A couple of months ago we teamed up with Dream Town and gave away a Rose Petal Cottage in one of our Freebie Friday giveaways. At the same time, I was asked if my girls would like to review their new pet inspired property, Puppy Lane Cottage, which we were thrilled to accept.
The perfect place for a little girl to look after all her pets, Puppy Lane Cottage comes complete with Candyfloss, a very fluffy puppy, plus a Kennel, Collar Tag and Lead, Brush, Bowl and Bone. We were also sent another accessory pack including Coco the Kitten, plus a fabric covered Sofa and pet accessories.
Further pets and accessories are available including a Kitchen Set which comes with Pip the Mouse who lives in the cooker and a fabric Garden with Nutmeg the Bunny and gardening accessories.
Asthetically the Puppy Lane Cottage is very pretty, and the attention to detail is really beautiful. A stone cottage, with thatched roof, a picket fence, flowers creeping up the walls and even a butterfly settled on the roof, all makes for the ultimate girlie hideaway. The cottage also has a stable-style door with magnetic clasps, pretty curtains and lace edging around the roof. So if you have a real girlie-girl as a daughter, she won’t fail to fall in love with this playhouse.
From a mum’s point of view, the cottage was simple to assemble and the instructions were very clear. The frame of the cottage is made from plastic poles, meaning the house is lightweight to move around, and when not in use can quickly be broken down and stored back in the box. But if you don’t want to disassemble the cottage, you can store one half of the cottage neatly inside the other slightly larger half, stacking the accessories inside.
My girls loved playing in the cottage, but what really made it for them were the pets. They fell in love with Coco and Candyfloss and loved playing with them and all their accessories, quickly announcing that they wanted Nutmeg the rabbit and Pip the mouse too!
So, if you’re thinking ahead to Christmas already, and have a very girlie daughter who loves animals, you won’t go far wrong by asking Father Christmas to bring her a Puppy Lane Cottage on 25th December!
For stockist details and more information on the complete Dream Town range, call 0800 389 8591 or visit www.worldsapart.com
Visit the Dream Town Club – www.dreamtown.co.uk – for exclusive games, downloads and chances to win!
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Product Review: Puppy Lane Cottage from Dream Town
There are more pregnancy and motherhood advice books on the market than you can shake a Clearblue stick at! Most of them are earnest, some of them are finger-wagging, and others seem designed to make you feel guilty every second of the day. This is not one of those books.
For this week’s Freebie Friday we have teamed up with
I do buy baby food in jars from time to time, but I don’t like to use it too often. I’m concerned that the high temperatures used to cook jars take away some of the nutrients and that if babies get used to the bland ‘canned soup’ flavour of food in jars they won’t learn to like the taste of real food.
Make It Your Business
No – you haven’t misread the title – it really is Working 5 to 9 – How to Start a Business in your spare time by Emma Jones, founder of the home business website 

One of the great pleasures and perks of having a blog is being sent products to review. A couple of weeks ago a large box arrived at my house and generated a great deal of excitement with the boys; it was new set of Meccano.
I am a big fan of construction toys and kits for young children – I think they really help develop fine motor control skills and instruction following. This kit is recommended for 5 – 8 year olds, and I do think that the lower age bracket is optimistic – and it is necessary to help a child of that age if they wanted to build a set model, but I also see this as a positive point as I like things that challenge. But best of all it was a great excuse for me to have some fun building something with the boys, and of course there are limitless possibilities they can build of their own creation.
Every business has to sell – whether it is themselves, their products or their services….and this is where some people really struggle. It is one of the hardest parts of being in business, but to be successful you have to be proactive in this area and learn the skills of being a good sales person. Originally written a few years ago and recently updated
What is a Mum Ultrapreneur? After reading this book, I know that she’s someone who wants an alternative to the corporate life. To embrace the strength, determination and creativity that mothers have always had and build a business with it. Inspiring, eh?
Networking is a hot topic in business and I think that the 2 key parts to successful networking are firstly finding the right group, and secondly being effective in building your network relationships.
A month ago, if you had asked me what my dream job would be, I would probably have replied with something flippant like Johnny Depp’s personal secretary or a chocolate taste tester. Well, my friends, be careful what you wish for, because sometimes dreams do come true!
Onto the plain bars – Milk, Cream Milk, White, Dark 70% and Dark 85%. Now I could have just eaten these – no problem – but I thought I’d be a bit more creative and use some to bake with (although I’m ashamed to say the Cream Milk did disappear in a single sitting!). The Dark 70% was lovingly turned into Valentines Molten Chocolate Pots (see right) by being melted down and mixed with butter, ground almonds, 1 egg, 1 yolk, caster sugar and Baileys liqueur. Once melted the 70% Dark was like pure, black silk and the resulting pudding was incredibly rich but not in a sickly sweet way. Needless to say, my ‘Valentine’ was very impressed!
The Dark 85% was both eaten and baked. I felt I had to try the 85% because I don’t think I have ever eaten chocolate with that high cocoa content before. However the 85% Dark is ’softened with Madagascen Vanilla’ which you could really taste and did take any bitter edge away from the chocolate. The rest of the bar, along with a bar of G&B cooking chocolate, was melted down and turned into
“It’s all about Attitude” states the back cover boldly of
As the list of business books we receive, read and review grows, what I am always keen to find is something a little bit different or something written from an original angle.
In August this year Mum’s The Boss member
If the title didn’t grab your attention then the bright pink & orange colour scheme on the cover certainly would! Every mum I know would love to be given an extra hour in the day – either for all the things they haven’t done – or just for themselves. 





