Last updated: 22 October 2026
This page explains what personal data we collect when you visit dearloves.travel, why we collect it, who we share it with, and what your rights are.
Who we are
We are Karen and Mark Dearlove, a couple in Dorset, UK, and we run this blog together. We are the data controllers for the personal data described on this page.
You can contact us through our contact form at https://dearloves.travel/contact-us/ or by email at mark.dearlove@learn-stack.com.
Cookies and your consent
When you first visit, a cookie banner asks for your consent. We do not set analytics or marketing cookies until you agree. You can change your choice at any time from the banner or the Cookie Policy page.
Full details of the cookies we use are on our Cookie Policy page: https://dearloves.travel/cookie-policy-uk/.
Advertising (Google AdSense)
We show ads on this blog through Google AdSense. If you visit from the UK, the EEA or Switzerland, Google shows its own consent message, which asks whether Google and its partners may use your data for ads.
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites.
- Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
- You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings at https://adssettings.google.com. You can also opt out of some third-party vendors’ use of cookies for personalised advertising at www.aboutads.info.
- To find out more, read “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services”: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
If you do not consent, Google decides which ads, if any, it can show without using your personal data.
Analytics
We use two tools to see which posts people read.
- Google Analytics, through the Google Site Kit plugin. It uses Google Consent Mode, so analytics cookies are set only if you agree to them.
- Jetpack Stats, from WordPress.com (Automattic), which counts visits and page views. Jetpack Stats loads only after you agree to statistics cookies.
We look only at summary figures, not at individual visitors.
Content recommendations and saving posts (Grow by Mediavine)
We use Grow by Mediavine (the “Grow” plugin, from faves.grow.me) to suggest other posts you may like and to let you save or bookmark posts. Grow may use cookies or similar storage to do this, so it loads only after you agree to marketing cookies. If you choose to create a Grow account to save posts, Mediavine handles that account under its own privacy policy.
Contact form
When you use our contact form (Contact Form 7), we receive your name, email address and message. We use them only to reply to you. We do not add you to a mailing list.
Comments
When you leave a comment, we keep your name, email address, the comment and your IP address. Your email address is not published.
We check comments for spam with Antispam Bee. This check runs on our own server, so no comment data goes to a third party for spam checking. We do not offer the option to save your details in a cookie for your next comment.
Embedded videos and posts
Some posts include YouTube videos and Instagram posts. These embeds may set cookies and collect data about you, as if you visited those sites directly. Until you consent, we show a placeholder, and the embed loads only when you agree.
Affiliate links
Some posts contain affiliate links from Stay22, Expedia and Travelpayouts. If you click one and then book or buy something, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. When you click an affiliate link, the affiliate partner may set cookies to record that you came from our blog. Their own privacy policies apply.
Hosting and how the site runs
This site runs on WordPress, hosted by Unlimited Web Hosting UK Limited on servers in Manchester, UK. Like most web hosts, they keep server data such as IP addresses for system administration and security. Their privacy policy says they keep this data for two years.
We use WP Super Cache to make pages load faster. It stores copies of our pages, not data about you.
We use ShortPixel to make our images smaller. It processes our images only and receives no data about our visitors.
Who we share data with
We do not sell your personal data. Data is shared only with the services named on this page, for the reasons given. Some of these companies, such as Google, Automattic and Mediavine, may process data outside the UK, including in the United States. These companies use legal safeguards for such transfers, such as the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses.
Why we use your data (lawful basis)
- Consent: for advertising, analytics and embed cookies.
- Legitimate interests: to reply to your messages, to publish and moderate comments, and to keep the site secure and free of spam.
How long we keep your data
- Contact messages: for up to 12 months, then we delete them.
- Comments: while the comment is published on the blog. If we remove a comment, we delete its data.
- Cookies: for the periods given on our Cookie Policy page.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you (access),
- ask us to correct data that is wrong,
- ask us to delete your data,
- object to how we use your data, or withdraw your consent at any time.
To use any of these rights, contact us through the contact form or by email. If you are not happy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at https://ico.org.uk.
Children
This blog is not aimed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.
Changes to this policy
We will update this page when the way we run the blog changes, and change the date at the top.