Bartering with Books and Father's Day Ideas
+ building work has started!
Happy Friday 🎉
How was your May half term?
After seven years of waiting to replace the falling apart, freezing cold, wonky conservatory, we finally welcomed its newer, slightly more sexy, 2025 version over the half term. Of course this wasn’t the best time, as all three kids were knocking around in between play dates and football club, but I hope it kept the builders entertained while they battled 40mph winds and rain.
Now that half term has whizzed past, I’m starting to plan for the summer holidays. Twelve years of parenting has taught me this is the one where forward planning pays off… holiday clubs, childcare, making time for fun - it takes some thinking about 😅
This Sunday also sees the first opening of The Working Mum Hub over on my Ebbs & Flows membership. I’m really excited to see where this space ends up. It gives me butterflies just thinking about it ❤️
In case you don’t know, this is a space to Thrive & Find Balance. The Working Mum Hub is a monthly membership that gives working mums practical tools, time-saving strategies, emotional support, and child-friendly resources — all in one place. We are kicking things off with a core toolkit, which will set you up with everything you need to “get it all done” without overwhelm. You can find out more here.
But for now… on with this weeks newsletter.
This newsletter will land in your inbox every Friday morning and includes:
Travel - A round up from Northumberland and beyond.
Kids - A “Rainy Day Corner”
A meal plan (because I sometimes hate doing this job, so hoping it saves you from having to wrack your brains deciding what’s for tea.)
News from Northumberland and beyond.
I saw this reel on Instagram and thought you might also find it useful when out walking in fields, with the kids. It shares how to spot the difference between cow parsley (good) and its deadly cousin poison Hemlock. (They look the same!) Credit: thecountrynurse on Instagram
Newcastle Theatre Royal have a fab programme at the moment, including Mrs.Doubtfire which is coming September 2026. Tickets are on sale now!
I’m looking for gardening and cook books to fill the conservatory shelves this summer, so shall be paying a visit to Barter Books, Alnwick. We have donated so many books over the years (along with my parents) we have a good amount of money on the account to spend. This is a great way to find new homes for your unwanted books and make money to spend on new ones. If you are visiting in the summer months, I recommend visiting late evening (they are open until 7pm!)
Father’s Day Ideas - Sunday 15th June
Bamburgh Castle - Jousting Weekend. You need to book this from what I can gather, as they limit how many people can attend. On the Saturday and Sunday.
Nelson’s In The Park have a Big Daddy breakfast offer. It sounds like a massive breakfast for £17! You will need to book a table.
Spend the day fishing at Kielder. You can read all about it in this blog post I wrote for North East Family Fun.
Enjoy fish and chips along the coast.
The Rainy Day Corner.
This week we are using old boxes (the bigger the better) to make forts/dens/cars/hotels… the possibilities are endless! Give the kids an empty cardboard box, perhaps from a delivery you’ve had, a pot of pens and let their imaginations run wild.
If they are struggling to come up with ideas themselves, but you don’t want to tell them what to do, just give some gentle prompts like “perhaps this could be something used to get around in…” and see what they do with that.
(Want more early years ideas? Sign up to The Working Mum Hub, where I will be sharing ideas to keep little ones busy while you answer an email or pop on the kettle.)
What’s for tea.
Here’s our meal plan for this week. I always struggle to feel inspired writing the meal plan, so hopefully this might give you some inspiration, if you feel the same.
No new meals this week, as I haven’t had the head space (or the room) to get creative in the kitchen with the builders around. But I have found a recipe for flapjacks that promises to be easy and another for sweetcorn muffins, which I am going to test out on the kids and will report back to you.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Love Beth x 🌷