Blog Archives

Tesco F&F dress worn by fashion blogger

Styling an end-of-summer summer dress

September 3, 2018

I’m slightly worried because I had another of those, ‘Yes I’ll just buy it without trying it on’ moments the other day in Tesco. I loved the mustard yellow colour (something that’s creeping into my wardrobe more and more lately) and the ditsy blue and red floral print over it was so pretty. The ruffles confirmed the purchase in my mind. Because, you know, I just love ruffles….

black and white photography project

What to do when your photos don’t match your Instagram! (A black and white photography project)

September 1, 2018

The use of Instagram means something different to different people, and I’ll write more about my feelings on that in another post, but briefly, I’ll tell you that my Instagram, @HelenHobden is fairly curated with some of my best photography included. However, whilst away in Connecticut, slouched on the hotel-room armchair, having a break from typing; I realised that the simple scene with my feet up on the arm would look great as a square-cropped photo in grainy high-contrast black and white….

Floaty white dress worn by 30 plus fashion blogger

Styling the summer holiday white dress (Or winter portrait photography dress-up!)

August 28, 2018

This fashion blog post is going to be divided into two halves. We took some photos for this on our Greece holiday last year in the blazing hot sun; and then we did another photo-shoot in January by an ice-covered lake in America with a cozy blanket thrown over my shoulders! Anyway, better suited for this time of year, here is the perfect summer holiday dress….

Styling a mustard yellow dress

Styling the summer 2018 trends: The mustard yellow dress

I don’t remember the last time I wore yellow. I don’t think I even wore it as a child, but the muse (or something) descended, and I was inspired to buy two yellow dresses in one day! The first was a paler yellow dress from Marks and Spencer – view the style post here – and then when I popped into Primark to buy a bra to wear with it, I spotted this mustard yellow dress and picked it up too!….

which cabin bag to buy

Finding the perfect carry-on luggage. 6 Things to look out for!

Chris and I have been doing a fair bit of traveling lately, and both of us have been on the lookout for the perfect luggage. While your main suitcase, is of-course important, I think it’s the carry-on that needs to function at its best in order to fit your needs. This is particularly so if you’re traveling with only the cabin bag and not checking anything into the hold at all. I think I’ve found the perfect one, and I just thought I’d tell you about it…

summer solstice sunrise at stonehenge

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge + 7 things you need to know for next time

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge is something I’ve been wanting to do for years and years. There’s one fundamental problem though: Glastonbury Festival comes right afterwards! And you’re tired enough at Glastonbury without the added exhaustion of being awake through the night before. I’ve never been one of those people (no matter what age) who could just stay up all night and not feel it for the following week! However, this was a fallow year for Glastonbury Festival so we decided to finally do it!…..

british blogger sitting on the grass under a blossom tree

3 reasons to be glad of a wet bum

Something dawned on me at Glastonbury Festival on the Thursday night last year and this is the story behind it: Rain and I were sitting in a field on our little fold-up seats, surrounded by all sorts of weird and wonderful vehicle creations waiting for Johnny Depp to appear (in actual real life, right in front of us) to introduce The Libertine, soon to be shown on the massive screen in front of the ever-growing crowd. All of a sudden, a woman amongst the group of friends sitting near us jumped up, saying something along the lines of, ‘I think someone’s spilt their drink here – I’ve got a wet bum.’…..

styling a pink dress

Styling the Spring/Summer 2018 trends: Pink

I have several items in my wardrobe of the dusky blush pink variety; but not so many of the brighter and pastel shades of pink that are on trend this season. I’ll have to be honest, is isn’t a shade that I think suits me very much, but this dress was so lovely, I wasn’t going to pass it by due to the colour! Some of these photos show how I styled it last summer, and some are from cooler days this spring, so they give you a couple of different ideas for how to style a pink dress….

Milsom Place festival of flowers

Festival of Flowers; visit Milsom Place this weekend!

I was so happy to be invited to visit Milsom Place in Bath yesterday and see the preparations taking place for the Festival of Flowers. I love watching the annual Chelsea Flower Show on the telly, so to be shown around Milsom Place by multi award winning landscape gardener, Jon Wheatley, it was a real treat!….

Feather & Black in Bath, Somerset

Celebrating the new Feather & Black bedroom furniture shop in Bath, Somerset

Most of the shops were closing and only a few people milled around the beautiful Georgian streets of Bath as I walked up from the Southgate car park to Northumberland place, a little street to the right as you go up the hill of the main high street. The new premises of Feather and Black are beautiful and is one of those rare shops that haven’t completely hidden all the original architectural features of the building. I’ll be honest though, when I walked into the opening party, I didn’t notice them at first because I was too busy looking at the lovely furniture and accessories….

how to road trip with kids

7 ways to survive a family road trip – holidays with kids advice!

Are you going on a road trip with your kids? Does the thought of going on holiday with children fill you slightly with dread? Well, worry no more – I’m here to help you out! Our first family road trip was back in 2002 when our daughters were seven and four years old and we did the classic California route that’s become very popular recently: Los Angeles then travel along the coast to San Francisco; to Yosemite national park; through Death Valley to Las Vegas; to the Grand Canyon; to San Diego for Seaworld then back to LA for Disney Land. And that was pre Sat Nav – I can still hardly believe we did all that with paper maps! Anyway, since then we’ve done a variation of that loop three more times and several camper van holidays in the UK from long weekends to a three-week tour of iron-age sites. Last year we drove from Washington DC to Orlando via Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans. I feel that we’ve got pretty good at road-tripping by now……

thirty plus British style blogger wearing boho dress

Styling a bohemian summer dress

Although the shops often seem full of boho dresses at this time of year, I struggle to find one in a colour or pattern that I actually like! This summer dress by Joanna Hope (bought via ebay) is now a favourite in my wardrobe. It’s in a beautiful dusky shade of khaki green and has an off-white pretty pattern all over. Perfect for summer holiday vibes!….