The best Mother's Day gifts, according to our readers and expert columnists
With the combined wisdom of our readers, I've drawn up 33 Mother's Day gift ideas, starting at under £20, which should cover everything mums love to receive. I've only included trusted brands that we've tried ourselves and I've included their delivery times, in case you're buying at the last minute.
For gifting advice you can't get elsewhere, I've also asked Telegraph experts Xanthe Clay, Victoria Moore and Jessica Doyle to tell us which food, drink and interior decoration gifts they'd love to receive. You can read all of these below, followed by the answers to some common questions about Mother's Day gifting.
But if you're in a hurry, here's a quick look at our top five gifts for mum:
Best Mother's Day presents for 2025, at a glance:
Our thorough, real-world tests will always help you find the best product. No manufacturer ever sees copy before publication and we do not accept payment in exchange for favourable reviews. Visit our Who We Are page to learn more.
Best affordable Mother's Day gifts
Chosen by Simon Lewis, Telegraph Recommended gift guides editor
1. Mother's Day Everything H-Box
£17.95, Hotel Chocolat
Best Mother's Day chocolate gift
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Spectator
23-07-2025
- Spectator
The nostalgic joy of Frinton-on-Sea
For the recent heatwave, it was my mission to escape our little Wiltshire cottage, where it hit 35°C. It has one of those very poor structural designs unique to Britain that, like plastic conservatories or the Tube, is useless in hot weather. First, we went to stay with friends in Frinton-on-Sea with our English bulldog, who was born in nearby Clacton and is shamelessly happy to be back among his people. Some years ago I lived in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, a living museum of America's pre-revolutionary settler history. Frinton doesn't go quite that far – there are no ersatz yeomen milking doleful cows – but to visit is to enter a time warp back to the mid-1930s. It's the sort of place where Hercule Poirot might solve a crime while en vacances. The town's heyday was the first half of the 20th century, when society notables including Churchill and Edward VII came to enjoy the solemn whimsy of ornate villas (Dutch gables, gothic crenellations and French balconies to the owner's taste), the pristine golf course and the elegant lawn tennis club. Most famous of all are the beach huts, a long, neat row on stilts, which contain so many people's early memories. My grandmother lived near Colchester and every summer my mother courageously carted her six children (and, on two occasions, a cat in a basket) from Wales, across the London Underground and out to Essex for a week. Encounters with childhood nostalgia can be disappointing. The den from primary school has been tarmacked over. A favourite climbing tree has blown down. Caramac bars have been discontinued. Frinton, though, is just as I remember it. The sweet shop, the greensward, the wooden groynes covered in seaweed. The big sky and murky sea. Second homes and holiday lets are rare. Deep consideration is given to what innovations might lower the tone, and most things are rejected. There is now one pub, which opened 25 years ago, and one fish and chip shop that started in 1992. Huts have been painted cheerful pastel colours instead of the original dark brown. Other than that, Frinton is unchanged. Is the town an example of stout local pride or stick-in-the-mud nimbyism? With its mad but lovely housing stock and proximity to London, it might have become England's answer to East Hampton were the local council and residents not so resistant to change. As it is, you can't even sell ice creams on the seafront. I like it. Tucked into Nigel Farage's constituency, Frinton embodies the 'good old days' that so many Reform-minded people want to get back to, because those days simply never left them. Two days later, via London where I record the Telegraph's Daily T podcast with Tim Stanley, we head west to my parents' house in [redacted] Pembrokeshire. The small coastal town is another delight, the secret of which makes locals and lifelong holidaymakers cry when they see it featured in Sunday supplement 'best places to stay' lists in case it attracts the kind of hordes who block up Cornish lanes with their enormous Range Rovers. Costa del Cymru is a balmy 30°C and plays host to an unwelcome shoal of jellyfish who park up in the bay and a raucously fun farm wedding above the golf course. By day we swim, sandcastle, and siesta in front of the cricket and tennis. In the afternoons we loll in the garden and, in lieu of a children's paddling pool, have great results with a washing up bowl and the lovely sensation of sticking your finger up a gushing hosepipe. At night we are treated to lobster – proudly potted by Dad – white wine and the blissful sensation of snuggling down under a duvet against the slight chill. It's a deeper sleep than we've had in weeks. At the end of the stay, Mum and I try on some hats for my sister's impending wedding, then we play a tedious game of suitcase Tetris before travelling home in heavy rain. I drive and my husband works. It makes me think of how robust the constitutions of cabinet ministers must be, seeing as they do most of their box work from the back of a car and aren't sick. We arrive home to a dead lawn and the creepers of wisteria climbing into our bedroom windows like The Day of the Triffids. I check my weather apps – variable and unsettled; ho hum – and get back to work on my latest novel, which is about the shenanigans of randy young farmers in the countryside. That night I lie awake on top of the sheets in the humid darkness, sure I can ever so faintly hear the crash of waves and the cry of gulls. There is no refreshing waft of breeze, neither easterly nor westerly.
Telegraph
23-07-2025
- Telegraph
Readers share memories of school trips, before the arrival of health and safety
Packed lunches, bumpy coach rides, the buzz of excitement… School trips are etched into many people's childhood memories. Whether it was eating a soggy sandwich on the steps of a castle or losing a welly boot in a mud-soaked campsite, these outings offered a wonderful mix of freedom, fun and friendship. Yet with rising costs and increasingly strict safeguarding rules, half of state school heads now report cutting back on trips. Travel writer Sally Howard recently considered what youngsters stand to lose if the classic school trip falls by the wayside, and her article prompted Telegraph readers to share fond memories of their own adventures. 'We were more interested in romance than flora and fauna' In 1954, reader C Brooks was just 11 years old. But he still vividly recalled a school trip to Derbyshire. 'We visited the Blue John Cavern, the steel works and went down a coal mine,' he wrote. 'Best of all, I got to hold hands with a girl from another school who was staying in the hostel! All that and it only cost my mum £12.' Another reader, Ivan, also met a girl on a school trip – she would end up becoming his wife. 'It was the best thing that ever happened to me,' he said, of his year five geography trip to Duntisbourne Abbots in Gloucestershire. 'As I recall, we were more interested in romance than flora and fauna.' For many, it's the simple thrill of a day away from the classroom that remains most vivid. Uncomplicated times, filled with small joys and lasting impressions. Emma Dixon was at school in the 1970s and 1980s and remembered trips to Hadrian's Wall, the open-air Beamish Museum and various Northumberland castles. 'It was all very exciting, a day off school and singing on the bus,' she said. 'It was also the only time I was allowed crisps in my packed lunch box. Happy days!' 'Our teacher took us to Dartmoor for a walk… in January' Michael D Jackson offered a similarly nostalgic picture: 'A 1980s end-of-school year trip [took us] from Sheffield to Yorvik Viking Centre and the York Railway Museum. Packed lunch on the river, the smell of flat Coca Cola and ready salted crisps on the coach home, while we passed around the Donkey Kong game. Brilliant stuff!' John Devon shared his memory of a grammar school trip to Dartmoor. He says: 'In the late Sixties, our school took a coachload of kids from Devon to Dartmoor for a walk… in January. The wind howled, the sleet was nearly horizontal and the river we were supposed to cross was a savage torrent swollen by weeks of rain. 'We plodded behind our irrepressible teacher who strode happily along, oblivious to the mutinous grumblings behind him. My chum looked about him and wondered aloud if the Duke of Edinburgh Award was ever given posthumously. 'Later I inspected my lunch – a sandwich all of a quarter inch in depth, provided by the school, and resolved to do better in the future. Happy memories…' It seems health and safety was usually something of an afterthought. Mabel Burlington commented: 'In 1982, I went on a Geography field trip. Great fun. One evening, the teachers walked to the pub leaving the school minivan in our camping field with keys in the ignition! Of course this was an open invite for the lads (15 years old) to jump in and drive round the field. Fortunately, no harm was done and the van was parked up by the time teachers returned.' N White added: 'Teaching in an African country in the 1960s I recall a trip to a factory making corrugated roofing which contained asbestos. Nobody batted an eyelid. There was also an occasion halfway up an extinct volcano when a lad managed to get his leg down a smoking fumarole. And then there was the time a pupil threw me across a path out of reach of a black mamba hanging out of a tree. What would have happened to me now leading such dangerous expeditions? The pupils were having the time of their lives.' 'People didn't get out much – it was a big treat to go to the seaside' For reader Kathleen Learmonth, school trips to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and to the Margate seaside lingered in the memory. 'I remember school trips as the sunlit uplands,' she said. 'We went on a double-decker bus down to Margate and spent the day collecting shells and seaweed. It took you so out of the classroom. It was just exciting. 'In those days people didn't get out much. It was a big treat to go to the seaside or to go to London. It helps to spark different interests in children.' New discoveries abounded. Neil K W Jones wrote: 'Back in the late 1950s, at junior school, we enjoyed a coach trip to the Isle of Wight. The highlight was Carisbrooke Castle. I had saved from my packed lunch a very large red apple for the coach trip home. It turned out to be a giant tomato!' Jimmy Christian added: 'All our field trips were designed to be educational – to see how whisky was made, to visit historical battle sites, livestock farms, hydroelectric plants… Best was the distillery – not that we got a taste, although the teacher did, fair play to him.' 'My grandson's school trip to Costa Rica cost over £5,000' In addition to sharing their stories, many readers expressed concerns about the spiralling costs of 21st-century school trips. Ms. Learmonth contrasted her own experiences with those of her daughter, which she called a 'total racket'. She said: 'They sleep them eight or 10 to a room and feed them plain pasta and still charge you £1,500. All of the mothers I've spoken to about this agree.' Phil Parkinson added: 'My grandson, aged 15, is off to Costa Rica for a month on a school trip next week. It cost over £5,000. His mother, a single mum, was determined he should have the opportunity of a lifetime. Though I applaud the concept of the trip, its cost makes it almost elitist.' An anonymous reader, whose grandson had to miss a class trip to Australia due to the prohibitive cost, argued that school trips have 'gone past the pale of ridiculousness' and should either be abolished or forced to be UK jaunts. Former teacher Rebecca Jacobs saw both value and strain in the current school trip landscape, but warned that if they continue on the current trajectory, they will cease to exist. She said: 'School trips are really valuable for kids. However, companies now charge the earth and families can't afford them [and] the legal responsibility is vast [for] staff. Trips will die as they put too much burden on everyone.'
Daily Mirror
23-07-2025
- Daily Mirror
Best seaside town to live once slammed as 'depressing' resort turns itself around
A charming seaside nestled between rolling countryside hills and sugar-like beaches has been named the best place to live in the UK. Situated on the Fal Estuary in Cornwall's idyllic south coast, and believed to be the inspiration behind the classic children's novel The Wind in the Willows, Falmouth offers the perfect balance of history and modern amenities. Originally developed around its deep natural harbour which once acted as a key port, the town has now developed into a bustling coastal gem, and attracts swathes of tourists every year. "Falmouth offers not only a rich cultural scene but also breathtaking natural surroundings," states Visit Cornwall, the area's official tourist board. "The area's mild climate supports beautiful subtropical gardens, perfect for exploring year-round. Renowned as a sailing town, Falmouth hosts a variety of regattas and festivals throughout the year." The town has also gained a reputation for being a 'foodies paradise', thanks to a slew of cosy pubs, award-winning restaurants and numerous food festivals. However, in 2024 Falmouth suffered a major blow after it was unexpectedly ranked the most 'depressing' place to live in Britain. Branded as 'bland and boring' in a survey conducted by iLiveHere, the region was slammed for having a 'soul-destroying mediocrity with a gaping cultural void'. However, locals were quick to debunk the poll's results, arguing it couldn't be further from the truth. "The coastal walks are epic," hailed one local. "It's fairly diverse class-wise and even in the summer when it's packed, it's still a pleasant place to be, unlike Looe and St Ives which while they are both beautiful places to visit, parking is a total nightmare." Another agreed, raving that the locals are friendly, the food is good, and that there are 'loads of decent restaurants'. Even the team over at iLiveHere was baffled by the poll - which allows users to leave their comments about their hometown online. "We have to admit, we know absolutely nothing about Falmouth," they said. "We Googled it and it looks picturesque – but we're sure it's a facade it trades on, and who are we to question the wisdom of the crowd?" Some blamed the town's suddenly bleak reputation on its high street, which like most parts of the UK has witnessed shops close following the Covid-19 pandemic. "It's going downhill, that's for certain," a couple of tourists told the Telegraph. But, the damming poll has now been put under even more speculation, after Falmouth was crowned the best seaside town to live in the UK in 2025 by The Times. "Falmouth has everything you need for a happy life by the sea," the publication hailed. "[It has] four great beaches, sparkling views at every turn and a town centre that's like the coolest bit of a cool city, along with a young, fun and creative population." Located just under 300 miles from the Big Smoke, it takes almost six hours to travel to Falmouth from London by car. Indirect train journeys departing from London Paddington, which usually involve a stopover at Truro, slash around an hour off the journey - but tickets can be pricey. For example, a single adult fare on Wednesday, July 23, is currently priced at £79.50. However, if you have a railcard, you may be able to find a better deal. Luckily, once you've arrived in Falmouth - you won't have to spend a fortune. The town is filled with affordable accommodation types, from no-frills hotels to cosy B&Bs. A weekend's stay (Friday, August 22 -24) at the Prince of Wales Pub, for example, will only set you back £158. This is based on two adults sharing a Double Room with a communal bathroom. If you're looking for something a bit more luxurious, check out Merchants Manor Spa. This five-star resort features sleek rooms with stunning sea views, an award-winning restaurant, a modern leisure club, an indoor heated swimming pool, a spa, and sub-tropical gardens. Staying in a Deluxe Queen Room on the exact same nights costs £541, and includes breakfast.
