It was my birthday on Monday – I was thirty-six. I decided to ramble on about it a bit in a vlog, which I have stuck to the page below for your viewing pleasure. The day was a bit of a washout because Mr AMR was stuck in bed with a cough and cold – he very bravely dosed himself up the day before to take me to see The Lion King in the West End, but collapsed back into bed the moment we got home! So far (touch wood) I have avoided this cough cold thing almost completely – Baby Angelica has a mild version of it but not me. I don’t know whether I’m just running on emergency fuel because I can’t afford to get ill, or I’m waiting for Mr AMR to finish his run of photoshoots so that I can finally collapse for a few days…

Other bits of the vlog. Let’s see. Oh! I went on a little mini-trip to Devon – Dartmouth, more specifically – and stayed at another Perfect Stays property. After the absolute wreck that I stayed in on the Isle of Wight, it was a blessed relief to open the door onto a modern, fully-equipped bolt-hole that backed straight onto the water. Luxury boats bobbing away, mere feet from our home-from-home!

You know already that I’m a big Perfect Stays fan – now that we have dog and baby (and forthcoming new baby) hotels are pretty much out for us, unless we want to book about five million rooms on the same floor. The dog wakes the baby up, the baby wakes us up, we then can’t get back to sleep and end up keeping the baby awake…added to the sleeping arrangement issues, a hotel simply doesn’t give us the catering facilities that we need. So, unless it’s for a night, self-catering is our way to go. Blue Moorings, had we not been testing it as guests, would have cost us £210 per night, or thereabouts – the hotel nearby with about the same level of luxury would have cost upwards of £300 per night for a small suite with a living room area to put the travel cot in. And we would still have all woken each other up!

Read my previous Perfect Stays review…

So yes, I’m a self-catering convert. I mean, if it was just a romantic time with the two of us then I would totally lap up the luxury of a hotel jaunt (see Lime Wood review) with a spa and a restaurant and breakfast delivered and no having to load the dishwasher, but en famille I’m all for the home-from-home. It just has to be a nicer home-from-home than my actual home, which is kind of a tough call, seeing as though we did a bit of a Grand Designs number on it!

You can find Blue Moorings on the Perfect Stays website here – it’s more of a bijoux bolthole pad to use as an exploring base than the larger properties they have available to rent, but ideal if you’re going to be going to the beach every day or whatnot.

Right, vlog time. Which is like Hammer Time, but without MC Hammer, or his big trousers. God, I loved MC Hammer. Ooh, by the way, I totally recommend going to The Lion King musical. I had to hold back tears for most of it as it was just so beautifully done. Helps that I know all of the words to the songs and that I have a proper nostalgic sort of attachment to the story, but even so. Do it.

We stayed at Blue Moorings in Dartmouth*: https://www.perfectstays.co.uk/proper…

My Jumper Dress (navy) is from Seraphine Maternity: http://www.seraphine.com/maternity-cl…

Coat is from Isabella Oliver: https://www.isabellaoliver.com/uk/sho…

The blue baby carrier is a Thule Sapling: http://amzn.to/2gOBbDU