Well, what a summer it’s been – busy at work but we still managed to keep to our New Year’s Resolution and go away with the kids – that’s a first! We’ve also been working on something that could potentially be life-changing, but it’s so excitingly maybe-near that I hardly dare think that it might happen, let alone write about it. So dear reader…I’m afraid that, like me, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer for that one.

So, the summer then! What have we been doing. Well, firstly we’ve made time to go for walks with friends, which the dogs are really pleased about. In addition to this, I seem to have turned into a fishing widow as at the princely ages of 8 and 6, my two boys have discovered fishing and it’s all they want to do – much to their father’s delight!  It evidently involves procuring lots of kit (and here was me thinking that only girls had to accessorise to the hilt!) and then going and standing on the beach for hours at a time.  Our eldest son can stay there for hours, but unfortunately for him the younger one soon gets bored.  The thing I really don’t understand is that they haven’t actually caught anything yet, but it only seems to make them go and do it more??

In August, we set off in our car and then picked up an old VW Type 2 camper van in Keswick for a week long camping holiday.  We didn’t go too far, only over to Ravenglass on the coast.  We had fabulous weather all week – just one afternoon of rain, so we definitely picked the right week to go.  The camper van (aka Billy Bling!) was brilliant, it was so good to just kick back and amble around (amble seemed to be the fastest we could go) – and amazingly other road users just waved and smiled as they passed us – no road rage!!  The boys made new friends within 10 minutes of arriving at the campsite, and so we fell into a routine of hanging around the site in the morning and going off fishing or sightseeing in the afternoon.  We went up the coast to Whitehaven, which was lovely and then across to Ulverston and the Laurel & Hardy museum.  Our slapstick loving boys were absolutely transfixed by the godfathers of comedy and we ending up buying a DVD which they now adore, provoking real belly laughs from them both!!

We also walked from the campsite to Muncaster Castle, which was well worth the visit – they had entertainment, owl displays and a great playground.  I managed to slip away and do a tour of the castle rooms, for once I picked up one of their audio tour guides and it was narrated by the family who live in the castle – which made it very engaging.  We had lunch there and the food was lovely and great value for money – so the boys final requirement for a great day out (food!) was well and truly ticked…

Finally, we had to reluctantly pack Billy up and take him back to his owners, the boys didn’t want to give him back and wanted us to book next year’s trip there and then!!  We headed off to Ulswater after we dropped Billy off – more fishing, that was a surprise   While I was sitting and watching them, I started chatting to a lady who was also there with her lake-splashing children, nothing unusual in that – but within a very short time, we had meandered through the conversation and realised that we had some places in common, as well as both being Mums.  Now I’m not going to break any confidences, but we ended up having a long conversation about a particular thing that was obviously a key concern for her on that day – and I’d like to think that I was there to listen at just the right time for her.  Now I’m not claiming to have special conversation powers in me or anything – but it did stick in my mind for two reasons.  Firstly, that my complete detachment from the situation obviously helped her to be very open about it – which in a funny kind of way underlined to me how important it is to be detached when I’m doing pure business coaching for individuals.  The second reason was that I felt a curious regret when she drove away – it was a bit like I’d met someone that I instinctively knew might have had the potential to become a great friend, but we didn’t swap contact details or anything, so I’ll probably never know…

Anyway, back to the holiday…we moved across to Guisborough, to see my hubby’s brother and his family – and on with them to Castle Howard the next day – what a fab place to visit!  Late that Friday afternoon, we headed back down to Somerset – a straight run home, the traffic gods were kind to us that day

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With two children, two businesses and an embryonic smallholding, I always think that it’s important to try and get some time together as a family, so as promised in my New Year’s resolution – I did book some time away at the start of the year. We’re half-way through the year now, so I thought I’d report back and let you know how it’s going!

First off – the one that our two boys aged 8 and 6 had been begging to do for years – Legoland in Windsor.  It was only a day out and we kept the costs down by taking our using Tesco Clubcard vouchers to buy the tickets and taking our own sandwiches.  The boys were beside themselves with excitement – and our youngest gravely pronounced in the back of the car that he’s been waiting to do this “all his life!!”  We went on a Saturday, lots of people about, but not too packed although we were told it was a “quiet” day!  The boys managed to get us on the wettest ride first, but luckily it was a sunny day.  We went on a lot of rides that day, and on the way home I asked what their favourite was – only to be astounded when the answer was “panning for gold” which was a completely non-techno attraction which involved water baths, sand and finding nuggets of gold!  Just goes to show that sometimes simple is best!

Panning for Gold

The next pre-booked time-out was a trip to Wales for my husband’s birthday – we wanted a weekend away, somewhere different, but definitely based outdoors.  We normally go camping, but we decided to have a treat and go to the Yurt Farm, near Lampeter in Wales – and what a great choice that proved to be!!

We followed the directions and arrived at an idyllic spot in the countryside.  We parked our car, transported our belongings across to our Yurt by wheelbarrow and settled into our home for the weekend.  The Yurts provide simple luxury based on sound eco-principles with candles and paraffin lamps for lighting and a log burner for heating.  If you’ve always wanted to camp, but can’t do the whole sleeping on the ground thing then this will be ideal for you.  There are only five yurts on the whole site and you literally have acres of field surrounding you – kick back, relax and enjoy!

Laurie and Thea, who run the Yurt Farm, are absolutely lovely and couldn’t do enough for us – printing out maps of places to go and just generally making sure that we had a great time.  They offered to take us on a tour of their organic farm, which is next-door, and on the way back we purchased fresh vegetables and meat from their farm stall.  Each yurt has it’s own private campfire area – so lamb burgers cooked over the embers were much enjoyed by everyone that night.

The facilities on site consist of solar showers (so much better than I expected), compost toilets (ditto) and a lovely area for communal cooking and eating if required – with another log burner for my pyromaniac husband to play with!  The kids were straight in from the word go, disappearing off to make friends with the other children on-site and generally having a fab, outdoor time.  Our youngest had pestered Daddy to bring pocket knives, so we went walking to find hazel sticks that could be whittled and transformed into thumb sticks for walking – cue hours of whittling outside the yurt and lots of wood shavings.

The inside of one of the Yurts

Come Monday, we were extremely chillaxed and very reluctant to leave – but it was time to go and so we set off back to Somerset – stopping off for a detour at a local pottery – Daniel Boyle Ceramics - on the way, as recommended by Laurie & Thea. We rounded off the treats with Fish & Chips in Lampeter and arrived back in Somerset in time for tea!

So, booking at the beginning of the year is really working for us, as it doesn’t offer the opportunity to duck out pleading that we’re too busy.  We haven’t spent a lot of money, but we have gained so much in terms of family-time and reaping the benefits of down-time to return to work with a renewed vigour!

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I love my job and what I do and as a result I spend lots of my life seeing and hearing things and then being unable to stop myself relating them to being a good leader and what makes organisations work.  I guess if I was a musician I’d always have songs in my head!

A few days ago we were doing a long journey in the car and we put story CDs on in the car for our young sons to listen to - and so, for the first time in ages, I heard Aesop’s Fables.  Initially I wasn’t really tuned in and then I heard this one and BANG my mind was back in work mode again:-

The Belly and the Members Fable
An Aesop’s Fable

One fine day it occurred to the Members of the Body that they were doing all the work and the Belly was having all the food. So they held a meeting, and after a long discussion, decided to strike work till the Belly consented to take its proper share of the work. So for a day or two, the Hands refused to take the food, the Mouth refused to receive it, and the Teeth had no work to do. But after a day or two the Members began to find that they themselves were not in a very active condition: the Hands could hardly move, and the Mouth was all parched and dry, while the Legs were unable to support the rest. So thus they found that even the Belly in its dull quiet way was doing necessary work for the Body, and that all must work together or the Body will go to pieces.

As I listened, it occurred to me that we so often feel that we are the ones who are doing all the work, whether it be at work or at home – and we forget that there are other people in the team who are doing their bit too, but in a quiet, often overlooked way.  I regularly facilitate in situations where someone is convinced that the other departments or individuals aren’t pulling their weight – and I get them to understand and/or work in each other’s departments and also encourage them to make sure their own house is in order before they start casting around to give criticism.  These approaches get good results, but I think I’m going to add this fable into my toolkit as it underlines the point very succinctly and is a great model for good organisational design.  I probably need to pin it on the fridge at home too!!

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Burton Bradstock - Boxing Day

Santa-spotting, tumble-funning, present-ripping, share-shouting, sprout-hating, cracker-joking, sweet-eating, high-flying, crash-burning, sleepy-headed, dreamy-hugging, Christmas making, awe inspiring, did I really make them, luscious lumps of loveliness…xxxx

Our two boys are 7 and 5 – Christmas was so much fun for them this year, I loved their energy and enthusiasm, their capacity to believe in Santa because they so wanted him to visit them and the way they lit up our day too.  Thank you boys xxx

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Today saw the grand sheep shearing event. We have two sheep left and one of our local farmers kindly came down and sheared them for us. He arrived as the boys were finishing their tea – cue lots of running around looking for wellies and farmer caps (them not me!). DS1 was heard to say “I need to go and watch it or I won’t know how to do it on my farm”…

They watched intently as the procedure took place, but were quite concerned that they would be cold overnight – so DS1 insisted on leaving the fleeces in the field for them to sleep on.

The sheep are a Dutch breed called Zwarbels – not as fatty as most lamb – so I actually like it!

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