Mouseton Abbey Scoop!

Breaking News... Exclusive chat with Lady Brie of Mouseton Abbey

Lady Brie, Countess of Mouseton, talks about THAT Alan Titchmarsh appearance and rumours of a new A-List friendship…

So, Lady Brie, we saw Mouseton Abbey on The Alan Titchmarsh Show on Friday, how exciting was that?

It was such a fun day! Lord Mouseton and I were allowed to meet Alan and we enjoyed a jolly good chat. Mr Tichmarsh is ever so sweet and he asked lots of questions the history of Mouseton Abbey. In the end, he showed our rather splendid book to the delightful Julian Ovenden but I was a little disappointed that our interview wasn’t aired. I blame my husband’s tendency to ramble.

We hear that you have a new celebrity best friend!

Oh, Sandra? Yes, she was over in England recently and we met up for tea at The Ritz. I gave her a copy of the book for her son, Louis. She’s a darling and has invited me out to LA for a shopping trip.

How has the publicity for Mouseton Abbey been going?

Well, it’s been exhausting to say the least. I’m going to need to book myself into Champneys to recover when it’s all over! There have been numerous interviews and meet-and-greets – I forget all the places we’ve visited. I’m excited that this week our fabulous blog tour kicked off. The lovely Read It Daddy ran a guest post with Lord Mouseton on Monday (http://readitdaddy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-mouseton-abbey-blog-tour-special.html) and Mrs Cheshire was interviewed by the legendary Book Sniffer (http://booksniffingpug.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/a-peep-behind-closed-doors-of-mouseton.html). Luckily, she behaved herself and didn’t divulge too many of our secrets! Plus Nayu’s Reading Corner has an exclusive on our Summer Holiday coming soon (http://nayusreadingcorner.blogspot.co.uk/ ). After all this, I’ll need another break!

Mouseton Abbey is available to order through The Book People and Amazon as well as all good bookshops

Best Books for a 1 Year Old

Okay, so I know I'm going to need to be a little more regular with my posts if anyone out there is going to read my ramblings! At the moment, it's all a little crazy with limited childcare and 2 jobs! Am holding out for after the half-term when our childcare will be back on track...

My little boy recently turned 1 and it's made me reflect on how time flys by so fast and how so much has changed. As the youngest of three, he's learnt to be patient and has such a happy, smiley personality. But I do feel an smidge of guilt that I haven't been able to spend as much one on one attention with him in his first year. I began sharing and reading books with my eldest at 3 months, starting with first black and white board books enjoying the cuddles and closeness that reading time would bring. And as I was so zombie like after the birth of DD2, the 3 of us would read books daily to encourage quiet time in my state of exhaustion! I'm hoping that my son will have soaked up our love of books via the overflowing bookshelves and I'm looking forward to sharing with him our favourite reads. 1 is such a great age to instil a love of reading of books so here's our list of books that have been tried and tested!

1) Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell - a classic lift-the-flap book. Ingeniously simple, kids will love to make all the animal noises!

2) Not a Box by Antoinette Portis - A small rabbit turns the humble box into a mountain, a rocket ship... Encourages the use of imagination in your little explorer.

3) Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray - Lovely retro style illustrations are matched with a cunning use of the alphabet. A nursery classic.

4) Chick by Ed Vere - Bold colours and simple graphics make up this funny novelty book about a chick's day. We also love Ed Vere's Banana!

5) I Love My Mummy by Giles Andreae and Emma Dodd - perfect for bedtime... They might not be able to say it so this charming book does it for them! There's also a I Love My Daddy version

That's not forgetting all our other favourites for little ones; The Hungry Caterpillar, Usborne's That's Not My series, Emergency! & Roar! by Margaret Mayo, Mr Pusskins, Goodnight Gorilla... What are your favourites?