How about a plant subscription for someone who loves plants?
Now, Flying Flowers are based in Jersey, in the Channel Islands (the island famous for Gerald Durrell, the conservationist) and the beautiful, gentle Jersey milking cow), and they've been delivering flowers for over 40 years.
So how did it start? Back in 1981, some holidaymakers in Jersey stopped sending postcards home and they began to send carnations instead. They were a great and colourful way to send love to family and friends back home and to let them know that they were being thought of!
And as well as flowers, they send plants - and they've got a choice of three plant subscriptions - 3, 6 or 12 months - and they choose one of their favourite seasonal house plants each month. They are each delivered in their own container. And you choose the start date!
This beautiful plant will bring lovely colourful cheer to your home! It's January's plant.
This is a lovely gift idea to give someone a surprise for however many months you choose to have your subscription run - just imagine their faces when they open the door! And plants arrive in a co-ordinating container, so the recipient doesn't have to go rummaging for pots and so on - they can just decide where to put them and sit back and enjoy them!
I love the Wildlife Trusts. They are a grassroots movement of people from all sorts of backgrounds and they are on a mission: to restore a third of the UK’s land and seas for nature by 2030.
Each Wildlife Trust is an independent charity. Those involved (in whatever way) want to make a difference to wildlife, to nature, to our climate.
There are now 46 Trusts throughout the UK, from Alderney Wildlife Trust in the Channel Islands to the Scottish Wildlife Trust, from South and West Wales to Suffolk, from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to Northumberland. So wherever you are, or wherever the nature lover in your life is, there should be a Wildlife Trust in their area you can tap into and get involved with.
The Wildlife Trusts together have over 900,000 members. There are 600 Trustees, over 32,500 volunteers and 2,500 staff. That’s a lot of people who care about nature and who want to make a positive difference. If we all work together and we are committed to making life better for nature and wildlife – and for people, too – we can achieve much.
Members are helping their Trust to look after wildlife and the natural places in their area, and they receive a welcome back, regular magazines and lots of information. It’s the sort of thing where you can get as involved as you want; if you are really manic with life, you can at least know that your membership is helping your Trust continue with its vital work.
Membership benefits
Because each Trust is an independent charity, the memberships will vary on cost (most are about £3 a month) but generally they include a welcome pack of goodies, regular magazines full of news and features, access to beautiful nature reserves, talks, walks and events – these are a great way to meet fellow wildlife lovers who care about the natural world – and chances to campaign for wildlife.
Many Wildlife Trusts have half price membership offers (or similar) in January 2025, (most to new members only)!
So this could be a great opportunity to treat yourself or a loved one to a reduced price membership, be it half price or anything else for that matter, and to support wildlife at the same time!
Take a look at your local Wildlife Trust, you can find yours here – and sign up. It’s a great way to show your support for nature and to help Wildlife Trusts reach the 30x30 target - that's 30% of land and sea protected by 2030.
The Wildlife Trusts are aiming to put nature in recovery, making more space for it and connecting habitats on a large scale so that wildlife can pass safely through to new territories. The Trusts want to restore nature so that ecosystems can function again - the UK natural world is very much depleted now.
The Trusts are also hoping to inspire us all to act for nature and rewild our neighbourhoods, working with our communities. I am a member of a couple of Wildlife Trusts and love to receive news of how I can get involved and make a difference - and also to see success stories. Together we can all drive change and actually help nature help us - nature is vital for our wellbeing.
So give a gift membership to a Wildlife Trust and you'll be giving a gift that helps nature, wildlife and people and is a win-win for nature lovers all round!
When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is to make myself some Twinnings Earl Grey Tea. I've got a fine bone china mug I love to drink it from (so pretty, from Dunoon) - a friend and I were talking about our morning Twinnings tea and we both agreed you have to drink it out of a fine bone china mug!
Twinnings are known for their teas, and they have an incredible range of flavours to choose from. They've got teas to see you through the day, from English Breakfast to your afternoon tea, and then something to see you off to sleep in the evening zzzzz
They've also got Wellbeing teas, for sleep, unwind, digestive health, feel good, good energy, pause and unwind and more.
And they've got Matcha tea - and in case you haven't tried that before, they've got a Matcha Starter Kit with everything you need to start making delicious Matcha beverages!
And as you can imagine, they've got lots of biscuits & confectionary, fudge, marmelades and prseserves, and plenty of tableware - mugs, KeekpCups and tea accessories.
They've also got gift hampers, Twinnings Collection Selection Boxes, Christmas confectionery, Christmas boxed gift sets and Christmas Advent calendars.
Their ranges give you a great chance to try out different teas, so they're great for anyone who loves trying different tastes, and they've even got a Tea Masterclass in their flagship store in the Strand in London, so you can buy a loved one a voucher for that (£45.00).
Khulu has just started to venture out of his cosy den, which is indoors - but he's delighted to have discovered the muddy wallows in the paddock, and he's taken the opportunity to get down and dirty there! He's got 21 acres to explore, so no doubt he'll find more wallows to enjoy!
Khulu is a Zulu word. It means both small and great or significant - and Khulu is a very significant rhino indeed! There are just 17,500 southern white rhinos left in the wild, so if we take the phrase of the astronaut Neil Armstrong and alter it a bit, you could say this is one step for man, one giant leap for mankind, we could change it slightly to one step for Khulu, one giant leap for southern white rhinos. Every rhino matters!
Khulu will be joining the European breeding programme, and this is important because it helps create agenetically diverse and healthy back up population.
There's plenty going on at Whispnade this Christmas, by the way, from 23rd November to 6th January, including the opportunity to Meet Santa, and weekly walks with different themes from the 7th November to the 19th December. And of course, there are all the animals to see!! And if you're looking for a gift for an animal lover, there are gift experiences, tickets to buy so your loved ones can visit, gift memberships of course, and the online shop!
You could also donate a Festive Dinner to the animals, from £5.00 - it depends if you want to go for a starter, a main course or a dessert - or go for all three! Find out more here.
