St Mawes creators shortlisted twice at national awards

Step off the St Mawes ferry with the Orchard family and, sooner or later, you get the feeling you might end up in one of their stories.

A double shortlisting for the family behind DaysLikeThis.Life

The family behind a multi-million-view British media brand with strong creative ties to St Mawes has been shortlisted twice at the Social Media Marketing Awards 2026.

DaysLikeThis.Life, created by broadcaster and author Brett Orchard with his wife Vikki and featuring their sons George and William and family dog Lola, has been named a finalist in two categories at the national awards. Brett’s Creator & Personal Brand entry has been recognised under the title Turning British Family Life Into a Multi-Million-View Creator Brand.

Why St Mawes keeps turning up in the story

St Mawes has become one of the family’s favourite places to create, film and find inspiration, regularly featuring in DaysLikeThis.Life content and becoming the setting for Brett’s children’s adventure The Legend of St Mawes: Six Out of Time. Rather than simply borrowing a Cornish backdrop, the book draws on the real village, its history and familiar locations, turning St Mawes itself into an important part of the adventure.

Brett Orchard said: “St Mawes has become incredibly special to all of us. We came here as a family, fell completely in love with the place and somehow it started finding its way into everything I was creating. It appears in our family content, it inspired an entire children’s adventure and every time we return I seem to leave with another story in my head. The wonderful thing is that people watching DaysLikeThis.Life or reading the books can discover real places through the stories we tell.”

📷Vikki and William Orchard with family dog Lola on the St Mawes ferry. Credit: DaysLikeThis.Life

From family videos to a growing media brand

DaysLikeThis.Life has grown from sharing everyday family moments into an independent family media and storytelling brand spanning social video, travel, books and broadcasting, with its content generating millions of views. The family has previously been recognised as a finalist at the UK Content Creator Awards, and has now received two further national shortlistings at the Social Media Marketing Awards 2026.

Despite the growing national recognition, Brett says places such as St Mawes remain central to what the family creates. “We’ve never wanted DaysLikeThis.Life to become something polished and detached from our real lives. The places we feature are places we genuinely love and the adventures are things we’re genuinely doing together. Cornwall, and St Mawes especially, has given us an extraordinary amount creatively.”

“If our stories introduce a few more people to this beautiful part of Cornwall, or a child reads one of the books and then recognises somewhere in St Mawes when they visit, that’s rather lovely,” he added.

The winners of the Social Media Marketing Awards 2026 will be announced in London on 8 October.