A journey to middle England

On June 2oth we set off for my birthday week end in Middle England, a beautiful place with a myriad of things to do and see. On the saturday we headed to Stratford upon Avon, on arriving in the area we parked at the Park & Ride, and took the bus into the town. From there we walked to the station to meet our lovely friend Lisa, on holiday in the UK. It was so good to see her again, I have known Lisa since I was 15.....is it really that long?? Anyway, off we went to explore the town, first stop was the market and then a wander around the shops. The weather was a let down, with several drizzly showers. June weather at is best - ha ha! We had lunch at a Chinese buffet restaurant, which turned out to be a good choice, lovely food and a good selection. After lunch we headed to the park to take the boat ride, Paul and I have done this before and its a lovely relaxing way to spend an hour. However they weren't running the usual trip due to a regatta on the river, and we decided to give the alternative a miss. Instead we visited Tudor World, a new attraction which takes you on a journey through Tudor England, it was enjoyable but we did spot a couple of errors on their information boards, I think they need a better proof reader. Later in the afternoon we stopped at a tea room for afternoon tea, the scones were served warm with clotted cream and jam....YUM!!! The day flew by and soon it was time to say good bye to Lisa, good byes always make me sad. 

We returned to our car and drove to our Hotel in Warwick, we had dinner there and a quiet evening. On sunday we headed to the Cotswolds, a beautiful part of the country. Our first stop was Bourton in the Water. The town is very pretty was was heaving with tourists. Coachloads were arriving!! We spent about 3 hours exploring the shops and having tea. From there we drove on to Moreton in the Marsh, a quieter and less touristy town, but honestly I preferred it. We had lunch and a wander around the shops, its just a lovely place to while away an hour or two. I was sad to leave and hope its somewhere we can return to soon. 

In the evening we had drinks at the hotel - they had a happy hour from 6-8pm, two huge glasses of wine for just over £4!! We then had dinner at the Cape of Good Hope, a canal side pub a short walk from the hotel. They sure did a good roast dinner, there were huge slices of roast beef and plenty of them. I think we had half a cow between us!!! After a very nice dinner, we headed back to the hotel. For anyone who hasn't been to this part of England before, it really is work a visit.

On Monday we checked out of the hotel and headed into Warwick, where we discovered a lot of the shops don't open on a Monday. How very provincial!! However we went to the park which is really lovely and also visited St Mary's so that Paul could do some brass rubbing. Its actually fun to see the picture appear. When we left the church we had lunch at Merchants, and then sadly had to head home. We hadn't planned to come back so early, but I had an appointment in Ashby de la Zouch I couldn't miss. Some of you might guess what that was.

It was a good week end, and though I couldn't get away from the stress,we made the most of it. I will always make the most of it!!!  The stressful times are almost over!

Happy birthday Mr Ivans

Well this week end was special, Paul has a birthday coming up on the 8th and I wanted to fill the whole week end with fun. The celebrations started on Friday evening with dinner at the Chesterfield with our friend Rachael. It was a nice evening, and a lovely meal. It was good to unwind with a glass of wine, and some good company.

On Saturday we were up early to head to Nottingham, we arrived there just after 9am and headed to the Broadmarsh shopping centre for a coffee and a look around. A large part of the centre has been closed off for a long time due to renovations. So not really much to see, however we were planning to visit the caves, and they didn't open till 10am. The entrance is in the shopping centre, which is built over a large series of caves. Just after 10am we headed to the caves, and found their was a tour setting off at half past, there was only us and another couple. It was great to have such a small group. The guide was very informative, and the tour took about 50 minutes. Throughout the tour he stopped to tell us about the history of the caves. The city of Nottingham has more man-made caves than anywhere else in Britain. There are over 500 caves dating back to the Dark Ages, the last of which were in use until as late as the 1940`s. The caves have been used as a tannery, bar cellar, and mostly recently as an air raid shelter in WW2. When we left the City of Caves, we headed down to Las Iguanas for lunch, one of our fave restaurants. Lunch was fabulous, especially my starter!! I had roasted coconut butternut squash taco's! We both had raspberry coolers to drink, I can highly recommend them.

After lunch we had a walk up to the cathedral church of St. Barnabas, its a beautiful place. We spent a little while there just taking it all in. The choir had just started to practice, and they were pretty amazing. I wish we had got to hear more. We did do a little shopping too, but honestly the city was now so crowded you could barely move. But it was a lovely day, warm and sunny with a pleasant breeze. I really wanted to pop into HMV. And luckily they had what I wanted, The new Taylor Swift album and the DVD 'Walking on Sunshine'. By the time we got home we were both shattered. 

In the evening we watched my new DVD which I had been wanting to see for ages. Walking on Sunshine is fantastic. With beautiful Italian scenery and a wonderful 1980's soundtrack, its one of the best movies I have seen in ages. I absolutely loved it.  Definitely one I will be watching again and again.

Today Paul and I went to Dobbies Garden centre at Mancetter for afternoon tea, another pre-birthday treat. It was so nice, sandwiches, scones and jam, and finally an assortment of cakes. So yummy, and as we hadn't had any lunch we managed to finish it all. We also spend a couple of hours looking around the garden centre, I got the most gorgeous vintage stationery, and I think Paul might have bought someone special another birthday present!! Once again the weather was lovely, and we so enjoyed the day. I loved looking around all the summer houses etc outside, I can imagine us having one out in our garden. Don't think it will ever happen, but I can dream. 

This evening we've been watching DVD's and I surprised Paul with a birthday cake. Complete with candles. Nearly set myself on fire lighting the darn candles....OOPS!!! And the celebrations aren't over yet! But I think so far Paul has enjoyed his pre-birthday celebrations.

72 hours in my world

Not every week end has to have grand plans to make it special, sometimes catching up with a friend for dinner can get your week end off to a splendid start. On Friday after work I met my dear friend Jill for dinner at The Merry Monk. Glad I booked a table, it gets busy in there. I walked in to be greeted by a big smile.... one of the students I worked with at college now works there behind the bar. It was lovely to see him, and how far he's come in the past few years. Jill is the sort of friend everyone should have, a special person who makes you feel better by just being around. Easy to talk too, kind and thoughtful, what more could you ask for in a friend. Dinner was lovely, and reasonably prices as we were able to order off the lunch menu. And even better, I was able to use my gourmet card to get 25% off. I had a lovely time and it cheered me up no end.I couldn't have asked for a better start to me week end.

On Saturday Mr Ivans and I went to Derby to look around the shops, I needed a little retail therapy. I found some books in the works. One of those books was the sequel to The Woman in Black  -  Angel of Death. I am reading that now, its not that creepy at all. I am looking forward to reading the other two as well. I also got some lovely stationery. Surprisingly, Clinton's, Paperchase and the works all had lovely stationery and at very reasonable prices. It would have been so rude not to buy some. Once we had done all the shopping we wanted to, we headed to Papaya Thai for lunch.....yum diddily! You can't beat a set lunch - for me Thai fish cakes followed by green Thai curry. Lovely treat for us both. Life's so full of stress and misery, sometimes you just have to let it go and live for the moment. 

On the way home we stopped at a garden centre in Findern. I love garden centres, even tho I always think the merchandise is over priced. But we stopped, we mooched about and I took photo's of the flowers. It was fun! I loved my Saturday, we made the most of every minute.

We woke up to pretty awful weather on Sunday - rain, strong winds and grey skies. Really?? This is June? But you know, never one to be held back and kept indoors. We braved the elements, and headed into town. We went to the cinema to see San Andreas, great movie and one that needs to be seen on the big screen. I loved the movie, but cried as they flattened San Francisco. We have been there twice and love the city, the horror that this could actually happen one day is too much to comprehend.  After the movie, we did a little shopping, I wanted to get Paul a couple more birthday presents.. Mission accomplished. It was such a miserable day we were glad to get home in the end. 

As usual the week end seemed to end before it started, they are never long enough, and now I am faced with the horror of a 5 day week at work. Monday is always too hard to cope with,  but who knows....maybe one day I'll wake up and find myself thinking.....ah Monday, it ain't so bad. Ever the optimist, that's me!!