a s is t er p a rt ne r sh i p
Sisters Lu Burke, 30 & Natalie Walker,
34 live with their partners and children
in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. They
run Little Dandies together. An online
childrenwear business selling their own
illustrations screen printed onto funky
clothing for little one’s.
Lifes t y l e
Nat - I was the first to move back up North,
we had just had our first boy Seth who was
two and we had decided we were ready to try
for another one. We had already moved out of
the centre of buzzing London to the burbs so
moving back to be nearer the family seemed to
make sense, it was hard leaving all our friends and
my sister but we knew we would come down
lots and they would come visit. I am a trained
primary school teacher so I can hopefully go
back into it when I a ready, I don’t need to be
based in London to do this.
Lu - My lifestyle has changed dramatically from
fun, my philosophy is to get outside as much as
possible and never care if the house is a tip or
there is a mountain of washing and if I end up
going to bed at 8 o’clock!
We decided to move back up north when we
had our first son, the thought of traveling for
weeks on end half way around the world every
other month with work sounded terrifying once
I had Laurie. We had out grown our one bed flat
in Kentish Town and couldn’t afford anywhere
big enough without adding an hour commute
on top of both working a 5 day week. So we
took the plunge and my husband got a job back
up north at Yorkshire Tea.
It was hard at first, it seemed to be so much
colder up north and no one seemed to be on
the same wave length as us apart from my sister
and brother in law, even the coffee seemed dull.
I think ten years away had made us southerners!
However once we got in the swing of things
we met some really nice people and cool places
to go, the baby groups were great and I found
it quite liberating letting my toddler eat an ice
cream and paddle in a stream naked! We knew
we had made the right choice.
leaving London and a full time job as a fashion
designer to being a full time mum of two boys,
Laurie nearly 2 years old and Sid just 8 months,
to say life is crazy would be an understatement! Lu - I work at home, mostly in the evenings/
Also working as a part time freelance designer weekends and on a Wednesday when
and running my own business there is never grandparents come into play. We have had our
a dull or spare moment! My lifestyle is full of busy moments where everything has been a
Ma k i ng i t wor k
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