Author: Saffron Baker

Gorgeous Hair from home Valentine’s Day PT 1

Saffron Baker1 Comment

Valentines or Galentines whichever you celebrate will be very different this year, but we all deserve a good pamper. For me, good hair, skin & Nails are what make me feel the best. I have always loved curly hair on me, it is my absolute favorite way of wearing my hair but with it being so long and thick I find it almost impossible to do it myself from home.

I either go to a salon to have it done or persuade a friend. Obviously, both these are not allowed at the moment.

I have tried everything from home, GHDs, barrels, wands, BaByliss Curl Secret, and I either burn myself or my hair gets tangled up. So, I go without and just straighten which gets super boring.

 Over the past few weeks, I have been trying out the perfect combo products thanks to Lee Stafford and found the ultimate game-changer when it comes to curls courtesy of Millionaire Curls.

Let’s take it to the shower!

Starting with shampoo and Condish! Lee Stafford’s Hair Apology is just lush! Not only does it smell incred it’s Vegan, Cruelty-Free, Sulfate-free, and helps to rescue damaged hair! It has helped massively with my frizz and leaves my hair feeling super clean and fresh.

I always wash my hair twice! Like skincare it’s important to double cleanse your skin, it’s also important to double cleanse your scalp. Wash one removes dirt oils and build-up, wash two properly cleans your hair and give you that just out of the salon feeling. I like to massage my scalp when I do this as it helps my hair follicles do their thing I’m sure that’s one of the things that helps my hair grow so quick!

Once out of the shower I use an old cotton t-shirt to dry my hair this is the best way to stop your hair from snagging, breaking, and getting frizzy.

I then wrap it in a hair turban that is microfibre until it feels like it’s “towel dry”

Lee Stafford CoCo LoCo Blow & Go 11 in 1 Lotion has become a firm favorite of mine, it smells incredible. The whole range of everything Lee Stafford creates smells amazing. I like to apply this to my “towel dried” hair as it helps protect it against heat from my hairdryer.

Vegetarian Friendly and cruelty free it helps your hair to blow dry smoothly, makes it more manageable, adds shine & softness, helps with humidity, protects colour along with a whole host of other benefits!

I then go in and dry my hair with my Dyson hairdryer!

Once my hair is dry I will straighten it to help take the weight out of my hair. As I have mentioned before I have super long thick hair that’s very heavy and frizzy.

…..

Come back for part two where I talk you through styling my hair!

Chat soon Doll xo

*All lee Stafford products kindly gifted with no obligation to post*

Old Lanwarnick Cottages Review – What to do in and around the area PT 3| AD – GIFTED

Saffron BakerLeave a comment

* Old content, original post was uploaded to saffronbaker.com July 2019 to know why click here *

Hello you, have you caught up with Part 1 & 2 here? Please do, this all may not make much sense otherwise.

We were kindly gifted a stay at Old Lanwarnick Cottages in June and wanted to share with you all what we got up to. I know from past holidays it can be a bit daunting booking somewhere out in the countryside. We have been to a good few Haven sites in the past and everything is on-site but if you want to venture out there’s nothing to do locally and at the time we struggled to find a real honest guide with a break down on where to go. It’s a different sort of holiday if you get what I’m saying.

Old Lanwarnick is the perfect location to stay at in Cornwall if you’re looking for a relaxed peaceful holiday with plenty to do locally.

At Old Lanwarnick you feel like your right out deep in the countryside, surrounded by nature and rolling hills. But you’re only a 10-minute drive from a beautiful little old fishing town called Loee.

Loee was one of our favourite places to visit especially being off session. Parking is reasonable but can be a challenge so I recommend you head off early, there is a larger carpark down the road you can use too.

Loee has lots of cute little shops you can buy all the essentials for the beach along with holiday treats and knickknacks. It also has some quirky unique shops that we enjoyed walking around along and also an indoor market.

There are so many good places to eat in in loee, we had classic fish and chips at “Kelly’s of Loee” it was delicious and the boys enjoyed giant ice creams.

Every shop we went in around loee we were warned about the seagulls robbing your food, and my gosh! They can be savage! * Story coming later *

Our favourite place to get Ice cream was “Treleaven Luxury Cornish Ice Cream” the lady who works there was so lovely and friendly. According to the boys, the ice cream was the best part of the holiday.

Loee beach is a little walk from the car park, I would say about 10 mins with two slow little ones, two bodyboards, all the buckets and spades towels etc. Once you get to the beach there are food and drink places right up close which is handy as well as public toilets. Getting onto the beach was perfect they had a small slop down. We found a lovely section and set up camp for the day. It was clean and tidy no rubbish in sight. The boys loved running in and out of the waves and playing in the sand we spent the whole day there.

Storytime

*The Seagulls at loee beach are on another level! They are pretty brave. I was taking a photo of these brownies for a campaign, I checked all around me to make sure no bird was watching and I took the photo, 5 seconds max the brownie was out of the foil. I lifted it off my kindle when at least 5 seagulls bombarded me for it and snatched it right out my hand, this, of course, made crumbs and suddenly I was a human dartboard. Some lovely women watched this unfold and ran over to help get them away. Luckily the boys were in the water with Luke. After that, they just hovered and bullied me by robbing the boy’s buckets and spades flying off with them… have a look at my Instagram highlights at our holiday stories and you will see on there! *

Walking back through loee to our car we came across a small arcade which is lovely, there was a larger one across the road from the car park next to a large outdoor play area. I love that they only had the two, I’m all for arcades and things but they come across super touristy to me, which is brill if that’s the sort of holiday you are wanting. It was nice they weren’t all in your face.

One thing in Loee we didn’t do this time around but would do when the children are older is crabbing, shops were selling all the buckets and bates and things you needed to go crabbing. The only reason we didn’t do it is that you had to sit along the edge where the boats are and it’s a good drop of the side into the water below, I don’t trust the boys enough yet, epically Liam. He is clumsy like his mama.

Just down the road from Loee town, a 2-minute drive you come across a rocky beach. The boys absolutely loved it here! Its free parking and it’s super easy, you pull up on the side and walk down the slope to the beach. It is all stones and rocks. The best thing we had brought the boys before we came was waterproof shoes, these were a godsend. They had super strong grips on the bottom which helped them when climbing the rocks and being waterproof meant they dried quickly and didn’t irritate their feet. They wore them paddling in the stream at Old Lanwarnick. We brought these from Sports direct two pairs for £9 bargain and there still using them now we are back at home in the garden.

On the Rocky beach, there were so many creatures you could find, on the walk down there was a sign up showing you what you could see if you looked hard enough.

We found some baby crabs, shrimps and other interesting creatures. The boys loved exploring and trying to find them.

The view was incredible, there was an island straight across and it looked beautiful, there were boats you could go on touring around, so picturesque. It felt like we were in a different country. We were lucky to have the weather on our side! It was so lush. Getting major holiday blues talking about it now!

There were a few big walks you to do right by the rocky beach at the top of the road, this is something we would defiantly do when the boys are older.

On one of the days we visiting a gorgeous place Polperro, Polperro is a fishing harbour just 15 minutes drive from Old Lanwarnick.

The carpark was a little experience and you could either walk down to Polperro which we have heard is so lovely and there are beautiful houses and shops you can see that all get missed if you go by tram, but we opted for the tram with the boys and not knowing what it was like once we got down there. It was a couple of pounds per person return and they are so frequent we didn’t have to wait long at all.

In Polperro there are lots of cute shops and places to eat, it was super busy with people enjoying the sun. Polperro has some of the most beautiful views, I could have stood there all day taking it in. Sadly the sea was in so we couldn’t go down on the beach but it was beautiful and the sea breeze was just what we needed.

The boys got ice cream from the first shop as the tram comes down and they loved it, there was seating for us to use as well. Luke got a burger from the same place and said it was good.

We stayed for a few hours, nowhere near as long as we thought we would but if the sea was out I’m sure we would have stayed a lot longer.

It was well worth the visit and if we had more time we would have gone back and checked for when the tide was out.

About 20mins drive from Old Lanwarnick there was an ASDA, farm foods, BnM and KFC. We took a couple of trips here to stock up on food and frozen food for the cottage-like ice creams and meals for the boys. There are local shops that sell the essentials but if you’re looking for more variety then these were perfect. The drive was lush too, we love driving around on holiday taking everything in and it’s a good way to spot places you may like to visit.

Locally to Old Lanwarnick, there were a few farm places we could go to, and loads of country walks we could do too. The owners of Old Lanwarnick have farm and stables, we got to go down and have a stable experience that the boys loved and enjoyed so much! Full post coming on that soon too.

If we had gone on this holiday pre-children, there would have been so many lovely pubs and restaurants we could eat at! Our two don’t like to sit still so we didn’t get to try any out this time around.

We had the best holiday, it was jam-packed. Every day was busy we could have done with an extra couple of days to chill out and have a cottage day. What we loved that we could have been as busy or as chilled as we wanted the options were there and we went with the flow. We took things with us like bubbles and buckets and spades but we really didn’t need to there was plenty of choices locally. 

A huge thank you to Old Lanwarnick for having us and giving us the opportunity to make these incredible memories.

I hope this has helped you if you are thinking about visiting Cornwall or looking for somewhere to stay.

Saff xo

Old Landwick Cottages Review – Our Accommodation PT2 | AD-GIFTED

Saffron Baker1 Comment

* Old content, original post was uploaded to saffronbaker.com July 2019 to know why click here *

Hello my loves, have you caught up on Pt1 of our holiday experience?

Old Lanwarnick Cottages is situated in Looe, Liskeard in Cornwall.

Old Lanwarnick is 34 acres of pure beautiful Cornish countryside with 6 award-winning, dog-friendly luxury cottages of all sizes catering for family’s big or small.

The perfect place to escape the stress of life but only 10 minutes away from two cute towns and beaches that are a must-see.

We were very kindly gifted our stay at Old Lanwarnick and we were given the “Blackberry Barn” for 4 nights and 5 days.

Travelling down was super easy from Coventry, we were given directions to follow but we also used our sat nav and it got us there with no problems at all!

The long windy country roads down to Old Lanwarnick make you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere, you feel your away from the hustle and bustle of busy life. We pulled from the long drive and saw the most beautiful views.

Our Cottage was right at the front of them all, we had a private patio terrace to dine on with table, umbrella and gas bbq. Our car sat right outside making it convenient to load and unload.

Our Patio and terrace overlooked the Gardens of Old Lanwarnick. Rose bushes lined the garden and the smell! I have never smelt roses so strong. We could see the Victorian Gardens and the wildflowers.

Looking into the distance you could see the start of the woodland walk at Old Lanwarnick, and the rolling Cornish hills into the distance.

In front is the gorgeous Victoria garden, with its craftsmen built Victorian Glasshouse. The paths winded around with little benches you could sit at and take in the view. Bridges to walk over and explore around the fruit trees, vegetable garden, pond and array of different flowers.

To the right of us, you could see the chicken hut where they had rescued and adopted some chickens.

Next door to our cottage was the hot tube room and gym.

Walking through the cottage door, we were blown away by how elegant it was. With modern features and stunning décor, we felt like we were in a show home. We loved the high ceilings, exposed beams and stonework.

The kitten is very us! We loved the solid granite worktops, it’s had everything we could need! Dishwasher, washing machine, with all the products to use them. The cleaning products were all echo-friendly which is such an amazing touch. There were utensils, plenty of pots, pans and things to cook your meals with which was so handy! I always pack above and beyond but I really shouldn’t have for this trip.

There were milk and butter in the fridge for us on arrival and a selection of tea coffee and sugars. A loaf of freshly made bread and a freshly baked cake all brought from local shops. We had everything we needed.

The living room area was perfect, with super comfy sofas and a lovely fire that we didn’t need to use as the weather was so lush but I can imagine in the colder months would be so cosy. We love a good fire. My favourite part of the living room was the large window with comfy seat in front of it, I would love to sit there and just look out at the most beautiful view and take in the surroundings. The 42 inch LCD TV had an Amazon Fire Stick so we could chill out in the evening and watch a film and a Blu ray DVD player.

The Cottage has super-fast WIFI! Some of the best we have used, the boys had no problems at all on their tablets streaming of YouTube and playing games. Considering I needed to upload a lot of stories on Instagram I didn’t have any issues.

The lighting downstairs was ace! If you have been following our house renovations then you will know we think lighting is so important, good lighting can help your mood, and help you relax anyway the cottage had the best lighting.

A games cupboard, full of fun family games was a lovely touch. I wish we had time to get them out as they looked so fun and perfect for a rainy day! I love how Old Lanwarnick have thought of everything.

In the middle of the cottage were these epic grey polished concrete stairs! I need these in my life, they are beautiful! They had spotlights going up them!

To the left, as you reach the top of the stairs was the twin bedroom, this was the children’s room. The room was perfect for them both. They had super comfy single beds with a wardrobe between them. They had little windows that when blinds were open let in the perfect amount of light. The boys felt very relaxed in their rooms and considering they hadn’t stayed in one like this before they did amazing! Liam loved the artwork on the walls.

The bathroom was in the middle of the two bedrooms, straight at the top of the stairs. It was so luxuries even the boys said wow as we turned on the mood lighting and they enjoyed the Whirlpool bath. It reminded Ethan of the hot tub and relaxed them after an exciting day.

The separate shower was lush just what we needed!

Our bedroom, the main master bedroom with a king-size bed….. the comfiest bed I think I have ever slept in! I have even taken a note down of the bedding they use as I need it for our new bed! No better thing then after a long-jam-packed day than to climb into a comfy bed!

We had a large double wardrobe with glass mirrored doors, I would sit and get ready in these mirrors. The décor again just stunning and we loved the light fittings.

When you stay at one of the Old Lanwarnicks cottages you get to use all the facilities on site.

There top of the range, Hot Springs Hot Tub has the most beautiful view, the barn has a large opening that allows you to look out across the Cornish countryside, while we were there sparrows had made a nest in the hot tub barn and as the boys relaxed in the tub the birds swooped and glided in and out of the barn. Ethan loved it; it was so peaceful. You book out the Hot tub privately so you can have it to yourself.

Little onsite gym with everything you need for a workout, running machine, cross trainer, rowing machine, weights the lot!

There is an on-site spa that we didn’t get time to use sadly but the treatments looked and sounded amazing! What better way to relax? 

Old Lanwarnick has so much land, a lot they haven’t even had a chance to uncover yet. They have opened some of it up for a Woodland walk. We did the walks 3 times each time discovering new things along the way. The boys absolutely loved it. It goes in a circle both ends leading down to Jeremey’s Landing a beautifully decked area with tables and benches next to the stream. The boys loved paddling in the stream, we took their nets and rubber ducks to float along and catch. It was very peaceful the only sounds we could hear were the birds and the odd sheep bah.

The walk had two different paths you could take, each had interesting things to look at, one lead to a massive clearing which we wish we found earlier, would have been lovely to take a picnic down there and listen to the wind chime that hung in the trees. The boys loved there adventurous and what was great is it was all next to the cottage we didn’t need to drive anywhere.

The pavilion on the hill, wow this sure is a hill! It’s a very steep walk up to the top but my gosh wasn’t it worth it! They have two horses up there too which were lovely to see. The views are incredible, you could take drinks and your dinner up and just take in the surroundings. The pavilion has lots of comfy chairs and tables to sit at, pull back the cover and relax taking in the fresh air. 

The Chickens!! They had recently been adopted and had a lovely hutch to the far right of the wildflower garden, you could just about see them from the cottage. The boys loved to visit and feed them, we were brought fresh eggs round in the morning to enjoy for our breakfast, such a lovely touch.

Old Lanwarnick is dog-friendly, they have a large fenced-off dog exercise area which I think is just amazing and so thoughtful. It means dogs can run around on the grass, burn off steam and be off the lead in a safe secure area, right next door to that there is a dog wash area where you can clean them down also such a great and thoughtful idea.

At night time, I highly recommend sitting outside, it took a while to get dark being the start of summer, me and Luke had early nights most nights from our jam-packed day but Ethan woke at 2 am one night and I came down to get a drink, I ended up sitting outside for half an hour. It was nothing like I have ever seen before, the number of stars! I was blown away and wanted to wake Luke to show him. I wish I could have stayed out there all night. It was silent, and the stars were so bright. 

We had the most relaxing stay; the cottage was beautiful and perfect for our little family of 4. I have had a nose at the other cottages on their website and they look equally beautiful! There was so much to look at and do around the cottage, we feel so lucky to have been able to take the boys and experience it all with the memory’s we have made.

You can join Old Landwick holiday club where they keep you up to date with deals and any special offers they have on! 

We cannot wait to go back and visit again; the boys don’t stop talking about it!

Keep an eye out for my YouTube video that will be going up on my channel soon showing you a tour of the beautiful cottage and surroundings.

Also, the next blog post which will be PT3 What to do in and around the area!

Saff xo

Perfect family holiday Build Up PT 1 | Old Lanwarnick Cottages Cornwall | AD – GIFTED

Saffron Baker2 Comments

* Old content, original post was uploaded to saffronbaker.com July 2019 to know why click here *

We were very kindly invited to stay at Old Lanwarnick In June 2019, if you follow me on Instagram then you would have seen some of the things we got up to when we were there.

This holiday experience will be broken into parts, as there is so much, I want to tell you guys, in one go would just be a jumbled mess.

Part 1 – Perfect family holiday build-up (What your reading now)

Part 2 – Old Lanwarnick Cottages where we stayed

Part 3 – Holiday Diary – Things to do locally around Old Lanwarnick Cottages

Be sure to check out the other posts!

Cornwall is one of our favourite places in the UK, we have done a few holidays as a family when the children were little but this was a massive thing for us, this was our first family holiday with the kids being older, more independent and we didn’t have prams, sterilisers, bottles, baby food all that stuff that comes with little ones!

*FYI prams and beaches don’t mix, packing is a nightmare when you have little room in your boot with the prams taking up all the space, having to look around at pram friendly places and battling prams against people in general*

So yeah both boys fully walking, talking and had an opinion on what they enjoyed and wanted to do! Felt like we had hit a Milestone!

The whole build-up to the holiday was so exciting, the last holiday we did was to Butlins for our “Honey Moon” 2 years ago, both boys in prams, we still needed travel cots and stair gates on rooms it was a challenging holiday, I felt like the boys didn’t get out of it as much as we had hoped and of course these things cost a lot of money, so when you come away feeling a little deflated it can be hard to get excited about booking your next trip. So, the following year we decided to miss out on a holiday and use the money to do up the garden for the boys instead. I have shown parts of our garden on Instagram but its kiddie heaven with slides, swings, monkey bars, trampoline the lot.

2019 we have focused on the house, again if you follow me on socials you know we started house renovating back in Feb 2019, we moved out and into my dad’s at the end of March when I became very ill and here we are now, writing this in July and we still haven’t finished, still haven’t moved back still working hard and ploughing away, so to say this holiday was needed is an understatement!

The boys have deserved this more than anyone, they have been so amazing through all of the renovations it’s a lot for them and we didn’t expect it to take as long as it has done with this many disruptions. We didn’t think we would be able to have a proper family holiday this year, with the time and money.

Telling them was one of the most exciting moments for us, they both fully understand now and seeing their little excited faces was just amazing. We jumped straight online to show them.

Old Lanwarnick have the best website, they show you photos of the accommodation and area along with an interactive tour. This was just what our boys needed. Ethan’s Autistic so being able to see where we are staying and familiarize himself with it was perfect. When he arrived, he knew what his room looked like, what the sofa, kitchen, tables the lot looked like and it made the build-up more exciting. Both boys would say they can’t wait to eat their dinner at the green table. Ethan couldn’t wait to get in the hot tub, Liam was excited about the big bath. They were excited to sleep in their rooms at the Holiday house. We must have looked online at least 20 times at the Cottage, taking it all in and talking about the holiday and what was to come.

They were now counting down the days until Monday the 24th of June!

Keep an eye out for part 2 coming very soon!

Saff xo

Bodega Birmingham | AD – GIFTED

Saffron BakerLeave a comment

* Old content, original post was uploaded to saffronbaker.com April 2019 to know why click here *

We were kindly invited to Bodega in Birmingham to try out their menu!

We drove from Coventry and parked in the Mailbox car park which was only a 5 min walk from the restaurant so it was super easy to get to.

I hadn’t heard of Bodega before, but on arrival, it was clear how popular this little place was! I was shocked at how busy it was for a Tuesday evening!

The décor is so lush, with lots of things to look at and really helps set the mood for the evening.

Looking at the menu there were so many yummy dishes to choose from so we went for an option where we could try 5 of their most popular dishes in a smaller form.

Bless our waiter she did warn us it was going to be a lot of food, but we knew we could take some home if we were defeated!

Spoiler alert, we couldn’t finish it!

For starters, we tried The Cola chicken wings, refried beans, nachos with chilli brisket, quesadillas and sweet potato fries.

My gosh, our table was full with so much yummy food. It all came out so well presented!

My favourite had to be the quesadillas they were so good! I had never tried Cola Chicken before but that was also amazing!

The Nachos were homemade and super tasty, Luke wasn’t a massive fan and would of much preferred them to be nacho crisps.

For mains, I went for the burger… I will just tell you now! This was honestly one of the best burgers I have ever had. It was so good!

Bodega’s Burger a la Parilla 11.95

Homemade 6oz beef burger, cheese and chipotle mayo in a toasted tortilla with sweet potato fries & smoky slaw on the side

It came in a wrap which I loved, it was so full of flavour super juicy and the cheese just oozed out. Making me hungry just writing this!

It was served with coleslaw and sweet potato fries we shared half the burger and took the rest home… I was defeated.

Luke went for the Peanut butter chicken, not something he would normally go for! Now I’m not a fan of peanut butter but I tried it and was just so creamy and lush!

Brazilian Xim Xim 11.95 (GF)

Chunks of chicken, prawns and diced vegetables in a creamy peanut butter sauce with rice, onions and peppers

We couldn’t finish it all so we took it home in boxes, the staff were so lovely and organised this for us. Once we were home my dad tucked in and absolutely loved it, he took the leftovers to work the next day. He now wants to go back so another trip is in order!

If you live locally to a Bodega then lucky you as you can now get it delivered to your door… I’m jealous I need another burger and cola chicken!

Have you been to Bodega before?

A huge thank you to all the staff for looking after us we had the best evening!

Saff xo