Rebel Summer Camp is always such a big thing that it deserves two posts – you just can’t get the whole thing in one. So this is Friday and Saturday. I dithered over going to camp this year, since it’s three or four hours away up the M5 and M6 but eventually I decided I’m … More Rebel Summer Camp 2025: Friday & Saturday
I like to go camping. That is, I think I like to go camping. The reality is that for one reason or another – or several reasons – I never really actually sleep in a tent. But I like to get away from my life for the weekend without feeling like I need to explore, … More My latest camping disaster
Being both a keen Guide and a keener traveller, you’d think I’d be an INTOPS regular- that is, Girlguiding’s shorthand for International Opportunities, or trips abroad. But no, I’ve only in the last two years really come across INTOPS and I’d never thought about going for it myself. But now I have and this intersection … More What happens at INTOPS (International Opportunities) adult selection?
This is usually either the first or the second post of the year but here we are in the last week of February because I had the bright idea to document our Christmas Adventure on film this year. I’m not very good at taking 36 film photos in a single day, so it took until … More Christmas Adventure 2024 at Hurst Spit
In my last post, in which I visited Bath Thermae Spa, I called it “bathing like a Roman”, on the grounds that the modern spa uses the same source as the 2000-year-old Roman bathhouse but other than that, there’s no similarity at all between my spa trip and Julia Ennia Caesianus’s visit to the baths. … More Bath Roman Baths: how to actually bathe like a Roman
I went to Bath Thermae Spa about ten years ago, having been sent up to Bath College on a couple of days’ notice to replace a colleague on a social media course. The course was terrible, the hotel I stayed in was so unmemorable that I don’t even remember it and I don’t think I … More Bathing like a Roman: how good is Bath Thermae Spa?
A sensory deprivation tank, or a flotation tank or even REST (restricted environment stimulant therapy) as they call it in this century, was something that had been on my to-do list for a while but going into the New Year, I decided to get it over with. It’s supposed to be pretty much a cure … More I tried a sensory deprivation tank
The “A Daycation in…” series is one I was planning to start in 2025, to showcase some of the best and most interesting places around Dorset and Hampshire, delving into what elevates something from a mere “day out” to a “daycation”. But I got started a bit earlier than planned, because Bournemouth hotel The Nici … More A Daycation at… The Nici, Bournemouth
Over the last ten or fifteen years, Girlguiding has cultivated four flagship events, held simultaneously at anywhere between two and four of its Training & Activity Centres. The really big one is Wellies & Wristbands, a festival camp for Guides & Rangers, the 10 to 18-year-olds. Then came Magic & Mayhem, a circus-themed fun day … More Sparkle & Ice 2024: the one in a shepherds hut
Perhaps this should be a post about all the cosy things you can do in autumn in London – kicking red-gold leaves, PSLs in old-fashioned pubs with open fires, where to buy brown and orange knitwear or hand-made candles… but that’s not what autumn in the UK looks like. Autumn in London is grey and … More 3 days in London in October
I Am A Polar Bear 