February Life Update: Spa Weekend Away!

Hi readers,

I've just got back from a really nice weekend away with my boyfriend. We went to a little village called Ramsbottom in Bury which is just up the motorway from me. A few months back, I saw on Wowcher this deal for a two night weekend spa there at the Old Mill Hotel and we decided it would be a nice Valentine's weekend away.

Unfortunately, even though I tried to book two months before hand, the hotel was booked for a wedding that weekend and the week after they only had rooms on Saturday night. The weekend after that- the last in February they were also fully booked due to the Chocolate festival. So, we had to go with this past weekend as there was a time limit on the deal.

We still had a great time though. We arrived Friday afternoon and just chilled out the room. I wanted to go swimming but my boyfriend wasn't feeling that great- something he'd eaten the day before- so we had a nap and just enjoyed having alone time together. The room we got was really nice and the bed comfy.  Later, we had tea in the hotel restaurant which was okay but could have been better. We were both really hungry though. Then we spent the evening and early night watching movies and chilling.

On Saturday, we got up had breakfast which had been included, then went out to see the village. There are only like two main streets which are lined with interesting shops. There's also a train station which also has steam trains running on it. We did look at going on one but it was expensive and we had other things we wanted to do.

After walking around the village, we went to The Chocolate Cafe and had some lunch. Even though it had only just gone lunch time it was worth getting early because minutes after we sat down it got so busy people were having to queue for tables! The food and drinks were really good. I had a jacket potato which was one of the best I'd ever had and also a hot chocolate that was butterscotch and banana flavour. My boyfriend had a cheese toasty and a chocolate milkshake which he said was the best he'd ever drunk.

We were too full to stay for cake and the cafe had got super busy, so we went back downstairs into the shop and brought some chocolate for later. we've not eaten the bars yet but we shared the buttons which were awesome! They were so melt in the mouth and thicker then normal chocolate buttons. I so will be buying them again as you can order online; http://www.chocolate-cafe.co.uk

We were then going to walk up to Peel Tower which was about half an hour and said to have good views of Ramsbottom and the surrounding area. However, I had a bad asthma attack and I really wanted to go swimming. So we went back to the hotel room for a bit and when I was feeling better, we went down to the spa. The pool was really small and you couldn't fit more then 6 or 8 people in it. However, when I was alone in the pool, it felt like this was my private swimming pool because it has that feel to it!

We couldn't use the Jacuzzi because a sign said it was too cold outside and so it wasn't working. I don't get that but we went in the sauna and steam room. I do love steam rooms because they are good for my asthma and I try to stay as long as possible. Saunas though with their dry heat, I can only go in for a little while. I really enjoyed it thought it was nice to swim after walking.

For tea, we had decided to go out and we picked a Chinese restaurant that we had walked past in the morning and checked the online reviews of. However when we arrived less then hour after they had opened, we were told it would be an hour and half wait as they were fully booked! I couldn't wait that long, so we went to a Chinese and English takeaway which seemed really good. We ordered and as we sat down to wait the place filled up with like twelve people coming into order or collected food. So it was really popular. The food was really nice, but we got far too much! I had bbq ribs to start with and there was like 10 good size meaty ribs in the box. That meant I couldn't eat my chow mein which was really big too!

We went to bed early, stuffed and tried. Then though we realised we could hear the music and people from the wedding party which was happening in the bar/restaurant area which was opposite our room. We got through that only then at about 1am we were awoken by a drunken arguing couple in our corridor. They were slamming, knocking and kicking their door and shouting at each other. It seemed to be mostly the man doing all of this as he seemed to be locked out by her. Whatever was going on, they kept us awake for an hour and a half or so. We watched a movie on TV and did thing about phoning reception to complain.

We didn't phone in the end and just went back to bed. We slept through breakfast even though we did get up to go but we both decided we were too tried. We went to checkout and I did complain then. The receptionist said other people had phoned the night porter and he had been up a few times but nothing has been resolved and there was little they could do. She then give us the receipts and tried to charge us for drinks we'd not had! We had already paid for the drinks we'd had with the meal and we'd not brought anything else. She did try hard to make us pay but when we really refused, she tried to find the bar receipt. Of course, she never found it so she didn't charge us.

Overall, it was a good weekend though and it was nice to spend alone time with my boyfriend. Ramsbottom is a good place to escape for a weekend away and if we do visit again I'd like to go on the steam train and walk to Peel Tower.  

That's all for today. Next week it's back to book reviews.

(All photos belong to me)

Weekend In London

Hi readers,

I just spent the weekend in London with my boyfriend for my birthday. We had a great time and there was a lot to see and do! It was hard to pick out the four things we ended up doing, but I enjoyed them all. We traveled down on Friday and enjoyed being in first class. The two hours flew by and so did some nice countryside. The hotel wasn't that far from Euston, but with all the bags we decided to grab a taxi and it was nice to see London going past the window. We stayed at a Raddison Blu Edwardian hotel which was close to the theaters.

We went to the British Museum and spent a lot of time wondering around looking at all the different displays. My favorite part was the Egyptian room. I also liked the Roman room too. There was information about the archaeologists and explorers that discovered and brought back the items, which was very interesting. The museum was really busy and it was hot too. We didn't actually get to see everything because we only had an hour or so before we had to get ready to go out.

We had a posh Chinese meal and then went to watch Les Mis. It was really good and I enjoyed being a part of it. I didn't do much singing though! Being on stage, brought it more to life and enchanted the experience of watching the musical. They added a couple of songs which just created a flow into the next one, so I didn't mind that. All the actors were really good and the singing was perfect.

I do enjoy going to the theater to see plays and musicals. I'm sure in the future I'll go more often and there's a lot more out there I want to see. My boyfriend wanted to see The Book Of Moran, but we couldn't offered to go this time. Hopefully, it'll come to Manchester as staying in London is expensive!

The hotel bedroom was really nice though and I did get some sleep before we went to breakfast the next morning. I had pancakes which were amazing. We then headed out for a full day of walking and being being on the Underground. We had planned to go to the London Eye and the zoo, luckily they were on the same underground line, so we could easily get to them from and back from the hotel. Also we had pre-booked tickets for both, which provided to be so worth doing.

We arrived at the London eye way early, so got to walk up and down, before we went on it. I enjoyed doing this and I got to stand on the bridge across from Big Ben. There was a great view of the wheel and Westminster from there. It was mega busy though and there were people everywhere. It was also hot, though we did have a sharp shower later on. We went to pick up the tickets for the Eye and it was really busy and even more so when we had to go and queue up to get on! The fast track tickets cut the waiting time in half or even less and we were soon stepping on the wheel.

The view almost straight a way was good and as the wheel went further up, it just got better. You could see so far and get a good view of London. There were screens in the pod and it showed all the important buildings. It did start to rain a little once we reached the top and started coming down again. This meant that the view of the other side of the pod was rain splattered. The rain stopped when we got off, though I would have been happy to have gone around again!

We then caught the underground to London Zoo. I was really excited as I love zoos and seeing all the animals. We had to walk 15-20 minutes when we got off the train. We stopped in a coffee shop for a drink and homemade cake. When we got to the zoo was I starting to get tried. The weather was also starting to turn. We went to the Aquarium and reptile house, before going to see the monkeys and gorillas. They were inside and mostly sleeping or high up in their enclosures. We left and went to see the Pygmy hippo talk. That was interesting and we got to see the hippo eating and laying in the their 'hot tub house.'

Heading back to see the penguin talk we went to the see the fruit bats. I really like bats and find them fascinating to watch. It was too dark in their cave to take any good photos though. We also stopped for ice creams. It felt like we were in the queue for them for awhile. Not because it was busy, but because the staff were slow and they were also making milkshakes. We had just enough time to eat before we went to the penguin area. The talk about them was really good and it was very popular. We got to see the penguins diving for fish and also eating them out of the keeper's hands.

At the end, we went to the butterfly house which was just behind the penguins. I love butterflies and could have spent a lot longer watching them. My camera ran out of battery at this point. I wanted to go and see the big cats and the other animals that were on the other side of the zoo, but my feet were really hurting. We decided to head back in a taxi and get ready to go to an American Diner tea.

  The next morning, I so didn't want to get out of bed. My feet were still hurting and we'd had a really late night. However, we had to go to breakfast, pack and check out by 11am. Having slowly done this, we left our bags at the hotel and went to the National Gallery. It was a few minutes walk away at Trafalgar Square. When we got there, we found that there was an event on for the Tour De France and the place was noisy and packed. The gallery, though quieter was just as busy. Though I did enjoy looking at paintings and galleries, I ended up sweeping through most of the rooms. Sometimes it was hard to see a painting because of a cluster or tour group of people standing in front of it. However, it was good and I left feeling impressed by the art I did get to see.

It was then time to say goodbye to London and ahead back home to Manchester. I had a really good time and I enjoyed the parts of London I did get to see. Next time I go, I'm so going to Highgate Cemetery!

Photos are all authors own. Permission need to use.