The August bank holiday weekend already feels like it was years ago rather than just a few weekends back. The Friday before the bank holiday was such a great day. First off, it was payday, which is always a great start to any Friday. The forecast for the weekend was fab and it was already sunny on Friday. My work treated us to bacon sandwiches and let us go home at 4pm! To top it all I had the whole following week off work. I was practically skipping by the end of the day.

We spent the Sunday of the bank holiday visiting Old Sarum to watch the medieval joust. For those who aren't familiar with Wiltshire, Old Sarum is the earliest settlement in Salisbury and lies about 2 miles north of the current city. The site itself has been settled since prehistoric times and the fort dates from the Iron Age. 

It was later controlled by the Romans and the Saxons where it was used as a stronghold against the Vikings. The Normans built the Motte and Bailey castle and the cathedral, the remains of which can still be seen today.

When construction began for the new (and current) cathedral in Salisbury during the 13th century Old Sarum began to decline and many of the buildings were used to provide stone for the newer buildings. 

If you have any interest in history this is well worth a visit and isn't as packed as some of Wiltshire's more popular sites (and by that I mean Stonehenge). It's really cool to walk around it and imagine what it must have been like to live there. 

My parents used to take me to visit when I was little as it's a great day out for small children, plenty of room to run around safely and history that is actually tangible enough for even little kids to understand.

Jared has never been and what better day to go then when the fort is playing host to a medieval joust? The sunshine was glorious, we packed a picnic and spent a day enjoying the sunshine.

There was plenty to watch with the falconry display and the knights displaying their skill at arms.

Finally at the end of the day there was the joust itself, which was action packed and great to watch!

If you're ever in Wiltshire and you're looking for things to do that showcase the history of the area, then Old Sarum is a must see.

We have so much history right on our doorstep here in the UK, that sometimes I think we don't make enough of an effort to get out there and actually see it. 

Plus the view from the top, overlooking the modern city is pretty cool as well.

Have you ever visited? Or do you have something awesome near your home town worth seeing? Let me know! I'm always looking for new things to see and do!

Visiting Oxford

One of my goals for this year was to go and visit my best friend Ann in Exeter before she graduated. Sadly, we were both too busy to manage it and the time just flew by this year. Before I knew it, she was prancing across the stage looking fabulous in her gown so I would have to take my trip there some other time. To be honest I've been to Exeter several times, the goal was more about making time to visit Ann this year.

Luckily though another goal was to take a day trip to Oxford which happens to be pretty close to where Ann lives... So I've switched it up a bit and jumped in the car a few weeks ago to go and visit her. 

First off getting there was not straight forward as the road into her village was closed. I ended up driving around in circles for about 25 minutes trying to follow the really poorly signed diversion, which kept bringing me out at dead ends because the roads were shut. Eventually I found myself in a village I recognised and figured it out from there, but it was pretty stressful! Don't you just adore living in England with our crap tiny roads and love of shutting important things (like ROADS) on Sundays?

The village Ann lives in is lucky enough to have it's own station so we jumped straight on the train to Oxford. I've always wanted to visit and I've got no idea why I haven't already when it really isn't that far from where I live. 

We were also so lucky with the weather and had glorious sunshine for the whole day. The forecast had said it was going to rain so I was totally not dressed for the sun, but isn't that the fun of a day trip to somewhere in Britain, being unprepared for the weather?

So we spent most of our trip just wandering about and looking at all the spires and listening to the bells tolling. When I got home and looked at my phone we had walked nearly 12km! No wonder it felt like we did a fair chunk of walking. Top tip, if you're planning a trip to Oxford, where flat and comfortable shoes. The city is small and flat and every thing is in walking distance so you will do a lot of walking about.

We went to visit Brasenose College which is where one of best friends is at uni. It is quite literally a whole world away from the gross pebbledashed building (that used to be a hostel) next door to the city crematorium that I lived in when I was in halls at uni. Shout out to any Bencraft people who might read this (you know you'd rather be from Bencraft). Our halls may have been rank to look at it but the people in there made up for it <3

For real though, it actually looks like a magical place to live and study with all the amazing old buildings. With the one exception of the Earth Science building which is this horrible new modern construction, that does not jive with the rest of the city in my opinion. Thankfully I'm not clever enough to get into Oxford because imagine being SO DISAPPOINTED when you arrived and then found out your lectures were in the only ugly building in the whole damn city. 

For lunch we went to M&S and grabbed some picnic food before heading to Christ Church meadow to sit under a shady tree. We sat here for ages chatting and watching the world go by. If you take a trip here and it's a nice day I would highly recommend doing this. Heck be more organised than us and pack yourself a picnic because the meadow is gorgeous and it's a great spot to really soak up the atmosphere.

We spent most of the afternoon exploring the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. This was rather like visiting an excellent, scaled down version of the Natural History Museum, which I love but there is SO much to see, it's hard to squeeze everything in. 

My favorite part was looking at their fossil and mineral collections as it was pretty extensive and they had some really cool exhibits (geology nerd over here). The best part was that it was free as I'm really trying to watch my spending at the moment so it was kind on the wallet too. 

It was such a lovely day and so nice to just spend so many hours wandering about with one of my oldest friends and have a chance for a really great catch up.

Oxford, I love you. I'll be coming back! Let me know if you have any tips of places that I should visit or eat at on my next trip there!
 

Weekend away in Devon and visiting Beer

So a few weekends ago things were just getting a bit hectic and life was feeling a little full on so Jared and I booked Friday off work and we headed to Devon for the weekend to escape from everything for a bit.

It felt good to be just the two of us, even if it was only for a few days and to not have any sort of schedule or to do list to get through. As much as I love my family and I am grateful for my parents allowing us to share their home with them, sometimes we just need a break where we can be alone without interruptions. 

When we go away to Devon we tend to do nothing but relax, watch films and drink lots of tea as we're only there for a few days and we just love to soak up the peace and quiet. We're lucky enough to be able to stay in my Nan's holiday caravan so we don't feel pressured to do things as we're not paying for the accommodation.

This time though we made an effort to get our butts out of the door and explore a little better. We headed off to Beer which is about an hours drive from where we were staying. 

Jared and I have actually been here before during a weekend visit for a friends 21st. However we didn't really get time to look around and it was November so the weather was a bit grim. 

This time though the weather was glorious and we had a lovely time.

We ate lunch in a pub garden on the cliff top overlooking the beach before going for a walk down by the sea. As we're at the seaside we both had an icecream to finish and ate them walking along the beach looking at all the different beach huts.

We took a walk along the cliff path which we didn't notice on our first visit here and the view from the top is pretty awesome. Apparently it goes all the way to the next village but we were too short on time to walk that far. 

The best thing about Beer though it the cute little shops which line the road and these are well worth looking into as they sell a whole range of things including lots of locally made produce.

If you're ever in the area, definitely give Beer a visit!

Visiting Bath

One of my goals for the year was to take a day trip to explore Bath. While it isn't that far away from home for me it is a bit awkward to get to and takes a while to drive there, so I've never really bothered.

To celebrate our 4 year anniversary Jared and I caught the train to Bath for a day of exploring and eating.

First stop was to see the Roman Baths which is obviously the focus for most tourists who take a trip here. We weren't even there on a particularly busy weekend but it was packed and quite expensive to get into (like £15 per person!). I wouldn't mind but there was so many people I couldn't actually look at any of the artifacts and I kept getting separated from Jared by the sheer amount of people. 

That said it was really interesting and pretty incredible at how much of it has survived. I particularly enjoyed looking at the curses people had written on pieces of lead and then folded up and thrown into the spring, hoping the Goddess would bring the perpetrators to justice on their behalf. They were mostly complaints about petty crimes, such as someone stealing their cloak but its fascinating to see proof that human nature has changed very little since Roman times! 

Afterwards we went to look round Bath Abby which was pretty awe inspiring. Some of their stained glass windows were particularly interesting with one showing multiple different parts of Jesus' life. In addition the incredible ceiling with its fan patterns makes it well worth a look.

Lunch was the high point of the day and we really went to town to celebrate our anniversary with a full three course meal and multiple cocktails at Turtle Bay. One of the best things about living in Southampton was having a branch on our doorstep and I haven't been since I lived there. Turtle Bay please can we get one in Salisbury?!

Not going to lie it was a pretty extravagant meal but I adore their jerk glazed steak and I live for sweet potato fries <3

We had a look around some of Bath's lovely shops (hello Anthropologie) but I was very good and didn't buy anything so we wandered back to the station to catch the train home.

After all the food and day drinking we both fell asleep on the way home so we were lucky we didn't miss our stop to be honest! It was a lovely day out and a wonderful way to celebrate together. 

Hopefully we will be back soon!

10 Reasons why you should visit Norway in the Winter

1. Northern lights

It goes without saying that you need to visit in Winter in order to have a chance of catching a glimpse of the elusive Northern Lights. You will also need to travel far enough North to be within the Arctic Circle for the best chance to see them. They are truly a bucket list moment and we were lucky enough to see some really good Auroras during our trip to Norway.

2. Snow

There's something so magical about snow. Especially when you're from the UK and it snows so rarely here. When it does the whole country shuts down and it makes life quite difficult. The Norwegians don't get stressed about it because they are totally prepared and can just enjoy how beautiful it makes everything look.

3. Snowmobiling

With all the snow there are unique activities on offer that you just cannot do back home. If you love all things outdoors and adventure then you have to try snowmobiling. Its so much fun and so long as you are properly kitted out you won't feel the cold.

4. Dog sledding

If there was one thing I dreamed of doing when I visited Norway it was going Dog sledding. There is no better way to experience the landscape then racing through with a pack of happy dogs. Again, you need snow to do this properly so no good visiting in June!

5. You feel like the only visitors there

Not only was every Norwegian we came across exceptionally welcoming and friendly but during the winter there are a lot fewer tourists. Considering the population is only 5 million and only 2% of those live in Northern Norway I can imagine it feeling quite crowded. Go in the winter and you practically have the place to yourself.

6. Ice hotel

Visit during the winter months and you can visit (or even stay!) in one of the Ice hotels that are built entirely out of snow and ice. We went to have a look round one and they really are incredible. The owner told me that rooms start at around £230 a night which includes dinner and breakfast which was a lot more reasonable than I was expecting. If I ever get the chance to go back I definitely want to spend the night in one.

7. Its not actually that cold

Thanks to the Gulf stream the west coast of Norway is far milder than other places of a similar latitude (such as Finland). The further inland you travel the colder it gets but along the coast the coldest temperatures we experienced were around -10⁰C. It can get colder than that of course but as long as you have the proper clothes you will be fine. It can easily get that cold if you live in a rural area of the UK so its nothing most people can't handle. In some of the more southern places we visited it was no different to the temperatures we had back home.

8. Nor is it that dark

Almost everyone who found out that we were going to Norway in winter asked me if it would be dark all the time. Norway does experience the Polar Night but if you go when we did in mid February the sunrise/sunset times are similar to what we experience in the UK during November/December. The sun rises at around 8am and sets at around 4pm. If you are further south then you obviously get more daylight. There's plenty of daylight hours to see and do everything. 

9. People sled everywhere

They have special sleds to carry your shopping in and ones that have a seat for children to sit on. Absolutely awesome.

10. It feels like Christmas all the time

Even though we visited in February with all the snow, and the cold you really get the cosy feeling that I always associate with Christmas. After a long day out in the cold soaking up the magical landscape and all the mountain views you can come back into the warm and get all snuggly again.  

You can read all about my trip to Norway here

Norway - An epic adventure

Following on from my last post on my experience of cruising I thought I would write a bit more about the places we actually went in Norway.

Norway only has a population of 5 million (that's less than the amount of people who live in London) and of those only 2% live in the Northern regions. I absolutely loved their laid back attitude and how welcoming they were to tourists. Every Norwegian we met told us how happy they were we had chosen to visit their country, and they're right. It’s absolutely incredible. The further North you go the more wild and mountainous the scenery gets. 

Ålesund was our first port of call and reminds me a lot of Prague. This is probably because most of it was burnt down in a disastrous fire in 1904 and then rebuilt in an Art Nouveau style. It’s a really pretty place with its pastel houses along the water. We climbed up to the view point by the observatory in order to look out over the city. There are over 400 steps (plus plenty of steep ramps) to the top and I had a really chesty cough so probably wasn't the best decision I've ever made but the view was worth it. There is a land train that you can take if you don’t fancy the climb which is run by a hilarious Aussie. My Mum, Grandma and 2 of my sisters opted for this and they also went on a bus tour round the city. 

Tromsø is commonly referred to as the Capital of the North but it’s really not that big by UK standards (68,000 people). The city is spread over both sides of the fjord connected by a large bridge that comes out by the Arctic Cathedral. The shopping here is pretty good and we picked up some nice souvenirs. The best part of our trip was it had just snowed and it was our first chance to properly wrap up and experience how people live in this part of the world despite weather conditions that would bring the UK to a halt within an hour. We walked over the bridge and back to have a look at the Arctic Cathedral and just generally have a bit of a wander about. As we were sailing away from Tromsø that evening we saw the best Aurora of the trip from the back of the ship which was an amazing sight. I’m so glad we managed to see them as there’s no guarantee with this kind of thing so we were very lucky. 

Honnigsvag is one of the most northern cities in the world, yet has a relatively mild climate due to the Gulf Stream. Lots of people visit here to see the North Cape but we booked a quad biking safari through the snow that took us up one of the mountains that overlooks the city (again only a few thousand people live here). This was excellent fun (despite some scary driving from my Grandma) and we got the chance to see the incredible scenery as we drove round the fjord and up the mountain. We also went through a 4km tunnel before stopping for a hot drink. We had such good weather for this as it was cold, but very clear and bright so the views were amazing. 

 

Alta was my favourite place we visited. We stayed two days here and packed in a lot of adventure activities. On our first day we went husky sledding, which was unbelievably cold (I thought my face was frozen solid) but so interesting. As fun as the dog sledding was, I almost enjoyed learning about it more. The guides explained to us how they train the dogs and the dynamics involved in dog racing. Our team of dogs took us on a trip through snowy woods and alongside the frozen Alta river. How I stayed on that sled I don't know as there's nothing to hold onto over rough terrain and the dogs are more powerful than you think.

That evening we went on an Aurora chasing trip but although we did see some they were weaker than we had seen from the ship previously. The Northern Lights are tricky to see and a lot of luck is involved, but as we had already seen some fantastic ones in Tromsø nobody was too disappointed. We spent most of the time stargazing and soaking in the enormity of the Arctic night sky. We were lucky in that it wasn't too cold (about -10) and we were quite sheltered from the wind as I don't think it would have been as enjoyable otherwise!

The following day we went Snowmobiling which was so exciting. I've never driven one before but they're very straight forward and no harder than a quad bike. After blasting round their snowy track (and managing to find some bits where we could let loose) we had a chance to look round the Igloo Hotel. The whole place is entirely made from snow and ice and we had a shot of Antifreeze from an ice glass. The whole place is pretty surreal and although you can see these sort of places on TV its nothing like seeing it in real life. If I ever go back to Norway I absolutely want to stay in one of these places as according to the owner it’s not that expensive with rooms starting from £240 including breakfast and dinner. They also have a chapel where people can get married and then stay in the bridal suite which had a bed made entirely from ice.

Kristiansund is an unusual city as its spread out over 4 islands all connected by various bridges and is Norways fifth largest town with around 80,000 people. We went to visit one of Norways Stave churches here combined with a road trip along the Atlantic Ocean Road which connects a whole string of small islands with roads and bridges draped along the coast like spaghetti. The Kvernes church seems small and unremarkable from the outside but inside a lot of the original features remain, with the whole inside painted and one of the biblical paintings from the 1600’s still remains. The pulpit was imported from the Netherlands by a wealthy local who also paid for all of the rest of the interior. A small detail I really liked was the pulpit was designed to feature the four evangelists and Jesus. However because it was built abroad they hadn’t factored in that it wouldn’t fit in the church without the wall obscuring one of the figures. So they took John off and moved him so that he now sits up on the wall overlooking the rest of the church. One of the local women who looks after the church performed some traditional songs for us which was so ethereal it made all the hairs on my neck stand up. When she stood up and said she was going to sing for us I was hoping it wouldn't be too cringey (you never know when people say they can sing) but it was one of the best moments of the whole trip.

Åndalsnes was made even more magical by when we arrived it started snowing. A LOT. It was like being in a Christmas card. Jared and I went on an excursion on our own to see another Stave Church. The Rødven Stave church (built around 1300) is smaller and less ornate but still had the original door which was tall and thin to keep the devil out but allow the angels to still come in. The Crucifix dates from medieval times which was pretty remarkable. Churches in Norway feature a ship, which signifies the journey from the cradle to the grave which I thought was really interesting. Some of the other people on the trip were saying that had seen similar things in Norfolk back in the UK. On our way back we made a stop at the Troll Wall which is the highest vertical cliff face in Europe. However the snow was so bad by this point we couldn't see a thing. This was to become a bit of an ongoing thing as after we returned we had an afternoon trip with the rest of my family on the Rauma railway. This starts at the top of the valley and then travelled all the way back down to Åndalsnes (quite the feat of engineering with the use of turning tunnels inside the mountains) crossing many bridges and waterfalls. So out of three attempts to see the Troll wall we didn't see it once! Not that it mattered because the rest of the journey was incredible. I felt like I was on the Hogwarts Express when they go home for Christmas as it was so snowy and magical. The Romaldasfjord is interesting as well because unlike most fjords it often freezes. This is due to the freshwater input from the river and the runoff from the mountains that surround it. The freshwater is less dense than the saltwater of the fjord so forms a layer on top. As freshwater freezes at higher temperatures than saltwater they often have a frozen layer of ice on the fjord which our guide tells us people skate on and race their snowmobiles. It was just starting to freeze over while were there, not sure if it froze enough for any of that though. 

Bergen was one of the ports I was most excited to visit. This is Norway's second biggest city with a population of around 280,000 people. It’s well known for how often it rains here (on average 200 days of the year) and it managed to be a combination of rain and sleet with a howling wind blowing it horizontally into our faces. Lovely. Jared and I went off to explore on our own here and went souvenir shopping in the historic Bryggen district. We also went and explored the local farmers market and the fish market. I was really impressed with this as its made of glass so you can look out across the harbour. You could choose your fish, watch it being cooked and then eat it in the restaurant. As much as we wanted to try it, everything in Norway is very pricey and main courses were around £35 each which was a bit out of our budget! The weather was so rubbish we didn’t go on the Funicular that takes you to a wonderful view point as we didn’t think we would be able to see anything but if we ever go back that will be on our to do list. 

Out of all the places we visited I think Alta was my favourite. I’d love to go back and do lots of winter activities with more dog sledding and snowmobiling. Maybe a longer stay there would mean lots more chances to see the Northern Lights which was the absolute highlight of the trip.