Today I have a wonderful giveaway thanks to the very lovely Lucy from Capture By Lucy.

When Baby Tilda died and we did not know what to do or where to go, Lucy and her family offered us something that we desperately needed.

A retreat, an escape, a break.

They invited us to have some time out at their family holiday home in Southbourne.

Between Tilda’s death and her funeral we took our time together, close to Tilda, by the sea.

And now the lovely Lucy and her family are offering an opportunity for you to do the same.

Take a break, make your escape, enjoy a retreat by the sea.

Lucy has offered a 2 night, 3 day stay so Friday – Sunday. The flat can sleep up to 10 people and so it would be possible for an extended family or two families to go together.

The weekend can be any time in the next 6 months out of school holidays.

Having stayed at the flat it is a fabulously situated holiday home for enjoying what Southbourne and Bournemouth have to offer.

This is what Lucy says about this very special place

For 35 years my grandparents have had a lovely 2 storey flat right on the seafront at Southbourne which is the second town along the coast from Bournemouth (15 mins to the centre). It is along form Boscombe which is another lovely beach.

It is right on the beach, there is a zig zag path down from the cliff top and our beach hut is a 2 minute walk from the bottom of the zig zag. There is a little 2 burner stove and kettle in the hut, chairs, toys etc so we often give the boys their tea (scrambled egg etc) and then walk up for a bath come rain or shine they love it!

The flat itself is in a block opposite a lovely family friendly pub called the Spyglass and Kettle if you don’t fancy cooking and the main Southbourne high street is a 5-10 min walk. There is everything you could need, bakers, butchers, grocers, Tesco Express, little Boots, fabric shop, family friendly bistro (our boys love the kids games available while you eat – jenga, connect 4 etc) little gift shops to look around, newsagents etc etc.

The flat has 3 bedrooms, downstairs there is a big double with a single bed in it too ad there is a pull out bed in the wardrobe. Next door is a bedroom with bunk beds and a single bed and there are toys in the wardrobe. There is a bathroom downstairs too with a modern shower over a bath.

All you need to bring is your covers and towels as there are duvets and pillows already there.

Upstairs there is a large lounge/dining area, with an enclosed balcony. There is TV, DVD, video, music and lots of funny old DVDs and videos.

There is a separate kitchen fully equipped for eating in.

There is a third double bedroom upstairs and one of the sofas is a sofa bed so no shortage of space! There is a little cloakroom upstairs too with a toilet and sink.

There is a garage and parking and a couple of little trikes I think in the garage.

It is a home away from home, we always say you can walk up from the beach with sandy feet because as long as you hoover before you go it doesn’t matter!

We take our friends there lots and everyone says the same, we all just get there and relax.

Hengistbury Head is less than a 10 min drive, a lovely nature park, great for bikes and trikes, kite flying etc. There is a mini land train that takes you to Mudeford which is picture perfect beach huts, there is a cafe and lovely bay and you can get the ferry across to Christchurch which is beautiful – big play park, feed the swans, look at all the boats and there is a beautiful Priory.

Peppa Pig World is not far from there too as is the New Forest. There is an amazing place called Moors Valley Country Park – worth a google. We go there every time, free to get in huge play areas, nature trails, great wooden adventure equipment set in woodlands. Cafe, land train, lake etc great all year round.

We enjoyed our time by the sea and will always be grateful to Lucy and her family for giving us the opportunity to get away.

So, are you tempted with a weekend by the sea?

Here is what you need to do to be in with a chance of winning one at Lucy’s special Southbourne home.

At the Matilda Mae Welly Walk earlier this month we had a wonderful storytelling tent. One of the stories told on the day was Jack and the Beanstalk. Children were able to listen to the story and then plant their very own magic bean.

Esther and William did not get chance to do this on the day and so today we read the story together and then with soil from Baby Tilda’s garden we planted some magic beans in Little Scribble pots.

Little Scribbles sells Barefoot Books and storytelling accessories. The lovely Deb of Little Scribbles kindly sent books for our storytelling and materials for creating a beanstalk and the resources for children to plant magic beans.

I brought home the beanstalk materials as there was not an opportunity to create the beanstalk at the event. With your help we are going to create it at home. A beanstalk that reaches up to the clouds and takes little messages to Matilda Mae in the sky.

Esther and William today have been setting the scene.

We put soil in the pots, watered the soil, added a magical bean, added more soil, watered the bean in the soil and then added the magical fairy dust (silver glitter). We had a wonderful time. Potting and patting, scooping and sprinkling. Esther and William both took really great care with their beans and are going to be so excited to watch them as they start to grow.

So what has all of this to do with winning a weekend by the sea?

Or raising money for The Lullaby Trust?

In our playroom along with our magical beans we have a beanstalk looking rather bare.

We would like to cover the stalk in green and golden leaves.

Each leaf will have your name on and a wish, message or quotation for Matilda Mae.

This was the idea of Little Scribbles and I am so sorry that we did not make it happen at the welly walk.

But we are making it happen now.

So here is exactly what you need to do to help us with our beanstalk, raise money for The Lullaby Trust and be in with a chance of a stay beside the sea!

1: Make a donation of at least £1 to The Lullaby Trust here

2: Leave your name and a message for Matilda Mae in the comments below. I will write your message on a leaf and add it to our beanstalk.

3: On Monday 2nd December we will put all the leaves into a pot and Esther or William will pull a leaf out of the pot. I will video this happening so that everyone can see that the draw is fair.

4: I will announce the winner of the seaside escape here on Monday 2nd December, the 10 month anniversary of Baby Tilda’s death.

Easy!

The competition is open to UK Entrants only and the draw will be made at 6pm on Monday 2nd December 2013.

I would like to thank Lucy and her family for offering such a wonderful prize and Little Scribbles for her creative and inspirational support of The Lullaby Trust. Thank you both for remembering Matilda Mae.

If you are buying books for your little ones this Christmas please do buy them from Little Scribbles Barefoot Books page as she will be donating 30% of her sales to The Lullaby Trust. Thank you.