In the strange and slightly unpredictable world of blogging you never quite know where it will take you and who you will meet as a result. So it felt a little surreal to be packing up and heading off to Northumberland, to a place I didn’t know, to spend time with people I’d never met before.
Easy to turn down such an opportunity, as I might have done in the past, but thankfully I didn’t because it all turned out to be a little bit perfect.
Securing a sponsor for Cybermummy was exciting enough, but the fact that my sponsors have turned out to be lovely people, and now good friends, is something I could never have predicted. And it makes representing Little Dodo at Cybermummy all the more worthwhile.
I travelled via Newcastle to the ‘Very Far North’ to have dinner with Maddy and Owain from Little Dodo, to meet their two young sons and visit their shop. This post is obviously very one sided, but it’s fair to say we really got on. It was a relief all round, I’m sure, that I didn’t have two heads and neither did they.
I thought they were great. We talked for hours during my stay and occasionally they were able to get a word in edgeways.
Their shop is a gorgeous little baby boutique in Hexham – beautifully presented with a fabulous range of stock, and run by the two of them. I like the idea of independent family-run businesses and in this case Maddy and Owain turned their gift shop into a baby shop when they became parents. They are parents supporting parents, and I’d say, they are doing a pretty good job of it.
By pure coincidence I was staying in a local bed and breakfast with a couple from Derbyshire who knew the Little Dodo shop well. In their words it is competitively priced selling a mixture of modern and traditional items and offering a high standard of service. Nothing I saw during my visit differed from that.
It’s an impressive operation, a gorgeous shop and a really lovely family. It would have been perhaps added to this post if I could have thrown in a little drama, invented a highly amusing scenario in which I discovered a little dodo costume hiding in the storeroom that they wanted me to wear at Cybermummy, or if in fact they had turned out to have bright pink hair and an unusual interest in historic re-enactments.
But not so, although I am still wondering about that little dodo costume.
Little DoDo are sponsoring me to go to the Cybermummy conference in June. They can be found online at Littledodo.co.uk. Their shop is in Hexham, Northumberland and well worth a visit. They also have their own Little Dodo blog.
Is it wrong to hope you will be wearing a dodo outfit at Cybermummy? Sorry....
Posted by: notsupermum | February 21, 2011 at 11:44 AM
We went to a hotel near Hexham recently and I still wish we'd popped in to see Maddy and Owain after speaking so much over Twitter.
Maybe next time The Husband takes me away *cough*
The shop looks lovely, just how I imagine it would!
Posted by: Laura | February 21, 2011 at 11:47 AM
Yes, Wrong with a capital W!
Posted by: Rosie Scribble | February 21, 2011 at 11:48 AM
Yes, the shop really is lovely. I'll speak on their behalf and say do pop in when you're husband next takes you away *ahem*
Posted by: Rosie Scribble | February 21, 2011 at 11:49 AM
Thanks Rosie, it was such a lovely couple of days - wish you could have stayed longer!We're digging the Dodo costume out of storage...
Posted by: maddydodo | February 21, 2011 at 11:59 AM
Ah. I don't think it will fit as I have now grown a second head. ;)
Posted by: Rosie Scribble | February 21, 2011 at 12:13 PM
Looks like just the type of shop I enjoy nosing around for my little lady!
Posted by: Tanya | February 21, 2011 at 12:49 PM
Absolutely. It made me wish I had a little one. My daughter's a little too old now at seven!
Posted by: Rosie Scribble | February 21, 2011 at 12:51 PM
Well done on the sponsorship! Looking forward to meeting you this year. X
Posted by: Emma Collins | February 21, 2011 at 03:40 PM
Thanks Emma. Do shout out if I don't spot you. I'll be the one in the little dodo costume (not!).
Posted by: Rosie Scribble | February 21, 2011 at 04:06 PM
Maddy and Owain don't have two heads? What? They share one between them?
I love how blogging has opened up a whole life for you, Rosie.
Posted by: Iota | February 21, 2011 at 06:13 PM
Yes. Just one giant head! ;)
Amazing isn't it where blogging can take you. It really has opened up a whole life for me. Goodness, that makes me quite emotional. In a good way though.
Posted by: Rosie Scribble | February 21, 2011 at 06:22 PM
Congrats on the sponsorship! Well deserved. Popped over to their blog to tell them so too :D If you do wear the costume, take a photo will you? Ta x
Posted by: mummy@bodfortea | February 23, 2011 at 12:11 PM
Thank you. I spotted your comment over a Little Dodo - thanks so much. So kind of you. And no, I won't be turning up in a Dodo costume, I don't think!
Posted by: Rosie Scribble | February 25, 2011 at 09:09 PM