When we stayed at Darwin Forest we realised that Bakewell was pretty close by and so made a trip there to buy a Bakewell Tart. We love this sort of impromptu trip, feeling like real tourists and exploring somewhere new – all in aid of sweet treats!

A Bakewell Tart is such a classic recipe that I thought I’d try it with a festive twist using Christmas jam instead of traditional raspberry jam for a lovely festive twist with this Festive Bakewell Tart. If you’d rather, you can use normal jam for a classic bake.

This month has been a really lovely month for us as a family. I usually don’t like January and I would go so far as to say that January is usually my least favourite month. But this January has been so different.

Some of the items featured in this post were provided for us to feature. I’ve added a * next to those items for reference.

This time each month I share the things that we’ve been loving throughout the last few weeks. So here is what we’ve loved in January:

Disclosure: We were invited on this break for the purpose of this review however all opinions are my own.

As the children had an inset day at school at the start of January, we took advantage of the last weekend of the Christmas holidays and stretched out our time together with a brilliant self catering family weekend in Derbyshire at Darwin Forest.

Disclosure: The products featured were sent for inclusion in this gift guide however all opinions are my own.

At this time of year we always like to think of gifts that we can all enjoy together as a family – or that we can gift to other families for them to enjoy together. So here are a few ideas of great family gifts this Christmas.

Disclosure: We were invited for this meal for the purpose of this post however all opinions are my own.

Last week we were invited to have afternoon tea at Moggerhanger Park in Bedfordshire. It tied in nicely with a spa break Lucy and I were going on and if there’s one thing we both love it’s afternoon tea, a chance to relax and a nice stately home.

Disclosure: We were sent the featured products for the purpose of this post however all opinions are my own.

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to be sent a box of Mackays new Christmas preserves. I am a huge fan of jam and marmalade and to get Christmas ones was such a treat! We were sent their Christmas Preserve with Mulled Wine and their Christmas Marmalade with Cranberries.

Thanks to a Preserving Set Review I am now a little bit addicted to making jam. I am limited to strawberry at the moment though as we have so many growing in our garden – this will definitely turn into something I make every year so I thought I would share my homemade strawberry jam recipe. Over time we’ll be creating more jams, marmalades and chutneys and I’ll make sure I share each and every recipe with you.