Products that help you keep tabs on your health, measure out ingredients and avoid luggage charges

1. Weigh to go

How to keep tabs on your health, measure out ingredients and avoid luggage charges

a. The neat new BC-731 Mini Body Composition Monitor from Tanita, £45 shows your amount of body fat as well as weight (eek!) and is designed to be compact enough to travel with. Find it at www.tanita.eu or www.amazon.co.uk.

b. Put together a recipe in style with the Salter Heston Blumenthal Precision Orb Electronic Kitchen Scales which have an Add & Weigh ‘zero’ function, enabling you to measure lots of ingredients in the same bowl, £39.99, www.uk.salterhousewares.com.

c. Make the most of your luggage allowance and avoid any excess charges at the airport with the easy to transport Uni-Com Digital Luggage Scales, £7 from Tesco, www.tesco.com

2. Glass act

This understated range of bowls and vases is both practical and pretty and would also work well for outdoor entertaining; just add fruit, flowers and candles. Antibes Vase Collection Tall £45, Wide £35 Roma Ceramic Collection Planter £60, Urn £75 Henry Dean Bowl £225, Umberto Vase £100, all from The White Company, Tunbridge Wells 01892 731 120, Bluewater 01322 423 623, www.thewhitecompany.com

3. Hit the decks

If you’re looking to smarten up an outdoor area this summer look out for the new contour decking from Trex. The low-maintenance, eco-friendly decking is made from 95 per cent recycled materials and can be cleaned with soap and water. The Transcend Decking in Tiki Torch shown here starts from £75m2 including VAT and is available via www.arbordeck.co.uk.

4. Lotta colour

The fabulously named Scandinavian designer Lotta Jansdotter has just launched her Signature fabrics collection; a range of 100 per cent cotton designs priced around £19 a metre. Perfect for brightening up your home this summer, they are also available in easy to wipe PVC if you want to use outdoors or in the kitchen.

Stockists include Collingwood Batchellor, Tunbridge Wells 01892 542297, Pats Textiles, Orpington, 01689 870592, Whites of Kent, Dover 01304 201002 or visit www.ashleywildegroup.com

5. No wallflower

UK wallcoverings company The Paper Partnership is behind the Smith & Fellows brand and Buttermere collection, a luxurious range of wallpapers combining state-of-the-art materials and high-quality print techniques. Priced from £55 to £134 per roll, the papers feature hand-drawn designs options including flock, holographic and surface-printed papers. Kent-based stockists include B W Wallcoverings, Tunbridge Wells, 01892 524499 or visit www.thepaperpartnership.co.uk for more details.