A Mother's Dream: A breakfast for champions.

A Mother's Dream blog circle:  'A Breakfast for champions', by Fleur Davies.

Have you heard of the Harvester pub restaurant chain?  I bet you have.  But have you tried their breakfasts?  Well, if you haven't - get a move on.  I first discovered the wonder of their morning time menu a few months back with my son when we had a Mummy and Son date.  We wanted to try somewhere new.  

We'd been to the Derby Pool in New Brighton a few times as a family over the years for dinner and have frequently visited for a drink and crisps on a warm summer evening.  But breakfast was a new venture.

Basically, for me, it's breakfast heaven!  With any 'all you can eat' cooked breakfast ordered (and this also goes for the kids) you get free access to the continental buffet offerings too.  AND the option of unlimited coffee.  Can I get an "Amen"?!  All this for around £8 per adult and £3 per child aged 10 and under.  Of which we have three - with hefty appetites.  Bargain and a half.  

Now I'm obviously very excited about this, and I'm sure I have friends who will be dragging their bacon, sausage and egg loving backsides and offspring down to their nearest Harvester asap.  And why not?  You get to stuff your face like some sort of gorging animal with no need to eat again for like a week.  If you are familiar with the Friends TV show, refer your memories to the scene where Joey is left alone at the restaurant dinner table while everyone's meals arrive and he says to the waiting on staff:  "You boys are about to see something really special."  That's kind of how I approach a buffet style meal...  #sorrynotsorry

We had this breakfast in the diary for a week or so.  It's half term right now on The Wirral and keeping the kids occupied and alive is a must.  Breakfast is always a winner for us as we talk the kids into a lie in, bribing them with tablet time for half an hour or so.  Then we head out at about brunch time.  Knowing that we're in no rush and can take our time.  I always make a note to explain this to the kids.  I don't know why but for some reason it's like a survival skill in our household that eating as quickly as possible is standard practice.  

I knew I wanted to document our morning that day.  I was excited about it.  It's been a little while since I purposely took my camera out to document a whole event.  And I got everyone in on this one.  My hubs took some photos.  AND my middle kid did too.  She has a great eye and surprisingly strong arms to hold up the decent sized camera body and lens I took with us.

So here you go.  Our family brunch together.  This Mother's Dream - not only for spending some quality time with my nearest and dearest, but also unlimited bacon.... mmmmm bacon....

Thanks for viewing peeps.

Fleur xx

And once you've had a peruse through my set of images, you can follow the rest of this month's A Mother's Dream blog circle here: Its by the lovely Julie Grant Photography. 

(As always, click into the images to see them at full resolution.  Cheers loves!)

Photo by Carl

Photo by Carl

Photo by Carl

Photo by Poppi

Photo by Poppi

Photo by Carl

Photo by Carl

Photo by Carl

What the Davies' do: Poppi asked for birthday cheesecake!

My middle one turned 8 last month and she asked for a Lemon cheesecake as her birthday cake.  She's SO my child.  Excellent choice.  I love a baked cheesecake don't you?  And because I was brought up to share, I'll add a link to the recipe at the end of the post too!

As I began gathering all the ingredients I noticed how soft the light in my kitchen was and it looked good with yellow of the lemons.  I was transported back to the days where I had been completing a 365; photo a day project.  A task like baking would have been documented for sure.  So why not do that now?  So here is the photo blog, step by step of cheesecake assembly.  YUM!


Recipe:  http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/baked-lemon-cheesecake/


(PS - It's best to click into the pics too see better quality versions...  Thanks Peeps.)

A Mother's Dream: Saturday Starbucks with my eldest.

A Mother's Dream blog-circle: A post swimming Saturday morning at Starbucks with my eldest.

We began this routine a long time ago.  My eldest has her swimming lesson early on a Saturday morning.  She's getting really good now - her technique is looking great for a child her age.  So as a treat I decided to take her afterwards one weekend to one of my favourite places in the world: Starbucks!

This treat has turned into a routine that we both love.  We don't get long there.  About 40mins if we're lucky.  She will have a hot chocolate.  She will always ask for a frappuccino.  Some weeks she gets one.  I will have a filter coffee with a sugar free syrup.  And we sit, and we chat and we laugh.  If I have been on the ball that morning (did I mention it's early?), I will have grabbed my camera bag too.

I love that she's still at an age where she doesn't mind having a camera in her face.  I honestly don't know how much longer that will last.  So I think I need to be on the ball more on a Saturday morning and grab my camera bag every time we leave the house.

Thanks for looking.

x Fleur x ~ https://fleurdavies.wixsite.com/fleurdaviesphoto

(PS - It's best to click into the pics too see better quality versions.  Thanks Peeps.)

The link to the next blog in the 'A Mother's Dream' blog-circle follows the images...

The next artist in the 'A Mother's Dream' blog-circle is the lovely Sarah from Whispering Willow Photography.... - Enjoy!

What the Davies' do: 'Mummy and Daddy shared Ludlow!'

Here we go with the second instalment of my 'What the Davies' do' feature.

Today's episode comes as a shock.  It's a documented day that I never thought would happen.  Here's why...

Ludlow, the very beautiful market town found in Shropshire, has been, for the last 3 years, the choice location for my Husband and I to celebrate our wedding anniversaries - kid free!  I first discovered this lovely town on a different trip with girlfriends and I knew I'd want to go back with Carl.  So we did, in August 2014, 2015 and 2016.

When we visit we take full advantage of our wonderful children being almost 100 miles away with grandparents and spend our time eating, drinking and sleeping.  With the odd walk thrown in for token exercise.  We purposely book into a cheerful travelodge for a few nights so we have more in our cider and ale budget.  Oh, and I'll just point out that the travelodge is a 20 minute walk from the town (pubs) so we're not complete unhealthy louts.  And sometimes that 20 minute walk, after a few ciders can be nearer an hour - plenty of fresh air!

Ok, I am joking - a little bit...  But ultimately, our time in Ludlow has been adult orientated.  It is a great place and so relaxing it's untrue.  We love the castle, and the long walks by the river.  On our last trip we found The Ludlow Kitchen too - amazing smoked salmon brunch and my husband speaks very highly of the granola dish.  Yum.

So on our past trips we had decided that probably, we would never take the kids.  

Skip forward to January 2017.  We'd just got back from a great family holiday and time was fast forwarding towards the school half term.  What days out would we plan?  We also had made the decision that this year may be the first that we don't get to Ludlow for our anniversary (boo!).  However, with good reason - we've a ton of house and work developments planned, so the lovely travelodge, pies, cider and ale budget is most probably going on bathroom furnishing.

Now I don't want to brag here, but I am pretty good with planning family days out.  I google the shizzle out of it and plan our time well.  I must've had an epiphany on the day I decided we would do Ludlow - all together - just for a day.  Because it was ace!  The kids (and me and Hubs) loved it.

We left early and arrived at the Ludlow Kitchen around 10am - a hearty brunch all round.  Then on into town for a walk along the cobbles up to the castle.  Well, once the lady at the gate mentioned to my youngest that he needed to "Keep a watch out for the dragons." he was hooked.  The girls loved exploring too.  Afterwards we took a walk down to the river and along the Bread Walk - one that Carl and I have done so many times in the summer, so it was funny seeing the place in it's winter clothing. Still beautiful though.

We spent a good 5 or 6 hours exploring Ludlow as a family.  Ultimately - the kids loved it.  And what do you know, Carl and I loved showing them everything too.  Even if it did mean, instead of walking in, we walked past The Feathers and The Church Inn and The Rose & Crown....  But you know, on the flip side - bathroom furnishings!

Thanks for reading peeps.

x Fleur x

(PS - the trick to seeing better quality versions of the images is to click on them... Cheers loves!)