Half term days out: The American Museum

A proper teeppe

 

 

We visited Bath over to weekend to drop Evie with Granny Lyn for half term. A fascinating historical hub and true beauty spot, Bath is a fantastic place for children with a range of museums and undulating green countryside to explore. Somewhere we hadn't been before was The American Musuem. Set in Claverton manor, a grand old Georgian country house, it's been home to American decorative and folk art since 1961. Overlooking beautiful grounds, the museum offers a chronological history of America – exhibits range from traditional interiors and quilts to Native American accessories – there’s even a set of Obama family dolls. We also caught San Francisco-born knitwear and textile designer, Kaffe Fassett's kaleidoscopic show before it ends next week and the girls were totally mesmerised by the colour and pattern. Catch it if you can. Also, check out their fun 'Day of the Dead' activities for Halloween. We can’t recommend his place enough.

 

The American Museum in Britain, Claverton Manor, Bath BA2 7BD (01225 460503/www.americanmuseum.org).

 

Kaffe Fasset's colourful pompom strewn tree

A knitted lampost

Native American headdress and accessories

Miss Evelyn, trying on hats in he dress-up area

It's the Obamas!

Read More»

Fifty Fabulous Frocks at the Fashion Museum, Bath

Centuries of style; Madame Katy, late 1890s, Charles Worth, mid-1890s, Victor Stiebel, early 1950s,
Vivienne Westwood, 1999

We took the girls to Bath Spa last weekend and popped to The Fashion Museum's latest show, Fifty Fabulous Frocks. The exhibition celebrates the museum's fiftieth anniversary with a spectacular selection of dresses spanning back to the 1700s. Writer and costume designer, Doris Langley Moore opened the museum in 1963 and it's since become one of the most important costume archives outside the V&A. I was a little nervous about how child friendly it would be but the dresses are displayed safely behind thick glass so Evie and Lola were able to drool (quite literally) over outfits without mummy getting arrested. It's also quite small and easy to navigate so there's little opportunity to get bored. The girls loved the kaleidoscopic range of dresses featuring intricate embroidery, garish prints and cute details such as the spectacular 18th century embroidered court dress which Evie thought was brilliant and 1930s dress featuring Mickey Mouse (above). The most fun was to be had in the dress-up section with a range of Victorian-style outfits for the whole family. Evie and Lola absolutely loved this – as did CLB daddy who looked spookily like The Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The museum is located in Bath's stunning Assembly Rooms, a spectacular Bath stone building with the highest ceilings and grandest chandeliers EVER and the vast empty ballroom provides a great place for little ones to burn off energy. All in all, a brilliant afternoon out. Tickets, from £7.50 for adults and free for children under five. Details here.

Fashion Museum, Assembly Rooms, Bennett Street, Bath, BA1 2Q (01225 477789/www.museumofcostume.co.uk)

1930s dress with Mickey Mouse embroidery

1930s Mickey Mouse, floral dress by Gina Fratini, 1973, coat, unknown designer, 1940s

A striking 1760s embroider court gown

Red and black lace Erdem frock with YSL vintage feathers in the background

Lola as a solemn Victorian toddler!

CLB daddy AKA Victorian Dad or is that The Child Catcher?

Read More»

Royal Wedding celebrations

The CLB family headed to the quintessentially English town of Old Amersham to join Evie's grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins for a day of celebrations and what an utter giggle it was. We donated a lemon drizzle cake using this tried and tested and much loved recipe before scoffing on yummy homemade sandwiches, cupcakes and Union Jack decorated biscuits after watching the dazzling Royal Wedding on TV (still dreaming about that utterly heavenly McQueen dress). Evie ended the day dancing to Wham: just as any good English knees-up should conclude.

Cupcakes galore!

Cool big cousin, Ana and Evie

 

 

 

Union Jack biscuits

Union Jacks at the ready

The Royal Wedding dancing queen

A well deserved apple after all the festivities

Read More»

Daddy and daughter bonding

We have just found out we are expecting another little girl, due at the end of July. Naturally we are all thrilled, including Evie of course. But it got me thinking: will daddy CLB feel a bit left out with all the talk of Mary Janes and butterflies, and in years to come the mood swings, chocolate binges and shopping sprees (OK, so enough with the cliches but you catch my drift)? Then again, while I am busy performing tasks as a one-woman dairy, daddy CLB can spend precious time bonding with our first born. He is already a wonderful teacher: her has taught Evie to count to ten when walking her up the stairs, to open and close boxes of raisins with some dexterity and to sift for shells on the beach (pictured doing so here at the weekend at Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire). Often, I am too busy being mum for such detail. I guess it is also time for him to get in touch with his feminine side: no bad thing for any man. Somehow, I don't think this will mean waving goodbye to Call of Duty any time soon but a mummy can dream...

If you have any tips for being a mummy and daddy to two girls I'd love to hear them here...

Read More»

The Museum of Childhood

CLB finally made it to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green and what a fantastic afternoon we all had. Set over three floors, this huge open-plan building holds a vast selection of antique toys, accessories and clothing alongside changing exhibitions (the current is the brilliant Food Glorious Food; a look back to how food is incorporated into childhood, on until April 25). But to top it all off there's an excellent cafe and shop, both located handily on the ground floor. Evie loved looking at the old dolls houses and stopping at the numerous play stations (there's also a very popular sandpit on the second floor). But mummy and daddy genuinely enjoyed it too - so much nostalgia. My heart fluttered with joy when I spotted the 1980s Care Bear collection. Brilliant all round.
V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9PA (020 8983 5200/www.vam.ac.uk/moc) Bethnal Green tube. Open 10am-5.45pm everyday. Admission is free.

Read More»

HUGE discounts at Sistersguild for CLB readers!

I Love Gorgeous dress, £36.40 was £56 - get a further 10 per cent off with CLB!

Now, you know how much CLB's adores baby style website, Sistersguild.com? There are still lots of huge January sale bargains (at up to 60 per cent off) and as reader's of this blog you can get a further 10 per cent off sales bargains by quoting 'GIDDY' at check out. The offer applies to everything in the 'dressing room' sections and is valid to and including Monday 31st Jan. Happy shopping!

Little Duckling jog bottoms, £13.75 was £27.50

I Love Gorgeous top, £25.35, was £39

Belle & Boo skirts, were £24, now £20.40

 

 

 

 

 

Aden & Anais giant muslin swaddling squares, £26.21 was £34.95

Read More»

Perfect autumn day out: Waterlow Park and Highgate Cemetery

I know it sounds a bit morbid but cemeteries are excellent places to get inspiration for baby names. I remember seeing the below grave in Highgate Cemetery about ten years ago, with the name Evelyn elegantly inscribed in gold and thinking how pretty it sounded. When my husband suggested we name our daughter this, I thought back to it and it swayed me. Today, in the glorious autumn sunshine we decided to take a trip to Highgate, starting in the beautiful Waterlow Park, a 'garden for the gardenless' given to he public by Sir Sidney Waterlow in 1889. The park has plenty of running space for toddlers, a small playground, ponds, elegant formal gardens and stunning views of the city. Evie was in her element and had a fleeting romance with a 2-year-old French boy called Matisse (it was love at first sight). Around the corner in Highgate Cemetery, having taken in the graves of Karl Marx, artist Patrick Caulfield and Jeremy Beadle (!), I listed a few of the more unusual names that may (or may not) inspire future generations (see below). All in all, a beautiful day.

Girls
Floretta
Lillian
Lilla
Mercy
Tryphena
Ada
Elenora
Minnie
Mabel
Cora
Lena

Boys
Harold
Earl
Clarence
Ernest
Herbert
Jesse
Eugene
Leopold

There were lots of Elizas, Mary Anns and Florences while for men it seemed John, William and Albert's were around in abundance in Victorian times too...

Tim and Evie in Waterlow Park

The grave of Evelyn Muriel Dray MBE

Husband and babe walking through the dappled sunlight in Waterlow Park

Rusty-hued autumnal leaves

Read More»

Gauguin at the Tate Modern

'Maternity', 1889

Evie and I braved Tate Modern's crowds to see the Gauguin exhibition this afternoon. It was soooo worth it. We loved his still life studies of 'flowers' ('wowers' according to E-chops) and the vibrant canvases depicting Polynesian women in luscious tropical, techicolour colour. You can almost sense the humidity of the Tahitian-climate just looking at them. I was intrigued to find out Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903, had been a well-to-do stockbroker and that he didn't pick up a paint brush until he was the ripe old age of 27. The Paris stock market crashed in 1882 and soon afterwards he abandoned his wife Mitte and five children (charming!) to pursue art, eventually heading to the South Seas to revel in the more primitive way of life. He knew buyers would love these exotic, richly-coloured paintings and the myths they evoked. Gauguin had a dark side but his paintings from that era are glorious and I love the way these women and children are depicted. Who knows, perhaps deep down he missed his wife and kids? He died of syphilis at the age of just 54 on a remote Polynesian island. 'It is true that suffering sharpens the genius, yet too much suffering kills you,' he said. Go see the genius for yourself.
Gauguin is on at Tate Modern until  16 January 2011. 020 7887 8888/www.tate.org.uk. Book a time slot (aim for a week day when it is quieter).

'Nativity', 1896

Faa Iheihe, 1898

Read More»

A perfect summer play day

Evie, Tim (daddy) and I spent a glorious sunny afternoon at Coram's Fields today. London's first public children's playground, on the site of the Foundling Hospital, is one of the best places in the city to hang out with little ones. Actually, you can only get in if you have a child in tow. Evie was in her element - oinking at the resident goats (don't ask!), storming through the paddling pool full of boys having water fights and sliding down her first slide (without parental assistance). 'That baby is blocking our river!' wailed an eight year old in the sandpit as Evie sat in a stream of water that had been carefully constructed by a team of kids. The 'river' soon dissipated into a sandy pond as Evie excitedly flapped her hands and feet around. Afterwards mummy, daddy and babe lay on a picnic rug in the dappled sunlight scoffing Devon ice-cream. The big sticky smile on Evie's face at the end of the day said it all: today was a splendid day.
Coram's Fields, 93 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1DN (020 7837 6138) Near Holborn tube. Open 9am-7pm throughout the summer. Directions here.

Read More»

Biker chic

I always like to think of my daughter as sweet and girlie but this pic would imply I have a tomboy in the making on my hands! Snapped by my brother, Frank, on our recent family holiday to the Cotswolds how it makes me giggle. Evie adored riding on this grubby old motorbike toy in a brilliant playground we found in Chipping Norton. Thankfully, a little feminine elegance remains in the form of her floral summer dress. Now, that is what I call biker chic.

Read More»