It’s still grey and gloomy outside, but we want to cast a ray of sunshine with some mid-season markdowns. Click on the banner above to visit our Reduced page!

But in case it doesn’t, a quilted and waterproof rainmac will keep you safe from every cloudburst! There are four fantastic colours to choose from and they all match perfectly with our range of Wellington boots. The yellow rainmac with a pair of navy Aigle wellies is our favourite combination and all you need to complete a perfect rainy day is a huge puddle to leap in!

You can read all about the warm welcome the girls received on their Nepal Blog, and there is much more to come. For a start, as soon as we can grab Victoria’s laptop we’ll have a great gallery of photos from their trip! We’re going to get as many stories out of the girls as possible and bombard them with questions … How hot was it? Can you teach us some more Nepalese words? How many children will attend the Trotters school? Did you see many elephants (apart from Kipu and Mahi!)? Did you eat anything particularly interesting? … full report coming soon!

Remember this fellow? The limited edition Jellycat elephant named Kipu is still available, and proceeds from the sales will go to the CAIRN Trust. Rumours abound that we are soon to meet Kipu’s wife, Mahi, and she should be arriving before the end of the year!

We spent each night camping on the football pitches of various CAIRN Trust schools and the welcomes we received got bigger and bigger each night. By the time we got to Hille Taksar to open the Trotters School, we had so many garlands and friendship scarves around our necks that you could barely make out our faces! People had come from miles around to greet us with smiles, “Namastes”, and a hot cup of chai tea, with the local band of traditional musicians serenading us along the path up to the school. We’re not sure that “overwhelming” does it justice, and we were smiling so much that our cheeks ached. It is so incredibly hard to describe how we felt as we took our seats on stage (dressed up in local Nepalese dresses of course). Before we even knew it, the five hour ceremony had finished. Speeches made (we did ours in Nepali – not quite as fluent as our fellow speakers, but apparently good enough to be broadcast on national radio….), ribbons cut, plaques unveiled, classrooms opened, library revealed, dances watched, dances taken part in, and finally 300 Kipus’ handed out. Check out our photo of all the children holding them up, they loved it!

Exhausted we crawled in to bed in our “home” for the next three nights, a lovely change from the tents on trek. The next couple of days were spent playing games, reading, singing, drawing and getting to know the children who would be attending the new Trotters School. We brought out with us our four favourite books from Trotters (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Hairy Maclary, The Gruffalo, and This Is London) which were read several times cover to cover and given pride of place in their new library. The Kipus’ never left their sides the whole time we were there and were showing signs of being very loved already.

The school itself is absolutely beautiful and by far the nicest that we came across throughout our trek (we may be slightly biased, but do check out our photo!).

The library proved to be extremely popular, and even the older children could be found in there, engaged in very serious-looking games of chess and ludo. For all you Kipu-owners out there who helped Trotters to raise the money to build the school, you should be incredibly proud! We were most certainly beaming with pride to be part of the Trotters family and felt totally honoured to be witnessing firsthand the wonderful work that Trotters has done and the life-changing opportunities that they have presented to these children and hopefully many generations to come. What we failed to mention on our previous blogs was that before the new school was built, lessons were taught in waterlogged “classrooms” (often knee-deep in the monsoon season).

As tempted as we were to pack a few of the children in our pockets to bring back home we sadly had to say farewell to all our new friends, which in true Nepali-style lasted well over an hour (again garlanded up to our noses!)

So for now, we will say a final Namaste but watch this space as we certainly hope to be back!

Ta-ta!

However, I shouldn’t moan. It could have been a lot worse. Lauren was pretty well behaved, even if I did have to pick up the crayons a helpful guard gave us about 300 times and even if my hair was a bit bananay by our destination. Plus that man didn’t get to sing songs to a small child who then walked round the streets of Bath singing ‘It’s not about the money, money, money’ at the top of her voice. It was pretty in tune although the enunciation definitely needed some work.

So we spent a lovely day with our friends and their new baby in Bath and all was well. At the hotel in the evening, we decided to do Lauren’s usual bedtime routine and then put her in her buggy and walk around to get her to sleep, then go out for dinner somewhere accommodating. Nice idea in principle. 7:30pm, set off, Lauren looking sleepy. 9pm, still walking around Bath.

Lauren hyper, chatting about lights and cars and policemen and tunnels. I am also carrying her and have been for about 20 mins. She’s pretty heavy now. 9:15pm back in hotel room. Lauren refusing to sleep in cot. 9:30 Lauren asleep on our bed, lying on top of me. 9:45 having debated going to get takeaway and realising neither of us had any will left to do it, sat in the dark, watching a TV quiz show on silent, eating the only food we had. Rice cakes and petit filous. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Back in London, we had a christening to attend. No worries for me about what Lauren would wear. She was in a lovely dress and cardi from our Confiture collection and of course her little Startrite shoes. Head to toe in Trotters. Perfectly pretty and didn’t she know it. Here she is modelling her outfit from all angles.

First of all, we met William. He only popped in for a haircut but before long he was in hot pursuit of some chocolatey treats! Trotters own (not so new) Mum devised the cunning clues to six locations around the store where a pack of stickers were hidden, and once the egg-quester had six stickers on their card, they got a tasty reward. Simple.

William is a real brainbox. He solved the hardest clue in no time at all and was on to the next while we were still scratching our heads. “I’m white and blue, my name’s Eloise and there’s a skirt made for me”. We were stumped. Meanwhile, William was looking for something that goes “baa” during bath-time …

Squirters! Farmyard squirters to be precise. And then he was off again! Something red to keep your feet dry … shiver me timbers, a puzzle for mateys … knobbly knees and turned out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose (the Gruffalo, duh!) … We could barely keep up with him as he flew around the shop! It wasn’t long before he was presenting his stickers to the Keeper-of-Chocolate and claiming a much deserved reward.

Good work, William! In fact, good work to everyone who joined in the Easter Egg hunts. We had so much fun, that we might apply to do the Easter bunny’s job for him next year!

Our canvas range is outstanding this year and we’ve been swamped by mail orders. The postroom is dotted towers of shoeboxes soon to be winging their way to little pairs of feet worldwide. This is only a small exaggeration – promise! The range is vast and features a variety of styles and colours suitable for girls and boys and perfect for any occasion this summer. Our particular favourite is the blue and white striped Nantucket, we only wish our feet were small enough to fit in them! A special mention is due to Liz, who expertly photographed almost every item on the website, including the Hampton Classics. One satisfied customer declared that her new Marthas “looked as great as they did on the website”. Praise indeed!

The shoe department isn’t limited to Hampton Classics, as our regular store customers will know. If we’ve been a little hesitant in offering our full shoe range online, it’s simply because we can’t offer the excellent shoe-fitting service online that you’ll get in store. However, the people have spoken! We’re very excited to say that a small range of Geox shoes are now available online, as well as Crocs and pretty Clarys shoes all in time for summer. But don’t worry! We haven’t forgotten how unpredictable and unfavourable British weather can be, so our Wellington boots will be available all year round too.

Lisa, you’re a Trotters veteran. How long have you been with us? I’ve been at King’s Road for eight years and three months! I’m the senior hairdresser, which means that as well as cutting hair, I make sure that the hairdressing departments in all five stores are running smoothly. I check that all my hairdressers have working equipment, plenty of supplies and enough hairdressers for the busy day ahead. We’d be pretty rubbish hairdressers if we ran out of shampoo or had to use blunt scissors!

Over those eight years you must have had a lot of regulars. Why do you think parents bring their children to Trotters, rather than a normal hair salon? Some of our customers even come from outside London because their children had their first haircut with us won’t go anywhere else. The reason is simple – Trotters is made for children! We love making a fuss of the kids, and the whole department is made with them in mind. For instance, we have mini salon chairs in different colours, robes covered in animal characters, certificates of bravery, embossed chocolate coins … and all that without the roaring machines and funny smells you get in adult salons. We get little clients coming back year after year. I’ll have done their first haircut, and then five or six years later I’ll still be smartening them up before a party or the start of term. And there’s no age limit! Some little boys fall so in love with their favourite hairdressers that we’ve had to create a request system – if you want a certain hairdresser when you make you’re appointment, we’re happy to oblige.

It must be quite a challenge sometimes! Sometimes the odd customer might feel a bit anxious or tearful, but we have a few tactics to brighten them up. Before the haircut even starts we make friends with the child and find out what hairstyle they want – although we might consult Mum if they ask for a mohican! The books are a great distraction; by the time you’ve got through every pet in Dear Zoo, the cut is finished. The chocolate coins are a good incentive and the first haircut certificate makes nervous customers feel extra special at the end. But I think the most effective thing we have is the definitely the aquarium. Every store has a huge, immaculate fish tank full of brightly coloured fish and plants and it’s the first thing children see when they get up in the chair.

Do you have any favourite fish? What do you call them? We have a lobster called Larry, and another of our hairdressers Kate has adopted a sucker fish called George. And we used to have one called Barbie. Oh, and then there’s Pirate Fish – he’s only got one eye!

We know you get some famous faces in King’s Road, can you tell us about any celebs that have popped in lately? Hmm … Peaches Geldof came in during the winter and Dr. Fox the DJ stops by now and again. All the girls get kind of giddy when Frank Lampard the footballer comes in – we have a lot of little boys asking for a haircut like his. Lulu has been spotted too and Samantha Cameron has visited the shoe department – the Prime Minister’s wife is definitely a good spot! [our web manager would like to interject here to say she once saw Sir David Attenborough in King's Road!]

We’re planning to introduce an online booking system for hair appointments. Hairdressing is already one of the most popular pages on the website, is your team ready for the challenge? We performed 45,000 haircuts last year alone, so I’m sure we can take it! Customers will be able to book appointments at any time and from anywhere – it’s going to be really exciting!

They must let you out of the hairdressing dept from time to time – do you have a favourite product in store? I really like the little rabbit booties for newborns – they’re so cute! There’s a baby on the way in our family, so I’ve been looking at the Lapinou baby range lately. I know the parents have their eye on a Sailor Bubble, but I think for little girls, you can’t go wrong with My First Duck Dress.

Last question – can you tell us what you wanted to be when you were little? Believe it or not, I’ve always wanted to be a hairdresser! When I was a kid I was fascinated by different hairstyles and colours, and now I get to share that with other kids. I’m in the perfect place!

Lisa had to leave us there and dash back to King’s Road for her afternoon appointments. If you’d like to book a cut with her, or any of our hairdressers, all the details can be found on our hairdressing page. We do fill up very quickly so advance bookings are essential!

Leila’s Jellycat duckling is on its way, and so are our runner-up goodybags for 6-year-old Celeste, 9-year-old Tom and Annabel who is 2 and a quarter. Well done again to everybody who entered, you can see the whole gallery here.

Back in the hotel that night, we had a big group dinner with the rest of our fellow CAIRN Trust trekkers and an early night to prepare for our crack of dawn awakening to catch our flight to Pokhara from where we start our trek.

Upon arrival at Kathmandu airport we were told that our flight would depart an hour early. Since the plane was only big enough to fit the 30 of us in our group with our swanky new CAIRN Trust matching bags, there was no need to wait around. So in we got into our tiny propeller plane which honestly sounded like it would never be able to take off it was so rickety…and the air hostess kindly handed out cotton wool to stuff into our ears to block out the noise the plane was making. Quite a surreal experience, and as one of the boys in our group shouted as we landed “we survived!” which summed it up nicely. Flying below the Himalayas and seeing them appear above the clouds though was spectacular!

Pokhara is absolutely beautiful and, in comparison to Kathmandu, utterly serene. We are currently sat in a cafe by the lakeside drinking banana lassis (milkshakes) and relaxing before our 8 day trek begins tomorrow. We’re all meeting up for lunch on an island in the middle of the lake in a couple of hours and then we’re off to buy lots of supplies to take with us to the school children in Hille Taksar.

Kipu and Mahi are loving it here and are pretty excited about trekking (although being strapped to the outside of our bags is hardly going to make it challenging for them!!)

We’ll blog again soon, by which time we will have opened the new Trotters school!! Photos to follow next time.

Ta-ta x