How do you maintain a sense of peace and calm at Christmas time? I must admit I usually prefer Halloween or Easter as they are much more low key celebrations. But there is no denying that Christmas is a magical time with the scent of pine needles in the air, spiced mulled wine, the kids…
Category: Reflections
Memories of East Coker
There was a while when I was working in Dorchester a couple of years ago, that I’d park my car in the village of East Coker, where I grew up, on the way home from work and go for a jog around the village. One of the routes I’d go was to jog up Pendomer…
Defrost this springtime!
Having three kids age seven, five and three means I watch a lot of Disney films. A lot. And the princesses are getting more and more courageous (but that’s for another post). Today I want to look at the two flagship songs from Frozen and Frozen II, both sung by icy blonde haired Elsa. I…
Ten fantastic facts about Yeovil
If you’re from Yeovil or know Yeovil a bit here are some facts that may surprise you! How many of them did you know about? And if you don’t know Yeovil (you haven’t lived 😂) but please read on to find out a little more about this sparkling gem of a town in South Somerset!…
What is a Smurfette?
“So what is a Smurfette? Noone wanted an answer more than Smurfette herself.” This is the opening line to the 2017 film, Smurfs the Lost Village. This is an immense film and does more for feminism than the recently unveiled Mary Wollstonecraft statue (although that isn’t hard!). The film strives to tell the story of…
Somerset Shines is 1!
It’s a year since I launched my blog Somerset Shines and I wanted to share some of the things I’ve learnt along the way. I started the blog to share my joy in moving back to Somerset with my family just over two years ago. So here are a few tips on starting a blog…
Cupcakes and rainbows
Poppy and Branch are two characters from the Trolls movie. This movie offers so much insight into human nature that I just love watching it with my kids. In one exchange, Branch says to Poppy “The world isn’t all cupcakes and rainbows” Poppy replies “Hey I know it’s not all cupcakes and rainbows but I’d…
A trip back to East Coker
I borrowed the book “Footsteps from East Coker”, written by journalist David Foot, from Yeovil Library. David was born in 1929 and grew up in Verandah Cottage, opposite the Helyar Arms (then the New Inn). East Coker is a small village in Somerset, close to the Dorset border so I imagine the following reflections of…
Word therapy
Is there such a thing as word therapy? Can arranging letters in a certain order be powerful enough to soothe our past, present and perception of the future? I believe that the answer to this is yes. Words can soothe, direct and heal us. In the current world climate it has to be OK to…
Looking for treasure
This post is all about unexpected joys in difficult times; looking for treasure in the dirt. Here are a couple of stand out moments of lockdown life that I’ll remember with fondness. 1. Digging for victory Very early on in the lockdown, my youngest girl decided she’d like to go digging for treasure. There was…
Best quotes about where I live
How would you describe the place you live? I have stumbled across a few quotes recently that described Somerset and specifically Yeovil. The first one evokes the mood of Somerset so beautifully and makes me think of how connected I have always felt to the countryside specifically here. 1. The prolific American writer John Steinbeck…
Motherhood!
In honour of Mothers’ Day I’ve written a post about my experience of being a mum… I put off getting pregnant til I was creeping up on 30. I knew motherhood would be the most important and most challenging job that I would ever commit to and so I wanted to wait til I felt…
Somerset Soul 