Last Summer we had the most amazing time at the first ever Timber Festival and I'm delighted to say they've invited us back again this year to review. The setting is Feanedock, a gorgeous 70 acre woodland in the National Forest in Derbyshire, and the programme is absolutely packed with all kinds of theatre, music, dance, performance, arts, workshops, discussion and debate for adults and children aged around 5+.


Timber won Best New Festival at the UK Festival Awards and they were a worthy winner. My boys are now 9 and 10 and were ecstatic when they heard we would be returning this year - even when we told them we'd definitely want to go and see Stuart Maconie talk about rambling again.

Timber is the festival for hippies, eco-warriors, tree-huggers and laid back types of all ages. If you want to sit in beautiful, natural surroundings listening to live bands, talks and stories, watching theatre and joining in debate, it might just suit you too.


There is an eclectic mix of entertainment on offer at Timber and a hint of what you'll find is listed below. I'm particularly excited about Cardboardia myself... The photos are from 2018 and don't represent exactly what you'll find this year, but it'll give you a good idea...

Pickles' Purrfect Plan is a rhyming book for younger children and we've been sent a copy to review by Matador Books. Written by Carolyn Young and illustrated by Jo Blakeley, it tells the story of Wizard, Witch and Pickles the cat, who live together in a cottage in the woods.

I wouldn't usually cover books for children younger than my own, but I'm impressed with Pickles' Purrfect Plan. The story is sweet, the illustrations are excellent and the rhyming format works very well.


Pickles, Witch and Wizard live a humble life in their cottage in the woods. One day a storm comes and the cottage is damaged. They search the house, but don't have the money to pay for repairs.

Pickles has a plan to help them and once they go to bed, he springs into action - with more than a little help...

Last weekend was the 11th BlogOn Conference, at Hotel Football in Manchester. Despite a few major post-op panics hiccups over the past 3 weeks, I made it! It was a bit different for me this time because I couldn't be involved in bag-packing, but with a chair and a table I was still able to join Sim in our usual job checking everyone into the conference.

Bizarrely it didn't rain. This happens only when people visit, to make us look like liars when we say it always rains in Manchester.


The goody bags were all laid out ready, you can see the contents on social media by looking up #blogongoodybags . There's a big team who are there from really early on to help Laura on the day. I felt like a cheat just sitting down at the sign in table.


I spent almost the entire day sitting down, but I got a lift selfie in early. Cleverly I handed Sim my camera - I'm a bit too short to get everyone in unless they all bend down! This was as packed a lift as I was happy with really. My main aim for the whole day was not to be bumped in the belly.

A Stone Called Fred is written by S.M.Locke and has been sent to us by publisher Matador for review. A relatively light-hearted fiction book for teenagers and young adult readers, the focus of the story is Jack, who one day awakes to find a mystery object on his kitchen table. The object often appears as an ordinary stone, but Jack spots it glowing, sometimes it buzzes and it definitely has some pretty fantastical properties.

This is a Twilight Zone style shorter story that I'm sure Roald Dahl would have been happy to include in any series of Tales Of The Unexpected. I loved it.


Jack discovers that by touching the stone he can become invisible and even when he leaves it at home, somehow it will appear nearby, as if it is following and keeping an eye on him. Other people can touch the stone without any effect, so Jack feels it's special to him and even names it. Fred.

Jack's neighbours find the whole thing really amusing and aren't sure if he hasn't just had a bump to the head. His girlfriend is a journalist and has been away with work, but when she comes home, Jack has to try and persuade her that Fred really isn't just a large pebble.

Podric Moon And The Corsican Tyrant is the first Young Adult fantasy book release from respected screenwriter and director Barney Broom. The book's main focus is young Podric, who is a computer games champion with ambition to be a jet pilot like his father, and his relationship with eccentric local games developer Archie.


Podric Moon is suitable for older teenage and young adult readers. There are some mature themes including mild sexual references and scenes, and a trigger warning as two of the female characters are assaulted.

The book opens with the death on duty of Podric's father, an RAF Pilot. Podric decides not to return to his boarding school in Ireland and the whole family move away from their RAF housing into a small rural UK village. It is there that Podric meets Archie, a games developer who has had major success in the past, but is struggling to spark interest in his games now.

Together Podric and Archie work on a new and far more immersive version of VR, called Ultimate Alternative Reality (UAR) and they use Archie's game based on the Napoleonic Wars as their world. The realism is hard to ignore and life in Napoleon's time isn't quite as romantic and fun as it first appears, although it definitely has it's moments.

The latest game to arrive at our door courtesy of Asmodee is Timeline: Science Museum. We love Timeline games and this special Science Museum edition has quickly become a favourite. Simple and quick to play, they bring out the competitive spirit in everyone and any game is full of shouts of "no waaay" and "I'd never have believed that".


Everything is stored in a really neat compact metal tin which will last forever and is completely portable. It also looks great on the shelf and is instantly recognisable.

Tiger Livy is a book for younger children which is written by Erin Garcia and Betsy Miller, with illustrations by Ivreese Tong. The main character Livy is a little girl with a serious chronic illness and is inspired by Erin's niece, who was diagnosed with Juvenile Dermatomyositis aged 5. We've been sent a copy for review and the authors have also kindly offered a copy each for two of my readers.


Livy struggles at first to cope with being ill. She is sad and confused and getting better feels like it will take forever. With help from her wise Grandfather she begins to look at everything differently. She sees the scars on her legs as tiger stripes, reminding her that she is as brave as a tiger. She sees her vegetables as tasty prey that will make her strong.

I like science toys best of all and I'm delighted that my boys love them too. Thames and Kosmos have a huge range of science, mind and exploration toys, games and puzzles. Their brand new MBE range of science kits includes 8 different sets designed to allow your child to explore their world and learn something new and exciting, and at only £8.99 each, they make a great birthday gift for friends.

The new kits are designed to introduce different scientific topics, with fun facts and interesting hands-on experiments, and Thames and Kosmos have sent us 2 to review - Amazing Minerals and Crystal Geode.


The Amazing Minerals Experiment Kit is a nicely presented digging kit with 2 tools, magnifying glass and the familiar chunk of plaster containing the hidden treasure.

If you follow my blog or know me then you'll know I had a second hernia mesh surgery on 10th April, placed above the last one. It was going to be great. I'd spend a week or so lounging on the sofa hernia-free, watching TV and reading books, and slowly come back to blogging over the following week in a nice, laid back style. Few easy blog posts, couple of giveaways. It's not happened. I honestly never make advance plans and this is time I'm very grateful.


The surgery went well, my surgeon and the team did a really tidy job, I went home the same day and my 8inch long scar will be a beautiful silver line before I know it, but the darn thing just wouldn't stop bleeding. A week after the op I was on antibiotics and starting to feel some nasty pain a little way from the actual wound.

The smiles are usually a bit of a pause on the blog, this week they're the sole action. As many of you may be aware, 5 days ago I was in hospital having pretty exciting surgery and I really haven't been incredibly well over the past few weeks. I cleverly drafted most of this post in advance because I wasn't sure just what fun painkillers I might be on right now. Fingers crossed most of it is at least legible!


My surgery was a second mesh hernia repair, placed above the first one. My insides were just so weak that despite losing a quite substantial amount of weight over the last few years, I sneezed last April and my intestines escaped. It was a bit of a shocker at the time.

The surgery went really well and I was actually allowed home the same day, much to my family's delight. They're all a lot happier if they can see me - I understand this entirely. My younger children especially understand too well that people can just die unexpectedly, and their need to be there to keep an eye on me themselves is massive.

I know no-one really trusted me to be a good girl, keep my feet up and simply relax, but nature took over on that one. My 18cm wound has very kindly refused to heal politely, so at the moment I am very much doing NOTHING. Literally nothing except taking myself to the toilet every hour or so and drinking lots of fluids - these things are related. There's really no better incentive to make me sit still than yet another bloody stain spreading across my t-shirt and the threat of having to go and be re-stitched. I admit defeat, cleaning can happen next month.