Coming Home

I have always been a person who has a hundred things on the go. I seem to wear many hats and every time I try and and give one of them up, my heart just won't let me and I start a new to do list! 

I see nothing but opportunity at the moment. Every new connection I make seems to lead to another and whilst life is still as busy as it's ever been, I can feel a seismic shift in finding a source of constant and stability to anchor us down. And that is our home.

We spent over a year searching for our beloved "forever house", somewhere with potential to outlast our boy's time at home, somewhere to enjoy when they fly the nest. A project. And although it's going to be a long journey, every little mark we make on this 300 year old former dairy farm house, makes it feel more and more like home. We have barely touched upstairs, bar me pulling off a piece of the ceiling by accident in the bathroom (This did not improve it!) and decorating the boys' attic room. Our priority was always to get a family space to eat and live in warm for the Winter, and now we can see the garden coming back to life, the trees are filling up with blossom and sunny days flood the house with a warm golden light. 

We want to be at home. To potter at weekends and even though our calendar has more weekends away, family celebrations and lovely day trips with friends on it than quiet weekends in Somerset, it makes those all the more important. Lazy Saturday mornings to cherish, the bed full of boys taking us through their latest card board creation, that has to stay by my bedside table, not making the bed until the afternoon, leaving the playroom floor littered with Lego, because the boys are going to play with it again later. No rush to tidy up. 

Over the past couple of weeks it has felt as though I've been away more than I've been at home, Rich has taken on the lion's share of school runs, bath times and bed time stories and I've had an overnight bag permanently packed ready for the next adventure. I left on Monday morning this week, watching 3 males waving me off, to head for London.

I was speaking to a lovely group of students at the Judith Blacklock Flower School in the afternoon, taking photos for Judith's book and magazine and brainstorming lots of ideas to work on together in the future! I left Knightsbridge at gone 7pm and literally lugged an enormous suitcase full of props back to Hatton Cross where my lovely taxi (aka my Mummy) was waiting to take me back to her house, feed me and force me to bed! 

I was up early again on Tuesday to head back into central London for The Brand Stylist's Colour for Creatives Workshop (That deserves at least one post of it's own!). I left Brixton station feeling like my head was going to burst, I was spinning with ideas and felt a million miles away from our little patch of the countryside. It's a balance being a working mother, investing time into your own business and sacrificing the pre school trip to the farm, an assembly or those precious seconds when every single day at pick up, Sammy's eyes light up and he runs into my arms. 

As I was on the train Rich text me, "Just come home." 

We are used to spending (almost) 24 hours a day together. We work together, sit at opposite ends of the dining table, bounce ideas off each other, so it feels alien to be apart overnight. 

I always feel such a sense of relief to be home, to hear the crunch of the new gravel under the tyres, to see the westies faces through the gate, their tails wagging so fast they might just fall off. And this time I came home to a Mama's Assembly. A nine page performance complete with a winking portrait and completely off his own bat, an appreciation that I "woke rily hard" for them. 

I love that we are creating a home for them, somewhere which I hope will have that same feeling of relief when they are grown up boys. To be back home. 

And when Hive got in touch with me about their new #cominghome campaign it felt like the most natural thing to share with you. This beautiful video captures the essence of what we are building for the boys. Such sentiment and warmth. See for yourself.

Hive are also offering a very lucky reader the chance to win a coming home experience like no other! Do you deserve a real treat? Do you know someone else who might? Head over to their Facebook page and leave a comment about what #cominghome means to you. The prize is worth £1500!!!!!

What makes coming back to your home special? Share it over on the Hive Facebook page and be in with a chance of winning. Good luck!

In collaboration with Hive, the UK's no. 1 connected thermostat giving you control over your heating and hot water system on the go with a beautifully designed app.  Full terms and conditions of the competition can be found here.