About

Holly Made Life (formerly known as Little Pickle’s Mom) is a parenting lifestyle blog, focusing mainly on family days out, camping and UK travel.

I’m Holly: a working mother, blogger and photographer from the West Midlands, celebrating our outdoors UK adventures (however big or small). I share helpful tips and ideas to reduce the obstacles preventing families enjoying time spent outside, so we can all experience the physical and emotional benefits of fresh air, gentle exercise and togetherness.

Since September 2020, this blog has also had a light touch on my personal experience of SEN within UK schools, following my son’s complex difficulties. This is always written about from my own perspective, without focusing too much on my son’s specific needs but more my emotions and ways of figuring it all out (or trying to!).

About Me – Holly

I’m Holly, a thirty-something theatre graduate with a love of fresh air, photography and hockey hoping to make the most of my local area Redditch, just south of Birmingham.

By day, I’m a public sector accountant, but in-between spreadsheets and number crunching, I run this blog as my outlet of creativity.

Before becoming a parent, I worked in theatre (having had jobs at the Royal Shakespeare Company, mac birmingham and the National Youth Theatre) and I’m passionate about the role creativity plays in the lives of us all but especially children and young people. I consider instilling a love of all kind of art forms to our little boy part of my job as his Mom, and I hope to encourage other parents to do the same, helping you to overcome whatever barriers or obstacles may be in your way.

Photography is a huge part of the content I create online. In 2023, I was also named England Hockey’s Photographer of the Year.

About My Family

Although this blog is mainly a space for me, it is also very family focused. I have a son (referred to online at Pickle, or more recently as TJ) who was born in 2016. I was previously married to his father, but sadly the marriage broke down in 2023.

The pride I have for this little boy knows no end. He is smart, he is funny, and he has more sass than I know what to do with! He makes me laugh every single day, and I’ll never stop trying to be the best parent I can be for him.

The Outdoors

We love outdoors adventures and can often be found out and about geocaching, camping or even running a race or two. Most weekends are spent either on the hockey pitch (I play for Redditch Hockey Club) or visiting our local National Trust properties. We love trying new things and are very much looking forward to sharing our ideas, tips and experiences with you.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself since becoming a parent, it’s that I always feel better after spending time outdoors. We’re so lucky to have the Arrow Valley Lake on our doorstep and can often be found walking, running or cycling around it before having a play on the park. I spent many summers camping as a child, and it’s such a joy to be doing it with my own family now.

Culture

Although days spent outside are usually my favourite, taking Pickle to the theatre has been something we’ve been doing with him since he was eight months old, and is very much an important part of our family life. His first show was In a Pickle – Oily Cart and what a way to start your theatre-going journey! We love visiting our local arts venues and as well as reviewing shows that we’ve been to see, I also write occasional seasonal What’s On guides for the West Midlands area.

Would you like to work with me?

If you’re interested in working with me and my family, please see my Work with Me page for more information about the different ways I work with companies, theatres and charities.