• SELF LOVE & BODY IMAGE
  • MOTHERHOOD
    • Pregnancy
    • Babies
    • Kids
  • ADVENTURE
  • STYLE
    • Interiors
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
  • FOOD

Mother's Always Right

Mum life, body image, style

  • ABOUT
  • PRESS
  • Podcast
  • Public Speaking
  • YOUTUBE
  • WORK WITH ME
  • #FreeFromDiets campaign
You are here: Home / FOOD / Ditching the diet – afternoon tea with Red Letter Days

Ditching the diet – afternoon tea with Red Letter Days

October 3, 2018 by Molly Leave a Comment

Afternoon tea

As we’ve already established, I’m a bit (very) extra when it comes to birthdays. So when Red Letter Days asked if I’d be interested in trying out one of their experiences I jumped at the chance to go for afternoon tea at a local five star hotel for my birthday.

Bovey Castle is a luxury hotel on Dartmoor, with views across rolling countryside on the outside and roaring fires, cosy wood panelled rooms and attentive staff on the inside. It’s a beautiful place to spend a birthday.

afternoon tea at Bovey Castle

afternoon tea Bovey Caste

I took my friend Elly and it was such a luxury to a) miss the school run and b) eat delicious food in opulent surroundings while chatting. A lot. (A lot of chatting and a lot of food.)


Bovey Castle afternoon tea Devon

Afternoon tea at Bovey Castle comes with a generous array of food (that three tier banquet pictured above was just for one person). As well as three different types of sandwiches there was a mini pie and sausage roll, plus four different types of cakes and an almond cake along with the scones. Elly’s allergic to nuts so her spread contained equally delicious alternatives.

Bovey Castle afternoon tea

We sat and ate and chatted and ate some more for a good two hours. It was so relaxing and I love that the hotel has lots of different rooms where they serve afternoon tea, so there’s an intimate, chilled out atmosphere instead of a rushed busy one.

Bovey Castle Afternoon Tea

So yes, the afternoon tea was IMMENSE. I highly recommend it and I love Red Letter Days long time for inviting me along.

One of the things I’ve always loved about celebrations is the food. And a birthday isn’t a birthday for me without some kind of food-based activity. Yesterday involved brunch with my parents, afternoon tea with a friend and a delicious supper with Si.

As we already know I don’t do diets and yesterday was a bit of a revelation for me as I think it’s probably the first birthday in a few years where I’ve not felt one shred of food-related guilt. In years gone by I might have felt guilty over scoffing the cake or vowed to do some kind of detox after a day of celebration excess. But I now know this is a weird kind of binge-restrict cycle that is never positive and, even if it might be seen as normal because so many people do it (we all know someone on a detox or a post-holiday diet), it’s not healthy.

I feel like I’m starting 35 with so many new life lessons and realisations. Things I thought I already knew – and might have understood rationally but didn’t necessarily truly FEEL until the past year or so. This excites me.

Anyway, here’s to birthdays, ditching diets and celebrating our love of food with friends and family. Happy happy days.

 

 

**

Thanks to Red Letter Days for working with me on this post. For more information about how I work with brands check out my Work With Me page. 

 

Filed Under: FOOD Tagged With: afternoon tea, anti diet culture, Devon, dieting, mum breaks, self-love

« 35 life lessons on my 35th birthday
What’s a happy list and why is it worth doing? »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

YOUTUBE

INSTAGRAM

If you feel bad about your body you’re less like If you feel bad about your body you’re less likely to do nice things for it, including moving in a way that feels good and eating in a way that feels good. (FYI health is about more than just exercise and nutrition, but let’s get deeper into the exercise thing for a second...)
.
Research shows kids who have low body image are less likely to get involved with sports and more likely to skip PE. 
.
Want kids to move more? Stop teaching them that one type of body is better than another - because if their body doesn’t look like your version of a healthy / beautiful / successful body not only will they be more likely to feel shame over their body, they’ll be less likely to engage with the very behaviours you want them to do more of (or be more likely to engage with them in an UNhealthy way - compulsive exercise is dangerous).
.
Instead:
💕Try talking about the intrinsic benefits of exercise over the extrinsic ones (ie. how it makes you FEEL instead of how it makes you LOOK).
✨Create opportunities for movement where ALL children feel welcome. 
💕Show children diverse representation so they can see sporting heroes with a range of body types and know that movement is for EVERYbody. 
✨Take a zero tolerance approach to appearance based bullying, body shaming and comments that perpetuate weight stigma (including even the hint that fat = bad). 
.
(If you’re a teacher or youth leader interested in knowing more about this topic, a #BodyHappyKids workshop will help - follow the link in my bio 🥰❤️)
.
.
.
.
.
[Image description: A multicoloured slide with an overlaid screenshot of tweet by Molly which reads ‘If your intention is to “get kids healthy” then you need to be aware of how weight bias, weight stigma and poor body image are active barriers to health. The end.]
Sharing this outfit pic with you because it’s a Sharing this outfit pic with you because it’s a crying shame only the piles of laundry got to see it, quite frankly. Finally, a pair of pre-loved jeans bought online that are true to size, consistent with the rest of the brand’s sizing and actually fit! 🎉 
.
PS heads up - I’ll be doing a Q&A about body image and kids in my Stories on Friday. The Q sticker is up in my Stories now if you’d like to submit a Q! 💕 #BodyHappyKids
.
.
.
.
[Image description: Molly is standing in front of the mirror looking very pleased with the fact her new jeans bought from Depop fit her. She is wearing pink patterned jeans with cherubs on them, a pink check jumper and pink trainers. There are piles of laundry on the bed behind her.]
Another photo of us on a walk, because it’s been Another photo of us on a walk, because it’s been our main form of entertainment this year. Anyone else? 
.
I honestly now get excited about putting my boots on and being outdoors, even in the rain. I’m going to start hugging trees next and going on wild camping weekends that involve doing a poo behind a tree and making my own fire. Joke.... maybe. 
.
Just another reminder that all movement is valid, exercise doesn’t need to have to be about burning calories or even tracking steps in order for it to be “worth it”. Hope everyone’s had a great weekend ❤️
#BodyHappyMum #JoyfulMovement
.
.
.
.
.
Image description: Molly and her two daughters stand on a bridge in the countryside. They are all wearing hiking boots and outdoor clothes and smiling.
My body is good and excellent and my body only bel My body is good and excellent and my body only belongs to me ✨ (Words by Effie May, age 6 💕) #BodyHappyMum
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Image description: A close up of Molly’s bare skin as she hugs herself. It’s dark and part of her body is illuminated by light. She has her eyes closed and is smiling.
“Mummy I wrote a letter to myself,” she said. “Mummy I wrote a letter to myself,” she said. And my heart swelled. Maybe I’m doing an OK job after all 🤞❤️💕 #BodyHappyKids 
.
I could leave this caption here but I need to make something clear: if you think it’s great that my daughter - a thin, white, nondisabled, cisgender kid - feels good in her body but you’re not here for the self-love of any kid who doesn’t look like her.... then you’ve missed the point.
.
ALL bodies are good bodies, and without this important piece of the puzzle ALL children will be at risk of doubting their body. And what happens when they doubt their body? Well... hating our body doesn’t make us treat it with love, and the same is true of kids. 
.
Great, now we’ve cleared that up, can we take a moment to appreciate the incredible phonetic spelling on show here?! 
.
.
.
.
Image description: Effie, age 6, stands against a white wardrobe holding up a letter she has written to herself. It is spelled phonetically and reads “My body is good and excellent and my body only belongs to me.”
I used to struggle to buy stuff for myself if I ha I used to struggle to buy stuff for myself if I had any spare cash - not just treats, but basics like pants and tights that fit properly. I’d tell myself I didn’t need it, didn’t deserve it, couldn’t justify the expense. There’s still that little voice (the habit of putting everyone else’s needs first and my own last dies hard it seems) but I’m leaning into exploring why it still sometimes rears its head, instead of always listening to it. 
. 
I’m trying to buy as much as I can from pre-loved places or small businesses these days, which is why I’m very happy to share with you some of my latest finds: a star dress from Depop (£5), earrings from @kelzojewellery by @ourtransitionallife (£12) and the comfiest tights I’ve ever owned in Raspberry Pie by @snagtights (£6.99) 💕💕💕
.
Have you found any great small brands lately? Shout them out in the comments so we can all support in the run up to Christmas. ⬇️⚡️
.
.
.
Image description: Molly is smiling and sticking out her tongue to the camera. Her hair is freshly dyed a light shade of pink. She’s wearing a pink t’shirt underneath a black and white star patterned slip dress, with bright pink tights and black and pink earrings decorated with a boob design.
Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2020 · Mothers Always Right. Design by Stacey Corrin

This site uses cookies: Find out more.