PYO Pumpkins at Tulley's Farm, Sussex - review

I've been thrilled that more and more Halloween trends have been making their way across the pond in the last few years!  I love that Americans go all out at Halloween, I've always loved it (and been super jealous of the Halloween section in Pottery Barn) and with the new (as far as I'm aware, or maybe its just a recent Insta-trend) pumpkin patches popping up everywhere, there is even more seasonal fun to be had over here.

This is the first time we've actually made it to one and it was after a full day of Halloweening!  We went along to review Tulley's Farm Spook Fest (the family friendly daytime version of their super scary Halloween Festival) and had to stop at their pumpkin patch on our way home to grab some gourds.

Luckily as it was the end of a sunny day, we were lucky with the light too and I, of course, took a fair few photos of our fun and frolics as the twins and their friend had a whale of a time!

My Sunday Photo - Picking Pumpkins at Sharnfold Farm

I have loads of photos from our trip to Sharnfold Farm yesterday to check out this year's pumpkin display but here are a couple of favourites for now.

We were lucky to get some dry spells and even sunshine amidst the squalls and gusts of wind but the twins loved it despite the weather!

Dragon Tails by Tired Bear - A review by Bex

I recently came across a local company called Tired Bear who make absolutely gorgeous costumes for little ones.  They caught my eye at a Christmas Fair, I loved all the bright colours and had a look on their website that evening.  I absolutely love the designs and completely agree with Anna's philosophy about bright colours being for all children.  "Most of my costumes are a bright mix of colours that aren't gender specific because boys shouldn't always be blue and girls definitely shouldn't always be pink!"

The next day we went back and had a chat with Anna who is just lovely and the twins each chose a dragon tail.  As if to prove our point, Kalyan chose Pink with yellow (pink and orange seem to be his favourite colours) and Priya went for purple with green.

On Tuesday we went for one of our favourite walks to take a few photos of the tails to really show them off.  I adore them!  They'd make fantastic Christmas presents and would last such a long time as part of a dressing up box.  The dragon tails cost £20 and with wings are £35.  They come in red, blue, yellow and green as well, each with a contrasting colour for the spines.

The twins absolutely adore their tails!  They love to wear them and they look pretty comfy too.  I am very impressed with the quality.  They're made from lovely soft fleece and have a nice thick waist band with velcro most of the way around so they'll fit for years.  They can also be machine washed at 30!  They are all hand made by Anna and you can tell a lot of time goes in to the making of each one.

My brave little pink dragon was quite happy wandering off down the path which leads to cake!  (Oast Farm Cafe is this way!)

And into mystical dragon caves...

Until we realised it was Tuesday and Oast Farm Cafe is closed on Tuesdays - eeep!  

What do you mean there's no cake?!

And Anna doesn't just make dragon tails.  She has wings to match, as well as butterfly wings, shark and killer whale costumes complete with fin and tail, angel wings, dinosaur tails and even a unicorn with a rainbow tail, wings and pink horn.  She's even made an awesome Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon!  The dragon tails do make good shadows though!

They've worn them loads already.  I love the fun they add to our walks, pretending to be dragons exploring.

We received two dragon tails from Tired Bear in return for writing an honest review.

Apple pressing at Oast Farm, Buxted - Adventures by Bex

I have a HUGE amount to catch up on with this blog (I feel like I'm always saying this and never managing it).  It's been neglected for far too long.  I've been so busy which is a good thing and I'm feeling much happier in general these days but I miss sharing our experiences have so many plans including another new guest blogger and continuing to improve our content and photography.  On that note, please see my new photography website - Bexphoto.com.  Apologies that the photos in this post aren't great, they're all iPhone as I hadn't expected this adventure and my jet lag addled brain/body wouldn't have coped with the heavy Nikon anyway!

We just got back from a couple of fantastic weeks in Malaysia visiting my parents for the first time with the twins so I have plenty to share about our adventures abroad.  It will take a while as November is already looking majorly hectic with the twins' birthday, my niece's naming ceremony and 1st birthday party and lots of meetings for my various clubs!  For now though, I want to share our jet lag fuelled walk to refresh us all and enjoy the crisp outdoors of Sussex again after our humid tropical escapades!

With a combined issue of jet lag AND the clocks changing, we were awakened by K at a not very bright but very early 3:30am!  I had some lovely snuggles with them downstairs for an hour before Daddy joined us and we all ate eggs (the only thing in the house, after our super tired arrival home at 8pm last night we regret the decision not to go to the supermarket!) for breakfast at 4:30am.  We unpacked and Daddy took the twins to the shop at 6:30am while I went back to bed for a couple of hours.  Shift change at 9 and Daddy went to bed so I took the twins out for a walk and some fresh air (and plenty of daylight which apparently helps with jet lag).  I decided to take them down our track as it avoids all roads and leads to our awesome local farm shop (where I could get coffee in their cafe!)

We had a lovely walk through the leaves and rotting apples en route to the chorus of "apples" (K) and "dabbles" (P) until I said not to touch as they were bad apples on the ground so the chorus then became "bad, bad bad" with a mixture of the above apple related exclamations!  They were, as often, super cute, holding hands and giving each other cuddles (these are usually one way from K to P) and when I asked them to stand over there for a photo, K put on a smile - the first time he's ever done this before they both proceeded to only look at the ground in front of me for some reason!

Anyway, we continued down and they walked all the way with only a little persuasion at the end as they were about to give up, demanding to be carried.  Turns out a friend's husband was there with the twins' friend Seb so we had some lovely company for our coffee and flapjack before Alan took Seb over to see the tractor which arrived with some apples.  The little ones (and big ones) were then invited over by Bob to help with apple pressing.  We jumped at the chance and the twins loved throwing the apples into the pulper and then catching the juice from the presser!  Bob was SO lovely and great with the kids, they had a blast!

Not to mention getting their first taste of juice (we are a fairly strict household when it comes to sugar with only water or milk being the usual) and it doesn't come fresher than this!  Needless to say, they wolfed it down and Bob very kindly gave us the first jugful to take home.

Of course, they both wanted to be carried back up the hill but I'd come prepared with slings so strapped them on and away we went with our spoils.  K was happy looking at me and looking at the leaves above us.  P was happy being bounced on my back as we hiked back home.  Phew, knackered is an understatement but I'm wide awake now so making the most of some peace to catch up on a few things.

Poor Daddy hadn't even managed to sleep so he missed out for nothing and is currently snoozing away while the twins nap but he was delighted with the juice and has frozen some to keep it fresh.

I'll be sharing a proper review of the new Oast Farm Cafe soon as my new brunch club is heading there for our next outing!

Monochrome Check Coatigan

by Bex

I am absolutely in love with my new coatigan from Long Tall Sally!

Long Tall Sally recently asked me if I'd like to choose some pieces from their Autumn/Winter range.  Obviously I jumped at the chance, I love Long Tall Sally for classic, comfortable clothes and if I'm struggling to find a maxi or pair of jeans long enough, I'm sure to find something at LTS!  (My black maxi is still a regular staple and has been great during my tricky tummy stage post-twins and I still love my grey lacy butterfly print pyjamas I bought in 2011.)  It's been far too long, however, since I got any nice new clothes and I'm desperate for some comfortable yet stylish outfits to wear rather than being stuck in leggings and boring tunic tops.  I've recently had to stop wearing my two pairs of maternity jeans as the thighs wore through!!

I selected three gorgeous pieces which look great together as well as being versatile and going with many other outfits.  I planned to wear the whole outfit at the weekend when Nik could take some photos but we suddenly had a burst of warm sunshine so I would have been too warm!  I did manage to get a few photos wearing my coatigan the other evening but I'll be sharing the whole outfit soon - the top is so pretty!

I threw the Check Coatigan over the top of my green T-shirt and casual high waisted jeans (the only kind I can now wear comfortably), both from H&M.  It is sooooo soft and cosy!  It's perfect for throwing on in the autumn and the check design will always look stylish.  As it's monochrome it will pretty much go with anything and just adds a bit of pizazz to a basic look.  I've already worn it loads when out for walks with the twins!

I received this coatigan from Long Tall Sally to review but my opinion is honest and entirely my own.  I have been a fan of Long Tall Sally for a number of years and genuinely love their clothing.