussing the lack of proper department stores in our nearest town, now that… Read More High Street Closures Cause Online Browsing Frenzy

It was a wonder sometimes how I managed to get through the year and suddenly it was christmas . . . panic hit me and I’d go round in a wild frenzy of grab and snatch present buying.   This seemed to be the pattern for everything I dealt with in fact.  Despite always admiring a… Read More Organised Gift Sourcing Boosts Post Op Recovery

When you have several celebratory activities in a month it can be bewildering, especially if you overspent during the christmas period and are still adjusting the budget!  The best way to ensure you control things is to make a proper list, starting with your favourite address book, check out each page, all those you are… Read More Get Organised With The Giving Habit

I am always ina quandry at Christmas and other major present buying times of the year.  I let the event overwhelm me, worrying about who might like this or that, and did I get a simlar thing before. . etc.  It has been the bane of my adult life – some people manage to swan… Read More Panic Not – Go Online For Painless Gift Buying

A young couple I know are in the middle of house exchange – having sold their delighful and much loved starter home of extremely modes proportion, they are making their way up the mortgage ladder to a bigger, stone conversion offering much bigger rooms.  This is all very exciting but also slightly worrying about how… Read More Property Move Calls For Enhanced Homeware Buying

Chatting this morning to the kiddies who live next door – I discover they’d just returned from their ‘main’ summer holiday – a week’s all inclusive in Ibiza.  Apparently they’re expecting to go away again before the beginning of the next school term.   The kiddies were highly excited and said everything was fab,  the flight… Read More Online Shopping A Boon For Holiday Returnees