Wild Flowers Company Review inc Discount Code

I was recently sent some beautiful flowers in the post by a wonderful little company called Wild Flowers Company.  Wild Flowers Company was set up to offer seasonal, British, farm and love-grown flower arrangements. They are based in Kentish Town in North London, have just launched in the new year, only sell online and solely offer to send on a regular basis flower arrangements (and one-offs arrangements by way of exception). 

Flowers are sourced from UK growers, from Cornwall to Scotland. A sustainable business from which the farmers, the environment and the customers all benefit. The company is also part of The British Flower Collective, a group of passionate British flower growers and arrangers who are working together to put seasonality, local, home grown (and British) back into the flower industry.

The box arrived and was beautifully simple with just a touch of glitz, with the gold stickers sealing the box. I love flowers and somehow receiving them in the post just added to the excitement, who doesn't love receiving things in the post?

Inside the box, the flowers were wrapped in brown paper, tied with simple raffia and attached was a handwritten tag with the names of the flowers, I love this touch, which made it so personal.

Simple and beautiful packaging just makes for a more exciting time opening the flowers.

On opening the paper you are presented with the flowers and attached around the bottom of the flowers is a water pack that has kept the flowers from getting too thirsty. Some of them were a little bit limp, but after being in water for a few hours they perked up.

The flowers had faired well during their journey, they were all still perfectly intact, none were broken or bruised. 

The flowers themselves were beautiful, not something I would have chosen myself but they they all worked so well with each other, it was this fact that made them so special. Not bright and gaudy like supermarket flowers, they were earthy and natural and perfect for this time of the year.

The great thing about these flowers are you don't need to be a florist to arrange them, once I had undone them I placed into a large Kilner jar and they just looked stunning. They fit in with the fireplace and just bring the outside inside.

I adored this display, I really did, once the Narcissus had died the Anemones came out and once they had died the Magnolia buds started to come out so the whole display has lasted over three weeks and is still going strong.

Here is a little bit more about the available subscriptions:

A three posies a week package costs £24 p/w
A weekly package costs £28 p/w
A monthly package costs £32 p/m
A seasonal package costs £128 p/a and delivers four seasonal bunches a year
A pregnancy packages costs £168 p/a and delivers 6 seasonal arrangements over 6 months.
Subscriptions can be one-off, for a specific period (usually for gifts purposes) or on open-ended basis (when buying flowers for oneself).

One-off arrangements can be arranged but only shipped on Thursdays

Why order with Wild Flowers Company?

• Because the flowers will look nothing like the ones you usually see at the supermarket or online, or even at your local florist.
• Because our flowers have not travelled for days but instead are cut the day before we ship, because they have not been frozen nor heated to control their flowering, they arrive fresh and last long.
• Because the flowers are curated every week using what's in season, it creates surprise and anticipation.
• Because a gift says a lot about you, and this one will show consideration and thoughtfulness as opposed to cheap and easy.
• Because this is a gesture towards the environment, as there is no air mile attached to it, and it is beneficial to vegetation and pollination.
• Because one minds the provenance and the conditions in which his purchase have been put together.
• Because the recurrence/regular delivery shows one cares beyond past the past the tinsel and Christmas cheer.
• Because one choose quality and sustainability.

If you like what you see and would like to order a beautiful display for yourself or a loved one, perhaps for Valentines Day or Mothers Day or just because then you can 20% off with code MUMD20 until the 31/03/15.

I cannot express enough how much I love these flowers and how impressed I am with them.

NB: I was sent the flowers for the purpose of the review, all opinions and photos are my own.

Big Energy Saving Week with British Gas - Plus Win a Hive Active Heating Kit

This week is the Big Energy Saving Week with British Gas and Netmums , so I have been thinking about what we do around the house currently and what we else we can do to save energy.

Firstly what we do, well one of the big things for us is the telly, internet, and stereo, which were difficult to turn off individually and sometimes got left on. We installed a switch from Belkin which allows us to turn everything off at the flick of one button situated next to the front door.

Around doors where there are drafts, we have draft excluders, this ensures the heat stays where it needs too. They don’t have to be boring, we have these fun ‘giraffe’ excluders around a few doors.

 

Our front door is wooden and lets in a terrible draft, we can’t really afford a new UPVC or composite door at the moment, so we have installed a thick curtain which blocks some of the draft.

A few years ago we had loft installation installed free of charge through a government grant, we also added some reflective material to the inside of the roof for more insulation.

These small things help to keep rooms warmer which means we don’t need the heating on as much.

When we do have the heating on we also dry our washing next to it, this means we don’t need to use the tumble drier.

We have also replaced the majority of our lightbulbs with LED ones and for those that aren't, we use energy saving lightbulbs or newer halogen ones. It goes without saying we turn lights off when we leave the room but this means that when we are in them we aren't using as much electricity.

So what could we do to improve our energy consumption? There are a few things in our house we are looking to improve over the coming year, firstly although we can’t do much to change the door we can change the letter box which currently lets a lot of cold air in.

We also have a single glazed window at the bottom of the stairs, although it is currently blocked up with some polystyrene and a curtain we need to replace it and this will add some heat to the hallway.

We also have a fireplace we don’t use, really because of the gas it uses but it also lets a lot of cold air in, we need to find a way to stop the cold air coming down the chimney.

At the moment it’s about making small changes that add warmth to the house, saving money will come I think as these changes mean we don’t need the heating on as much.

We currently put it on a set temperature so it comes on to get it up to that temperature, this means it may come on for half an hour or an hour at a time maybe a few times a day. This seems to work for us and over the last 5-6 years our gas and electric have stayed about the same even though the cost per unit has gone up.

We had a new boiler about 4 years ago and this has improved our overall usage as it is much more efficient. None of these are big changes but I think with something like this it is about small changes that don't necessarily cost the earth but save you energy.

These are just a few of my changes, this week is about the small and the big changes you can make to your home to save energy, there is so much going on over on the BritishGas Netmums hub. Room by room they will be looking at ways to save energy. 

I also got to ask a question about saving energy mine was:

What is the best way to set your heating, we have radiators all through our house:

"Set your timer 15-30 minutes before you need your room to be warm, when you wake up in the morning for example, so that it has time to reach your chosen temperature.Turn your heating off 30 minutes before you leave home or go to bed and the heat already built up will keep your house warm"

And finally, I have a competition to win a super Hive Active Heating Kit with Installation from British Gas for one of my readers, it is worth £199 and allows you to control your heating from your smartphone, tablet or laptop.

By entering via the Rafflecopter form you agree to and accept the Terms & Conditions of the giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

NB: I am a member of the Netmums Blogging Network, a unique community of parent bloggers from around the UK who have been handpicked by the Netmums team to write about products and brands on their behalf. I may have been paid expenses but retain all editorial control. 

This is a Netmum's sponsored review.To find out more click the button:

A Beautiful British Brand

I recently came across this brand on twitter and instantly fell in love the with simple yet bright and colourful nature of their products, Fieldlife is a new lifestyle label for boys and girls aged 2-8 which offers British made clothing designed for children to live their life in, whatever their field. 

The Spring/Summer 2014 range is inspired by a Day Trip to London and an exciting journey along the Thames riverbank with many adventures along the way.  Fieldlife aims to offer robust clothes that stand up to the rigours of childhood, from building dens and sandcastles, to climbing trees and making memories.  

The collection includes a range of versatile separates such as T’s, sweatshirts, skirts, shorts and trousers to swimwear and rash vests for the beach or messing about on boats. Designed in bold and bright colours, thoughtful details such as adjustable waistbands in trousers and a double name tape in the label are also included so that the clothes can be handed down and become the next child’s favourite. 

Inspired by her two young children, Kendra Marsh founded Fieldlife in 2013 with a view to combining her family and career, together with developing an idea to bring children's clothing manufacturing back to Britain.  Her mission is to create high quality clothes that not only look good but will stand up to all that children will throw at them and will become a child’s much loved piece of clothing.

I think it it is a fabulous range and could certainly see my children in them, whether it is playing in the park or a day out in the city this range fits in with everything and best of all it's 100% British.

Fieldlife is available to buy online from www.fieldlife.co.uk and from additional stockists Babyccino http://babyccinokids.com and From Britain With Love www.frombritainwithlove.com. 

Q&A Session with British Bag Maker Emma Cornes

On the blog today I have an inspiring Q&A session with a fab British bag maker.

Firstly, tell me a bit about yourself

I’m Emma Cornes. I’m growing our British Bagmaking business that started as a hobby in our spare bedroom in our Cheshire home. We now send bags around the world and it’s a full time job for my husband and I.

Sounds exciting, what is your job within the business?

Everything and anything related to our little business. Everything from the fun bits like designing bags and sourcing amazing materials, to the dull bits like the accounts and cleaning our workshop. I used to make every single bag too, but I started to get far too many grey hairs and just couldn’t keep up so now we get help from a British manufacturer.

You sound like a busy lady, when did you start your business?

Just under two years ago, when I got married.

What made you decide to take the plunge and start your own business?

My bag making journey started when I bought my first sewing machine. I set up my little Singer on the kitchen table and ran off a few hundred metres of bunting for my wedding. Then while visiting family in Scotland’s Tweed valley where I grew up I happened across one of the mills making tweed.

I’m the kind of person who only ever has one bag at a time. It has to work for every occasion. I’d use them until they were threadbare, and then struggle to find a replacement. So I thought maybe I could make the bag I wanted with the tweed I’d found. I guess I probably shouldn’t be a bagmaker!

After watching a few YouTube videos on how to make bags I got started. The first few months were spent making really terrible bags, but then I started to get the hand of things and people liked what I was doing.

Very impressive, what do you love best about working for yourself?

There are so many reasons. The freedom to do what I want. Not having to answer to anyone, no commute, no office politics, only working with people who love what they’re doing too – that’s a really important.

No commute is great, is there anything you don't like about working for yourself?

It can be easy to not see another person, other than my husband for days. I start to feel a bit like I’m living in a bubble. Now I make the effort to leave the house more often – having a puppy helps!

Looking back is there anything you’d do differently?

I’d have got help with manufacture sooner. I hadn’t realised how much toll making every bag was having on me and the business. If I’d handed it over sooner I’d have had much more time to do the fun stuff that actually helps sell more bags.

Do you have any advice for someone thinking about starting their own business?

If you think you’ve got a good idea, don’t spend too much time agonising over it. Find a way to test it out on your target market – make up some samples and get out there.

Make sure you get the right people to help you with your visual identity from the start (stuff like your logo and how everything looks). First impressions count. 

Websites – I’ve seen so many people fall down here. There are good web developers who listen to what you want and build it, but there seem to be lots of not so good ones out there. You need to be really clear about what you want. Get a recommendation from someone who already has a good business website. Make sure you draw a wireframe of what you want where and create a of map of how you want someone to use it and what the outcome should be.

Thank you Emma for a wonderful insight into the running of your business, it was super interesting and an inspiration to anyone out there thinking about starting there own business.

About Emma Cornes bags

Emma Cornes bags are made in Britain using the very best British fabrics. Emma takes inspiration from the landscapes that inspire the Scottish estate tweeds that she’s best known for using. As well as striking designs, her bags include details inspired by how people really use their bags – whether that’s using waterproof canvas for the liner or the range of handy pockets on the inside.

Handbags Rosie Kirsty Nicola

Messengers Hopper Fairweather

You can only buy them at www.emmacornes.co.uk or at the handful of shows Emma visits each year.