Converted Barns and Persil

When I'm 50 I would like to be living in a large detached country house (possibly a barn conversion) in the Cotswolds or anywhere in the country near Oxford. I've always pictured my house to have a huge kitchen, mainly because we've never had a very large kitchen and I've always wanted a huge Aga as a central piece. There's just something about Agas that I really love, the idea that they heat the whole house as well as cooking your dinner, and they just look so elegant, and really stand out as the central focus of the room. The whole house would have an old feel to it, exposed wooden beams and wooden flooring with gorgeous rugs decorating every floor, brought from far-off corners of the world. (Hubby and I would have spent the first few years of married bliss travelling the world!)

The living room would have an open log fire and the whole family would snuggle around it during the winter!

Ideally my house would have a really large garden so my and my gorgeous husband could take the dogs (two border collies!) for walks on a wintery Sunday morning together. Also in the summer it would be perfect for barbecues and entertaining!

As for cleaning products, I have always associated Tesco's non-bio washing tablets with home. Now I know this may sound slightly strange, but ever since I can remember, my mum has always used these to wash our clothes. The really weird thing is that when I came to University, the first washing powder I bought was this one, I remember I didn’t even look down the aisle in Tesco's to see if anything better was on offer. It was an instant and automatic decision in my mind that I must buy that exact brand. Even yesterday, when I attempted to buy a Persil washing powder (just to see if I could!) I found myself telling my mind that 'no, it's too expensive and probably wouldn’t work any better anyway'.

I wonder if I will ever be able to buy a different washing powder without having a guilty concience.

Kim Varvell