Spruce-up your garden ready for Spring in this lockdown period

The lockdown has forced many to adjust to a slower pace of life as officials try and get a handle on outbreak. With us only having to leave our homes for exercise or to go to work if unable to work remotely. Ditching the dreaded commute and enjoying a longer lie-in should be leaving us feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed. As we prepare for another day in lockdown, however, many have never felt so groggy. So why is this? With socialising off the table, day-to-day life may be feeling pretty monotonous. Many of us are trying to embrace the extra time to read, watch films and complete odd jobs around the house, however, the disruption to our routine can affect how we sleep. It’s likely because our routine has changed and we've disturbed our normal rhythm. Our highly-sensitive body clock can also be affected by reduced physical activity and vitamin D exposure as we spend more time indoors. Reduced social contact may also be leaving many feeling unstimulated mentally. Us humans are hardwired to be social beings and we thrive on social connection, co-operation, competition and love. In the midst of lockdown, our lives have changed immeasurably and we find ourselves living a kind of surreal existence dominated by isolation, high alert, anxiety and unease about what might happen as a result of this pandemic. This intense anxiety about the uncertainty can cause us to feel tired, reduce our energy levels, cause physical or mental exhaustion and a lack of motivation. Now we’re in lockdown for a prolonged period of time, those who can should try to take advantage of a little lie-in as it may improve how you feel in the mornings. A lie-in mid-week may feel unnatural, but could be key to starting the day with a spring in your step. Factoring in your new lie-in, try and stick to a set bed and wake time. It is recommend drinking a glass of water first thing to help rehydrate you in the morning and getting exposure to sunlight soon after waking to help you feel more sprightly. If you find your sleep is being disturbed, taking a break from all the doom and gloom could put you in a more zen state of mind. It is also recommended that you watch or do things that make you laugh. This can be whatever brings a smile to your face. Laughter boosts mood and can give us respite from intrusive and negative thoughts. Don't forget we're all in this together and you're not alone. Take care and stay safe x

Like many of you we have all had to find things to do to keep ourselves (and our children!) occupied in this COVID19 lockdown. Some things I have been successful at other times not so much, but when its got tough digging out this recipe has always put a smile on everyones face! Before lockdown I wasn't a baker, a gardener or many other things infact! I now bake and also becoming a pro at gardening (lets hope my plants don't die!) as well as juggling my multiple businesses and family life it does get tough and time is very limited. With this recipe in my life, life couldn't be any simplier and I would like to share it with you and best of all only takes 20 mins (if that) to prepare... Ingredients 3 large bananas 75ml vegetable oil or sunflower oil, plus extra for the tin 100g brown sugar 225g plain flour (or use self-raising flour and reduce the baking powder to 2 heaped tsp) 3 heaped tsp baking powder 3 tsp cinnamon or mixed spice 50g dried fruit or nuts (optional) Method Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Mash 3 large black peeled bananas with a fork, then mix well with 75g vegetable or sunflower oil and 100g brown sugar. Add 225g plain flour, 3 heaped tsp baking powder and 3 tsp cinnamon or mixed spice, and combine well. Add 50g dried fruit or nuts, if using. Bake in an oiled, lined 2lb loaf tin for 20 minutes. Check and cover with foil if the cake is browning. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool a little before slicing. It's delicious freshly baked, but develops a lovely gooey quality the day after. Enjoy! Stay tuned for more of my favourite recipes this lockdown

There are many ways to create a home office that is tailored to your needs, from ensuring adequate lighting to adding an outbuilding. The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted one in 12 households to invest significant funding into a new home office, research shows. The average amount being spent, which took into consideration any decorating, new equipment or furniture, or the possibility of converting another room, is £1,759. The prolonged and indefinite period lockdown could be the catalyst for a number of home improvements across the nation – particularly now with question marks shrouding the housing market once again. In the current climate, with more time to complete the work, this presents people with a good opportunity to get a few jobs done. If you are at home with your family, the key is to maximise the space so that you can work comfortably and efficiently during this time. Create the Optimal Home Office Working from home can be enjoyable for many providing your environment is tailored to your needs. And creating the optimal space for a dedicated home office is a great idea. If you have a room that isn’t used very often, or is used for storage, such as a spare room or garden room, consider setting up your home office there. Working from the corner of a spare room, kitchen or living room can be suitable in the short term, but is, in most cases, impractical in the long term. Here’s some tips to help you create your home office: Make sure you have adequate natural light and consider adding some task lighting (which is useful if working later in the evening) Avoid placing your desk in such a way that your computer will face a window – on sunny days the glare can make it hard to see the screen Ensure you have adequate power points and a good wifi signal If you have the space, choosing a room for your office which is located close to or with an adjoining WC helps to minimise the risk of household distractions If you are moving your home office into a storage room, you’ll want to remove the stored items in advance, helping you to optimise the space. If you need to shut yourself away from the rest of the house, a loft space is a good candidate, but unless it has already been converted, this is a relatively expensive solution. Add an Outbuilding for a Home Office If you’re struggling to find the ideal home office within your home, consider moving the office into your garden. A garden room or outbuilding can make a great home office – as it’s separate from the rest of the home, you can avoid unnecessary distractions. You’ll need to make sure it has sufficient electricity supply and sockets, suitable lighting and heating options and reliable internet access. Good insulation is also a must if you want to use a garden office all year round, as is lighting (an electrician should be able to connect an outbuilding to the electricity in the house fairly easily), sockets and a heat source. Think too about double glazing and good security measures.

Why not make one of your daily walks a mindful one? Not only is this good for your mind but in this climate we need to stop and think about things, its a way of our mind communicating. Find a quiet space to walk. It could be outdoors, but it could also be in a hallway, or even a large room, walking back and forth. Mindful walking uses all of your senses — sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch — to bring awareness to your body and surroundings. Just be mindful of what you are doing, so you can begin to live in the present moment. Here’s how to do it: As you walk, notice how your body feels. How do your legs, feet and arms feel with each step you take? Feel the contact of your foot as it touches the ground, and the movement of your body from side-to-side as you move into your next step. Whatever else captures your attention, come back to the sensation of walking. Your mind will wander, so without frustration, guide it back again as many times as you need. Now using your sense of sight, look around and try to notice every detail – colours, patterns and shapes. Then, use your sense of smell to notice any aromas or scents. Are you able to notice any tastes as you walk? Can you taste the air? When doing this the other day the first thing that came to mind before take a deep breathe in was this was probably the only time we are going to be breathing in this clean non polluted air. Now using your sense of touch. Perhaps it’s the feeling of warm sunshine, cool rain or a cold breeze. Perhaps it’s the sensation of the soles of the feet touching the ground with each step, or the weight of the arms swinging at your side. The intention is to simply acknowledge the sensations for thirty seconds or so, without feeling the need to get involved in thinking about the feelings. With openness and curiosity, notice any sensations, thoughts or feelings that arise, without lingering on anything in particular. Whatever you decide to do with your time, stay safe and stay home. We're in this together.

Online marketing is a must for all modern age businesses, marketers and personal brands. So it’s no wonder that we’re all trying to optimise our posts, increase our reach, grow our following and boost our engagement rates. Purely by posting when your audience are most likely to be online, you increase your chances of reaching more people. engaging your followers and growing your audience.

Make it gram-worthy – as we know, Instagram is a visual diary of people’s experiences. Whether you’re designing a scheme, building or even a hoarding – making it worthy of sharing on Instagram should be high on your list of objectives. Put it on the map – research shows that posts with a location get 79% more engagement than posts without. Hashtag it – hashtags both optimise campaigns and categorise content and, moreover, are of increasing importance with user-driven engagement. Seven out of ten hashtags on Instagram are branded. By creating a unique hashtag for your brand or campaign, you can encourage others to adopt this as part of their content. Influencers are your new friends – using influencers is a great way of spreading brand awareness and engagement. Last year brand-sponsored influencer campaigns were the fastest growing form of online customer- acquisition marketing, seeing over 12.9 million of these in 2017. It’s clear that marketers and brands believe in the effectiveness of using influencers and this trend is expected to increase in the future, with roughly two- thirds of marketing departments looking to up their budget for influencer marketing over the next year. So who are social media influencers? Influencer marketing is when a business collaborates with an influential person on social media to promote a product, service, place or campaign. These people are known as ‘social media influencers’ and have a dedicated and engaged following. They can be a celebrity or a general member of the public who post about their everyday life; this type of influencer is particularly powerful as they are still perceived as mostly normal, down-to-earth people. Influencers have big networks and a large following at their reach so can quickly and effectively endorse a message or be ‘seen’ at a particular place. An effective strategy requires you to know your audience and create an authentic message using the right tools – sparking the right conversation about a new development or rebrand requires quality over quantity. In other words, don’t get fixated on the number of likes or followers and expect it to go viral. Create content that is relevant to your audience and brand.

You really only have 2 – 3 seconds to grab your user’s attention and convince them to click and actually read your blog post. So how do you make sure that your content marketing efforts aren’t going to waste? Well, follow these helpful tips in writing a blog post that converts. Know your audience Before you start writing, it’s crucial that you know who your audience is, and what they are looking for. Write Compelling Headlines If you don’t have a compelling headline, then there is a very good chance that your blog post will not be read or shared. As humans, we’re shallow. We judge a book by it’s cover and a blog post by it’s title. This is why your blog post title is crucial for the success of that blog post. Add Subheadings to break the page Formatting is crucial for blog posts. There’s nothing worst than reading a blog post that’s just one giant paragraph. Most of the time people skim through the content before they actually decide to read it, so I always recommend breaking your article with subheadings. Anything you can do to make it easy on the user’s eyes is going to help them read your blog post (and take the action that you want them to). Use Bullet Points Since we know that people skim before they read, you need to make sure to highlight your best information. Aside from subheadings, bullet lists are perfect because they’re very easy to skim through. Express clear benefit. Think of bullets as mini-headlines. Keep your bullets symmetrical. 1-2 lines each. Avoid bullet clutter. Don’t write paragraphs in bullets. Remember bullets are not sentences. They’re just like headlines. Add Images Human brain processes visual content a lot faster than text based content. That’s why adding captivating images can help boost your engagement. Add Clear call-to-action Add a clear call-to-action. Whether it is to ask your readers to leave a comment, share your blog post, follow you on social media, or purchase your product, make sure you clearly state what you’d like them to do. A good call-to-action is something that’s easily distinguishable and stands out.

The rise of social media has meant that we as a global population are more connected than we have ever been before. However, our reliance on social media can have an negative effect on our mental health, with the average checking their phone as much 28 times a day! While social media platforms can have their benefits, using them too frequently can make you feel increasingly unhappy and isolated in the long run. The constant barrage of perfectly filtered photos that most platforms are bound to knock many people’s self-esteem, while obsessively checking your Twitter and Facebook feed just before bed could be contributing towards poor quality of sleep. Here are six ways that social media could be negatively affecting your mental health without you even realising:- Self-esteem We all have our fair share of insecurities, some that we speak about openly and others that we prefer to keep to ourselves. However, comparing yourself to others on social media by stalking their aesthetically perfect photos or staying up to date with their relationship status on Facebook could do little to assuage your feelings of self-doubt. Becoming more conscious of the amount of time you spend scrolling through other people’s online profiles could help you focus more on yourself and boost your self-confidence. Human connection As human beings, it’s so important for us to be able to communicate and forge personal connections with one another. However, it can be hard to do so when we’re glued to rectangular screens, becoming more acquainted with our friends’ digital facades than their real-life personas. Memory Social media can be great for looking back fondly on memories and recounting how past events occurred. However, it can also distort the way in which you remember certain tidbits from your life.Many of us are guilty of spending far too much time trying to take the perfect photo of a visual marvel, all the while not actually absorbing the firsthand experience of witnessing it with your own two eyes. Sleep Having enough sleep is of paramount importance. However, many of us use our phones too soon before choosing the hit the hay, making it harder to doze off. Try setting yourself a strict rule of not going on your phone for at least 40 minutes to an hour before going to bed, and see if that makes a difference to the quality of your sleep. Attention span It’s not just your subconscious brain that you need to worry about, but also the extent to which your brain is able to fully concentrate when you’re awake. While it’s incredible to consider the amount of information readily available at our fingertips thanks to social media, it also means that people have become far more easily distracted. If you’re unable to not check your phone for at least a few minutes, then you’d do well to practice exercising your willpower on occasion. Mental health Not only has social media been proven to cause unhappiness, but it can also lead to the development of mental health issues such as anxiety or depression when used too much or without caution. While you don’t necessarily have to quit social media for good, if you feel like it’s beginning to bog you down, why not consider allocating social media-free time slots during your daily routine? The slight change could do you a whole lot of good.

Switching off completely can be a challenge for busy people. But the benefits of getting away from it all or even taking time out at home should not be underestimated. Ideally, a quiet weekend or a holiday should be a time for recharging your batteries and getting away from the stresses of everyday life. But in today’s highly connected world, switching off entirely can be a real challenge for many of us. How often should you check your email – or the news headlines? If you are away, will the hotel offer good wifi and will local mobile reception be easily picked up? These are some of the questions many will be asking before a summer break. It’s worth a little planning to make sure your time off is truly relaxing – especially if you’re leaving significant workplace or domestic responsibilities behind. Top tips to make your summer count Plan for your absence The better you can prepare for being away, the more chance you’ll have of being able to enjoy an uninterrupted break. Try to tie up as many loose ends as possible before you go, and leave clear instructions for colleagues and employees about what needs to be done in your absence – as well as who is responsible for doing it. Be realistic about your availability However much the idea of going totally off-grid might appeal, for many people it simply isn’t an option – some form of contact may have to be maintained. You could let colleagues or friends know that you’ll be looking at emails once or twice a day, say, but will not generally be available on the phone. You could also set up an out-of-office response on your email and/or voicemail that explains how often and when you’ll be checking messages. Limit your digital exposure Your tablet or smartphone may not be used exclusively for work, but just looking at your device typically means being notified of new emails or other messages related to your daily duties. You’ll be able to immerse yourself more fully in your break if you can manage to ditch the digitals for the most part – only going online for a limited period once or twice a day, for example, even if this means leaving your phone out of reach. Understand the benefits of your break A stress-free break won’t just benefit you on a personal level; clearing your mind and relaxing for a few days will mean you can return to the office or your usual busy life revitalised, with a fresh perspective on things and some positive new ideas. Before you go... Take a note of important telephone numbers Save important numbers to your phone and write them down as a back up. Take your bank’s international phone number as well as the one for your travel insurance provider. Check your passport expiry Some countries may not let you enter if your passport is just a few months from expiry, so make sure you check before you go. Seek Foreign Office advice The UK government offers guidance to travellers heading to destinations all over the world with information on everything from potential civil unrest to recent crime trends. Have a great summer where ever you go, abroad, close to home, or even staying at home, make it a relaxing one!