Gin Explorer Box Review

We first saw the Gin Explorer Box at the Gin Festival in Nottingham earlier this year, they offer a monthly subscription, where you receive a box of four different gins to try, with a bottle of tonic and a little treat.

The box was delivered by Parcel Force and although I wasn't in to sign for it, it was taken back to the local post office the next day, so there is no waiting around for re-delivery or having to travel too far to pick it up.

Gin Explorer Box at the Gin Festival

Arriving in a little cardboard suitcase, it looked like it's ready to whisk away on a gin tour. The gin was accompanied by some Joe & Sephs Gin & Tonic Popcorn as well as a few sweeties and printed information about each gin.

In June's box, we were treated to the following, a 50ml bottle each of Pinkster, Lakes Explorer Gin, Anno Kent Dry Gin and Masons Yorkshire Gin, along with a bottle of Peter Spanton Cardamom Tonic. 

The bottles each contain two measures of gin which means you could share them if you really want to!

I love the simple labelling on the bottles of gin, they are clean and easy to read, it was great having the booklets on each gin so you could read a bit about them. We both agreed that we loved the Lakes Explorer Gin, it had hints of lemon and grapefruit and was really easy to drink, either on it's own or with some Fever Tree Indian tonic water, the Pinkster wasn't for us though, with no real flavours coming out, just alcohol, it was our least favourite of them all.

We both loved Masons Gin when we visited the Gin Festival, it is full of flavour with the juniper really coming through, my husband received some of their Yorkshire Tea Gin for his birthday this week, this was especially tasty with the cardamom tonic. And finally the Anno Kent Dry Gin, on its own or with tonic this gin had a wonderful flavour with with the lavender and hops coming through.

The Gin Explorer box is £24.99 a month (slightly cheaper if you pay for 6/12months) which gets you the four bottles (containing a double each) as well as a mixer, and some extra goodies. If you are looking for a present for someone who loves gin, then this would be great, and if you were looking to give some gins a try without having to buy a whole bottle then this is a great way to do that, it's also something to look forward to each month.

We loved trying some of the gins in this months Gin Explorer box and they are definitely on our list of bottles to buy in the future.

NB: We were sent this box for the purpose of the review, all words and opinions are my own.

Beautiful Flowers from The Flower Studio

I love flowers, they are something I have in the home all of the time and aren’t just for special occasions, but that doesn’t stop them being special on occasions like Mother's Day, birthdays etc.

Flowers brighten up spaces, add colour and bring elements of the outside in to your home, this bouquet of flowers from The Flower Studio not only contains flowers but has rosemary in too. The rosemary adds a wonderful scent and it's own beautiful flowers whilst the shape stands out amongst the rest of the bouquet.

The flowers arrive in the normal post and should be left in a safe place or with a neighbour, unfortunately my postie either didn’t read the note or wasn’t able to leave at our house so took them back to the depot .

They do have a special wrap around the stems though and this was still wet enough that they were absolutely fine, opening the box was a great surprise and as I looked around the bouquet I saw the attention to detail with the flowers that had been chosen to be part of the display. As the week has gone on more, have opened that were hiding before, meaning that as one flower dies another appears in its place.

Over a week on, these flowers are mostly still going strong with the exception of some of the roses, but roses are notoriously bad at staying alive for much longer than a week.

The Flower Studio have some wonderful bouquets and flower arrangements, starting from under £20, so there is something for all budgets, the feeling of receiving flowers never seems to change, it is always magical to be given a bunch of flowers wether they are something simple or more extravagant!

Only problem is finding somewhere to display them, if I could carry them around into each room with me I would! These flowers are the perfect way to treat that special person in your life no matter what the occasion.

The Flower Studio have some wonderful flowers on offer as well as gifts for the home and garden, I have my eye on this antique style wooden stand and scissor set, just gorgeous!

With flowers being delivered throughout the week, you can be sure to get something delivered when you want. The delivery charges are very reasonable and if you order before 1pm tomorrow you can still have flowers delivered in time for Mother's Day.

Here are a few more of my favourite bouquets and flower displays.

Follow The Mummy Diary's board Beautiful Flowers from The Flower Studio on Pinterest.

NB: I was sent these flowers to form this review, all words and pictures are my own.

Be Safe, Be Seen - Keep Children Safe on Our Roads

I have written before about how important road safety is to me, in fact as the evenings get darker it is imperative that we not only teach our children how to be careful on the roads, but to help make them safer too.

As the roads across the country have got busier and there are drivers distracted talking on phones or using gadgets. There seem to be less focus on road safety than there was when we had David Prowse teaching us the green cross code as Green Cross Code man.

But not all is lost, over the past 5 years Co-operative Funeralcare have given out over 160,000 yellow high visibility reflective pin-badges badges to 1,500 schools and youth groups. They also deliver school assemblies or lessons about road safety prepared by road safety charity Brake for children between the ages of 3 and 7 years.

This brilliant campaign drives home the importance of being safe on the roads, making sure children understand that road safety is a vital part of their daily lives, both now and in the future. I always try to set a good example when out and about, making sure to never cross on the red man.

To order some badges for your child's school or youth group then contact your local Co-operative Funeralcare branch.

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:

Baker Days Review and Giveaway

Last week I was sent a special mothers day cake through the post from Baker Days, my husband thinks this is a way of him getting out of doing the whole mothers day thing but it's another couple of weeks away so I had to tell him otherwise ;)

Anyway on to the subject of cake, I am a fan of cake and am usually the baker so imagine my delight when I was offered the chance to review a cake that would be delivered direct to my door.

In a rather unassuming box, was delivered a little bit of happiness, a pretty tin containing a gorgeous cake accompanied by a little card and a packet of love hearts.

Imagine, you live far away from a loved one and it's their birthday, well how about sending them a cake in a box, personalised and containing everything they'll need to add a little sparkle to their day.

And it's not just birthdays there are mothers day, valentines day, get well soon and thank you cakes and many more. You can even upload your own image to be included on the cake, how about your child's drawing for mum, dad or grandparents.

You can also choose from different types of cake including gluten and wheat free cake, they really have thought of everything. And best of all the letterbox gift cake means there is no need to worry  the recipient won't be in and it can be waiting for them on the door mat when they get home.

I was sent a Madeira cake and it was moist, soft and very tasty and as I am a bit of a icing fiend the butter cream and icing encasing the cake was also very tasty and meets my high standards. To say this cake was delivered to the door by a postman and pushed through the letterbox I was most impressed that not only was it still intact but still tasted so lovely.

At only £14.99 for the basic cake including delivery I think this is very reasonable and will definitely be using them next time I need a cake delivering to someone.

So now on to the really exciting bit, the lovely people at Baker Days have kindly offered me one of their Letterbox Cakes to give away, just enter via the rafflecopter form below and one winner will be picked at random next week. Leaving just enough time to order a mothers day design if you want, however the winner can choose any design and it is fully personalisable.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

*I was sent the cake to review, all words and opinions are my own.