A road trip and a glass of fizz – I’m an adult again | Cheryl Gibbs

It was a Mothers’ Day present we booked for my mum and her friend and having postponed and rearranged it twice before for various reasons, we were looking forward to going.

It was an hour’s drive, but a trip that was absolutely stunning – the Hampshire countryside is something we probably take for granted, but when you’re driving for quite a while it’s hard not to notice how picturesque the rolling hills are. They’re seemingly endless.

We arrived about 10 minutes late and the tour had already started, but we managed to catch up with them in the vineyard where our guide Nick detailed the grapes and the conditions which affect the final product.

I’ve done a wine-tasting vineyard tour before when we were in South Africa and have twice visited the Stellenbosch vineyard, but I was filming both times so wasn’t paying too much attention to the specifics.

But this time I got to enjoy it and you wouldn’t believe how everything will affect the final output and taste of the wine.

I was also interested to learn how much the black chalk from the chalklands alongside the River Test affected the vineyard’s range. Truly fascinating.

Of course, it started to rain and we made our way to the winery where Nick explained the process of turning the grapes into wine. Again I was fascinated to learn the sheer number of processes – and time – that it takes before you get to actually take a sip.

And of course that was my favourite bit. We ended the tour with wine tasting and a ploughman’s-type lunch. It was lovely and while I felt guilty for leaving Harley with my sister (although I’m not really sure why because she had a great time) it was just so nice to do something as an adult, that wasn’t about ensuring a little person was having fun, or being educated or stimulated.

It was a pleasant few hours doing something as an adult and the little bubbles from the fizz made it even more pleasurable. Highly recommend a visit and absolutely worth a one-hour trip.

It looks as though my mum guilt will be with me forever

Mum guilt is the worst feeling in the world. I’ve always thought I was a level-headed person who looked at both sides of a story seeing it from varying perspectives.

But since becoming a mum I am consumed with often irrational reasoning. People tell me to get a grip and not be silly – things that I’d have told a friend to pull themselves together about. It’s like I’ve lost control of 'rational’.

It’s mostly about whether I spend enough time with her, which I know I do and quite honestly I couldn’t do much more as I have to work too.

But I’m consumed by the guilt all the time. Will it ever go? When I speak to other mums with older children or my mum, they say, nope it never does. Brilliant…​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

A return at last to life in the fast lane… and a reprimand

I went swimming this week for the first time since I was pregnant with Harley. I used to go two or three times a week when I was expecting her.

This week was an unusual yet gratifying experience. First, you had to book the lane you wanted to swim in. I had a choice between the snail-paced slow lane or the over-achieving fast. I picked fast. Big mistake.

Immediately I could see it was going to be hard to keep up with the over-achievers. I tried swapping lanes when they opened up one next to me but got reprimanded by the lifeguard.

But I swam front crawl – fast – for 26 lengths before my arms and legs refused to keep going at the pace on which the fast lane insisted.

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