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Category: U.K.

Visit The Best Farm Shop in Cheshire: The Hollies

The Hollies… the Hollies…the Hollies! I’d heard of this famed place from the lips of several friends over the years, but not living that close to it although in the same county, I’d never been. Then this year I ended up driving past the original Hollies at Little Budworth twice when I went to explore…

Afternoon Tea at Wynyard Hall, County Durham

One of my first go-to plans for celebrating a birthday is afternoon tea! So when it comes to a joint celebration of my own and my mother-in-law’s (just a couple of weeks apart) it calls for something special. At some point around our birthdays I usually end up in Hartlepool (where my husband’s family lives…

A Spring Stroll Through St James’s Park, London

Of all the parks in central London, I think St James’s is my favourite. Often on one of my walking routes around the city, I find myself walking through St James’s Park. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever walked up the Mall due to the park enticing me with its beautiful and attractive green space…

Visiting the Cheshire Ice Cream Farm

Set deep in the heart of the Cheshire countryside, you’ll find a children’s paradise, not just because of the ice cream on offer, but because the Cheshire Ice Cream Farm is actually one massive play zone, no scrap that, it’s practically a theme park! Now, I’ve visited my fair share of ice cream farms around the…

Bat Out Of Hell, The Musical: Review

Rev that engine, kick back and prepare for an epic ‘edge-of-your-seat’ spectacular! Bat Out Of Hell The Musical returns to Manchester in September 2020 to kick off the UK tour. It swooped in to Manchester originally in 2017 for 6 weeks of gripping high octane adventure before heading to the bright lights of the West End! As…

Tarporley: The Heart of Rural Cheshire

As one of the larger villages in Cheshire, Tarporley resides right in the heart of the Cheshire countryside and towards the west of the infamous Cheshire Plain which is a predominantly flat, rural and fertile farming area. It is populated with dairy farms, cow-dotted meadows, pasture and woodlands and broken up by snaking countryside back lanes, the odd black…

The Welcombe Hotel & Spa: A Relaxing Winter’s Break

I can’t think of a better way to spend a few days in January than relaxing on a spa break. The cold miserable weather and infamous post-Christmas blues is not conducive to continuing great spirit, so what better way to banish the doldrums than curling up in front of a roaring fire with a good book at one…

Relax at The Welcombe Spa

I can’t think of a better way to beat the January post-Christmas blues than to head to a spa for a treatment or two and a day of pure relaxation! So, on a recent 3 day stay at The Welcombe, a Hallmark Hotel just north of Stratford-upon-Avon, my Mum and I spent a day in their…

Christmas at Gordon Rigg Garden Centre, West Yorkshire

Garden Centres are great places aren’t they? Cream teas and coffee catch-ups, gifts and local artisan products. I rarely go to buy compost, plants or anything for my actual garden. As a child I used to get dragged round a variety of garden centres by my parents as they searched for the perfect bulbs or garden tools. Only…

Walk: Southport to Ainsdale Sands

If you’re not lucky enough to live by the sea, I can imagine that you’d want to save your precious days off to visiting a coastal destination during the warmer summer months. But why should the summer months claim all our visits? On a beautifully bright winter’s day the coast can be at its most alluring…

Autumn at Craig-y-nos Country Park in the Brecon Beacons National Park

October arrived and the trees where I live were refusing to change colour. I wondered if autumn proper would ever arrive. Then the temperatures suddenly plummeted and the leaves decided to start changing very quickly and in lots of cases just fell off the branches missing that stage completely. I was very aware that if I didn’t get out…

Georgia O’Keeffe Exhibition at Tate Modern, London

Back in 2016, Tate Modern held an impressive Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition. There are no paintings by O’Keeffe in any British collection, so this was an exciting opportunity to see a major collection of her work all in one place. Note: Photography was not permitted in this exhibition so all my images are taken from the official Tate…