Home alone

It was a week before Christmas, grey and cold, but finally the Christmas shopping was finished. Home at last, and after standing in a supermarket queue for almost an hour with a trolley bulging with f

IRIS walked slowly to the front door of her Victorian villa in Fairley, a sleepy Sussex village. It had begun, she fumed silently – the “invasion” of her home. Of course, she’d been expecting it. Her

SARAH DITUM

Despite their best efforts, Rachael and Paul Page’s first Christmas in their new home didn’t go as they’d hoped. ‘We planned to spend Christmas with family but, because of last-minute Covid restrictio

Helen Harris always enjoyed her afternoon tea with Martha Evert, and as she knocked on the door carrying a treat of two chocolate muffins, she looked forward to an hour or two of catching up with her

Christmas is a major event in Charlie Webb’s household. Her mum is half American and, as Charlie explains, has always gone big with decorations: ‘My mum absolutely adores the holidays and all the craf