Deal, Sandwich and The Lane Cafe / Restaurant - The Kent Coast

I'm glad so many of you liked the carrot and red lentil soup of my last post. I made it again this morning and it is equally good this time (fifth time!) around. Mini Bite even managed two bowls of it this evening, despite being under the weather with a temperature.

Lunch from The Lane Cafe/Restaurant, Deal

Like the soup, this post has been sitting in draft form for a little while. It relays sights and memories from a day trip Mr Bite and I made back in February, when we each took the day off work and left Mini Bite in nursery while we went exploring. It is the second time we've done this, and while it feels a bit mean as parents, it gives us much needed and rather rare time as a couple.

On this occasion, we drove the 90 minutes to the nearby towns of Deal and Sandwich on the Kent coast. For those not familiar with England, Kent is a south-east county bordering London on one side and the coast on the other. We are on the London side, and despite living in the area for 2.5 years, we have yet to explore many of the coastal towns.

Deal Castle

Tweet

Springing into Dorset

Lulworth Cove, Dorset

We returned yesterday from five days in Dorset, which provided sun, sea and sand if not the weather for swimming (that would have been too much to expect in early March). After our snowy start to spring it was delightful to have 10'C days without rain - especially as this weekend brings yet more snow both at home and around the UK. We were fortunate to have our holiday when we did.

Here are some highlights from the week away...

Lulworth Cove, Dorset

Tweet

Liverpool sights and vegan eating from The Egg Cafe

Last week I had a trip of three firsts. It was my first overnight work trip in the UK (my role doesn't usually involve much travelling, but for various reasons will have a bit more this year); my first overnight stay away from Mini Bite; and my first visit to Liverpool.

Liverpool docks

At 18 months, I know many parents will have left their children overnight before. However, it felt like an enormous milestone for our household. I confess to feeling some excitement as well as apprehension - the excitement mostly centering around uninterrupted, extended sleep. I was rewarded with exactly that: 10 hours of blissful sleep after a prior hour reading in bed. Poor Mr Bite had the opposite scenario at home, with Mini Bite being awake from 1-3am and then starting her day at 5am. It is probably for the best I have no more overnight travel planned.

World Museum, Liverpool

Tweet

Holidaying with a 15-month-old: A week in Suffolk

This last week has been a clear example of how our lives have changed since having Mini Bite. Two years ago, Mr Bite and I were travelling Scotland, thinking nothing of driving 4+ hours in a day, and walking extensively whatever the weather. Fast forward to now and we just had a week in Suffolk - all of 1.5 hours north of our home - where the key factors in our accommodation choice were the presence of a playground, indoor swimming pool, and animals for Mini Bite to visit. It was a different holiday, although equally enjoyable in its own way.

Gladwins Farm

Tweet

A long weekend in Wales

We have just returned from a long weekend in Wales, a trip motivated by my cousin's wedding being held in Llangollen (North Wales) on Saturday. Our drive there was unexpectedly long (bank holiday traffic), we did our usual trick of illness on holiday (always) and the Welsh weather was characteristically variable (rain after sun) but the wedding was gorgeous and the surrounding countryside equally so. Until I am organised with a regular post, I thought I would share some pictures of the scenery...

Welsh walking

Blue skies and clouds = Welsh weather

Tweet

Welcome 2017

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year period. We have just returned from a week in Keswick, in the UK's Lake District, where we spent Christmas and had our first holiday with Mini Bite. I look forward to catching up on blog posts in time, and sharing recipes again soon, but for now - here are some pictures from our time away.

Keswick town

Keswick town hall

Derwentwater

Tweet

Out and about in England: Norfolk

It's been a long weekend here in England and Mr Bite and I have just returned from 2 nights in Norfolk. I organised the trip as a birthday present for Mr Bite, although given his birthday was in April, it's been a rather delayed present for him to experience!

Norfolk flowers

Norfolk was one of the few counties we hadn't visited as a couple and I don't think I had visited it at all. It's not really en route to anywhere else and it doesn't have any 'star attractions'. However, the county has a character all of its own and the main city, Norwich, is particularly appealing. We had an enjoyable and relaxing few days exploring the area, and so I thought I'd share some highlights in photo form.

Norfolk Broads

Tweet

Out and about all over...Kent, Sussex, the Midlands

Sissinghurst Castle Garden

It's been a jam-packed few weeks. We took Mr Bite's mother up to the Midlands last weekend, revisiting Solihull (south of Birmingham) where Mr Bite spent some of his formative years and taking in the sights of Birmingham and surrounds. The weekend before, we took in local attractions, making use of the many National Trust properties in Kent and Sussex. I thought I would share some photos and highlights.

Bateman's House and Garden

The friendly garden hedge, above, was at Bateman's House and Gardens, the once home of Rudyard Kipling. It is now managed by the National Trust and the house contains various exhibitions on Kipling's life and work. We visited in between spring showers and the outside views were also impressive.

Bateman's garden scenes

Tweet

Forest of Dean and surrounds

It is amazing what you can fit into 5 days when living in a relatively compact country. Last week we spent 4 nights in the Forest of Dean with a few hours on the way there in Oxford, and the same on the way back in Bath. It was a relatively short break but felt satisfyingly long.

Oxford sunshine (Christ Church university buildings)

The Forest of Dean is in Gloucester and borders the English Cotswolds region on one side and Wales on the other. We stayed in a Forest Holidays cabin, which means we were part of a large but well set up complex. Forest Holidays have links with the Forest Commission and their 9 UK sites feature eco-friendly cabins in beautiful locations. It was a different approach to our usual style of booking independent self-catering holiday homes, but one we were pleased with.

Cabin kitchen

One of the highlights of the cabin was its hot tub, which was delightful to dip into after walking or sightseeing outdoors. We were lucky to have clear days for most of our time away, but the temperatures were still cold - as evidenced by the picture below with ice on the hot tub cover. We were also thankful for the effective underfloor heating within the cabin itself.

Tweet

Edinburgh (a final Scottish recap)

Christmas decorations in Edinburgh

This is my fourth and final recap from our November Scotland holiday (previous posts covered south-west Scotland, Glasgow, and the Scottish Highlands). Edinburgh was our last overnight stop, but we drove to it via a large loop from the Highlands across to Aberdeen and down the east coast. This is far from the most direct route, but I was keen to see Aberdeen as my family nearly moved there when I was 8. My father's company wanted to relocate him (and thus us) to the area, and it took some negotiation to avoid the move. As a result, I've always been curious about Aberdeen and the possible parallel life I could have lived there.

Suffice to say, Aberdeen was not the highlight of our time in Scotland. Until we got there, I'd been increasingly convinced we should have moved when I was 8. Aberdeen, however, is rather different to the rest of Scotland. The sprawling outer suburbs held little appeal, and the city centre was as grey as its reputation (Aberdeen is often know as the granite city due to the use of granite in most of the central buildings). The city council building, pictured below, was impressive but I didn't find  much else to warm to.

Aberdeen's most attractive (grey) building

I was still glad to see Aberdeen and lay my could-have-been parallel life to rest. Driving down the east coast also allowed us to stop at Dunnottar Castle, an impressive semi-ruined castle perched right on the coast.

Dunnottar Castle 

Tweet

Scottish Highlands

After our time in Glasgow, we drove north-west to spend 3 days in the Scottish Highlands. I was particularly excited about this part of the trip, as I'd heard so many good things about the scenery in north-west Scotland and was looking forward to soaking it up. (Incidentally, given recent Scottish storms, floods and snow, we really were very lucky with our sunshine and minimal rain.)

Loch en Eilein, Cairngorm National Park, Highlands

The highlands cover a large area - basically the north-west half of Scotland - and we stayed in Port Augustus on the lower edge of Loch Ness. We chose it as a central location and because of good self-catering options. Where we stayed, a one-bed self-catering apartment in an old convent, was perfect and I don't hesitate to recommend it. Whilst technically an apartment, it felt more like a cottage due to the generously sized rooms. The rooms were also beautifully furnished and there were lots of thoughtful touches like a completely equipped kitchen (I could have baked a cake if so inclined), books and DVDs, and lots of maps and local guidebooks.

The Old Convent self-catering cottage

Tweet

South-west Scotland

Before our recent trip, I had been to Scotland twice, but both times only to Edinburgh and both times only briefly (a day trip and an overnight trip). I am sure it goes without saying that there is a lot more to Scotland than its capital city, but I will note it anyway, because the rest of the country was so very different. It blew me away and if you haven't visited Scotland, I urge you to go, and go west and north in particular!

Culzean Castle, Scotland

I'll get to the north of the country in a future post, but am starting where we started - in the south-west corner. We based ourselves in Dumfries, which is a small town 30 miles north of the English border and 75 miles south of Glasgow. We chose it as a base for the south-west and because it was one of the closest Scottish towns we could drive to. However, as we only had 1.5 days in the region we didn't spend much time in Dumfries itself, and even less there in daylight. What we did see was pleasant enough but I can't pretend to have a good grasp of the town.

Dumfries' 15th century bridge

What we did see in the area were two magnificent castles. Culzean Castle, pictured top and below, is the flagship property of the Scottish National Trust. As English National Trust members we could visit for free, and got in just before the property shut for winter (it shut in November and we visited on the 30th October!).

Culzean Castle

Tweet

Rome

There are certain places that loom large in the world. New York City is one. I would submit that Rome is another. They are places you can't help having some sense of, even if you have never visited.

Rome scenes - Roman Forum (top) and Colosseum (bottom)

I had seen many Facebook-shared photos of Rome, as well as the usual images in travel guidebooks and in films. Despite this, the scale of Rome still took me by surprise. It didn't leap to the top of my 'favourite city' list but it is definitely one of the most dramatic places I've been to.

Central Rome...ancient ruins just pop up around the place

Tweet

Vegan eating in Italy

A bonus shot of the Taormina amphitheatre

We have eaten well in Italy. As you might expect, pizza and pasta have featured. I was pleased to discover that pasta is not necessarily made with egg and that cheeseless pizza can be accommodated without question (or horror, which is sometimes the case elsewhere). I've also enjoyed some less Italian but veggie-friendly eating options.

Vegetarian pizza, Sicily style - from Etna Restaurant, Taormina

Whilst in Taormina, we took advantage of our apartment balcony to eat in on the nights we were together. One of these evenings featured take-away pizzas from Etna Restaurant, a restaurant that is deservedly well-reviewed. I had the vegetarian pizza minus cheese and Mr Bite had it in its standard form. The pizzas were delicious and featured thin bases that managed to be crispy and doughy at the same time. Interestingly, in addition to tomato, courgette and aubergine, the toppings included radicchio lettuce - not something I'd have thought to put on a pizza. It worked surprisingly well as the chopped leaves turned crispy when cooked. This meal was a good testament to Italian pizza and also seemed good value as our large pizzas were 8 euros each (£6 / AUD $13 / US $9). They were even large enough to yield leftovers for lunch the next day, facilitating the better lit photos above.

Tweet

Taormina, Italy

I feel a little sheepish posting this, having proclaimed in my last post that I am starting to feel cold in England, and sharing earlier in the month that I was in Germany briefly for work. I don't usually travel quite this much but I'm now in Taormina, Sicily, for a conference. Instead of porridge weather, it is rather (very) hot and I spent this afternoon at the beach!

Two hours ago, I was swimming in this bay...Isola Bella, Taormina

My beach attendance was facilitated by the conference finishing at 1pm today. It was a great meeting, both in content and in allowing me to catch up with Australian colleagues. Mr Bite has come along too and having spent the last few days relaxing on his own, I'm pleased to be on holiday jointly now. We have one more day in Taormina and then fly to Rome on Monday morning, spending two nights there before returning to London on Wednesday afternoon. You can't really do Rome in that space of time but I'm looking forward to seeing bits of it.

Taormina scenes

Tweet

3 days in Dresden

Having posted recent images of our new home and neigbourhood, it seems a bit odd to now reveal I am in Germany. It has been a brief, jam-packed work trip (Tuesday through Thursday) and I return home today. It's actually my first real visit to Germany, other than a night train from Prague to Brussels that included an hour at the train station in Cologne. I have spent most of my time here indoors, but am fortunate to be staying in the attractive central old town area.

Dresden, views through to central square

Contrary to appearances, the old town is actually, in large part, rather new. Dresden was one of the many German cities bombed in WWII and most of the buildings pictured above and below were destroyed. They only finished rebuilding them in the last 5 years, but they have done an amazing job of the work. Other than looking particularly clean and well kept, the buildings could pass for their historical counterparts.

Dresden central square

Tweet

Out and about in England - Manchester

As some of you may have gathered from Facebook, Mr Bite and I have just returned from a weekend in Manchester. We took advantage of Virgin's train sale to get £10 tickets (per person each way) from London to Manchester. To make an event of it, we took today off work as well. There's nothing quite like a 3-day weekend!

Manchester town hall

I had never been to Manchester before and Mr Bite had forgotten his childhood visits. It is an impressive city. Living in London, I find it a bit hard to slot smaller cities into a category (or alternatively phrased, to not just compare them to London) but Manchester does many things well. The mix of old and new architecture was particularly pleasing.

Tweet

Ireland travels - the food

I have touched on a few meals and restaurants in my Ireland recaps, but this post is about normal, day-to-day, supermarket food. If you're like me, that is just as exciting as meals out (although I do appreciate the rest of the world may have a higher threshold for excitement).

In my naivety, I thought supermarkets in Ireland would be the same as in England. To be honest, I have a slightly skewed, inappropriate concept of the country. Until we visited, I saw the southern Republic of Ireland as still being affiliated with the UK. If I'm really honest, I thought I wouldn't even need my passport to visit (!). Suffice to say, the Republic of Ireland is not part of the UK, I did need my passport, and they have their own supermarkets.

Having said that, they do have Tesco, which we have, and Marks and Spencer food, which is quintessentially British. Even they stock slightly different foods though, and the mainstay of Irish supermarkets is SuperValu. We really liked SuperValu.

Surprisingly vegan

Tweet

Ireland travels - a final stretch up the west coast (Dingle Peninsula, Burren National Park, Galway)

My Ireland recaps have been incredibly drawn out, but this is the final summary of our travels, other than one food-specific post to follow at some point.

The west coast of Ireland has some amazing scenery and it was a nice finish to our time in the country. Unfortunately, the area is also renowned for being particularly rainy and our time there was particularly wet! Even so, it was enjoyable and we managed to see things through the rain.

Views off the Dingle Peninsula

We did the Dingle Peninsula as a day trip from Killarney (discussed in my last Ireland post), as it is only an hour or so to drive between the two areas. Like the Ring of Kerry from Killarney, the Dingle Peninsula provides a loop drive with scenic views and small town stops. There are also ancient ring forts and other stone ruins and churches. The peninsula is the western most point of Europe and on a clear day the views extend far into the distance.

Connor's Pass

Tweet

Ireland travels - Killarney National Park

After our brief stops in Kilkenny and Cork, we continued our Irish driving by heading further south to Killarney. Killarney town is just outside Killarney National Park, and the region is home to stunning scenery and plenty of outdoor activities. It also features the Ring of Kerry drive, a loop around the Iveragh Peninsula and some of County Kerry's most beautiful views.

Killarney national park

Tweet