About The Thrifty Squirrels

Making do, living well

I’ve always loved making things, one way or another. Years ago, that took the shape of a little mail order business supplying traditional teddy bear-making materials, and writing about it for craft magazines — five books grew out of that world too, which were published worldwide – this still surprises me when I think back on it. Life took a different turn in the mid-2000s, when I stepped away to care for my mother, and later for my father-in-law as well. It mattered far more than any business could, but those years left little room for much else.

These days, I finally have the time back — and I’ve poured it into all the things I missed: the house, the garden, baking and cooking most of all, and making things by hand again. This blog is really just where I can share all of this with others who feel the same and can see the joy in a more relaxed way of life.

I write about the recipes I cook in my own kitchen (a lot of vintage-inspired comfort food, if I’m honest), turning my home into a cosy retreat, what’s happening in the garden, and the handmade projects I love so much — sewing, lino printing, candle-making and many others. I love to create unique items for my home, something no one else has!

If you’d like a quick way in, here’s where to start: Recipes for what’s coming out of my kitchen, Cosy Home for the rooms and the little rituals that make a house feel lived-in, Garden for whatever’s growing (or refusing to), and Handmade for the sewing, printing, and making projects along the way.

Why “Thrifty”?

Thrifty, to me, has never meant going without. It means being thoughtful — making considered choices about where time, effort, and money go, so that what’s left can be spent on the things that actually matter. It’s a Victory-garden, make-do-and-mend kind of spirit, updated for modern life. Around here you’ll find recipes that stretch a Sunday roast into three more meals, garden ideas that don’t need a big budget, and handmade gifts that mean more than anything bought.

It’s a philosophy, not a restriction — and it’s one I find genuinely joyful.

Me, my kitchen, and my Labrador shadow

Most of what happens on this blog happens in or around my kitchen, with its duck egg blue dresser and a vintage Kenwood Chef that’s mixed more cake batter than I care to admit to! Most of what fills the dresser’s shelves has come from charity shops and the vintage markets held here in Cheltenham twice a month — I can rarely resist a pretty teacup or an odd serving dish with a bit of history to it.

I’m rarely doing any of it alone. Morse, my black Labrador, is the kitchen’s unofficial supervisor — currently three years old, endlessly good-natured, and convinced that whatever I’m cooking is meant for him.

Good cooking runs further back in my family than I can really take credit for. My grandmother was cook for the poet Cecil Day-Lewis, back when he was teaching at Cheltenham College in the 1930’s, before he went on to become Poet Laureate. I rather like the thought that a love of feeding people properly has been quietly passed down through the family ever since.

The dream at the bottom of the garden

I should probably confess something first: I live in a fairly ordinary three-storey modern townhouse, not the rambling cottage you might assume, so often the case in other blogs and Instagram accounts. Such beautiful homes and gardens that stretch for miles but not so relatable when you live on a new-build estate. I’ve spent a lot of time and care filling my home with old and vintage things, trying to coax a bit of character and history into rooms that didn’t come with any built in — and most days, it works. But the truth is, I still have a dream I’m working towards.

I’ll let you in on something that quietly sits behind a lot of what I do here: I’d love, one day, to give Morse a much bigger garden — proper space to run, a wildflower meadow to amble through, room enough that he’s not constantly on edge from other dogs crowding in on him the way he often is now as other dogs regularly bully him. And honestly, I’d love to give him a brother too — a real playmate of his own, someone to tear about the garden with rather than just me throwing the same ball for the hundredth time.

It’s a dream that’s less about the size of a house and more about the kind of life I want for him — and for us. A bit of land, a paddock, space to breathe and be a dog properly.

I’ve always had this picture in my head of a proper wildflower meadow — somewhere bees and butterflies and all sorts of things could potter about and thrive, mostly undisturbed, bar the occasional pair of Labradors scampering through it at full pelt.

That dream is part of why the thrifty way of life matters so much to me beyond the blog itself. Every small saving, every meal made from what’s already in the cupboard, every mended jumper instead of a new one — it all quietly adds up toward something bigger down the line. Not because the budget living is a means to an end I’m rushing toward, but because I’ve found I genuinely love living this way and it happens to be building toward a future I want.

I’m 58, by the way — and I mention it because dreams like this one don’t have a deadline. There’s still plenty of time to work toward something that matters, whatever age you’re starting from.

Come and join in

Whether you’re here for a recipe, some garden inspiration, a sewing project, or just to see what Morse has been up to, I’m really glad you’ve stopped by. Pull up a chair at the pine table and I’ll pop the kettle on — there’s always room for one more.

If you’d like to stick around, the easiest way is to pop your email in below and I’ll send new recipes and stories straight to your inbox, no spam, just the good stuff. Or come and say hello to Morse — he has his own little following on Instagram, and he’d love the attention!

Donna x