Tag: tripadvisor

What to do in Lake District Windermere

I have always wanted to visit the Lake District, to go walking and enjoy the beautiful views offered by this little town. Virgin trains had a Black Friday deal last year and included in that deal were return tickets to Lake District for only £22. This is compared to the usual £60 plus so my girls and I took up the offer straight away! We went for 2 days and 1 night and tried to cram as many things as possible!  In this post, I will be sharing what we did, where we ate and slept so hopefully you can you use as an itinerary or if you were thinking of visiting a new place

There are many diff places to visit in the Lake District but we went to Windermere and stayed in Bowness which is a small town in Windermere. Windermere also has the largest freshwater lake in England and there’s plenty of walks available there too. The virgin train will take you to Oxenholme then it’s another 20 min train to Windermere station. Tickets are not expensive, £6.10 or £4.95 with a railcard. From Euston, it took about 3 hours to get to Oxenholme.

We slept in the Burnside Hotel & Spa which is a beautiful hotel, within a stone’s throw from the Bowness Pier and town centre. Our stay included complimentary use of the spa facilities and breakfast.

Saturday

We arrived by 1 pm and had brunch at Baha in the town centre. A beautiful restaurant and lounge with good food and service. The prices were budget friendly too.

After eating we decided to go hiking to Stock Ghyll Force waterfall however after an hour into the hike, it started to drizzle and we realised it would get dark pretty soon so we stopped in Brockhole instead. Still, we were blessed with amazing views.

We made use of the spa facilities as soon as we got back! They have a steam & sauna room plus a pool, hot tubs and cool plunge pool! Much needed after our hike!

For dinner, we went to the very fancy old England MacDonald Hotel. The service is amazing and the food is good. This is how fancy they are: they put the napkins on your lap for you, take your jacket and offer you amuse bouche to cleanse your palette! We ordered steaks and wine. There wasn’t a lot of choice on the menu BUT the menu online was totally diff to what we had and that had a lot of choices. Now that I think of it, I am not sure if we were only offered a set menu.. Anyway it was 2 courses for £29 but a £8 supplement for the steak. We were offered beef and feta cheese appetizers for free then a champagne sorbet to refresh our palettes!.

Dinner outfit! Black velvet dress from Zara, Choker necklace from Newlook

My steak was really good, again slightly more medium than medium well but good nonetheless. I didn’t like the chips it came with and I wasn’t too fussed about the peppercorn sauce either. For dessert, I got the sticky pudding with cream- amazing, Diane got her cheese (she loves cheese) and Miriam got the pannacotta. We all loved our dessert! Service was great! I really appreciate the fact that they didn’t add the service charge to the bill, they don’t even ask you for it on the card machine leaving you to decide whether you want to or not. We paid the service charge because it was really good service and I usually don’t mind paying it but I just don’t like it when restaurants do that.. anyway I digress

After dinner we went back to Baha for a drink, we missed their live music session (yes I know) so we went upstairs to the 3rd floor to the bar. We didn’t stay too long as we were super tired.

Sunday

Sunday was a chill day, after breakfast at the hotel (lots of choices) we walked around Bowness before going on the lake cruise to Lakeside. It was a 90min cruise non stop meaning you can’t get off and explore lakeside. They have the stopping cruises too but since there isnt really much to do in lakeside we didn’t mind this. Adult tickets are £11.80. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I liked that you get commentary on the history of the lake and a few buildings we went past.

 

We headed to the village bar and social afterwards for an afternoon snack which was ok but I didn’t really enjoy it. Not sure if I was too tired or cold lol. the squid I ordered was tasteless and had too much coating and the lemonade was flat. The temperatures dropped quickly on Sunday so at this point we just wanted to head back to the hotel and have hot chocolate!

After that, we just chilled at our hotel before we had to leave around 6.30pm. we got a cab from straight to Oxenholme and it costs about £35.

Lake District Windermere recommendations

Stay in Burnside hotel & Spa, make use of the complimentary spa facilities.

Brunch at Baha and if you can go back at night, go and enjoy the live music session

Dinner at MacDonald hotel or Baha. But there are a lot more places to eat and there are all pretty much close to each other.

The cabs are cheaper than the buses. If you get off at Windermere station and are heading towards Bowness, a taxi will cost you £5.70ish and a 10 min drive whilst the bus is £3.10 and about 20 mins.

If you go in the winter, please take lots and lots of layers!

I got my walking boots and thermal leggings and shirt from Sports Direct. My boots were really warm and comfortable to walk in. It’s waterproof to some extent as I walked through a puddle and my socks we dry

Info on Windermere walks here

That’s our 2 days and 1-night itinerary for Lake District, I definitely recommend Lake District. It’s so perfectly picturesque, so beautiful and good for a short getaway. Honestly, I used most of our walks to pray and meditate.  I will definitely to return here esp in the summer! I saw a lot of ice cream shops about but it was too cold to try any! I may also visit another small town, there are lots to choose from in Lake District and it was hard to choose where to go. In the end, we decided on Windermere because it seemed like the most popular place to visit first.

Thank you to the amazing staff at Burnside Hotel for making our stay one to remember! I will definately be back!

Let me know if you have been and what you think of it!

Catch you later!

my travel posts are back baby! Stay tuned for more, in the meantime check out these places

Morroco

Why I Travel

Happy New Year!

I want to start the year sharing somewhat of a testimony and the reason why I travel so much (according to friends and family lol, personally I think I’m an average traveller but well..). I actually wrote this post back in October but I have been hesitant to post it until now

So I’m sitting here in Nice waiting for my delayed flight back home to London. I’ve been contemplating why I love travelling and I feel blessed to have visited so many beautiful places and for some reason I can’t let go f the thought that I need to put this into a post so here it goes.. Stay tuned to the end where I will share some tips on money & planning

I remember back home in Ghana, I was either 10 or 12 years old and my mum had sent me to get some stuff from the market. It’s about a 10 min walk from home to market. As soon as I stepped out, I remember looking down and for rest of the journey my head stayed down. I felt ashamed that I was going to the market alone because I was thinking people would look at me and say she doesn’t have any friends. I would see people laughing and think oh they must be laughing at me. And that feeling of been alone stuck. Been the overthinking child I was (and still am) I thought of the future etc etc. If I would be alone, get a job etc etc and it’s funny I should feel like that because in school I was actually very popular and a teacher’s pet.

Fast forward to ages 16 to 20 and a lot of things happened to me  I moved from Ghana to London when I was 13) which forced me to actually be alone. From failed relationships to realising personal truths, I had to be alone and in those moments I sought God. In those moments, when I could do nothing but cry,  I began to learn a lot about God and myself and I began to love been alone! I didn’t see it as a negative anymore. At 20 I decided to step out of my comfort zone and travel, on my own to Thailand! I decided to volunteer for 1 month in Thailand teaching English. I met so many people that after two weeks, I decided to go travelling. Again by myself made my way from Phuket to Bangkok by bus at night, I couldn’t speak Thai AND I had no internet. But I safely made it to Bangkok. The very next day I met Jess a fellow traveller from Australia and we decide to go travelling together through northern Thailand. Just like that.

Me?! someone who couldn’t even leave home by herself

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Post on Thailand here

I came home and a month later in the same year, I found myself in Madrid Spain, on a year away from uni, where I was working and studying (I always had this dream where I would do this but only remembered after I came back home after the year was done). I have been to so many other places since then and now sitting here in Nice, after a really good weekend with my friend’s family (a friend I met back in Madrid and we kept in contact). I’ve been blessed and sometimes I take it for granted but in conservations, with other people, I realise it’s not that easy for some to travel even though money and timing is not an issue and they actually want to travel. I guess it’s hard to step outside your comfort zone esp if nothing has forced you to be out of it.

I guess I’m writing this to anyone who feels they will be alone forever or feels they need the validation of others’ company. God has a way of getting through to you, in a way you would understand and know it’s Him. That thought of loneliness or dependence on others is a lie straight from hell. It could be that your very calling is the exact opposite, to stand or minister to millions but if the devil could get fear in first he knows he could stop you from reaching your full potential. Why else would an 11/12 year old feel so lonely when been sent to the market when literally I knew a bunch of people in the neighbourhood? I am also reminded of the story of Moses, how he wasn’t an eloquent speaker and this made him afraid when God called him to work however his calling was literally to speak to kings to free a nation!

So Why Do I Travel?

I travel because I want to continually prove to that 11-year-old me that I can do anything I put my mind to, even if it was impossible to me at one point.

I travel because I see my life as a bank of experiences and in those experiences I try to seek God in them. Travelling gives me new experiences to add to that bank. And every new country allows me to see the variety of God’s workmanship.

I travel because I don’t want to settle. In routines, same knowledge same experiences. I want to push myself to seek new and exciting experiences

And I travel because after catching the travel bug and buying a map, I now want to cross every single country on that map! My personal challenge is 3 new countries/cities/places every year

 

Now that’s out of the way, I want to share some tips on travelling. It’s actually not as expensive as people think

  1. Incognito mode is your friend. Google is very smart and after a quick search of a place on your laptop, you will begin to see things related to your search everywhere else e.g. phone and even on Instagram! Have you ever noticed you randomly search for something on Google and in the next couple of days, you begin to see it as ads on other websites you visit? This is because of cookies. When you google hotel/flight prices I believe it increases with every search because it thinks you are thinking of visiting there hence an increase in prices may force you to purchase because you want the cheapest deal. girl, I search for all prices relating to travel in Incognito mode, that way no cookies are placed on my device and the true price comes up every time

 

  1. If you can, sign up for the airline’s email newsletter so you are kept up to date on sales/discounts going on

 

  1. Flexibility- try as much as possible to be flexible with dates and destinations and be open to visit countries off the beaten track! For me, I want to visit every single country so it’s just a matter of where I go first and price

 

  1. Travel buddies- I believe there are some places that are safer and easier to travel with a buddy. Choosing the right travel buddy is super important because it can make or break the trip. Finding someone with similar interests and budgets is super important e.g. imagine you want to eat local mid-range food on holiday but your buddy just wants the full blown 5 star restaurant experience? Hotels? You may want a cheap and cheerful one, they want a 5 star hotel with room service?

 

  1. Sites like TripAdvisor is your BEST FRIEND!

That’s all I will share, for now, I don’t want this to be a super long post! I hope this has inspired someone to travel and just get out there and do something you have always wanted! I will bring back my travel posts- I stopped due to pure laziness lol but I will bring them back from onwards! I think I will do it itinerary style as I find posts like that super helpful when I am researching a new destination!

Happy New Year once again and I hope your 2018 is your best year yet!

Xoxo

Miller and Carter Steakhouse Review

Cuisine- Steakhouse

Overall- 4/5    Food- 5/5   Service-4/5     Ambience-5/5   Value-5/5

I have driven past this restaurant a few times so I finally decided to have dinner there earlier this month. It comes across to me like a harvester ( if you are from the UK you know what I’m talking about. If not, it’s sort of a ‘mid-range gastropub’) so I thought they were reaching with their smart casual dress code. So I was like ok let me up my standards of critique then (lol) because I really wasn’t expecting much. There are two branches in South London: Bromley & Mitcham and we went to the Bromley branch. It’s a really big restaurant and actually nicely decorated inside too: slightly romantic but very nice ambience. Anyway, we were seated right away, but it took a min to get our drinks order as it was slightly busy. From the mocktail menu, we had Mango Melba & Elderflower Sherbet- which were amazing! For starters, we got the Sticky Duck Wings with Hoisin sauce and a dressed slaw. I had duck but never duck wings. It came with 4 large portions and they were amazing -cooked well without being dry. It wasn’t soaked in the sauce but enough to coat it. Even that dressed slaw was good.

For mains, I got the Rump steak medium well with béarnaise sauce and fries. I also ordered a side of half lobster. A side of wedge lettuce comes with steaks and I chose the garlic parmesan dressing. I didn’t eat it much because its literally a wedge of lettuce with dressing- not exactly pleasing to the eye. My steak arrived more medium than medium well so I sent it back to the kitchen. When I informed the waitress she quickly apologised and explained it was put through the till as medium. Anyway, when it came back I thought it could have used a few more mins to brown but I ate it as I was hungry lol. It was so good! Seasoned, tender & good! The fries were a smaller portion but they were crispy and hot. The lobster was good too. He had the half rack BBQ ribs with fries & coleslaw. He was very happy with everything.

For dessert, we got the sticky toffee pudding. It seemed really popular in the reviews I read so I thought to try it out for myself. This is when I died and went to food heaven lol but God sent me back because it wasn’t time for me to be home. LOL. First off that vanilla ice cream hmm then the salted butterscotch sauce PLUS the pudding itself. It’s safe to say 5 mins later it was gone and we were wishing to order seconds.

Verdict- we were informed when we arrived that a few items weren’t on the menu as they were changing menus. Luckily what I wanted was there- steaks lol but he wanted to try the beef brisket topped burger but that wasn’t available.  I think the wedge lettuce should be changed to a house salad- the dressing was nice and would be more appreciated on a house salad. The service was good although a few times during the meal, it was difficult to find our waitress when we wanted her for something. Probably due to how big the place is. So I must apologise to Miller & Carter, I stand extremely corrected! The food is superb and the prices very reasonable. I think if I was ever craving steak which I do from time to time (a lot of the time) I would go here instead of heading to central, it’s very close to home. I actually don’t mind the dress code, another reason to dress up!

Part 2- Miller & Carter– Mitcham

So on a random Tuesday night, I decided to give my bro Peter the honour of having dinner with me lol. After failing to find his Lebanese restaurant (which he swears exists but I don’t believe it did lol) guess which place I recommended? Miller & Carter lol smh. This time we headed to the Mitcham branch. Which is just as big but I feel nicer inside compared to the Bromley branch. Again we were seated straight away. I recommended the duck starters to him and we went with that only this time it was Chicken & Duck wings (remember they changed the menu) and it was amazing! Those wings tho jheez and the buttermilk ranch dressing paired well with them. For drinks, I had the elderflower sherbet this time and it was so refreshing!

I didn’t choose steak this time around ( I was saving my myself for a special steak place later that week), so I got the half rack ribs with lobster & prawn tempura and Peter got the beef & barbacoa burger. I don’t really know what to say; the food was amazing! End of story lol. Peter was so blown away by the food too lol. His burger was literally a beef patty, topped with a rump steak and barbacoa. Best meal he ever had according to him. He even loved the tempura side I got- and he isn’t too fond of seafood. That lobster tempura was amazing but the presentation needs a little makeover.

 

Obviously, the main reason for coming back was really to have the sticky toffee pudding again lol. However, we were running really short on time: he had to be somewhere else. No problem, been Ghanaian, I am well versed in the takeaway arena so we had it to go lol. It didn’t come with the ice cream but they gave us lots of strawberries and custard.

In short please visit Miller & Carter! Both restaurants gave excellent service (more the Mitcham brand) and the food oh the food is so good! It really got a girl asking about private dining options as I have a girls Christmas dinner to organise hmm. I would return and this is coming from someone who doesn’t like going to the same place twice.

Another place done!

Want more food places to try? Read my review of Rum Kitchen and Honest Burgers

Did you come for beauty? Check out these posts Beauty Advent Calenders, Palmer’s Olive Oil Shampoo

Paris

Post birthday celebration post!

I actually never realised it’s been 5 years since I started talking about going to Paris! I just don’t know why I left it that long. So this year I made it my prerogative to go there and what better time than my birthday?!

Paris is hella expensive lol but it’s a beautiful city, it’s not called the most romantic place for nothing, I mean did they really have to have seats in pairs in the park? Lol

The food! The baguettes! The croissants and that hot chocolate with loads of cream! Lool! It’s also the only country I have been to where they prioritise wine over water lol, how can wine be the 1st thing I saw when I went into the convenient store and water was downstairs lol. It’s also the only place that has a whole building dedicated to women shopping lol and the thing is every floor was busy.

Paris is that European city you just have to visit and it’s also worth mentioning it will probably be better to speak a bit of French if you do. I am so lucky my girl was French lol. I took LOADS of pictures, too many maybe but hell my Galaxy S7 camera is the BOMB! I finally shopped in Sephora! I went to one in Madrid but the hype wasn’t real back then lol.

But anyway I am super happy I finally went and I don’t mind going back! (I don’t like to go back to places I have been to before because I feel I can use that money to discover a new place( my goal is to visit every country so if you want to sponsor just holla at me lol however Paris and Thailand are places I will definitely go back to). I stayed in the Mercure Gare Du Nord which made transport SO easy. I went to most of the usual touristy places, two thing I really wanted to do was river tour and go to Disney but that can be done another time!

For now this 23rd year can start probably!