We asked you to share with us those who deserve recognition and thanks and have truly brought ‘good cheer’ to us as we’ve come together.
And the winners are…
Whilst we’re a small independent Hertfordshire-based company, we have a distinguished history. We were founded in 1873 and we’re proud to say that we have held the royal warrant ever since. Our first complete dog food was launched in 1975, the original Gilpa Valu Mix and we haven’t stopped since. Today we have a range of eighteen top sellers, all based on our core values of quality, value and taste.
Our foods are delicious. High-quality British produce is blended and cooked with British meats and fish in nutritious combinations to ensure dogs find our foods irresistible every day whether they prefer chicken, beef or lamb – we have options for them all.
Our foods are nutritious. We formulate to ensure dogs get all the nutrients they need in their food to help keep them fit and healthy. We have foods for puppies, juniors, adults and seniors so you can feed our foods throughout your dog’s life and the nutritional levels are balanced for each stage to support your dog with whatever he does, from performance, working, higher activity to the more sedentary life styles.
Our foods are made with care. Every batch we cook is carefully scrutinised to make sure it matches our high standards and we don’t comprise on quality anywhere – from our packaging, ingredients to the final crispy biscuit in the bag, we care about every aspect.
Why not give our foods a try? We’re here to help if you need help choosing the best food for your dog and we have an efficient online ordering system through our website that delivers our foods straight to your door in just a few days.
50% discount offer! We are pleased to offer a 50% discount code across our entire range. The discount is valid from 23 April to 28 May, with one use per customer and a £100 limit. Simply use the following coupon at our online checkout ROUND50
EvoEco Homes are passionate about creating a cleaner environment and reducing your carbon footprint.
As one of the leading UK based specialist suppliers of heat pumps, heating solutions for swimming pools and solar panels they pride theselves on providing customers with a comprehensive, ethical, trustworthy and professional approach to renewable energy to help customers control the cost of their electricty.
Specialist advisors will always look to offer you the most suitable system at the most competitive price, giving you honest technical and financial advice.
They have years of practical experience supplying and installing energy heat pumps and other renewable technologies and are happy to work alongside architects, builders and private house owners who are looking for energy efficient, eco-friendly solutions.
Whether you are looking to upgrade your home, complete renovation or even building a completely new home, find out more about what they can do for you
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1) Make sure your space will function as a home gym
Avoid the mistake of a “room full of equipment” rather than a home gym. Carefully design your gym so that it allows for an effective work- out.
Many aspects can be overlooked but it’s the attention to detail that enables the user to experience the full benefits of a home gym.
For example; is your gym ‘zoned’ correctly, with separation between the strength and cardio area?
Is your gym flooring located in the right place?
Is there enough space behind your cardio equipment and are sockets in the right place to avoid trailing leads?
Are your mirrors located in the best position?
Is your bench and squat rack directly under any lights that are affecting your vision?
Our design service at Velvaere Studios enables clients to visualise their space, focusing on the details to make it perfect in every way.
Our design team use the latest design tools to assist our clients from initial concept to the equipment layout and final design finishes.
2) Does the space inspire you?
Once the fundamentals of design are established to enable your home gym to function properly, we can then work with you to personalise the space. We believe that a home gym should be designed to promote wellbeing and a sense of inspiration. The choice of wall and floor finishes, the mood created by the lighting and the atmosphere from air quality to fragrance will all contribute to the energy within the room.
3) Does the equipment match your fitness and lifestyle needs?
It is essential that the equipment you choose is the equipment you will use.
If your goal is to build muscle then you would want to focus on investing in strength equipment such as dumbbells and other free weights rather than cardio pieces such as a treadmill. You might like the idea of a treadmill, but you may still want to go for runs outside with your running partner so the equipment focus should be on the equipment you will most use.
We will help you to focus on selecting the equipment for your home gym which best suits your workout and lifestyle needs.
At Velvaere we provide a whole range of health and fitness equipment, to meet the needs of all training requirements. We create a solution for every space, ranging from a single set of dumbbells through to a full home gym set up.
We partner with world leading equipment manufacturers and will produce proposals to fit your budget.
4) Find the right space
Do you have a spare room or suitable space that can be repurposed? Many people convert their garages, spare rooms, basements and lofts etc. and it may be possible to make a room flexible in its use. It is important though to design it first before you go ahead and assume that it is suitable.
It may be possible to extend your home or a very popular option is to consider using a garden building. Again, you can re-purpose an existing building but often a better solution is a new purpose designed garden building. Companies such as our partners, Green Retreats, (https://www.greenretreats.co.uk/upgrades-to-the-bucks-showroom/ ) provide an efficient and effective way to expand your home to include a home gym where the building structure and amenities such as windows, doors and heating are all included in the price. Velvaere Studios then provide the interior fit out of the garden rooms with fitness equipment and specialist finishes that will transform your space into a fully fitted and perfectly functioning garden room gym specialist finishes.
5) Quality is key
Your home gym should be built to last. It’s a place to go to improve and feel better so both the interior fit out and the fitness equipment inside should reflect this. A home gym is an investment in yours and your family’s health, happiness and wellbeing. Your home gym needs to be a place that inspires you and the quality of equipment and finishes will all contribute. A quality home gym is much more than about how it looks, it’s about how it makes you feel.
At Velvaere Studios we work with world leading manufacturers such as Technogym and Life Fitness and our design and fit- out team has many years of experience of working on high quality projects .
The Velvaere one- stop service home gym fit-out service makes it easy and stress free for you.
We completely take it off your hands and create stunning home gyms that are designed and fitted out to not only function properly but to look and feel great so that you can too !
We would love to hear from you and to see how we can help to create your ideal home gym.
Visit www.velvaerefit.com, follow @velvaerestudios on Instagram, email [email protected] or call 07580 155596
Q. Hello Ed! As an adventurer, has being in lockdown been especially hard for you? “Actually I was in a good position to face lockdown. I’m used to being dropped into the middle of nowhere and left to fend for myself, and good with a curveball! Don’t get me wrong: I love travelling and I think everyone is chomping at the bit to travel. But it’s been OK. Working on different stuff has been fun. As you can see, I’m in my man cave!”
Q. How beneficial is it to get children outdoors? “Getting outdoors is an easy hack to cut through the crap of lockdown. It helps mental health for adults and children. When Ran my little boy is outside he’s his best self; more engaged, polite, more eye contact. If you take screens away, especially Netflix which is that bingewatch mentality, it’s like getting an addict off truly nasty stuff. Having said that, we’re not monks about screens. We’re all busy. Laura & I have loved a bit of science fiction escapism in the evening!”
Q. Your camps sound fun – how tough are they? “There are different levels. For some camping is outside their comfort zone so listening to the sound of the deer, the owls hooting at night, will be quite novel, quite spooky. But then those with more outdoor experience can go a bit more advanced. Children on the five-day camp can learn to blow a fire into life with their hands… I used to think that stuff was geeky but it’s cool. We might parnass a fish.”
Q. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten? “I’ve eaten an electric eel, a tapir, the tail of a woolly monkey. When we were in the Amazon I was aware I couldn’t come along with my western attitudes and tell them what to kill or what not to kill. The jungle was their larder. On the logging camps, you might come across a baby monkey tied to a post & its mother boiling in the pot.”
Q. Are the Scouting movement & the Army a good place to nurture a love of the outdoors? “I love the Scouts. I learned to navigate, pack a bag, sleep out thanks to the Scouts. Camp Wilderness is different because you can be there with your parents. I remember being miserable at Sandhurst, in the wet and cold, in the woods. If you want to take the joy out of the outdoors, join the military! The flip side is the Army offers the most intense training. I think it costs £80k to put an officer through training and that’s leadership, management outdoor skills. It’s world-leading.”
Q. What’s on your bucket list? “I’m out of the early-20s need to conquer things. I’m filming a series of First Man Out in Kenya and a C4 show 60 Days with the Gypsies. I don’t want to sound boring but with a young family I love to come home after a trip. No ego-driven expeditions any more!”
Q. Who are your dream dinner party guests? “Dinner parties are my worst nightmare, so can I choose a camp meal round a fire? As well as the people I love, I admire sportspeople. So, Martin Johnson, Dean Richards & Rory Underwood.”
Camp Wilderness for children & families take place over summer in four locations. Please call 03332 004 469 or visit campwilderness.co.uk
Ingredients:
• Two balls of burrata
• One pineapple
• 200g strawberries, chopped into 0.5cm dice
• 3cm ginger, minced
• Four cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 red chillies, finely chopped
• 80g caster sugar
• Pulp of two passionfruit
• One lime, juiced
• 1 tsp white miso
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
• 200g watercress
Fruity cashew confetti:
• 50g cashews, roasted for 15 minutes at 160C
• 10g freeze-dried strawberries
• 20g dried pineapple (from pineapple above)
PREP: 30 minutes & four hours drying
SERVES: 4
May heralds the start of the UK watercress season when the lush, peppery, vitamin-filled green leaf is available in abundance on supermarket shelves, freshly harvested from farms in Hampshire and Dorset, where watercress has flourished for over 150 years.
Watercress is a uniquely grown crop with its roots clinging to the gravel base of the beds, while the plants sway in the nutrient-rich spring water that flows past. The water is pure and clean, forced up from deep underground aquifers and filtered through the chalk of the South Downs.
Method:
1. Begin with the pineapple crisps. Set the oven to the lowest it can go and slice half the pineapple as finely as you can (if you have a mandolin, use this)
2. Lay the slices on baking paper and dry for four hours, or until crisp throughout. Set aside to cool.
3. Take 20g of this pineapple and blitz to a ‘confetti’ with the freeze dried strawberries and cashews. Set aside in an airtight container.
4. Chop the remaining pineapple into chunks
and grill in a griddle pan until lightly charred, soft and sweet.
5. For the sambal, combine the strawberries, ginger, garlic, chilies, sugar, passionfruit, miso and coriander in a bowl. Taste, it should be tangy, sweet, spicy and lightly salted. Adjust with more lime, sugar or salt if needed.
6. When ready, divide each burrata in two. Divide the watercress and sambal between four bowls and top with the burrata and grilled pineapple.
7. Sprinkle with the confetti and serve.
Ingredients:
• Four red mullet fillets (or mackerel, salmon, sardines etc)
• One onion, finely sliced
• 800g baby potatoes, skin on
• 4 tbsp oil
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tsp nigella seeds
• 200g watercress
• 20g basmati rice
• Lemon to serve
Masala spice blend:
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
Raita:
• 300g full-fat Greek yoghurt
• ½ cucumber, seeds removed, julienned
• One clove of garlic, minced
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp nigella seeds
• 1 tsp oil
• Pinch salt
PREP: 60 minutes
COOKING: 35 minutes
SERVES: 4
Method:
Begin with the roasted rice. Add the rice to a dry frying pan, heat to the highest heat & toast, shaking the pan until it turns golden brown and smells nutty. Remove, allow to cool then grind to a coarse crumb in a blender. Set aside in a jar (this keeps for ages and adds great crunch to salads)
2. For the raita, mix the yogurt, cucumber, garlic and salt in a bowl. Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin and nigella. Fry until beginning to pop then pour the whole lot into the yogurt bowl. Stir in and allow to rest.
3. Add the potatoes to a pan, cover with cold water and cook until just tender. Remove, drain and allow to steam until dry. If you have time transfer to the fridge on a wire rack to dry more.
4. Rub the spice mix over your fish fillets. Set aside.
5. Heat oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion until crisp & golden. Drain on kitchen paper, sprinkle with salt and set aside.
6. Add the potatoes to the hot oniony oil and lightly crush with a fork You want to retain some shape but give crumbly edges to go super crispy. Fry for 2-3 minutes, sprinkle with the salt & nigella and flip. Cook until all the edges are crisp (you may need to fry in batches). Set aside.
7. Heat a splash more oil in the pan and add the fish fillets skin side down. Have the heat on medium high to prevent the edges from curling up. If they do, the heat is too high, and the skin may scorch. Cook for 2 minutes, flip and cook 1 minute more. Remove from the heat and rest.
8. Lay the watercress on a platter and tumble over the potatoes. Spoon over the raita, top with the fish and finally the crispy onions and 2 tbsp roasted rice. Serve with lemon wedges for squeezing.
We’re wishing you a happy St George’s Day & happy birthday to William Shakespeare with a Bard quiz from Guildford Shakespeare Company (GSC) who still have tickets for their live-streamed performance of Henry V this weekend.
Book in for HENRY V: live online, written by William Shakespeare & adapted & directed by Caroline Devlin from today until Sunday at various times. The cast brings together a collection of the company’s best-known actors including Paula James, Chris Porter, Emily Tucker, GCS founder Matt Pinches and Gavin Fowler. Matt tells us: “We are thrilled to have such a fabulous cast for this special retelling of Henry V, and Caroline’s inspiring 2014 production. This production, with the play’s own homage to theatre, will be a testament to the ingenuity and resilience of our industry, as well as a celebration of all that we love about the theatrical experience. The play also carries a unique message of hope that the impossible is possible, a sentiment that has never felt more poignant than in our recent times.”
Tickets are £20 – book at www.guildford-shakespeare-company.co.uk/Henry-5-online
As they celebrate their 15th birthday, the Guildford Shakespeare Company also kick off their return to the stage with the irresistible comedy She Stoops To Conquer, in the gardens of Guildford Castle, 17th June to 3rd July.
We have teamed up with GSC founder Matt to offer you the following Which William? quiz to test your knowledge against!
Which William?
Willy Wonka, Will.I.Am or William Shakespeare..? You might find it harder than you expected to establish which famous William said the following lines…
1 Every man dies, but not every man truly lives
2 There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so
3 The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together
4 When our memories outweigh our dreams, we’ve grown old
5 Better three hours too soon than a minute late.
6 Only the good die young
7 Can you practice what you preach
Or would you turn the other cheek
8 Love sought, is good; but given unsought, is better
9 We know what we are, but know not what we may be
10 There’s no such thing as the unknown, only things temporarily hidden
The National Trust is urging people to use the longer, warmer days of spring and come together on social media to share their pictures as part of the charity’s first ever nationwide #BlossomWatch Day, Saturday, 24th April.
In Bucks, Berks and Oxfordshire, some of the best places to enjoy blossom include Hughenden, Cliveden, Stowe, Greys Court and Basildon Park.
As restrictions ease and loved ones can finally start to meet outside, the conservation charity is urging people to use the easing of restrictions to share in one of nature’s most magnificent natural spectacles.
People are being asked to share pictures of blossom on social media on April 24th using the #BlossomWatch. And by tagging their location, an interactive digital map (www.nationaltrust.org.uk/blossom-watch) will chart the progress of blossom across the country.
The Trust’s Garden’s and Parks Consultant for London and the South East, Emma McNamara, says: “Blossom season is advancing apace, but we’ve had some frost damage recently from the low overnight temperatures. Magnolia and camellia blossom have been affected by this, burning the flowers at Greys Court and Basildon Park, which means they drop quickly. This highlights the fleeting nature and beauty of blossom. However, fruit trees such as apple, pear and cherry will be blooming in late April and early May in the orchards at Hughenden and Cliveden, buzzing with insect life pollinating for fruits later in the year.”
Blossomwatch is also a chance to indulge in the Japanese art of hanami whcih literally means “viewing blossoms”. Long ago, around the 7th century, when the Japanese talked about “hana” they were referring mainly to plum blossoms. But years later, “hana” has come to mean cherry blossoms. And now Hanami means “going out to enjoy cherry blossoms.” It is one of the most featured images in Japanese art and literature.
Junko Shimizu, Founder of the Amenity 2000 Association, says: “Cherry blossoms are the sign of spring. They tell us cold winter is gone, to take off heavy coats. People are eager to get this sign. This year cherry blossoms are slower to bloom than usual.”
For further information, inspiration and to donate towards the charity’s tree planting ambitions visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/blossom-watch
As a former primary school teacher, Amy has always been passionate about children’s early years, but it was when she became a mum herself that she realised just how crucial those years are, as she explains in her blog post below.
To be completely honest, I had never considered childminding or running my own business as a career. Before I became a mum, I loved my job as a Reception Teacher and had no plans to change careers. Becoming a mum changed my mindset in two major ways. Firstly, I realised that my work/life balance of working 10+ hour days, evenings and weekends was no longer an option. I had to find a better balance.
Secondly, my eyes were opened to a whole new part of Early Years, that I hadn’t experienced before. I have always been passionate about Early Years and the power of play but never realised just how crucial the first years of a child’s life are. By the time children are three years old, over 80% of their brains are already formed. That means no matter how dedicated teachers are, how many interventions they put into place or how detailed their lesson plans are, they have already missed the most important time of children’s development.
So I decided two things. Firstly, I would return to work part time and secondly, I would encourage my school to promote the importance and educate parents. This would have been perfect if it was not for Covid. Unfortunately, when I returned to work I had to make the decision to leave my much loved school. As a Reception Teacher, it was impossible to socially distance myself from 27 four year olds, who still needed lots of help and support, with so many daily activities. On top of this, my son’s grandparents were his childcare and they are clinically vulnerable to Covid. I suffered stress and anxiety and ultimately had to make the decision to leave. This is something I found incredibly difficult but I had to stay positive for my son. I continued to focus on his development and learning and that’s where I stumbled across tiney.
While researching diverse books, I found the National Literacy Trust’s Instagram and noticed they had teamed up with tiney to start a book club. I thought this was an incredible idea so started to have a look around their Instagram and website. I signed up to watch a short video to find out more and fell in love with tiney and their mission. I decided that becoming a home leader would be something I would love to do in the future, when my son was a bit older and Covid was no longer an issue.
I really enjoyed reading tiney’s regular emails until I received an email about children being ‘school ready’. It explained that 46% of children start Reception not ‘school ready’. This really resonated with me because it’s something I experienced more and more of as a Reception Teacher and I am fully aware of the impact it can have on children’s well-being, development and future education. I immediately arranged a call with tiney for the next day.
I was so nervous about the call, but within minutes of talking to Lucy, one of tiney’s advisors, I was totally at ease. Lucy was absolutely amazing and really demonstrated what a passionate, welcoming and diverse company tiney is. She made me feel like I was joining tiney’s family rather than business. Lucy signed me up for the DiscoveryWeek and I was hooked.
“tiney is on a mission to unlock the potential of every child.” They do this in an incredibly passionate way by education and empowering adults to become tiney home leaders and I can’t wait to start my journey. The fact that I’ll be able to complete this journey at home, playing with my son, is a dream come true. To finally encourage him to play with other children, after spending most of his life in lockdown, is the cherry on the top!
Interested in joining the growing community of tiney home leaders like Amy? Or looking for childcare for little ones? Find more information about Tiney at tiney.co
Love your kitty? Adore your doggy? We always knew that we Brits loved our pets passionately. But the last year has deepened our appreciation for our animal companions!
April is National Pet Month, and National Pet Day is on 11th April. To celebrate, we’ve teamed up with Surrey artist & pet-lover Bri to offer you the chance to win a portrait of your pet…
Artist Bri had planned to launch her drawing and painting workshops for beginners in March 2020… until the world put a stop to that! She jokes: “Timing has never been my speciality but this takes the mick!”
Bri decided to offer free pet portraits to local people… “This was an exercise to get some practice and to bring a smile to people’s faces,” she tells us. “I know how important a pet’s company is: I live alone with my dog. She’s my best mate, haha! And I couldn’t have been more grateful for the distraction she gave me. Also, she was a legal reason to leave the house! I thought pet portraits would be nice to keep me motivated as I was unable to tutor. I’d never done a pet portrait before but after I put up a couple of posters I was inundated.”
Bri completed almost 50 portraits, 31 alone last April. “When I first thought about the type of work I could offer free to encourage people to commission me, pets were the subject I thought would attract most interest,” she says. “But hundreds of responses and the copious positive feedback was on a scale I didn’t imagine! It proves we’re a nation of animal-lovers. From dogs to cats, and the odd gecko thrown in, we love our pets. It’s particularly worthwhile to hear how someone got genuine happiness from seeing a pet who perhaps isn’t with them any more celebrated in paint.”
Rebranded as The Isolating Artist, Bri evolved to virtual workshops. “Online teaching is a fantastic way to communicate in what otherwise would be an impossible situation, but classroom tutoring is the best way to learn to draw and paint,” says Bri. “I hope soon to bring together a beginners’ art group. I want to introduce students to the fun of art and give people a chance to be creative, to look at the world differently. If there’s anything we need after all this it’s to leave the house so what better reason than an art class?”
As for influences, Bri says: “As a kid, art was the only thing I was any good at, so that was a natural inspiration. I remember coming across a book about Francis Bacon at school. It changed my opinion on how I should draw and paint; something I’ll never forget seeing for the first time”. Bacon remains one of Bri’s favourite artists, alongside Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, Egon Schiele, Edward Hopper and many more.”
Visit isolatingartist.com to find out about Bri or sign up for an art class.
We want you to share your love for the pet in your life. Share a picture, poem or photo of your beloved animal companion on our social media channels. Tag Round & About (our links below) and #petportrait in your post and Bri will select the winner who will be immortalised in portrait form! Deadline: Tues 4th May.
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