Kim Nash is Head of Publicity for Bookouture, now an author in her own right, is part of a book club, has her own book blog. Her latest book is called Escape to Giddywell Grange and came out in ebook on 18th September. A huge part of Kim’s job is to promote Bookouture’s books, and her own, on social media, which can be quite demanding and draining at times. Here Kim talks about how she tries to switch off from the day to day challenges of work and computers, phones, ipads etc which can take over our lives these days.
Escape to Giddywell Grange
Spa Days
I do love a spa day. I’m very lucky that I live about twenty minutes away from Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire and I absolutely love a day trip there. I think there’s a time for a spa day with friends, which is always lovely, but also when I’m feeling absolutely shattered and just need a day to myself, this is where I take myself off to. I can sit and read in one of their reading pods and fall asleep whenever I like. We actually had a book club girls weekend away for my 50th birthday last year and it was so great. The food was divine, the company fabulous and we made some wonderful memories.
Book Club
Around four years ago we started a book club in the town where I live. People came together through their love of books and we are still together now. We don’t pick a book of the month, as none of us want to be put under pressure to read something that someone else has chosen but we do talk about the books we’ve read since the last time we met and I’m sure Amazon has a huge sales spike on our book club night as we’re all listening to what people have enjoyed reading and ordering away on our phones.
Walking The Dog
Nearly two years ago, our family of two, became a family of three when we adopted Roni the English Setter. I live very close to Cannock Chase, a local Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and I love to listen to the wind rustling through the trees and the peace and quiet that Cannock Chase offers. I can often be found sitting on a bench contemplating life and just being. My phone does pop out from time to time, but to take photos of the stunning scenery, which really does take my breath away. I’ve often been caught out walking along chattering away to Roni, by another walker or biker or jogger, probably thinking I’m talking to myself.
Sunday Morning Football
My son plays football for a local Under 12s team. Sunday mornings, I can be found on the sidelines, meeting up with the other footy mum, who have become really good friends, and supporting the boys. It was always something, I put off in the past, as I thought it would take over our lives, but there’s something really special when you hear lots of people cheering on your child. I’ll never forget the moment when he scored his first goal (which was a long time coming!) and his team mates carried him across the pitch at the end singing his name. True team spirit! Love my footy family!
Hednesford Town Football Club
We’ve recently started to go to the home matches at Hednesford Town Football Club. It’s time that I get to spend with my son, with no interruptions. He’s a huge football fan, and we become pundits for the afternoon. It’s really enjoyable time, that we sit side by side, with no phones, no TV, no devices, in the fresh air and chat about all sorts of things. We’re really enjoying supporting our local team.
Crafting
Another thing that I’ve recently started doing is a bit of crafting. I wanted to do something completely different, that can make me switch off and I went to a local craft session and discovered decopatch, which I loved. Decopatch is similar to Decoupage, so you cover items but the paper is more tissue like, I’ve also been making some bookmarks at home, which I’ve really enjoyed doing and I’m now going to experiment with mixing the two and making some Decopatch bookmarks. Watch this space!
Dog Training
On a Friday night, we take Roni to dog training. We’ve been going for a while and it’s now turned into a more social event where we meet up with like-minded people with other dogs. The dogs get to socialise, the dog parents get to chat and we do a bit of training too. It’s really helped to calm Roni down since we had him and gets him used to being in the company of other dogs and both he and we have made some lovely friends. We go to dog events together and meet up for group walks locally too. Then as it’s Friday night, we finish the evening with fish and chips on the way home and maybe a G&T for me!
Escape to Giddywell Grange has been described by reviewers as the perfect cosy read to settle down with this autumn and can be purchased here: AMZ: amzn.to/2ZdBcrL Kobo: bit.ly/2YvQdIf iBooks: apple.co/316BJwj
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