Archive for REVIEWS

02 Jan 2012
BUSINESS • DAISYCHAINBABY • REVIEWS

The Style Treaty reviews DaisychainBaby.co.uk

Back in November (feels like ages away doesn’t it?!), DaisychainBaby received a fab review from sisters Hayley and AbbieJemima Carter. Hayley is a wonderful DCB supporter and customer, and kindly answered our request for clothes reviewers back in the summer. Her sister writes at the extremely cool blog the Style Treaty, which is devoted to all of us enhancing our inner unique fashion sense, just waiting to be released. So Hayley’s sons road-tested our clothes, and her sister wrote the review! What a perfect combination.

To check out the full review, click here and of course, have a mooch around the StyleTreaty.

Click here to read the review of DaisychainBaby at the Style Treaty

Our review by the Style Treaty

I’m always on the look out for people to try our clothes and then post their reviews, so if you’re interested just let me know by commenting!

Follow DaisychainBaby on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to guestpost for us, email linsATdaisychainbabyDOTcoDOTuk. Our clearance section lives here

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24 Jun 2011
BUSINESS • DAISYCHAINBABY • GUEST BLOGS • REVIEWS

Me and My Kiddywinks review DaisychainBaby!

If you’ve kept a close eye on our Facebook fan page or Twitter account recently, you’ll have noticed that we’ve been after some fabulous bloggers to review our collection of organic children’s clothing. There’s nothing more valuable to us than the opinions of parents, and we’ve jumped at the chance to get some Mums to road-test our products! One of the quick respondents was Faye Rios, who writes over at Me and My Kiddywinks. She has a little girl, Imogen, and a little boy, Joseph. We sent a little package of goodies off to Faye recently and were delighted to receive her glowing review of our products and service.

You can read Faye’s blog about us here, and if you do you’ll work out how you can claim a huge 20% off shopping at DaisychainBaby.co.uk.

Once you’ve read the review, why not like Me and My Kiddywinks on Facebook for informative and entertaining blog entries, giveaways and special offers!

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12 Feb 2011
PERSONAL • REVIEWS

Our Countryside Escape

This weekend, Mr DCB and I are packing the car up and heading off to North Norfolk for an overnight stay near Holt. Not for a romantic weekend I hasten to add in light of Valentine’s Day, but as a late birthday celebration for me so we can catch up with my Mum and Stepdad. Our destination for Saturday night dinner is the beautiful Morston Hall Hotel and Restaurant, home of the Michelin-starred Galton Blackiston and his wife Tracey.

Despite having grown up for a few years in Norfolk when I was little, I hadn’t heard of this amazing 17th century country house hotel located near Blakeney until last year when Mum suggested going there for my 30th birthday. It was out of this world – in fact even a recent review from the Sunday Telegraph magazine gave it 9.75 out of 10 “There is so much about Morston Hall. It’s so perfect it’s hard to know where to begin”. That wouldn’t have been enough to impress me had I not been and seen it for myself.

Morston Hall - Beautiful Food

Morston Hall - Beautiful Food

Morston Hall’s specialty is dinner. They have one seating, 7.30 for 8pm every day. The menu changes every day, and is a set menu. The only options you have are to advise of dietary requirements, which will be catered for, but that is it. You cannot opt out of any of the courses, or ask for something that isn’t on that evening’s menu. And I can honestly say, having eaten there just once, it probably is the best food I have ever tasted. The reason they opt to have a daily changing menu is to make the most of seasonal and locally-sourced produce. I grew up as an immensely fussy eater and was never forced to eat anything, so didn’t eat what I thought I didn’t like. Thankfully my tastes have changed, largely since becoming vegetarian nearly a decade ago. Now I eat more-or-less anything so long as it isn’t an animal and love to try new and exciting things. Morston Hall caters perfectly for the slightly more adventurous, but with the entire dinner menu excluding drinks costing £60 per head, it’s also incredibly reasonable. The presentation is exquisite and if I could, I would take a photo of every course ;o)

The venue itself is absolutely delightful – it also offers accommodation (I haven’t stayed there) and caters for any kind of functions including weddings. It’s the perfect romantic venue too to celebrate a special occasion and the staff are wonderful – not too attentive that you feel on edge (I hate those kind of stuffy places where they whisk silver lids off silver platters and then you have 50 waiters to help you wee for the rest of the night) but likewise there, subtly, should you need anything. They are friendly, knowledgeable and it’s clearly a close-knit team – I imagine it’s the kind of place where if you want to gain experience in the hospitality industry, there wouldn’t be too many better alternatives.

So all-in-all I cannot rate this place highly enough. It’s also in a truly lovely part of the world – Mr DCB and I don’t get too many opportunities to have such fab weekend adventures as we’re often on the road with our market stall so it’s wonderful to be able to take advantage of the quieter months to take some well-earned breaks here and there. We’ll hopefully get to Holt around early afternoon, do a little bit of shopping and then head to our guesthouse to get ready for dinner. It would be lovely to see the sea as well if we get a chance to, to really breathe in the fresh country air and properly leave London behind, even if it is only for 36 hours.

Follow DaisychainBaby on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to guestpost for us, email linsATdaisychainbabyDOTcoDOTuk.

Lins | One comment
11 Feb 2011
REVIEWS

Friday Favourites: My Review of “Love Never Dies”

A couple of weeks ago, Mr DCB took me to see Phantom of the Opera sequel “Love Never Dies” as part of my birthday celebrations. On the one hand, he knew he was on to a winner as I love musicals and generally don’t pay any attention to what the critics write – I’ll see something or not because I do or don’t want to, not because of what someone I’ve never met thinks, especially if that’s what they’re paid to do! On the other hand, could it ever live up to Phantom, my adored stand-out musical of all time? I LOVE it. I love the music, I love the story. Ok, you can call me a musical philistine if you will as I know that to classical musicians Andrew Lloyd Webber isn’t necessarily regarded as a true great, but I don’t care. I think my Mum and Dad must have gone to see Phantom originally when it first came out in the 80s with Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford as I remember a vinyl edition of the showtunes knocking around and just adored them from a young girl. I’ve seen it a few times in London, my first time being on Broadway and I’d happily go every week if someone was paying for the tickets ;o)

I didn’t really know what to expect of Love Never Dies, aside from the fact that the story had moved to Coney Island and that action was taking place ten years or so from where Phantom left off. Mr DCB told me that some adjustments had been made since it originally opened, but bearing in mind we never saw the initial version, there was nothing to compare it to, and I was happy just to sit there and let it wash over me and then form my opinions unaffected by anything else I read. The original characters from Phantom including Madame and Meg Giry are all reunited in this new and magical setting, which is idealy placed for the darkness of the story. The surrealism is aided greatly by three freakshow sidekicks Fleck, Squelch and Gangle who camp up the costumes and are able supporting cast members, alongside the young actor playing Christine and Raoul’s son. Despite this extra padding however, I think all anyone really wants to know is if the love triangle between Phantom, Christine and Raoul is set to be resolved. My lips are sealed ;o)

The Phantom visits Christine to persuade her to sing for him.

The Phantom visits Christine to persuade her to sing for him.

I would argue that Love Never Dies is more Phantom’s story than Christine’s – in fact after what felt like her being on stage for 10 minutes and not having said a word, I was beginning to wonder if part of the new story was that she had lost her singing voice, and therefore was no longer the Phantom’s inspiration. Eventually she did speak and normality resumed. The chemistry between Ramin Karimloo as our musical impresario and Sierra Boggess as his protege was thoroughly believable (although if I was nitpicking, then to me the Phantom should have a far greater physical presence then Karimloo does, being only an inch or two taller than Boggess) – perhaps less so that between Christine and husband Raoul who seemed to have been cast in the role of obvious pantomime villain. All three had fantastic singing voices although I did feel that Christine’s role didn’t require as much of a musical challenge as in Phantom, which was a shame because Boggess singing was simply stunning. I genuniely think that over time the score will stand strong in exactly the same way we are used to the songs from Phantom, but they won’t be instant classics. Lloyd Webber has kept one of Phantom’s signature tunes running throughout Love Never Dies which I think pays a suitable homage to the prequel and afficionados will recognise it as soon as they hear it.

Not wanting to give anything away about the actual story itself, I would simply advise anyone who is unsure to go along anyway and decide for yourself. The costumes and set design are every bit as lavish as you would expect from a West End show, and the transition from one location to another and moving the story forward is cleverly done. I would love to think that in ten years to come it is still pulling in the crowds but only time will tell. Certainly it coudn’t replace Phantom in my affections, but I don’t think any other musical ever would. This is certainly a worthy contender though.

Follow DaisychainBaby on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to guestpost for us, email linsATdaisychainbabyDOTcoDOTuk.

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06 Jan 2011
BUSINESS • REVIEWS

Mama Packs – they might just be better than sliced bread!

About 1,000 years ago, we started stocking the wonderful Mama Packs – eco-friendly alternatives to the Bounty packs which I’m sure most of you will be familiar with. I must say I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of how they would sell; could Mama Packs really take on Bounty and stand side-by-side on their own terms? The answer it seems is a resounding “yes”. I love them – I’ve given them to friends who are expecting or know someone who is and every time we get sent a new batch I have to take a quick peep into one to see what’s inside (the contents does vary depending on which companies add their samples at the time).

Click here for your Mama Pack

But don’t just take my word for it – here’s what a couple of our fab reviewers had to say about the packs:

Emma Bradley writes: “The lovely people at DaisychainBaby gave me the chance to have a sneaky peek in one of their mama packs.  I can honestly say I’m impressed.  Each time I’ve been pregnant I have enjoyed getting any samples I can.  The supermarket goody bags are nearly always disappointing because they tend to contain the mass produced brands and lots of paper and leaflets.  This mama pack is different from the outset.  Firstly the products and information comes in an eco friendly bag – no plastic in sight.  The contents are a mix of foodie products, creams and literature.  I loved the Maclaren creams and the Rude Health porridge was so yummy.  I dispatched the OH to find me a much bigger box!

The literature consisted of useful government information on child benefit and NHS literature on breastfeeding.  However what I really liked was the pack of business cards that advertised one off specialist bespoke services like dragonflair a company that makes personalised, handmade baby gifts and clothes.

I really recommend this for new mums to be.   My blog at emmaand3.blog.co.uk looks at life with my beautiful family if anyone wants to take a peek into my world!”

Nicki Cawood, mum of two and author of Curly and Candid adds her thoughts (whilst she was pregnant with Taylor!): “As well as the week by week steps of pregnancy and planning, the big fun whilst waiting for baby is collecting freebies and testing products for me and for baby. What can I say, it’s the Yorkshire in me! I remember being excited by the idea of the Bounty packs last time I was pregnant and being somewhat disappointed when I got them. I have to say that this time I wasn’t any more enthusiastic. In my “Mum to be pack” I received a tiny (truly tiny) pot of Sudocreme, a pampers pack with a dvd that show me what my womb looked like from the inside out apparently (I gave this a miss), one first size nappy and a slim pack of baby wipes. And paper, lots and lots of paper!! All promotional leaflets (including one for BFC – Books For Children, the book club you join but never seem to be able to get out of!), a Bounty “book” similar to the Emma’s dairy one you get from the midwife and little else. I kept the nappy, used the wipes on Kieran’s post-chocolate face and put the Sudocreme in the first box. Everything else was thrown out, what a waste!

Somewhat disillusioned, I can hardly explain how thrilled I was when my MamaPack arrived from DaisychainBaby!  Beautifully wrapped in easy to recycled brown paper was a not so small cotton bag. Opening the bag and delving in was like opening a Christmas stocking! Now the contents of a Mamapack vary from bag to back but I will list just some of the contents of mine: an individually wrapped TeaPigs t-bag (caffeine free chamomile flower), a Natracare individually wrapped panty liner and breast pads, a very decent-sized tube of Palmers cocoa butter massage cream (I will definitely be getting some more of this, it is fantastic and smells yummy!), some organic cereal from RudeHealth, some Pregnacare cream, some GinGins (hard candy double strength ginger sweets which were fantastic for morning sickness- had I discovered these earlier on I would have ordered a cupboard-full!), a Weleda baby sample for Calendula change cream, more cream from Maclaren for Mum & baby, a beautiful pin from Million Mums, a charity dedicated to speaking out again the needless deaths of women in childbirth, an ECloth (great for glass and mirrors!) and some SoapNuts! Now the soapnuts I was a bit dubious about but what it tells you on the instructions is very true, I will save a small fortune on washing powder using these, it works out at approximately 3p a wash, less if you are a bit more conservative like I am. There was very little in the way of paper, certainly no “useless” paper, but I was impressed to find a small bag with a selection of business cards for businesses listed on wahm.co.uk (mums who work from home) offering relevant businesses and services. I am enjoying ploughing through these and will be logging onto WAHM when I’m done to see what else is on there!

Receiving the Mamapack was lovely, because as well as being packed with useful practical samples it really felt like I had received a treat! I had intended to write this as a comparison between the Bounty & Mamapack but to be honest, there simply isn’t any comparison! I have already recommended this to other Mum-to-be’s and will continue to do so (may even get myself another one a little further down the road lol!).”

A huge thank you to Emma and Nicki for their reviews – head on over to Mama Packs and join their friendly forum, and if you want your very own Mama Pack, then get one here – £2.50 with no P&P!

If you are interested in being a future reviewer for DaisychainBaby.co.uk, then please email linsatdaisychainbabydotcodotuk

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