If you live in Newcastle upon Tyne, love Santa and you're a fan of Fenwick, you are in for the most festive treat ever if you've managed to book a slot for Santa on the Rooftop this year.

Looby and I went along yesterday and I can tell you it's worth every penny, we paid £11.50 per ticket and it's an understatement to say I was over-excited, I love Christmas so much and having a chance to meet Santa is always overwhelming for me.  To me, Santa is like the ultimate rockstar and it doesn't matter how old I am, Christmas is so firmly embedded in my heart.

Yesterday was so special, from our first greeting with an elf who beckoned us to a secret part of Fenwick to actually meeting the jolly old elf.

I don't want to give too many spoilers because I don't want spoil the magic of the experience but we made reindeer sing, we made decoupage toys in the elves workshop, it even snowed, oh and of course, Looby and I spent a good 10 minutes with the man himself.  Now, at the age of 44 and being a single parent,  no one really ever asks me what I want for Christmas and especially not Santa, I don't remember him asking me since I was a child so I have to admit to becoming a little tongue tied as I wasn't prepared.  The truth of the matter is all I really want for Christmas is for those I love, my children and my friends to be happy, yes, one day I'd like to find my own elf, someone who loves Christmas as much as me but it's a big ask and so for now, it's enough to see those around me happy and being loved.

Looby wasn't so tongue tied and she and Santa even ganged up on me insisting yes, we should move to South Shields near to her stables and she should be able to have a horse for Christmas, she does ask every year but a horse, well it's such a big ask, it's not like a kitten or a puppy, one day I know I'll be in a position to help grant that wish but for now, she's just going to have to settle for extra horse riding equipment/clothing.

The highlight of yesterday was when it snowed, I can't imagine a more magical setting than the rooftop of what surely is Newcastle's most festive department store (sorry John Lewis, you know I love you too but Fenwick just has the extra edge at Christmas).

The whole experience lasted around 45 minutes and we didn't feel rushed, we also had our own elf and that's testament to the fact that Fenwick haven't oversold the event so you're not likely to be accompanied by lots of people, they just take up a handful at a time and maybe that's what makes it quite so special.  The views of the city are magical enough for me to have attended, I love rooftop views and Fenwick certainly have some of the best around in central Newcastle.

You know, Looby may be 15 but last year we made a promise to always go and find Father Christmas every year no matter how old we are, as I've said so many times before, as long as you have Christmas in your heart there will always be magic.

Best Seafood in the North of England? Colmans Seafood Temple

I've long been a fan of seafood but there still seems to be a lack of great places in the North East of England so when Colmans asked me to try out their new Seafood Temple based in South Shields, I jumped at the chance and Looby was first to declare an interest as my plus one because she's a huge fan of mussels.

Colmans have long been a staple in the fish and chip world but now they're turning their hand to finer dining with a custom built building shaped like a boat at one end and a temple at the other, sitting right on the seafront at South Shields.  It's a risky business when you are well known in one kind of market to venture into another but like Virgin, if you can succeed in other market's keeping all kinds of customers happy then you truly can have the world!

Looby and I went down for lunch last week and we were excited, Looby commented that if only we could bring Holly Bobbins with us then it would be perfect and so we were thrilled to note that downstairs is a takeaway but with seating and dogs are welcomed with open arms, whilst they don't offer the whole seafood menu we were informed that they do sometimes have a seafood specials on their downstairs menu as well as the famous Colmans fish and chips.

Back to the upstairs though and it's a spacious light and airy building with 360 degree views, not only that but the seating is placed spaciously on the floor, whilst they could have gotten more tables in they've chosen not to, a definite sign of quality over quantity and that's always a good thing.

The menu is tantalising, you can have everything from the staples like Cod, Haddock and Scampi right through to Scallops, Oysters, prawns and there's even a steak option which I chose as it was a featured special of surf and turf.  It actually might be the first time I've ever had surf and turf, I can't quite believe that!

I started with scallops though, scallops are notoriously hard to cook and get just right, cook them for even a second too long and they taste like rubber and so if I see them on the menu I have to try them as they're a great marker for just how good a restaurant is.

No worries with Colmans Seafood Temple though, you can get them in three's and fives and although I was tempted to get the five I wanted to leave room for mains and pudding.  The three were perfect, a great appetiser and for me, I could quite happily just order a plate full of scallops from there as they were so utterly tantalising to the tastebuds.  Looby meanwhile had ordered herself a half kilo of mussels and took no time to clear out the pot of the plumptious molluscs.

For mains Looby went for scampi, she always goes for scampi, it didn't disappoint though and when my perfectly cooked steak came out with 3 large prawns on top, I did a little silent squeal, steak is my favourite and so I eat it a lot and I can tell you the difference between a good steak and a great steak.  Let me tell you that this was a great steak and those prawns?  Delish, I could have eaten a plate of them on their own!

We were quite full by this point but Looby reminded me that we have an extra stomach that's just for pudding...(yes, yes, we do, honest) so we ordered some perfection in a bowl, that's hot cherries with ice-cream, hot cherries with ice-cream probably goes into the list of my favourite five puddings of all time, it's just the ultimate combination and really as close to perfection as you can get with desserts in my opinion, as ever the simple things are the best.

So, if I had paid for our meals it would have come to somewhere around £75ish which for 3 courses and drinks is a pretty good price and if it's a special occasion then it's a bargain.  Looby gave it 10/10 and really she's the best judge as she doesn't care who's paying for lunch, she just likes what she likes and nd she's also quite fussy and particular about the things she does like so it makes me happy to say that she would definitely go again but we're really not one for leaving Holly Bobbins on her own at home so next time we'll be trying the downstairs takeaway with our favourite four pawed friend.

Thank you to Colmans Seafood Temple for inviting us down for a complimentary meal in exchange for an honest review.

Dog Friendly Day's Out in The Lake District

Last week whilst it apocalyptically rained in Newcastle, I escaped with Harriet, Looby and Holly Bobbins, we chased the sunshine all the way to the Lake District where we found some respite from the continuous northeast rain which seems to have blighted us since Christmas.

I love the Lake District, It's the one of the most beautiful regions of England there's always a friendly welcome for the waggy tail of Holly Bobbins.  Keswick and Ambleside are busy crowded villages full of bustle as well as four pawed buddies, I think we saw three of each breed last week and it's so refreshing where the number of places you can take your dog outnumber the places you can't.  It makes Holly happy and me too, I think they've cottoned on to the strength of the barking pound and I for one love that I can go shopping with my beagle.  It's not just a great experience for me, Holly also loves it, she's so used to greeting her public that she's always ready to stop for pats and treats and occasional "pawtographs"

Whenever I'm in the Lake District I try to head to Keswick, Lake Windermere and the Kirkstone Pass, a beautiful winding mountain road from Ambleside to Patterdale, because it's so mountainous it's ever changing, you could go on 2 consecutive days and the light would make it look like a completely different canvas, it's calming, it's peaceful even when there are lots of visitors and time in the mountains makes me feel like I can conquer the world upon my return to civilisation.

We like the Inn on the Square, Keswick for lunch and a dog friendly ploughmans but really, there are so many dog friendly places to eat/stay/shop you will be utterly spoiled for choice if you stay in Keswick or indeed any of the Lake District towns and villages.  I could quite easily live there I think if I didn't want to emigrate or live in the Highlands which has a very similar look and feel.

If you've never had a dog friendly holiday and you're just craving to try somewhere with your four legged best friend you really can take a safe bet by booking somewhere in the Lake District, literally every time I go, it's so full of joy and wonder with boat rides, train trips, all being suitable for you and your pooch, I know that Holly Bobbins would definitely give it 12 barks out of 10 and she's a very good critic of all things dog friendly.

I'll leave you with a few more photos of our most fabulous Lake District day out, I just wish we could have stayed a few days longer.

A Very North East Adventure

Just after we'd been to London and our hearts were full with adventure, we received an invitation to collaborate with the Tyne and Wear Metro, we were being sent on a dog friendly day out...to Sunderland.

Now, I should state that it's not the first place I would have thought of but Holly loves going on the metro and I wanted to test out my new PAYG Pop Card which I didn't even know existed until a couple of weeks ago, it's a great way if like me you don't carry cash and you use the metro a lot but not enough to justify buying a monthly pass, you can get one free as long as you top up by £10, it magically chooses the most economical tariff too so you always know you're getting the very best deal.

We got the metro from our nearest stop, the salubrious Byker station and we travelled to Seaburn changing at monument, travelling to Sunderland has become so much more convenient since the advent of the metro line and I quite often use it when I'm going on photo shoots.  This day wasn't a photo shoot though, we were excited, we were finally going to the Doggie Diner!

Holly loves a good dog friendly cafe, especially when it means she can have a "woofin" and the Doggie Diner is like doggy heaven, they even have an off lead play pen, there were a serious amount of cute puppies in there which I could have quite easily taken home, not sure Holly would approved, Looby would though!

After the doggie diner we walked, and walked and walked all the way to the marina at Roker via the sculpture trail, the harbour and the sea front with a beach stop so that Holly could play in the sand for a while.  For me, it really was more than just a dog friendly day out, it was a chance to run free and wild, to let Looby enjoy the sea air whilst we chatted along the way, home education is the most freeing thing we've ever done and I'm so grateful for this life we lead with daily adventures and lovely companies to collaborate with which facilitate the fun and new experiences we get to have along the way.

Roker seems to have really upped it's game, the harbour is delightful with pretty cafes and restaurants and the most beautiful sculpture garden, there's a playground for the small people and huge wide paths for running or scooting or hopping and skipping.  We're so lucky to live so close to so much beautiful coastline and one day I might actually walk along the pier at Roker, at the moment it's completely closed off to pedestrians, it looks like they might be renovating and restoring so we'll just have to make another day of it when it reopens.

I have been to Seaburn and Roker before but it's not somewhere I regularly go, having that day out though convinced me that it's near enough to hop on a metro, we got our metro home again from St Peters and we'd walked 10k or in beagle terms that's 20k and what you would call a very good walk. 

I want to thank Metro for helping us have a very lovely dog friendly day out and all of my thoughts and words are my honest views, we really need to treasure this transportation system we have, the metro is 30 years old and they still use the original rolling stock, I remember when I was small, my granny would take me on days out on the metro and we'd always go to South Shields because it was the furthest you could go at that time, I loved those journeys so for my own nostalgia I hope one day to take my future grandchildren on grand Metro days out!

Today On "My Mum" A Blog by Abigail Aged 14.5

My lovely daughter of who I am supremely proud and adore more than cake and chocolate (no, really, it's possible) asked if she could write a guest blog for me, I could hardly refuse and so here it is, please if you ever meet me, don't ask me to repeat the dance....

"It is universally accepted that all teenagers will come to a time where they hate one or both of their parents. I am not one to break this norm however, I may have reached this period earlier than most! It seemed that the second I turned 13 I began hating my mother with a passion.   

Now at 14, almost 15, I am taking this time to reflect. What would have irritated and agitated me a year ago I now laugh at?  This laughter and mockery has become what I have begun calling "Today on my mum" moments. These moments are so full of embarrassment and surprise that it would be a crime to deny them to the world any longer! 

For the first time, you will all see how truly bonkers and weird my mother really is, though I expect many of you will not be surprised. 

To begin let's delve into what I have decided to call "The unfortunate tale of a mother in Scarborough"

It was a lovely day, we were just coming to the end of our activities (and money), so decided to go for some ice cream at a very well-loved ice cream parlour before a longish trip back to Newcastle. 

It's important to note that during the day I and Laura had been repetitively performing a small dance that we found online. It was super simple! Remember that! This dance was super simple and could've been performed by a goldfish! 

We managed to get our mum to 'perform' the small dance.I regret my choices! It was going fairly ok until the final move, a simple move. "Put your arms out and pull your body forward" is what we said to do. My mother did not quite do this, and so, in the full view of the ice cream parlour and the passers-by, she, with confidence, did a very large thrust. Not the move we had expected! What followed was a chorus of shrieking plus uncontrollable laughter! We were subjected to many, many worried looks. The only words I could think to say were "ah, today on my mother" which only fueled the fire and caused more laughter. I can safely say she has not thrust lately.  

That day also stuck out for another reason as in the car on the way home I happened to ask if she had taken her medication, she hadn't! Funnily enough, though I didn’t really care! This was the first time in possibly 10 years I had seen my mum actually laugh! Not a forced laugh but a genuine, heartfelt laugh. Of course, I was worried that she hadn't taken her medication but it was more of an afterthought! Now she is the happiest I've EVER seen her and I'm very much looking forward to having many laughs with her in the future. 

This was the first true "Today on my mother moment" (and arguably one of the best yet!). 

I hope you enjoyed this little jaunt we've had and that you’ve become just a little bit more aware on the weirdo that is my mother! 

Yours, a very opinionated and often stroppy teenager, 

5 Reasons To Love Summer

The school summer holidays are nearly upon us, schools all around the country are putting the tops back on their felt tips, sending out reports, taking this years work back off the walls and sorting out the rotten fruit that got tucked away in the desks of students last September never to be rediscovered until now!

I've always counted down to the school summer holidays, maybe because I'm a mummy I also see it as my end of term, in my business it seems like a natural time to take stock and digest the year so far, summer is our time for no schedules or bedtimes, it's the time of adventures and long days of fun with me working on the hop at every opportunity, cafes and benches become my places to check on emails and write quick replies whilst waiting for my daughters to come out of shops or finish doing activities, i'm lucky that increasingly I have a business I can operate from mostly anywhere.  If I have photo shoots we organise our days around them trying to fit in as much fun as possible, it's great to take the kids along and Holly too, I love the way my business works now.  I have 3 weddings during August to shoot and that is a pace of wedding photography I can enjoy, gone are the days of 30 in a season, I'll leave that to the young keen things, I like 10 gloriously laid back affairs in beautiful places telling stories of great love.

Of course there's much to celebrate about summer holidays and summer in general and your opinions of course may vary but here's a few reasons I adore the summer holidays.

1. No Alarms Buzzing!  I hate the alarm clock with a passion, I have a great one by Resmed now which monitors my sleep and wakes me up in a half hour window and I still go back to sleep if it goes off more than 5 minutes earlier than I wanted to get up.  I'm just not an alarm type person, I like waking up naturally and thankfully I have a job that allows me to do that, it's the reason I don't start work until 10am, I just hate mornings.

2. Sunglasses, ok so I have the most annoyingly light sensitive eyes you can imagine which means I wear sunglasses in all weathers and all seasons but in summer that means every day and sometimes even in the rain. You might know, if you know me in real life that I have a large collection of sunglasses, I have some Anna Sui white ones I adore and some purple Marc Jacobs ones which Looby seems to have purloined and not returned but at the moment I am loving my Dewerstone sunglasses which were kindly sent to me, carved from walnut and oak but surprisingly light as a feather, you'll get no sunglasses headache from these wonders!  I got sent the Ortons which have Carl Zeiss lenses, as soon as I saw them I loved them and the great thing about Dewerstone is that it's a British outdoor lifestyle company based in Dartmoor, in fact the name comes from the the Dewerstone woods.  Seriously the sunglasses are like art, the make, the design,the attention to detail, everything about them oozes style.  They don't just do sunglasses though, they do outdoor clothing,  they have some Sunrise leggings I have my eyes on for running in.  I love British companies, especially small ones, and this brand is run by an office of 6 people, if you support them you are supporting real actual people instead of a faceless corporation, as an entrepreneur I'm so happy to spread the word about them.

3. Outdoor Living, many who know me will know how much I love being in the great outdoors, I love nothing better than a big stomp through beautiful countryside or a run through pretty woodlands and with Holly Bobbins at my side there's no shortage of places we can go but it's not just walking and being out in the fresh air, it's BBQ's in the garden, and picnics in the park, working on the beach from a deck chair, I don't care as long as I don't have to be indoors.

4. Mini Breaks and Holidays, this summer I have a couple of adventures already planned, at the beginning of August Looby and I are going to Perth for 2 nights, we fell in love with Perth when we visited a couple of years ago, Looby especially loves that they have trampolines in the park, it's such a quaint petite little city, we'll get there quite early so the next day we're going to jump on the train to Inverness, somewhere I fell in love with but Looby hasn't been to so I'm looking forward to showing her around the totie wee city.  towards the middle of August Abigail and I are going to Stratford upon Avon for 2 nights, somewhere I have never been,  it was her choice of destination and we are so excited to visit the home of William Shakespeare and have 2 days of soaking up as much culture as possible.  I also want to plan a visit to Edinburgh during the fringe festival, I love the busy bustle of Edinburgh all year around but during the Fringe Edinburgh comes alive, it's the noisiest most vibrant city, especially around the royal mile and on every corner there's some kind of free show or performance art, the only peril is the price of accommodation.

5.  Day Trips, I love a great picnic, I've already mentioned that and I love the mere mention of a road trip or adventure with either friends or just me and Holly Bobbins, there are plenty of public transport adventures to be had in the North as I mentioned previously, one of which I must do, a day trip to Seahouses on the bus from Newcastle is a must!  I have a picnic hamper backpack which is perfect for the occasion of spontaneous picnicking adventures.  I'm a member of both the National Trust and English Heritage so there's at least a thousand free days out right there, I want to fill these precious six weeks with as much adventure as possible, you only live once after all.

So whatever you choose to do this summer holidays and whether it rains (inevitable, August is statistically the wettest month of the year) or we have 6 weeks of wall to wall scorching sunshine (I'm ever hopeful) I hope you'll take a moment to relax and enjoy life, if you're a working parent I know it's tougher and if you are self employed like me I hope you'll embrace the chance to pack up your work kit and work from wherever you can, let the kids play on the beach whilst you hire a deckchair and get your head around some tasks, I love the fact that thanks to an iPhone I can pretty much keep hold of all of my business affairs wherever I am, I think it gets even better if you have as much as you can stored in the cloud!  Take time to enjoy it though for one day the kids will be grown up and the summer holidays will just be summer without the excuse to take it easier.  If you are planning on booking me for your portraits I will be available as long as you're booking in advance, I often get lots of Australian families coming over during summer and having portraits with their north east families, I love it, it's my favourite thing to do so if yours are in town and you need a photographer in Newcastle then please email me!

10 days out using public transport from Newcastle that you must take this summer.

Lovely Samantha from North East Family Fun posted on Facebook today that she's going to be without a car for the summer holidays and wanted suggestions of things she could do and places she could go on public transport.  Now as someone who's never driven and is quite happy with bus, train, Metro and Uber not having a car has never been an issue for me, I have an assistant for my business but even then, mostly I manage really well!  I've been everywhere on the bus and train, no boundaries for this travel blogger so here are 10 great days out by public transport, many of which are dog friendly.

1.  Seahouses  - if you like a good bus journey then this is the one for you, the X18 from Newcastle winds it's way around the North East Coast through pretty little villages at a gentle pace, it's time to take in your surroundings and maybe have a packed picnic lunch, yes it might take a couple of hours but if you have your music in your ears and it's a lovely day it's one of my most favourite bus journeys and you get to have a day in one of the prettiest coastal villages around, Seahouses is a delight for children and adults alike, there's no finer a 3 mile walk than that from Seahouses to Bamburgh along the beach.

2.  Stockton - A slightly shorter bus journey at just under an hour on the X10 gets you to a handsome shopping town with a myriad of independent shops as well as an exceedingly dog friendly town, and if all of that shopping has not tired you out you can wander down to the riverside for a pretty walk in the sunshine.

3. Beamish Museum - Bus number 28, the Waggonway gets you from Newcastle to Beamish in a couple of hours, yes not the quickest but you can have your picnic on the way and you even get a cheaper ticket if you show them your bus ticket upon entry.  The best thing about Beamish?  Pay once and come as often as you want during the year.

4. Morpeth - on the train as it only takes 15 -20 minutes and if you have a railcard it's cheaper to take a child, I love our railcard!  Morpeth is one of my most favourite market towns and in the summer heat Carlisle park is the place to hang out, one of the few parks with an outdoor pool for the kids which is open from late May until September oh and you must check out the myriad of charity shops on offer, I have had the best designer bargains from the charity shops of Morpeth.

5. Tynemouth - on the Metro from Newcastle, takes around half an hour and it's just my favourite place to spend the day in summer, Tynemouth Priory along with enough sandy beaches to keep the kids happy and lots of dog friendly shops and eateries, my favourites Lola Jeans and for shopping Children of the Revolution owned by my fabulous friend Jacqui and her hubby, Looby loves a mooch in Children of the Revolution.

6. Edinburgh - Obviously this one is on the train but if you book in advance you can get some really keenly priced tickets, Edinburgh is of course my favourite second city, the place I try to spend as much time as I can and in the summer it comes alive when the festival is on, if you love the hustle and bustle of a busy city combined with history, culture and awe inspiring beauty this should be the day out you have this summer.

7.  Durham - On the train from Newcastle it takes around 15 minutes but it's a city like no other, it's history and culture are it's most important features and it's imposing cathedral has three hundred steps tempting you to climb and see the views, something I've not attempted yet but this summer the goal is mine.

8. Newburn Riverside Country Park, take bus number 22 from Newcastle city centre and ask to get off nearest to the park, then take a walk along the waggon way to Wylam, you can either then get the train back to Newcastle or walk back to Newburn on the other side of the river, it's a 7.5 mile round trip walk but there are great pubs along the way both called The Boathouse.  Holly Bobbins and I love this particular walk, it's mainly flat so not too much effort but by the end you will definitely have earned a tasty meal and sparkling beverage.

9. Hexham on the train is another of my favourite jaunts, it takes half an hour and you end up in another pretty market town, one which hosts it's own handsome abbey, a lovely park to entertain the kids, quaint shops and tasty coffee houses, oh and don't forget to take a visit to Hexham Gaol, a great way to fill in a couple of hours, especially if it's a famous British summers rainy day.

10. York on the train takes just under an hour from Newcastle and there are so many museums, attractions, parks and gardens that even the child with the lowest boredom threshold in the north would be entertained.  There's just no shortage of things to do and if you've never been before then I'd stay over night because it's just a big bumper fun filled type of city with history at the heart of it, so much learning it'll slip under the skin of your children like osmosis, they'll soak it all up under the guise of having too much fun and you can congratulate yourself on your top parenting skills.

So there you go, it's not such a bad life without a car, in fact I would go so far as to say that every day is an adventure, you get so much thinking time on the bus, I love long journeys for planning my next move and going on public transport is Holly Bobbins favourite thing, in fact I think she loves the bus more than I do!