A London Food and Travel blog full of unique experiences.
We booked this in the depths of winter, a whirlwind of messages and pre-planning; a stay with just the girls filled with delicious meals, hoping for sunshine but knowing regardless of clouds that our stay at the Newt would feature a delectable Somerset hotel.
An easy trip on the train from London, our excitement grew as we got closer and closer.
People often worry that to be a travel blogger they have to jet off to all corners of the world every weekend or they won’t have enough content. Well, to that I say phooey. There are so many amazing quirky day trips from London by train that you can take (and turn them into leisurely weekends away.) This isle has wizards, giants, knights, princes, castles, Raven warders and ancient stories that never cease to amaze. It also has a tourism economy that you can help to support where you can.
Partially, it’s a change of mindset. When you’ve lived in an area all of your life, or even years, it’s so easy to take your home for granted – and giggle at the tourists transfixed by an ancient doorway that you’ve walked past for ever.
Writing this post was an amazing walk back through memories. As soon as I knew I was going down to the top of the South Island, I knew I’d be writing a ‘what to do in Nelson’ style post BUT every inch of credit has to go to my friend Cesca. (We may have giggled as we explored the landscape at ‘influencers’ who visit somewhere once and then proclaim expertise…)
An English rose that fell in love with a Kiwi and ended up moving to New Zealand, she’s settled there with her family and when she offered her spare room to me, I absolutely couldn’t believe my luck.
I was so intrigued to read this recent list of UK restaurant hotspots 2021 – it features a collection of really interesting foodie cities, a few of which I’ve been lucky enough to visit already. The rest, they’ve moved straight up my ‘to visit’ list. Disclosure: this post was commissioned by CIA Landlord Insurance who have researched which cities have the top restaurant hotspots.
Interestingly, they found that the UK’s restaurant hotspot is not London, as many would expect, and to give you an idea, Chester was ranked as the second best place in the UK, mostly due to having the highest percentage of Michelin star restaurants (2.2%). We’ve loved each of the UK restaurant hotspots on this list:
We were bound for Chichester, the sun was shining and Tinwood Estate were busily readying an private tasting of their English sparkling wine for 3 thirsty bloggers. Monday = won. (Disclosure: We were guests of the Tinwood Estate team team – but all musings are mine!)
It’s so wonderful to see how beautifully English wines have been developing over the last decade (how on earth have I lived here for so long?). Interestingly, French champagne houses have been buying up land in the UK and planting vineyards over here…