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Growing Family

UK home and garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for busy family life, written by Catherine Hughes

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Tips for choosing a real Christmas tree

December 3, 2018 by Catherine 4 Comments

christmas tree how to choose

Are you opting for a real Christmas tree this year?  It’s hard to beat the impact of a real tree laden with all your treasured family decorations - even if those decorations are all in one small area thanks to the kids’ creative efforts! A real Christmas tree isn’t a cheap option, so naturally we all want to choose a really good one - but it can be quite bewildering knowing what to look out for and what to avoid when you make your ...

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Filed Under: Family Home Tagged With: Christmas, Top Tips, Trees, Winter

Taking the RSPB Wild Challenge: trees, leaves and seeds

October 12, 2018 by Catherine Leave a Comment

rspb wild challenge trees leaves and seeds

Have you been getting outdoors and enjoying nature this autumn? We’ve been trying to make the most of the mild weather, and enjoying all that nature has to offer at this time of year.  If you read the blog regularly you’ll know that we’re partnering with RSPB on lots of fun nature projects, and this month we’ve been trying out another of their Wild Challenge activities. RSPB Wild Challenge is all about helping wildlife and connecting with the ...

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Filed Under: Exploring Nature Tagged With: Activity, Autumn, Children, Family, Leaves, Nature, Outdoors, RSPB, Seeds, Trees, Wild Challenge

Ideas for creating privacy in a family garden

June 17, 2016 by Catherine 2 Comments

colourfence metal fencing in a family garden

Do you think of your garden as an outdoor room?  At this time of year in particular, our gardens work hard to give us extra space for outdoor dining, family garden games, entertaining, and simply relaxing in the sunshine. Using our gardens more can make us feel the need to create some privacy.  Unless your house is situated in a large, detached plot, your garden is likely to be overlooked in some way.  Even if you get on well with your ...

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Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: Children, Family, Fencing, Garden, Garden design, gardening, Hedging, Top Tips, Trees

All About the Japanese Maple

May 17, 2016 by Catherine Leave a Comment

acer palmatum japanese maple tree

Today's post explores one of the most well-known small trees, the Japanese maple.  Enjoy! Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) are small, deciduous trees grown for their graceful habit, autumn colour and beautiful foliage which may be coloured or deeply dissected. Many acers grow extremely slowly and are perfect in a smaller garden, grown in large containers. The Japanese maple tree (Acer palmatum) belongs to the Aceraceae family, which is a ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Garden, gardening, Plants, Top Tips, Trees

Woodland wanderings

January 29, 2015 by Catherine 18 Comments

woodland walk

I think this week has been the hardest so far this Winter for me to find any garden inspiration.  The weather has been pretty foul and our garden is looking a bit like I feel; rather drab and in need of a bit of colour and sun to liven things up.  Ah January, how we love you.... So with little to inspire us on the doorstep, and with Lily keen to continue her never-ending mission to find the perfect stick, we headed to our local wood to blow ...

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Filed Under: Exploring Nature Tagged With: Children, Family, Flowers, HDYGG, Moss, Snowdrops, Trees, Wildlife, Winter, Woodland

Welcome!

I’m Catherine, mum, wife, writer and fan of wellies. We love exploring, creating and growing things and my blog shares ideas, inspiration and tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.

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Catherine Hughes is a home & garden blogger sharing ideas, inspiration & tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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Recent Posts

solid wood flooring
how to make natural christmas decorations with pine cones and pom poms, a fun nature craft to get the kids involved in preparing your home for the holiday season
christmas tree how to choose
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desk
feeding garden birds in winter infographic
what to plant in september - radishes
falling autumn leaves
what to plant november hyacinths

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