For a long time now, I've been aware of just how fast life can be. How important milestones in my, and my family's life, seem to be whizzing by at a scary rate. One day I'm happily preparing for my son's first birthday, and in the blink of an eye it's suddenly the run-up to his ninth. And the busier our days are, the quicker the weeks, months and years seem to be flying past too.

It's been a while since I last got to visit, and write about, a new venue for my Freelancer's Guide. An unexpected explosion of paid writing work has come my way, which is obviously fab, but it does leave me frantically scratching around for time to get all the little, unpaid extras done. Like this blog.

It's been a while but The Freelancer's Guide to Getting Out of the House is back, with its 19th entry: Sedum Restaurant at Chessington Garden Centre!

(Although, technically, it is still only the 18th: I stopped off for a coffee at Mike's Kitchen in Carshalton last week, only to discover that it's closed down. Sad to see a good cafe go but apparently a new one will be opening up there soon.)

Impromptu blog post alert. I am supposed to be working but have spent most of the past hour looking out the window and grinning, so I thought I should at least get something out of my prevarication.

And the reason? It's snowing. That's all. Everything about my working from home life as a freelance writer in Surrey is exactly the same as it always is, except today there is a layer of beautiful white snow on top of it.

It's not often I start a review of a Surrey venue by discussing the toilets but I think, in this case, it's only fair to warn you about the ones at Mike's Kitchen, in Carshalton. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with them: they are easily accessed from the cafe and, when I visited them, they were extremely clean. It's just...THEY'RE THE SMALLEST CUBICLES I'VE EVER SEEN!

I'm a big fan of shopping local and leaving the car behind, where possible, so Papo's Coffee, in Ashtead, Surrey, is a great little find for me. It's relatively new to the High Street, taking the place of Greenwise (which still has a branch in Fetcham).

Before I extol the virtues of mangobean in Leatherhead, Surrey, (and that's not me forgetting my capital letters, that's how they officially write it on the shop fronts) I'd like to apologise to the woman behind the counter.

I had no intention of writing today. In fact, I had no intention of doing much at all. You know sometimes you just wake up in a slump...no energy, no inspiration and no desire to get on with anything other than just hiding under the duvet? Well, that's been me this week.

Having to spend my time visiting lovely cafés and forcing myself to drink their great coffee and sample their delicious food is tough work, obviously, but I want you to know that, just for you guys, I'll take a deep breath and keep ploughing on...I now consider it my mission in life to seek out fab temporary offices for all you work-from-homers.

I always enjoy discovering new places and last week I travelled a little further afield. I was invited to a networking event at Priory Farm in Nutfield, Surrey (and you know how much I love a little bit of networking with fabulous women…) and found that there's a lot going on at this great venue!

There's very little better than a crisp autumn morning walk through stunning fields and woods to blow the cobwebs away and stir up the imagination, before setting up your laptop in a cosy corner of a National Trust café and warming back up with a hot drink.

It would be quite easy to overlook Chad's Coffee House in Manor Green Road, Epsom. Its understated sign doesn't immediately stand out from the others in the block and you'd be forgiven for driving past without noticing this thriving little café.