Spotlight

Christmas gift guide: food & drinkFor fine foodies, greedy gobblers, gin-drinkers and sugar-heads alike, this is the ultimate 2021 food and drink gift guide. The turkey isn't the only thing that'll be stuffed this Christmas...
Hair transformation! Muddy goes 'petrol'Time for a new 'do? From subtle styling to bold design (read on!) Haringtons has you covered with slick service and skill. See what happened when Muddy sat in the salon chair...
Cool yule! Muddy guide to Christmas in EdinburghIce rinks, Santa Land, fireworks and castles...For cracking Christmas celebrations and a helluva Hogmanay, head north of the border this winter.
Christmas gift guide: for himWhat to buy the bloke who has everything (or 'wants nothing')? We've sorted his Christmas list with 25 cool gifting ideas from independent brands and businesses across the Muddy counties
28 best Christmas markets across the Muddy countiesIs it even Christmas if you haven't eaten scalding chestnuts from a chalet hut? Do your festive shopping right this year with these 28 merry markets worth a visit across the Muddy counties.

Well, hello!

I'm Hero, founder of Muddy Stilettos, here to bring you the quirky, cool and downright unmissable across the counties.

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Gotta Have It

With luxury designer Anya Hindmarch launching a bag for the big supermarkets, it's time to raise your shopper game. Check out these seven beauties.

Gotta have it

The results are in! Meet your Muddy Awards 2021 winners

Thanks to everyone who took part this year, and helped celebrate the most awesome indie businesses across 25 counties.

View Our Winners

Eat

Muddy eats: The Hind’s Head, Bray

Step into Heston Blumenthal’s culinary time machine. The HInd’s Head in Bray takes its inspiration from the past to bring you an elegantly eccentric menu of comforting classics.
- Review: The Yurt restaurant at Nicholsons
  
  Banish the word café from your mind: The Yurt at Nicholsons in North Oxfordshire has gone full stylish restaurant. Muddy stopped by for a lunch, but did its new menu live up to the hype?
- How to choose the best cheese and wine this Christmas
  
  It’s the best bit of every party (right?!), but how to pick the right products? We got the lowdown on pairings, favourites, and festive essentials from four lovely local suppliers.
- Tuck in! AA Guide lists top restaurants in Bucks & Oxon
  
  We’ve got your foodie wish list right here – the AA Restaurant Guide 2022 is hot off the press and it lists a whopping 54 stellar restaurants in Bucks & Oxon
- The best small plates and tapas bars in Bucks & Oxon
  
  Dainty but delicious, small plates are where it’s at in the restaurant world. From tapas to street food, here are 20 of the best local spots to get your fill.

Arts & Culture

Pass that remote! Six things to watch this week

It’s freezing! Definitely the only excuse you need to catch up on some sofa time. On our watchlist this week: Benedict Cumberbatch’s cowboy “career-best”, on-demand opera, award-winning BBC comedy, and more.
- 8 things to watch this week on the big and small screen
  
  What to watch this week, you cry? From Lady Gaga serving looks in her murderously glam new movie to tension in the tent with the Bake Off 2021 final, here are your eight must-watches.
- Best teen and young adult books for 2021
  
  TikTok begone! Get your teens hooked on reading instead with these hot new YA releases, suggested by Muddy Award-winning Mostly Books in Abingdon.
- 7 new releases to watch on TV this week
  
  Sweeping fantasy, bouncy musicals, the second series of Tiger King…it’s all happening on the box this week. Get into something comfy, pop open the Pringles and settle in for a watch.
- 6 reasons to watch The Colour Room
  
  This Autumn’s hottest new film release comes courtesy of Sky Cinema and it’s a corker! A period drama with real punch and passion, here’s why you need to make time in your diary or on your sofa to watch it.

Travel

Cool yule! Muddy guide to Christmas in Edinburgh

Ice rinks, Santa Land, fireworks and castles…For cracking Christmas celebrations and a helluva Hogmanay, head north of the border this winter.
- The best Black Friday travel deals!
  
  Staying in a gorgeous hotel or lying on a tropical beach never fails to make us happy, which is why we’re excited to bring you all the best discounts around the world. Just think of us as your BFF when it comes to BF!
- Escape by rail to these 7 heavenly new hotels
  
  No flight, no faff… hop on the train to these gorgeous new hotels from the newest Pig Hotel to a Peaks treehouse and a cheeky little number in Paris

Home

- Four Christmas cocktails and how to serve them
  
  The perfect festive tipple? We’ve found one to match every kind of Christmas shindig, with the help of the pro shakers at Kocktail. And the best bit? They mix them for you!
- Ten bulbs to plant now for a dreamy spring garden
  
  Want to know how the Wormsley Estate in Bucks looks so fabulous come spring? Head gardener Charlotte Tremlin reveals her secret for glorious beds and baskets.
Wellbeing
- The best luxury retreat in Oxfordshire?
  
  A stunning 18th century manor house and a tailored schedule of fitness and wellbeing activities to boot – but did in:spa retreat leave Muddy feeling refreshed? Read the verdict.
- 10 super spa days in Berkshire
  
  A little pampering goes a long way especially as we head into the colder darker months. Here’s the best spa days in Berkshire. And relaaax.

life

- Five gripping reads to give your working life a boost
  
  What better inspo for giving your career a shake-up than the story of a creative genius who defied her generation and became a living legend. We’ve found the best books that embrace the Clarice Cliff spirit…
- Write on! 11 stylish stationery picks
  
  Back to school season always calls out for new books and pens — the prettier the better. Grown-ups, gather round: this is your ultimate stylish stationery round-up, from pens to paperweights.
Kids
- Swanbourne House School, Swanbourne
  
  This bucolic, rural prep school on the Bucks/Beds border has had quite a year, with a new, dynamic, sometimes controversial head teacher. Twelve months on, here’s my update.
- Ashfold School, Dorton, Mid Bucks
  
  Muddy says: This bucolic co-ed prep school for day pupils and boarders in the rolling hills of Buckinghamshire is family-oriented with a deserved reputation for its all-rounder offering.

Instamuddy

Fashion

Where to rent, repair and sell gorgeous designer clothes

Madonna’s cone bra is now available to rent! It’s ethical, eco and everywhere… here’s where you can rent, repair and sell-on stylish clothes, from Christmas party outfits to eye-catching clutch bags
- 6 of the best… trench coats
  
  It goes with everything — from knockout dresses to comfy tees. Shop this workhorse of the fashionista wardrobe with Muddy’s top six picks for autumn / winter 2021.
- Pyjama party! 8 chic sets to buy now
  
  With autumn being peak PJs-on-the-sofa season – hey, it’s raining again, let’s stay in!- it’s the ideal time to round up our favourites to buy now. Just add slippers.
Beauty
- Hair transformation! Muddy goes ‘petrol’
  
  Time for a new ‘do? From subtle styling to bold design (read on!) Haringtons has you covered with slick service and skill. See what happened when Muddy sat in the salon chair…
- 5 nail polish shades we’ve fallen for this autumn
  
  Here’s how to update your autumn look for under £10, and be bang on trend to boot. Our five fave nail polish shades, from sparkles to berry to mustard.

People

Meet gastro green queen, Romilla Arber

Welcome to the food revolution: With sustainability more important than ever, Honesty Group founder and writer Romilla Arber talks about her mission to be green.
- My Favourite Places – Gyles Brandreth
  
  The author and TV personality takes us on a literary tour of his favourite Hampshire places and reminisces about childhood holidays on the Isle of Wight
- Grace Regan: My Favourite Places
  
  Introducing the awesomely cool, gorgeous and talented chef Grace Regan – owner of critically acclaimed London curry house, Spicebox, who lives in Margate. To celebrate her delicious vegan cookbook we got Grace to tell us her fave places to hang out locally.