The South of England Show, Ardingly

I forget just how massive the South of England Show is!  Nik and I went along on the Friday in June to explore the stands, displays and shows and found so much to see, eat and drink, it was epic!  There is so much going on with plenty to entertain little ones and grown ups alike. We happened to be there "on duty" without the kids in order to take photos and make notes but we kept seeing things the twins would love and had we not already had plans to be at Woodlands family festival that weekend, we would have gone back on the Saturday with them.

My personal favourites were the blacksmith competitions, the wine walk, the motocross stunt bikers, the WI displays and of course, the shopping!  I bagged myself a bargain waterproof coat in a gorgeous bright yellow with polka dot lining, it's come in handy already with our somewhat wet June so far.

The Young Artisans tent was so inspiring with some truly gorgeous designs by such talented young people, we spotted a few from Uckfield College!  The three crowned winners ranged in age from 17 to 21.

The blacksmiths made for some awesome photo opportunities with the sparks, fire and steam against the dark backgrounds, it looks like such hard work (and it really is, I tried it once helping make a spike for St. Marks' Church gate back in 2017, see my sparky photo I took back then).

There were some beautiful flowers and brightly coloured WI made crafts in the WI/flower tent, there were lots of categories with some amazing interpretations in each craft competition, of course I was drawn to the rainbow ones ;)

The Wine Walk was informative and fun, we really enjoyed learning more about some of our local vineyards, I never knew there were so many and we've now been inspired to plan a tour of some East Sussex vineyards this summer which will make a great feature so watch this space come Autumn time!  Of course, having a few tasters of the various offerings was fun too, the English sparkling wines we have locally are truly wonderful!

Of course, there's a lot more going on with lots of agricultural areas, various farm animal competitions and displays with sheep-shearing demos and the like.  There are lots of food stands with food to eat as well as plenty to take home such as local cheeses, meats, booze and sweet treats. We bought some Sussex Charmer to take home which is a mix of mature cheddar and Parmesan so has a lovely deep, tangy flavour and is almost gone already!

Despite the rather dingy weather with a few downpours, we had a brilliant day out!

Cuckfield Recreation Ground (& paddling pool) - review

We made an awesome discovery this summer, Cuckfield Rec Ground has a lovely park with a big paddling pool!  It wasn't too busy either despite being the holidays so was a good hidden find about half an hour drive away from Uckfield, we had a little trouble finding the way in but if you manage to get there it's worth taking a picnic to spend the whole day.

bexphoto launches new website - family photography in Sussex

I am thrilled to share my brand new photography website, www.bexphoto.com.  It's the same old domain I used for my photos before but it's had another makeover and I'm now working as a professional photographer for hire!

I've been working on the new website over the last couple of weeks and may still make a few tweaks but I'm really pleased with it.  I have various portfolios to show off my family, newborn and commercial work as well as some of my favourite old landscape and nature images.  (I really must try to get out in Sussex for a spot of landscape photography one weekend, any tips on where to go would be most welcome!)

Of course, I'm just getting started and I'm building up my portfolio of other families (apart from my thousands of the twins) with some reduced sessions for friends which I'm delighted were snapped up and have been keeping me busy with a newborn and two family sessions already plus two more coming up soon.  Not only that but I had my first "random" booking from a stranger who noticed my photos on Facebook so that was exciting!  I wasn't quite ready for other clients yet but obviously didn't turn it down and it's really boosted my confidence after meeting them, we had a lovely afternoon at the weekend and a giggle about them being invoice no.0002.

There's also a new bexphoto blog where I'm sharing sneaky peeks, photo sessions and various other photography jobs and personal projects and a new About page which I may edit at some stage but I've kept it brief for now.  I also have a Features page which I hope may fill up more in the future and of course, some Kind Words from clients.

My cousin, Georgia, has designed me a gorgeous logo and I love the little bp, hence the change to bexphoto without the capital (as much as the grammar warrior within me hates a moniker without a capital, it just looks prettier)!  Credit for my tagline: Families | Memories | Moments, must go to Becca who suggested it on Facebook.  (Thanks Becca!)

I plan to focus mainly on family lifestyle photography as it's what I've grown to love since having the twins but I do really enjoy the odd commercial session like I did for Into Mills' homeware products and Oast Farm's shop & cafe recently.  And of course, I do events like England's Medieval Festival to review on this here blog which I also love.

So, here we go.  Just as I thought I was about to get more time to spend on Olive Dragonfly, I've had it all sucked up by my new business instead!  But I am loving it!  It's so much fun and such a privilege to be invited to hang out with other families in order to capture their real lives together.  Even though it's something I never thought I'd do professionally, I am so glad I made this decision, I'm so excited about this!

You may have noticed my little ad in the sidebar and I'd absolutely love it if you'd like to follow bexphoto on Facebook or Instagram and of course, I'd be even more thrilled if you fancy booking a session!  You can email me at mail@bexphoto.com with any questions.

Bexphoto Family Photography - Launching Soon!

If you read this blog you know I love photos!  I always include photos in my posts and like it or not I usually share plenty.  Although I'm trying to be more selective here these days, I still love to share lots of my own photos and I started up a new photography website to feature more of them.  I've had a photography website for years but it used to be a place to sell my landscape and nature prints and showcase a few of my galleries before I started taking photos of people.  I always used to say "I don't do people." but that all changed when I had kids of course!  Nowadays Bexphoto.com is more of a photography blog but I plan to sort it out a bit while I think about investing in another proper site.

England's Medival Festival - review

I would have never thought of going to a Medieval Festival as we're not really into battle re-enactments, etc.  Or so I thought!  We were invited along to review England's Medieval Festival and had an amazing time.  There's so much more going on than you might expect and it was perfect for a weekend with kids, the twins loved it and so did we!

There were literally dozen of things we could do with plenty of entertainment for little ones.  (I warn you now, I took photos of everything!)  We actually really enjoyed the twice daily parades and battle re-enactments at the castle with big bangs and arrows flying.

Into The Trees Festival - Event review

After having an amazing time at Elderflower Fields, our first family festival back in May, we were thrilled to be invited along to their sister event, Into The Trees, and it didn't disappoint.  A smaller festival without camping, Into The Trees is focused on kids enjoying nature and the amazing location of Ashdown Forest.  The event in September is two days of fun at the same venue, Pippingford Park, arranged on a smaller scale and with even more focus on being in the woods and getting back to nature.  A family ticket for both days was just £22 and under 5s went free, such a bargain with so many free activities included.

Wakehurst's Kew Science Festival - day two review

I already wrote about our first impressions of Kew Science Festival at Wakehurst but we also went back the following day for more educational fun.

On the Sunday, Kalyan's first thought was for the duck in the puddle we'd seen on our way out the day before.  He was so excited to see it and luckily the same duck was in the same puddle again!

Beachy Head

After Eastbourne's Hot Air Balloon Festival a couple of weeks ago, we decided to try a local place for a Sunday Roast.  A friend recommended The Ship Inn in Meads and our review will be featuring soon as the first in my Sunday Lunch review series.  When we got to Meads we noticed signs for Beachy Head very close by so after lunch we drove up there for a walk.

Kew Science Festival at Wakehurst - review by Bex

We were invited along to Wakehurst to check out the Kew Science Festival in the gardens this weekend and I wanted to get a post up on the blog tonight to show you all how much is going on, we'd definitely recommend it if you're at a loose end tomorrow!  Although it's aimed at older kids, there's still plenty for toddlers to do and keep entertained.

Uckfield Festival 2017

We went along to Luxford Field for the Big Day of Uckfield Festival (the first proper big day of the week long festival) to check out all of the stalls and entertainment.  It was basically like a giant village fete with lots of local businesses and charities all in attendance with activities, stalls and games to play as well as a stage area for local dance troops to show us their moves and bands to play music throughout the day.  

The kids looked a bit bored on the Teacups after being super excited to go on!

Columnist for Uckfield News

If you haven't already seen it on social media, I have some super exciting news to report!  Following a meeting on Tuesday morning with Cathy, I can confirm that I will be writing a monthly column for Uckfield News!

For those of you who might not know, Uckfield News is our local news website.  Run by Cathy who
has a journalism and PR background, it's a very popular site to find out about all the goings on in and around Uckfield.  I will be writing a summary column of all the places and events we've been enjoying as a family each month along with sharing my photos.  Hopefully it will inspire other local families to discover everything our amazing local area has to offer.

If you're new here, welcome to the blog!  Please check out my About page to learn more about us and I hope you enjoy reading about everything we get up to.

Thanks for the opportunity Cathy, I can't wait to get started!

Jam-packed July weekends - Days Out by Bex!

Well July has been off to an amazingly busy start, I can barely keep up with life never mind the blog but I just have SO many awesome things I want to share!  There's so much going on in July, I'm struggling to fit them all in/choose where to go.  This weekend alone I've been to Foodies Festival in Blackheath with the twins and Ma, Uckfield Festival Big Saturday, The Hurstwood Artisan Market and Brighton Kite Festival with Nik and the twins!  

Priya getting her serious "Paint Face" at Foodies Festival

England's Medieval Festival Ticket Giveaway - competition by Bex

I am thrilled to be attending England's Medieval Festival in August this year!  Following the success of taking the twins to Elderflower Fields Festival, we're super excited to be camping at the Medieval Festival over the bank holiday weekend at the end of August.  It's sure to be amazing since it's also the festival's 25th anniversary!  And I'm even more excited to be able to give away a family day ticket to one of my lovely readers!  Keep reading to find out how to enter...

Country Lifestyle Fair in Uckfield - Review by Bex

I first discovered Country Lifestyle Fairs last November when they had a beautiful Christmas Fair in Uckfield (where I met the lovely Anna from Tired Bear) and they were back at East Sussex National again today with their handpicked exhibitors.  I loved browsing all of the amazing goodies on offer, there's so much variety with so many beautiful items.  Often at fairs I find a few stalls with things I like but there are plenty of things at the Country Lifestyle fairs which are right up my street, I struggle not to go mad spending my cash on everything!  The majority of stallholders are small local businesses often with homemade wares.  I did of course indulge in a couple of things and may have some new collaborations coming up too so I'm sure you'll be hearing more in the future but in the meantime, here are a few of my favourite sellers from the fair today.

Foraging for Wild Garlic amongst the Bluebells - Foodie Fun by Bex

Last weekend we finally made it along to a bluebell wood with the twins for me to try to take a few photos of them having fun wondering amongst the flowers and trees.  We were unlucky with the light as it was a very dull day so the photos are a bit flat but we had a lovely morning and the woods looked stunning with the carpet of blue going on for as far as we could see!  The photos definitely do not do it justice!  Thank you to Zoe for her directions to this wood as well as a few foraging tips which I've included in with the tips below.

Part 3 of our day with Baby, Picture This - by Bex

Here is the 3rd and final instalment of our storytelling photography session with Laura.  Again, she captures the real us, the twin cuddles - ambushed from behind, the badly folded jeans stuffed into socks ready for wellies, the puddle love, the sulks, the refusal to keep walking, the tears when someone stumbles, the precious moments of kisses and snuggles, the pride when climbing a stile, and of course, the love of cake!

She makes even going down the stairs look beautiful!

So there we have it.  Laura is, as ever, super talented and has captured the heart of our family with such beauty.  She just gets it.  I am eternally grateful and eternally a client!

I promise to return to normal blogging soon, I have plenty part-written that have actual proper words in rather than just a massive scroll of images but they won't be this beautiful!