A Weekend in Oxford & the New Forest

A couple of weekends ago, we took an Autumnal trip down South for Sam’s dad’s birthday, and it was a delightful weekend, so I thought I’d write about it.

The weekend for Sam and I started with a night in a Premier Inn in Banbury to break up the journey to The New Forest, but it meant that we could spend a morning in Oxford, which I loved ever since we visited it last year. I don’t know if it’s the academia lover in me, but it’s just such a nice place.

The Sights of Oxford

Whilst we were in Oxford, we went for a walk around the colleges’ exteriors, peering in on All Souls, wandering around the Christchurch garden, marvelling at the Bodelian library and the Radcliffe Camera, and having a wander around both Blackwell’s bookstore and the Ashmolean Museum. I felt very cultured indeed.

Weekend in The New Forest

Following our morning in Oxford, we headed to the New Forest, where we were staying in a fancy hotel to celebrate a big birthday.

We went swimming in the outdoor pool, drank plenty of champagne, and I had a beautiful Paris-Brest that I’ve not stopped thinking about since. We even saw some of the local deer in the field behind the hotel, and slept in one of the comfiest beds I’ve slept in in a while.

On the Sunday we had an indoor barbecue, where we had some very very nice strawberries and creme anglais for dessert (yes, two of my lasting memories of the weekend were both dessert), before taking our time driving home to get into our comfy clothes. Sometimes it’s the little things y’know.

All in all, it was a very nice weekend, and I look forward to more little days out in the UK whilst we save up for our honeymoon/1st wedding anniversary trip to Japan next year.

Nic

xx 

A Weekend Down South

A couple of weekends ago, Sam and I decided we needed to get away from Stockport for a few days. We’ve been more than good during lockdown, and with both of us feeling the cabin fever, we decided we would go and spend a weekend down south visiting Sam’s family (who we hadn’t seen since February)

We drove down on Wednesday after work, and we made really good time, one perk of the roads being less busy, and I had an excellent nights sleep. We woke up early Thursday morning, and had a tasty breakfast of croissants, before driving to Kent so Sam could pick up his new car. Afterwards, we went for an afternoon in St Albans, where we saw a couple of friends in the park, and had waffles. It was lovely and warm, and when we got back to Sam’s parents, we had our evening meal in the garden and then had a relaxing evening. Friday was another warm day, and we went for lunch at Caffè Nero with Sam’s mum whilst we waited for the dog to have her hair cut. We had an afternoon in the garden, splashing in the pool and playing badminton (not me) before having a bbq in the evening.

On Saturday we headed into Brighton for a few hours, and despite the wind I was overjoyed to see the sea again. We had fish & chips and doughnuts, wandered around, and I spent too much money in Artbox Cafe. We then headed back to have homemade pizzas, before driving back up North to end the weekend. All in all, it was a lovely few days, and it was great to get away, and we were lucky we did, because we in Greater Manchester aren’t allowed to go and see anyone again now. Sigh.

Nic

xx

A Trip to Bath

I'm back! Sorry for my tiny blogging break, I was away gallivanting around the country. At the start of the week, myself and Lee went on a quick little two day trip to Bath, and, in short, we fell in love with it. I'll give you a little summary of what we did, and then I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking (I don't think words could do it justice).

The first day was a little bit of a rush. We got there at around 1pm, but couldn't check in to our hotel until three, so we went to try and find the Royal Crescent. We got lost (lol) trying to find it, but we did find the Abbey and the Roman Baths. We wandered around that area for a little bit taking it all in, and saw a man with pigeons all over him. After we checked in to our hotel and had a little sit down (hotel beds are the comfiest) we ventured back out, this time to do something I was very excited to do. We went to meet Megan!!!  We went for tea with Megan and Grant to a lovely place called The Cosy Club, which we were told was a chain, you couldn't tell though. Megan and Grant were the loveliest couple, and we got on instantly, so I hope I see them again, but enough of me fangirling, on to day two.

Day two was more successful. We found the Royal Crescent, and I managed to get a few sneaky outfit photos there. We also saw the Assembly Rooms, the Pulteney Bridge, a couple of galleries,  and went to the Jane Austen Centre, where the batteries on my camera went, so I couldn't take photos, typical. We then walked around a bit more before finishing our trip with a classic Wetherspoons, sad to be leaving.

Overall, we absolutely loved Bath, and we will definitely be returning.

Nic

xx