Go East.....and Beyond!!

Another week end, another little getaway! Paul came and collected me from work on Friday and we set off for East Midlands Outlet Centre. It was Friday, the traffic was awful, but by 5.45pm we had arrived! It was strange being there at that time of the day, it was much quieter. Definitely conducive to having a good amble about. It hadn't started out as a major shopping expedition, but kind of turned into one! I found the perfect pair of Bob's at the Sketchers store with little dogs on - so cute! Of course we couldn't past the Gap without going in! We called in at Claires too, is it really bad that I am on first name terms with the staff? I have been going in there for about 14 years and know the manager really well now, we always stop for a chat with Sally. She is a bad influence though and I came away with all  sorts of little bits and bobs!

By 7pm we were ready for our dinner at Pizza Express, I have to say we were both pleasantly surprised. The food was really good, especially the garlic dough balls. Yummy!! By the time we left the outlet centre was closed, and had that deserted feeling that usually heralds the arrival of ZOMBIES!!

We carried on with our journey to Doncaster Lakeside where we were staying at the Travelodge for the night. Our room overlooked the lake which was really nice. It doesn't feel Travelodgey at all! The following morning we had breakfast at Subway, which is located under the hotel and then went for a stroll part way around the lake. It was a wonderful way to start the day. After checking out we headed to Lakeside Outlet centre for a little look around and coffee (oh my god, the coffee at Thorntons café was so strong it nearly killed us!)

By 11.30 am we were ready to leave and head to Mr Straw's House which is a National Trust property near Worksop. Its only a small place and you have to book onto a tour. Its well worth the visit, the volunteers were lovely and its a very interesting place, like a time capsule from the past. The Edwardian semi-detached house and its contents have remained largely unchanged since the 1920s. when the Straw's first took residence. Its somewhere we would visit again.!

As we made out way through the house we came upon a bookcase where all the books were wrapped in brown paper with a label on giving you a little hint of what the book was about. At only £1 I couldn't resist getting one - but which! Paul found somewhere to sit, while I browsed! What fun! I think I chose wisely, can't wait to read my book!

The journey home was long and tedious thanks to traffic and broken down cars, but we had a stop at a garden centre for tea and cake, which was lovely. A lovely week end and a bargain hotel room for £13.50!!

 

 

Crimes against spring!!!

Once upon a time there was a land called Narnia, where it was always winter but never Christmas - I think this is where I live! On Saturday the snow was back, blustery snow showers on and off all day. It was St Patrick's day and surely should have been more spring like!! I can't say I was thrilled about going out in the afternoon but as we had theatre tickets booked, and at that point the snow hadn't started settling, we decided to head over to Lichfield.

We had a walk around Lichfield for about an hour and then headed to Pizza by Goli for dinner. This was our first visit to this Italian restaurant. Its quite small, and at times it did seem a little noisy. But I can't fault the food which was delicious. Its clearly a popular place with the locals as it soon filled up and everyone looked like they were having a good time.

After dinner we headed to the Garrick theatre to see Crimes Under the Sun - a murder mystery in the style of the stage production of The 39 steps. We had seen a performance by this theatre group at Christmas and absolutely loved it!! This performance did not disappoint either, it was brilliant and hilarious. I love the theatre group New Old Friends, they are incredibly talented. The performance was a sell out and I'm pretty sure everyone loved the show.

The journey home was not so joyous, by now a full blown blizzard was in progress and the drive home was horrendous. Snow was settling on the A38 with visibility being very poor. I was very relieved when we finally arrived home and were safely indoors. I really don't know what is going on with the weather this winter, but seriously - spring needs to get here soon.

The BAFTA Experience

Its certainly been a busy week, after a very hectic week end I was off to London on Monday evening. Having left work a little early, I headed home to get changed and pick up an overnight bag. When Paul got home, he very kindly drove me over to Tamworth to catch the 6.20pm train to London. One of the biggest drawbacks of living where we do is we have no station. Its about a 25 minute drive to the nearest one - pain in the neck! The train was surprisingly busy, but finally at 7.50pm I arrived at Euston. After topping up my Oyster card I headed down to the Underground and hopped on a tube heading to Victoria. From there I got the train to me parents in Penge. What a long journey!! I finally landed at the family home just before 9pm, mum made me something to eat - bless her - and we chatted till about 10pm.

Sadly on Tuesday morning I was up early to set off to London for a conference, but I got to have breakfast with mum and a short visit was better than no visit! On the way to the station I saw a really nasty car accident, the car was literally wrapped around a lamp post. The police were there and a fire engine had just arrived. Not the best start to the day! The journey to London was not fun, I had to stand all the way on a very crowded train. The tube journey was even worse, I couldn't even get onto the platform due to sheer volume of people and had to wait till two trains had been past before I could shuffle onto the platform along with a million other people. You really had no option but to move with the crowd! Finally I arrived at Green Park, and made my way down Piccadilly to the BAFTA building where I met my colleague Harriet. As we were still a little early we had a coffee and then made our way back to BAFTA for the conference. It was an interesting and very organised day. There were different speakers covering topics such as code of conduct, Human trafficking and future developments in eLearning. All very relevant subjects and thought provoking. There was coffee/tea, biscuits and Danish pastries laid on during tea breaks, and lunch was a delicious buffet. Very upmarket and tasty tapas, sandwiches and scrumptious desserts. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with DeltaNet personnel. The whole event gets a big thumbs up!

At 4pm once the conference ended, I headed to Fortnum and Masons to meet my friend Mandy. It was so good to see her and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to have a night in London with her. After a look around F&M which involved a lot of exclaiming about how expensive everything was, we headed to Planet Hollywood for dinner. It was pretty quiet when we got there which was nice. The food was amazing, I had the Singapore noodles and can highly recommend. We also loved the music that was being played, all very happy and upbeat. It was great seeing Mandy and catching on all our news, I'm very lucky we had the opportunity to meet up for the evening. By the time we left PH the place was packed. Very glad we had booked a table! After dinner we strolled down to China Town, the place looked amazing as all the Chinese New Year decorations were still up. We listened to live music and found a little bakery that made fresh doughnuts in the shape of little fishes. So we had some to nibble on as we walked around the colourful and delightful China Town. Our last stop was Leicester Square - more live music, a visit to M&M World and a sad farewell at the underground station!

I arrived at Euston in good time for the train home, and it did indeed leave on time. Sadly though, due to trespassers on the line, the journey back was very slow and I was around 15 minutes later arriving back at Tamworth. Long day? YES! Worth the effort - absolutely!

 

 

Berrington Hall

After a wonderful nights sleep on Saturday and a lay in on Sunday morning (hardly ever happens!) we set off for Berrington Hall.  Berrington Hall is a country house located near Leominster. The house was originally built in the 1780's for Thomas Harley. During the 20th century it was the seat of the Cawley family. First port of call was the tea room for a nice hot coffee, and then we wet off to explore the Hall. Its quite stunning when you step inside, yet retains the feel of a family home. The volunteers were very welcoming, and we were in time for a talk at 11.15am about the family for who this beautiful house was built. Its an interesting story from the shrewd man who amassed the fortune to build the property to the man who lost his fortune to wine, women and gambling!

After the house we had a walk around the walled garden and explored the dairy, second hand book shop and pretty much anywhere that wasn't too muddy. Following all the recent snow, the parklands and walk down to the river were way too muddy and we will have to return in better weather to explore these areas.

Before leaving we decided to have tea and scones, unfortunately the tea shop was packed, not a seat remaining. However, it was actually warm enough to sit outside and enjoy our tea! Almost unbelievable after the freezing temperatures and snow of the previous week end. That is British weather for you!

It was a lovely visit and I am sure Berrington is somewhere we will return too!

 

Opera boys are back in town!

Well here we are - Monday again! At least its been a great week end! We set off for Ludlow on Saturday morning, arriving in the lovely market town at around 11am. Once we had found somewhere to park the car, we set off to explore. Unfortunately it was a rather wet and drizzly morning, which meant dodging a lot of umbrellas and puddles. But it could have been a lot of worse, at least the snow was 99% melted! My first stop just had to be Kaboodles, a treasure trove of goodies! Paul bought another tin robot for his collection, alas I didn't find anything I wanted. But it was fun looking!

Having had an orbit of the town we decided to have lunch, and lucking came across a pub called the Blue Boar. Really nice place, friendly staff and the best sandwich (served with chips and salad) that I have had in ages. Definitely a find!! Sadly it was too wet to chance a visit to the castle, or for an extended amble around the town, so instead we headed off to the Ludlow Food centre for a little look around. Nice place, but very expensive. By 2.30pm we decided we'd had enough of being wet and windswept and headed to the Travelodge we'd booked. Thankfully the vey nice lady on reception let us check in early, and we were able to head up to our room - which was large, clean and very comfortable.

We hung out in our room till about 5pm and then drove over to Tenbury Wells which was about 9 miles away. We had a table booked at an Indian restaurant called Bahar for dinner at 6pm. Nice place and the food was good, I really don't think I have ever seen Paul eat so much! However the young lady who seated us and took our order was not very welcoming and looked like she didn't care if we stayed or left. Shame really, don't think she is doing the business any favour!

Then finally it was time to head to the Regal Theatre to see the Opera Boys, I was so excited to see them again. The show was great, they have amazing voices and are very funny too. Sadly Richard wasn't preforming with them this time, apparently he is touring with a production of Sunshine on Leith. I won't lie, I was sad and slightly heartbroken, but I was brave - there were no tears!! We had thought of having a drink in the interval, but the bar area was teeny and manned by two teenagers who clearly had never served in a bar before. We grabbed a bottle of sprite and left, pretty sure they couldn't muck that up!!

After the show we stayed behind to say hello to the boys and buy their new CD. As soon as I got to where they were set up to meet and greet I was met with 'hello Kathie' - that made my night. I follow the guys on Facebook and Twitter, but it was still lovely that Rob recognised me straight away! They are such nice people! Rob also asked if I was really disappointed that Richard wasn't there.....well, YES!! But it was a fab night, and truthfully I love them all! Left the theatre singing - badly as usual!

Let's all go to the Zoo...zoo...zoo

Alas, all good things must come to and end and Friday was our last full day in Benidorm. Once again in the true spirit of adventure we decided to do something new. We set off in the morning to get the bus from the other side of Old town to Terra Natura Zoo. Now we knew the #1 bus went from this location but which side of the road?? There was a stop on both sides saying exactly the same thing. Not helpful in the least. We really didn't know what to do, and I suspect that we missed one bus from being on the wrong side. However, we did finally get ourselves on the bus and we were on our way! Its only a short journey as the zoo is just outside Benidorm. They were offering half price tickets during this off peak season which made it well worth going. It was a beautiful day, cold but sunny. Pretty perfect for walking and exploring really.

Once we arrived, we bought our tickets and then set off to explore. The zoo is well laid out and reminder us a little of sea world - only with animals. Terra Natura Animal Parks lets visitors make contact with animals with barriers invisible to the human eye. Its a great experience. You can wander into areas with goats, deer, llamas, donkeys etc and they get right up close and personal. They are obviously well used to interacting with humans. You don't get quite so close to the bigger animals. There is also a great aviary where you can actually walk through and are in  amongst the birds. Really lovely and so interesting. The zoo was not crowded and we really enjoyed looking around. A word of warning for anyone going during the off peak season though, a lot of the out lying gift shops and food outlets were not open. Having said that there were still places to eat and shop, just don't go expecting everything to be open cause it won't be. We spent around 4-5 hours at Terra Natura but I think you could make a whole day of it if you wanted. We were mindful that we had to get the bus back, thankfully this was a little less complicated. The bus stop was outide the zoo and across the road.  Though they only sent a mini-bus so I am glad we got there early and there was enough room for everyone.

When we got back we got off near Old Town and had our usual wander around the shops, stopping for coffee at 'Granny's tea rooms'. I had spotted it earlier in the week and thought we would give it a go. It was a tiny place and looked just like an old English tea room. Granny (who was English) wasn't very personable though which was a shame. The place was empty and I can't help wondering if her personality had something to do with it.

Dinner was a sad affair as we knew it was our last at the hotel for this year. We never want to leave, but I guess you have to for the next adventure to begin! After dinner we put on our big winter coats and went for a long walk along the promenade, savouring every last moment. Our final stop for the night  was San Remo's for a coffee before returning to the hotel.

Saturday soon came around and after a final breakfast we were on the coach by 8.30am heading back to the airport. Good bye Benidorm, see you next year for sure!

The next adventure is just around the corner - so watch this space!

 

 

Expanding our boundaries

With a sense of excitement we headed off on Thursday to Visit somewhere new - Denia. Its the last stop on the tram line and somewhere we've never been before. After buying out tickets we discovered the tram was only running as far as Calp and from there we would need to hop on a bus. It was actually very straight forward and the bus was waiting for us when we arrived at Calp. It did however make the journey longer and took us the best part of two hours to get there. When we arrived, it took us a little while to orientate ourselves as it was all new to us, but it didn't take long. Once we'd found the Tourist information office and armed ourselves with maps we headed off to find somewhere for coffee. It was surprisingly chilly on Thursday and I am glad we both had hoodies with us, believe me we needed them. I think the top temperature was 11degrees and it really felt it!

After coffee we had a wander around the town, looking in the shops and generally just enjoying the atmosphere. We came across a Desigual shop, so we went in to have a look. I love this brand but its expensive, so usually all I do is look. But this time I found a bag I loved that was half price. Needless to say, it left the shop with me. I love it!! Yes indeed, this was a happy day! As the morning progressed we made our way to the castle, this involved a walk up a steep hill (I had memories of walking to Alicante castle, at lease this time it wasn't really hot!!). It was worth the effort, the views were amazing and the castle was interesting. We had a great time, and I got some more great photos of the local birds!

When we came back down into the town a lot of the shops were shut for siesta time, so we made our way to the harbour to admire the boats etc. We decided to head back at about 4pm as we realised it would take about two hours to get back to the hotel. It was probably a wise move. So we headed back to where the bus was leaving from and that took us back to Calp for the tram.

When we arrived back in Benidorm we ambled back to the hotel, stopping to look in all the tourist shops on the way. They really do all sell much the same stuff - seen one, you've seen them all, lol! It was quite distressing that the week was flying past so quickly.

 

 

Happy days at the Chocolate Factory

Wednesday arrived and we headed to the station after breakfast to catch the tram to Villajoyosa, one of our favourite places in the Costa Blanca. When we got there we had a coffee and a wander around the shops before heading to the Valor chocolate factory, we never miss a chance to visit here and take the free tour. Tours are limited to 50 places, and it wasn't far off this number on this visit. We've never actually seen so many people. The 11am tour is in English, but as always many Spanish people turned up expecting everything to be delivered in Spanish too. First stop on the tour is a short film, telling you about the history of Valor - how is started and how the company has grown and is still family run. We were pleasantly surprised to find the film had changed, its been updated as has the rest of the tour. After the film we were taken to the museum when we got to look around for a while. There are many artefacts from years gone by, its an interesting collection. Following on from that, you are taken around the factory and can see the production line, labs etc. Lastly you arrive in the chocolate shop where you are able to sample the chocolate bars, bonbons and hot chocolate. They are very generous, especially as this is a free tour. We bought several bars of chocolate as always, it is truly delicious! 

After we left Valors, we headed down to the beach. You walk down a serious of steps which take you past a playground and little gardens. Its so pretty. The beach is lovely, one of my favourites. We stopped for a while to eat a few snacks, we had by this point given up on lunch. Even though we were full board at the hotel, you can only eat so much. Villajoyosa beach front is very colourful, all the houses are painted in different colours and look very attractive. We walked, we hung out on the beach and we stopped at a bar we like for coffee. It was actually too cold for beer - a first!  As you head away from the beach, there are a series of escalators to take you back up to street level.

 When we got back to Benidorm  we went back to the hotel for a little while, then we headed down to the old town. We took a walk up to Placa del castell. Its a beautiful location with views across playa del Poniente. We hung out there for ages, listening to the music and people watching. Its the sort of place you have to drag yourself away from. I just feel so lucky that we had the chance to be there.

 

Altea

On Tuesday we headed to Altea, so after breakfast we walked to the station to catch the tram. The hotel had packed us a picnic to take with us as we planned to make a day of it.  The tram system is cheap and efficient and it wasn't long before we were arriving in Altea. Its a lovely place with so much to offer. We always head straight to the old town first which is accessed via steeps steps leading up a hillside. They are a killer and I have never made it all the way without having to stop for a break and to catch my breath. But believe me when I say, its worth the effort. The view from the top overlooking the sea is breath taking. It was very quiet when we arrived an despite there being quite a few tourists milling about the Old Town didn't look like it had quite woken up yet. But we had a coffee in the square and watched people come and go, they clearly didn't have the patience to wait. After our coffee, we looked around the beautiful church which is quite stunning. There are also a few shops lining the steep little roads but they didn't open till noon. By the time we were ready to head back down they were all open and we were able to have a look around.

After spending the morning here, we headed back to the main town area where there are shops and of course the beach, After having wondered around the shops we headed to the beach for our picnic. Its a very pebbly beach, but we found ourselves somewhere to sit and then decided it was time to investigate the picnic. Its always an adventure as the hotel pack all manner of random things in there, little tins of tuna salad, pate, rolls, sandwiches, juice boxes, fruit etc. To be honest, there is way too much and there are several items that we were never going to eat. We did have company for our picnic, a young seagull decided to join us. He was very well behaved and just stood next to us and watched. Alas he was left disappointed as we dared not feed him in case it attracted the attention of the hundreds of other gulls. That could have been scary!!

After our lunch on the beach, we had a long walk along the sea front stopping or coffee on the way. It was sadly not beer weather this year. We both felt in need of a hot drink. It was so lovely being able to spend the day in Altea, though we go every year I could never get tired of it. If you're ever in the area - please go!

The evening followed the usual pattern of dinner, and a walk along the promenade. I think due to the chilly weather there were less people about this year. But I was determined not to miss the opportunity to star gaze on the Costa Blanca.

 

 

A journey to the mountains

Monday turned out to be a nice day, not warm but at least the rain had stopped. After a lovely breakfast we headed off to the bus stop which luckily for us is right outside the hotel. The bus for Guadalest comes along at around 10am, bus times in Spain seem to be a little.....fluid!! The journey into the mountains takes about an hour and we reached Gaudalest at around 11am. There is only one bus there and one back, so you really don't want to miss it!!

Once we got there we knew we only had two and a half hours to explore, so off we went. Luckily we have been there before and knew where we were going. Sadly there is not enough time to visit the castle, to do so would be at the expense of everything else. And who would go to Gaudalest and not want to just stand and admire the view! Its a steep walk to get to the top end of the little town, where there is a little town square and awesome views out across the mountains and lakes. After spending a little time there we ambled back down the little cobbled streets, looking in the shops and church, and of course stopping for coffee. There is little better, than having coffee in Spain - the views, the coffee and the unhurried pace - bliss! I do suspect a lot of people got off the bus and stopped at the first café they found, without going off to explore. Its such a shame, its a beautiful little place. I wish we had time to explore the little museums etc. The time always flies by but we had enough time to explore everywhere we wanted too. By 1.30pm we were back on the coach and heading back down to Benidorm. The journey back is always an adventure as the drive seems to just drop people off at random places. We're always one of the last couples left on the bus and he always hollers at us asking where we want to get off.

We got back to the hotel in time for lunch, and a little rest before a late afternoon stroll into the old town. This is something we love to do every day. We walk, we potter about the shops and stop somewhere for coffee and a brandy. The Old Town is a wonderful place and always full of people. Lots of interesting shops, and places to eat. Cannot imagine not going here to explore.

 

Dinner was the usual hilarious affair of the 7pm dash to grab a table. People really do live in fear they won't get fed! Dinner is always excellent at the Benilux with a good selection of salads, hot buffet and desserts. Even Paul the vegetarian found plenty to eat. After dinner, we went out for an evening stroll along the promenade. Believe me, after dinner you need too!