Reviews

Gin for the win – again. Oh, and some vodka!!

Posted on by Libby Price

I have blogged before about my love of gin, and since then a fabulous shop stocking, amongst other things, a huge range of gin has opened in our village.  I believe it was a complete coincidence that such a shop opened so close to where we live, and there wasn’t a demographic study completed to securitise funding against the future gin consumption of the local area………  Gin & Pickles is great for a coffee and cake, when it’s too early for gin, and gin and a cheese & meat platter later in the day.

Gin & Pickles has also hosted some gin tastings which I’ve gone to. The first couple I went to were hosted by The Gintleman, as in my first gin blog, and thankfully I’ve always consumed so much gin, lots of the information is forgotten between tastings!  The most recent gin tasting was by Chase Distillery.  This was a fortnight before my birthday – and the lovely brand ambassador, Tilly, mentioned that you could do tours of the distillery – and that they have a sister hotel that you can go to for a meal or even an overnight stay before or after your tour – and they will ferry you between the two places.  This seemed an ideal birthday present from my husband to me (which obviously I sorted out myself #controlfreak) and last week we headed off for our tour of Chase and overnight stay at Verzon House.

We arrived at the hotel, checked in, and had a welcome drink – a gin and tonic, natch!

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Welcome drinks – gins, of course!

 

We were then whisked 20 minutes away in a mini bus to the Chase estate.

The tours can be anything up to 15 people – but there were only 5 on ours.  There was us, a guy who had just started work for Chase, and then a couple from Devon.  (Turns out they were actually originally Brummies like us – but had moved to Devon to run a hotel).  We were a lively bunch – but that definitely added to the tour.

It was incredibly interesting – and almost emotional – I was so proud of them growing the potatoes which they make initially into vodka (using spring water from on site and wood to power the wood burning stoves from the site too) – which then is either flavoured as vodka, or distilled with juniper to become gin!  So when people say they like vodka but don’t like gin, it’s often because they don’t like the taste of juniper (or in my sister’s case, we realised it was the tonic with the gin that was the issue – she’s now a gin and rose lemonade kind of girl!)  But for people to say they like gin but don’t like vodka is a bit weird!

We got to smell and taste the output at different stages which was ‘interesting’ – my husband was not backward in some of his descriptions (it tastes like petrol etc!)

It’s also amazing to think that every bottle of booze with the Chase name on it goes through that distillery – Fat Betty and Ginny are working super hard (these are machines rather than staff members, of which there are 54 now – the new bloke on our tour being the 54th!!)

After we’d looked at all of the gin memorabilia, including the entire range of bottles – and smelt lots of botanicals, and posed for photos in front of Fat Betty – we then got to go downstairs and try LOTS of the produce!  Given we already own most of the gins, we tried lots of the vodkas – and I am a total convert.  The straight potato vodka is lush – just so smooth compared to teenage experiences with cheaper grain based vodkas!  And the flavoured ones wonderful – we came home with quite a few!!!   The bottles we acquired being presented in potato bags was a fab touch.

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We were then escorted back to Verzon House to prepare for dinner.

The hotel room was lovely – although somewhat warm (not helped by the husband having a boiling hot bath in the middle of the bedroom!)  There is quite a lot of stuffed animal art on the walls – it didn’t bother us (although the husband impersonating all of them got a little wearing!) but we did wonder what a vegetarian might think if they stayed there?!

The food was AMAZING!  The cocktails were great too.  There wasn’t a huge amount of atmosphere in the restaurant, but it was a mid week stay in March – so not many tables.  All of the staff were really attentive and did a great job.

Breakfast the next morning was served in the bar rather than the restaurant – and we were the only guests – but it was plentiful and tasty.  I’d recently been converted to the product of another sister company, Willy’s Apple Cider Vinegar, and thought I’d miss my daily dose whilst away – but they had some with breakfast! The husband wasn’t converted though…….

Overall it was a fabulous experience and one we’d highly recommend.  There is a shop at the distillery so you can get products at bargain prices – but you really should do the tour as well! And you can get almost the entire range at Gin & Pickles too – to save the drive to Herefordshire.

 

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Our purchases!

 

This is not a sponsored post, we bought and paid for everything at all of the places mentioned above, I’m just sharing the love of gin – and now vodka! Cheers! 

 

 

 

Cape Town – with kids! A funpacked few days in South Africa.

Posted on by Libby Price

I’ve mentioned before that we were holidaying in Africa this summer – well, that started in the city of Cape Town.  There were 6 of us – my husband and I, and our kids – who range in age from 15 down to 6.

Here’s a random selection of things we did during our stay:

  1. Our accomodationThe Cape Grace hotel – right on the V&A Waterfront was fabulous. All of us thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.  The location was perfect, the views stunning, the service exceptional – and the wifi strong (which is a pre-requisite when travelling with children!)

    We made use of the outside pool area – although admittedly were the only people in it due to it being midwinter! And I had a couple of excellent massages in the spa as I was struggling with a dodgy back.

    Checking in with iced tea
    Walking to our suite
    The view of the pool from our balcony
    The view of the amazing boats from our balcony

    The taster menu in their restaurant was stunning – but equally, room service was also excellent – and very convenient in our 3 bedroomed suite, and we even ate on the balcony being hardy Brits!
    Pool ready
    The brave ones in the pool
    Looking back up to our balcony
    Lunch al fresco

    I had a slight work crisis whilst there – and the staff were great, printing out documents for me to work on.

    The suite was stunning – and perfect for our large family. We would definitely stay there again and highly recommend it for anyone visiting whether for work, as a couple, friends or families.

    Table Mountain peaking out of the clouds
    Such a stunning view
  2. Random dog charitySo this is a slightly weird one – and wasn’t in our planned itinerary – but was a highlight for the kids in particular! Close to the hotel, in Nobel Square, there was a pop up dog rescue run by a charity for re-homing dogs.  Whilst adopting a dog on holiday was clearly out of the question – you could also pay to take them for a walk for 10 minutes, or to play with the puppies and we did both!


    The children loved it! You could also pay to name a dog – but there weren’t any nameless ones when we were there – however, the 8 year old has told everyone how she walked ‘Tonya Harding’ #nottheiceskater
  3. The Big Red Bus TourWe did this on our first day – and it gave us a real feel for the layout of the city and close surrounding area.  The weather was kind so we could sit on the top deck of the bus and enjoy the sunshine and commentary. We’ve done bus tours in lots of cities and it really helps you understand the geography and history (I am such a geek!!)  Sadly the cable car to the top of Table Mountain was closed for maintenance, but the bus took us to the base station which still gave amazing views across the ocean to Robben Island and beyond.
    Bus Top selfie
    Looking out from Table Mountain
    Maintenance works at Table Mountain

    At one point we thought we’d spotted a whale – turned out it was a rock – but we’d somehow incited the whole bus into taking photos of it………

    You can see why we thought it was a whale…..
    The back of Table Mountain
  4. Robben IslandTalking of Robben Island (or Robin Hood Island as my husband mistakenly called it – which is only amusing if you’re familiar with Hall Green in the South of Birmingham where a traffic roundabout is called that!) We were all really looking forward to this – especially the 6 year old who had learnt about Nelson Mandela at school last year.  But we were thwarted because the weather was bad and all ferries were cancelled. So it’s the on planned thing that we missed out on during our whole trip!
  5. The Cape WheelWe’d spotted this from our balcony and thought we should give it a go.  Like the London Eye – but smaller.  You had some great views from  the top – although it did make me feel a bit motion sick!  (It doesn’t take a lot, I feel sea sick on a swing or a lilo!!)

    The view of an illuminated Cape Wheel from our hotel
    TC Ted at the wheel
    Apprehensive given I get motion sickness and don’t like heights!
    Gorgeous girl on the Cape Wheel
  6. Cape TourWe had been driven from the airport to the hotel by the wonderful Nazeem from Ilios Travel – and he was our driver for our Cape Tour – assisted by the fabulous guide Rian.  It was great to be driven around by such knowledgeable people – and they were both keen to answer any questions or queries we may have had.  We visited some great locations – explained more below – but it was definitely worth investing in a private tour as it gave us such flexibility with what we wanted to see -or not see.  We would definitely recommend Ilios to anyone visiting South Africa.

    We stopped at various points on the route to admire the views.  One was the beaches in Clifton which are numbered 1 down to 4.  1 is for the beautiful (or in some cases surgically enhanced) people – the husband is convinced that would be his?!?  Then it’s beach 2 for sports activities, beach 3 for the local LGBT scene, and beach 4 for families to chill out.  I feel we are far more beach 4 than 1 but didn’t want to burst his bubble!

    Strike a pose!
    Team Price in front of Chapman’s Peak

    We also stopped at the Farm Village in Noordhoek for a coffee where our 15 year old managed to find a tack shop.  It sold the specific fly mask she’d been after for her horse that THE WHOLE OF THE UK had sold out of – so obviously we had to buy it and bring it back!!

  7. Cape Point LighthouseThis was great – although very windy!  We caught the funicular up and down – but there is still a lot of walking up and down steps to see both lighthouses and the amazing views.  Totally worth the effort though!

    The funicular – another mode of transport for me to feel sick on
    The old lighthouse behind us
    It was pretty windy
    And there were lots of flights of steps
    At the lighthouse
  8. Cape of Good HopeI had – mistakenly (although seemingly a common mistake) – thought this was the Southern most point of Africa – but in fact, it’s the most South Westerly.  But anyway – it was beautiful to see.  The sun was shining and it was REALLY windy – but great.  We had to queue to get photos taken – but apparently it was nothing compared to the queues at the height of the season!

    The Cape of Good Hope
    Cape of Good Hope selfie
    Re-enacting The Lion King with TC Ted!
  9. Penguins at Boulders BeachThe penguins were fab!  You get to learn a bit about them – and see all different sizes of penguins on land – and swimming.  We’d been warned it was a bit smelly – but it wasn’t at all – perhaps because it was winter?  The kids now also know all the facts about why African penguins are different to penguins that live on snow and ice!

    At Boulders Beach
    Young penguins
    Strolling up the beach
  10. Kirstenbosch Botanical GardensThis was our last stop on our day trip – and everyone was getting a bit tired!  But we still had a great time in the gardens.  There’s lots to see – and we probably only witnessed a fraction of it.  At least we could tick it off the list!!

    Team Price selfie
    Photos of plants for Nanny
    Sniffing the plants
    Like Reservoir Dogs – but scarier!
  11. Two Oceans AquariumWe hadn’t planned to go to the Aquarium – but when our Robben Island trip was cancelled, we thought we’d try it (basically as we were up early and it was close to the hotel!)   We were really pleased we did as it was great.  There were lots of exhibits to look at – as well as some interactive quizzes for the kids to do.  (Oh – and free wifi – which is always a winner!)

    A turtle!
    With nemo
    More nemoes!
  12. Scratch Patch – and Cave GolfWe are lucky enough to have a number of friends from – or who’ve been – to Cape Town.  A number recommended Scratch Patch – which we may not have found without the insider knowledge!  The original one was in Simon’s Town and opened in the 1970s.  This one, just behind the waterfront, was great.  Our little girls loved ‘scratching’ to find  beautiful gems to bring home from the millions of rocks covering the floor. We started off with little bags (thinking of the luggage allowance!) but ended up buying medium ones too, as there were just so many to chose from!  Whilst the girls enjoyed this – the boys played Cave Golf – an inside mini golf course (thankfully with only 2 of them playing this didn’t descend into the argumentative chaos that whole family games of crazy golf have!)

    Scratch Patch
    A gem angel
    Cave Golf champion
  13. The Ferryman’s TavernWe ate and drank at the Ferryman’s Tavern on the V&A waterfront 2 consecutive days – and the waiter remembered our order!  I’m not sure if this was because my husband massively over tipped him the first day due to a currency conversion issue, or because the husband was drinking gluten free beer – or just that he was a great waiter – but it made us feel like locals!!
  14. The V&A WaterfrontWe’ve already mentioned lots of places we visited on the waterfront during our stay – but it really was a great location.  Lots of places to eat and drink and watch the world go by – and great shopping.  The shopping mall was a mixture of familiar names from back home – and also familiar names from trips to the US that aren’t on the UK high street – all in all we had a great time.   Generally things in SA seem cheaper than at home – which is always a good justification to buy more!

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    Chatting to Nelson in Nobel Square

 

Having missed out on Robben Island – and the fact that as we had the kids in tow the husband and I didn’t do any wineries – we kind of feel that we have unfinished business with Cape Town – but are already looking forward to a return visit in the future.

 

 

Note:  This is not a sponsored post, we paid for everything we did.  All of it was organised by our wonderful Travel Counsellor Michelle.  We just wanted to share the amazing trip we had – and keep a record of it for us to look back on. 

 

Gin for the win!

Posted on by Libby Price

I like gin.  I am blaming this on my mother, as back in the 70s drinking alcohol during pregnancy wasn’t frowned upon – and she liked a gin!

A couple of years ago Mum and Dad bought us a trip to the Sipsmith’s Distillery in London.  It was an interesting way to spend a couple of hours – but the gin consumption was very limited – and you had to stand up in the distillery for the duration of the presentation.  This sounds a bit of a first world problem – but was exhausting.  So it was good – but not great.

Since then I’ve had a number of gin and gin related presents off them – and then for this birthday they bought me a gin tasting session at Loki in Birmingham – which we did last weekend.

I’d not been to Loki before, and from outside it looks like an unassuming shop in the Great Western Arcade in Birmingham.  Once inside it’s amazing!  There are hundreds of different bottles of wine and other alcoholic beverages – but the difference is, you can taste them! There are 5 different machines, each holding 8 bottles of wine at exactly the right temperature – and you can select a taster, a small glass or a large glass of any!  Perfect for trying out new wines before committing to a whole bottle.

But I digress – we weren’t there for wine – we were there for gin!

The Gin Connoisseurs Course was run upstairs by Carl Hawkins – or as he is more commonly know, The Gintleman. (Do not fear – I will not recount all of the ‘hilarious’ gin puns – I don’t want to steal Carl’s thunder should any of you decide to go on one of his courses!!) Some of you may have heard of the Jekyll and Hyde pub  – or gin parlour as it markets itself – in Birmingham, and this was Carl’s baby some years ago. He’s also worked with a number of the local gin brands – so he knows his stuff!

There were 19 people (sitting down, so already a higher scorer than the Sipsmith’s tour!) around the room – and I would guess we were pretty much in the middle of the age range.  Initially everyone was very reserved and quiet (apart from my husband, obviously!)

Lined up on the tables there were 8 different gins and 8 different tonics that we were going to try – with 8 different garnishes too!

Carl started off with an introduction to the origins and history of gin.  Some of this we’d heard on the Sipsmith’s tour – but Carl was a great raconteur and it was really interesting. I’m a total geek – so learning about the origins of phrases like ‘mother’s ruin’, ‘Dutch courage’ and ‘blind drunk’ was really interesting.

Then we started on the gins!

Thankfully we’d been given a card with all of the gin / tonic / garnish combos we were going to sample (which is a good job – as after about 4 I would have been struggling to write!!) Then, in the manner of speed dating, we had to rate our neat gin (by circling the number of choice) and subsquently rating it again with the tonic and garnish added (by marking the number with a cross).

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We started with a huge 58.8% proof navy gin (which was V V strong, but I may have undermarked!) and then carried on.

Of the 8, there was only one I’d tried before – Gin Mare, another present from my parents (honestly – it looks like they’re encouraging my gin habit?!?) – but there are plenty I would now try again.

And the range of tonics – and in one case Ginger Beer – was great.  As Carl pointed out – a large proportion of your gin and tonic is tonic – so why buy a fancy pants gin and then put a cheap tonic into it?  (My ‘favourites’ at Ocado now include Fevertree and Double Dutch tonic variations!)

Everyone loosened up after about gin 4 – and it was a really lovely afternoon.

Admittedly as the gin consumption progressed we were undecided between popping to Greggs next door for a sausage roll – or the deli across the road for posh cheese, meat and pastries to soak up the booze – the deli won #classy.

Having attended the course we were able to get a discount back downstairs in Loki – and left with a bottle of Malfi Lemon Gin (think limoncello on steroids), a bottle of Warner Edwards Rhubarb gin – and a nice bottle of red wine for good measure!

All in all I would thoroughly recommend Loki and The Gintleman to anyone – it was a fabulous afternoon.  I’ve also seen that The Gintleman does tastings in your own home – so  that’s definitely something to consider in the future!!

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This is in no way a sponsored post – I’m just sharing the love of gin!

 

 

Disneyland Paris – the epilogue!

Posted on by Libby Price

This has been in my drafts for FOREVER – so thought I should finally get around to actually posting it!  We’ve been away twice since then!! #holidayaddicts

So, I’ve blogged about our half term trip to Disneyland Paris, from my proposed behaviour plans in the prologue, to the ‘fun’ in the rain for Day 1, the lunch with Princesses on day 2, the ‘sod Mickey when there’s Messi’ of Day 3, the Snapchat filtering of a world famous painting on Day 4, and an emotional balloon release on Day 5.

But I thought I’d compose some advice on matters learned from our trip (and I will try and be the bigger person than just to say don’t bother with Paris, save up for Florida as they do Disney properly…………..)

Hotel
If you can – stay in the Disneyland Hotel, and if you can – book a Castle Club room.  This means you get characters at breakfast every day

mickey

(the Disney ones – and sometimes the world famous footballer ones too!! #LionelMessi) which reduces the need to queue for them at other times.

messi

The fact that you’re between the parks means you can pop back for a battery recharge (metaphorically and for your phone) during the day.  You also get to enter the Disneyland Park earlier than the general public (although only certain rides are open for these Magic Hours).

The one thing I would say is that having a Castle Club room with a park view is fantastic (we stayed in Walt’s Apartment with a connecting room as there are 6 of us) but it is noisy.  You have a great view of the fireworks from the comfort of your room – but equally little kids may not sleep through it!  Then when the hoardes leave the park it can be quite raucous (and it’s not very ‘Disney’ to shout at them to shut up from your window……..).  Then the Disney music plays until around midnight and starts again at 7am – and for us this had a Halloween ghostly theme (last time it was Christmas music though!)

fireworks

 

Food
We struggled keeping everyone happy (but we do have 4 kids with differing tastes!)

We had an absolutely amazing meal in the California Grill in the Disneyland Hotel – but the kids meals didn’t have fries, which immediately meant child 3 had a meltdown.  The food was beautifully presented and the wine exquisite (but it is really, really expensive!)

Lunch with the Princesses in the park was also excellent in terms of quality (again no French fries) and a great way to get a few more characters off the tick list.

cinderellas

The best all rounder meal, though, was in Chez Remy in Walt Disney Studios – great quality food – INCLUDING FRIES!!!!

cork

Fastpass
If you’re staying in a Castle Club room – and I think most of the Disney Hotels – you get unlimited Fastpasses for all of the rides that offer that facility.  At certain times of the day these are great (generally in the mornings) but at some points, the Fastpass queue can be longer than the regular queues – madness! And not all rides have the Fastpass option.
Sometimes using single rider queues can also be a way to beat the queues if you’re happy not to sit together in a group – I guess this depends on kids ages and such like.

Going into Paris
We paid to do a Disney trip into the centre of Paris.  This involved queuing for a coach at another hotel and driving through really slow traffic to get there.  Once in Paris we were dropped off to reconvene a few hours later.  We couldn’t face the coach trip back and ditched them in favour of the very reasonably priced train (double decker train at that) back to Disneyland Paris.  It was a straighforward, easy train ride – and so much better than hanging about and a coach.

Once in Paris then there are loads of different options for hop on / hop off trips – or even just walking – which we did loads of!

trocadero-jumping

The kids loved seeing some of the historic sites (although I’m not sure Leonardo was expecting teens to put Snapchat filters on the Mona Lisa……..)

the-mona-lisa

I am sure there are loads of other top tips I can offer – so if you think of anything then ask away – but there we go.

We’ve done Disneyland Paris…………….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step away Bridget, they’re my pants!

Posted on by Libby Price

bridget-jones-the-edge-of-reason-2004

Back long before Bridget Jones was having her pants removed by Daniel Cleaver, I was already a fan of the control pant.  They were  ‘special occasion wear’ to make me look slimmer when ‘out-out’.  I have to say that a few times (ok, most times I wore them!) they ended up in my handbag by the end of the night, as after you’d been to the loo and wrestled them off and back on a few times (which happened with alarming regularity when you were a 90s ladette drinking pints with the boys) it just wasn’t worth the effort, and so going home commando was the better option. Honestly – life as a trainee accountant was life on the edge!!

Anyway – over the years I’ve been through many iterations of the control briefs in different shapes and colours.  Some even had poppers ‘down below’ reminiscent of a late 80s body suit!  Which was a) a bit dangerous after you’d been drinking and you were trying to do up the poppers without trapping anything in them or b) you completely forgot to do it up altogether and it ended up working its way out of the top of your jeans (a surprisingly frequent sight to be seen in nightclubs throughout the era!!)

But 4 children and 4 stone later you find even more foundations are required  – and my current Spanx go from bra strap to knee.  However these new ones have a magic invention – a cotton double gusset* area so you don’t have to wrestle them off to go to the toilet!

Now my husband didn’t understand what I meant – so after wiggling in to them on Saturday I cocked my leg up to demonstrate and he is still traumatised!!  His exact words were ‘Oh my God, I think I just saw an ewok’!!!

 

But I can report they did the job brilliantly – and I managed to use the double gusset perfectly all day at a wedding on Saturday and so didn’t end up with a moist* gusset at all!  I think you might need to be careful to sit in a ladylike manner (which obvs I do at all times) for fear of doing a Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct otherwise – but given they are down to your knees, you’re not exactly going to be wearing a mini skirt (or if you do, you will look very odd!)

I am definitely ‘plus size’ and these give me a bit more body confidence – and they also negate VPL (visible panty line) issues, which even  the skinniest of people can suffer with {evil laugh}.  They also give amusing anecdotes so that everyone can laugh at you over Pimms and canapes!

I should point out that this is not a sponsored post, I have paid full price for all of my underwear – and will definitely be adding to my Spanx collection very soon.

 

 

* words I hate

 

 

 

Winning at School Shoe Shopping is Winning at Parenting

Posted on by Libby Price

School shoes

‘Shopping for School Shoes’ is a topic to instil fear into most parents – and with the 4th child starting school in September this meant buying new shoes for all 4.  School shoe shopping expeditions in the past have resulted in tears from children, me and, I suspect, the shop assistants – so I decided to divide and conquer, and take the children in pairs to reduce the stress (or prolong the agony – depending how optimistic we were feeling!!)

I’d taken the eldest 2 shoe shopping in Worcester – as a practice run on the train for their new schools in September (this also provided a new haunt for Pokémon go hunting – which is a good motivational tool this summer!)  After texting a friend who is proficient in shopping in Worcester (amongst other places!) we found the shoe shop she recommended and with frightening efficiency (and a bit of Googling of uniform requirements) pairs were bought for the 13 and 11 year olds with absolutely no tears or shouting #miracle.

I was concerned that this had lulled me in to a false sense of security, and hence buying shoes for the younger 2 was going to be horrific, so we headed off to our school shoe shopping regular haunt of Humphries in the Kingfisher Centre in Redditch.  Youngest child chose some with absolutely no stress at all (helped by the fact that the shop assistant had the same name as her) so the only one left was the 6 year old – who does have a reputation for being ‘feisty’…..   This had all of the hallmarks of being the nightmare.

The lovely assistant brought out 3 pairs in her size – and there was one Startrite pair I particularly liked, so I used all of my ‘mother of 4 kids’ wiles and went for the whole reverse psychology technique.  I told her the ones I liked were far too grown up, and her big sister hadn’t had a pair like that until she was at least 9 years old, so at 6, she had to chose one of the other 2 pairs.  Of course, that meant the Startrite ones I liked were clearly the most desirable shoes ever.  After some umming and ahhing I ‘gave in’ and let her have the ‘grown up’ ones!!

Winning at school shoe shopping is winning at parenting.  #boom!

 

 

Isle of Cumbrae

Posted on by Libby Price

As a child I used to visit the Isle of Cumbrae – a small island a 10 minute ferry ride off the West Coast of Scotland from Largs – due west of Glasgow.  The holidays were to visit ‘Aunties’ of my Dad’s – one of whom was billeted on my Grandparents during World War 2 to make small arms in Birmingham, and she ended up staying until my Dad – the youngest of his siblings – got married to Mum, and then Auntie Una headed back to live with her family in Millport – the town on the aforementioned island.

I remember holidays consisting of cycling (it’s 10.5 miles around the island, and is what most people do when they visit!), walking, horse riding, putting 2ps in the amusements, going on the fair rides at the Garrison,

and rain

and midges.

It was an annual event to go to Millport in the 1980s, we were there when Live Aid was on the TV and I was there for my only visit in the 1990s when Princess Diana was killed in Paris.  Subsequently we went as a family with my parents, sisters and our families back in 2003 when I was 8 months pregnant, and we ended up cutting the holiday short as my blood pressure was really high and I didn’t fancy being helicoptered off the island to give birth.

So now it was time to show the Pricelets where Mummy had spent many a holiday.  Given they’re more used to Dubai or Florida it was going to be very different – but I hoped memorable.  Fingers were firmly crossed for good weather – I wasn’t talking Dubai or Florida – just dry…….

We have a 7 seater car at home – but with us, 4 kids and  loads of luggage (you have to pack for 4 seasons in one day going to Scotland!) we would have been overloaded – so we hired a mini bus from our local Enterprise car rental (who, on an aside, were great – and I would highly recommend them!).  We headed off up the M6 on Bank Holiday Saturday – and as far as Manchester we did fine – it was all a bit busy around the lakes, but a stop at the fabulous Tebay services saw us revived and we headed on up through Glasgow and out to the coast.

Millport 1

When we got to Largs I was *slightly* excited as we waited in the ferry queue.  The 10 minute Caledonian MacBrayne ferry ride across from the mainland to the Isle of Cumbrae was stunning – we could have been on a Med cruise!  I kept saying to the rest of the family ‘it’s not normally this sunny’ – which could have been the mantra of the entire stay!

Millport 2

We’d looked at self catering properties to stay in – but there were only a couple of options for a family of 6 and 1 was fully booked and the other my sister and her family had stayed in a couple of years before and they’d had issues with it smelling of dog and having no WIFI!  Given the husband and I had to work – and our kids are used to free flowing internet access – this was definitely a no no – so we booked a couple of rooms at Westbourne House.  I’d chatted via email with the owners – Jane and Stuart – before we arrived and they sounded lovely (and had kids a similar age to our eldest two) – and I wasn’t disappointed, they were great!  The rooms were well appointed, the breakfasts were beautiful – and I’m not sure we’ve ever stayed anywhere with a better view.

Millport 27

The first evening we wandered into Millport town centre, grabbed fish and chips from the chip shop, and ate them at the park.  Classic British seaside town action – and probably a first for the kids!

Millport 6

Millport 8

The next day we first went to the town graveyard to try and find the graves of the ‘Aunties’ I’d grown up with.  This was like some kind of Anneka Rice Treasure Hunt task – and we weren’t doing very well.  Thankfully the phone signal was briefly good enough for me to call my parents and they pointed us in the right direction and we found all of the graves.

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We then headed up to the highest point of the island.  There was obviously some family pride at stake trying to get on top of the marker point – the Glaidstone (I didn’t – the stone needed to remain standing for many more years!)  The view was amazing (and remarkably there was 4G reception #winner)

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We’d also booked to go on the Waverley – the last sea going paddle steamer in the world (although I must confess to telling the children ‘you know that boat that takes you from the car park to Magic Kingdom at Disney in Florida – well, it’s kind of like that’).  I’d gone on many trips on this fantastic vessel as a kid, and my sister and her family and my parents had done it the summer before.  In all cases cagoules were the order of the day and it was freezing!  But not on our trip!  It was practically tropical!  We sailed over to Arran – drank prosecco and pop, ate crisps and chocolate and admired the view – perfect!

On the Monday we decided to do what everyone does on Millport – cycle around the island.  Back when I was a kid the local bike shop (there are others, but Mapes is the original and the best – and having just searched for their website, I’ve found out it’s for sale – the end of an era as it’s been owned by the same family for 70 years) had a tridem – so basically a tandem but for 3.  The Homer family cycled on that loads! However now it’s in retirement – so we managed to rent a bike that seated all 6 of the Prices.  We’d been warned it would be a tough ride, and was really for pootling along the front – but we were optimistic.  We were also wrong!  We got as far as the Lion Rock (one of the 3 rocks the island is famous for) and gave up and turned back. It was exhausting.  To be fair we’d geocached that far (this was before Pokemon Go, when geocaching was still a thing!) but that was quite far enough for one day.

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Lunch in the pub and playing on the traditional fairground rides (the same ones from when I was a child – albeit in a different location) were the order of the day – and some clambering over the AMAZING crocodile rock!

We ate in the lovely Harbour Restaurant that evening – a definite recommendation – but be careful – it appears to open on random evenings, so be careful to plan for a night it will be serving you!

The next day we did cycle around the island properly – bikes / trailers / tag-a-longs for all family members and we did all of the geocaches as we went around the perimeter of the island #boom.

 

When my sister and her family had been there 2 years before they’d managed every single geocache on the island apart from one – which was out on one of the Eileans (little islands) a boat ride from the main town beach.  It was a journey we’d done lots as kids (in fact there is an infamous family story of the aforementioned sister doing a poo in the dingy when she was about 2 whilst Mum rowed out to the first Eilean!  Thankfully, as the eldest child, there was no space for me in the boat so I’d had to swim alongside them – so avoided poo-gate!  Oh how we reminisced about Auntie Charlotte’s poo!!!!)  Anyway, the husband and the eldest 2 hired canoes to row out there – and they found the missing geocache!  The 4G signal might have been rubbish – but my son was still able to send a photo of it to his cousin! To be honest, once we’d got this geocache, we couldn’t really be bothered with all of those on the internal area of the island – this was the golden one!!!

The little 2 and I stayed on the beach – and it was beautiful.  The sun was shining, the sea was glistening – and we’ll ignore the fact I loathe sand!!!

We’d had a great time – totally made by the weather (it would have been a completely different trip if it had rained!) – but we were all getting on top of each other.  The bedrooms were fab – but that was all we had.  There was no bar / snug to chill out in – and so we were either ‘out’ or all 6 of us were squashed into bedrooms.  The kids were niggling with each other, we played musical beds every night – and all in all it was a bit tiring.  We’d had a fab time – but we decided to call it quits 24 hours early so we could remember a fabulous holiday – and not the time the children killed each other in the middle of the night because they’d nicked the duvet!!

The next morning Jane served us another one of Stuart’s fabulous breakfasts, and we headed back across on the ferry.  We then stopped off at Nardini’s (the local Italian ice cream place – and family business of Daniella Nardini who was one of the stars of ‘This Life’ back in the 90s – for all people of a certain age) and all had far too much sugar for the time of day!

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It was then a  trek back down the M6 home – we had a pitstop at Gretna – to show the kids the history of weddings there, and the great new maze – and to stock up on supplies for the rest of the journey.

All in all, it was a fabulous few days away – and one I’m sure the children will remember far more than their 5 star trips to other significantly further flung places.  I will freely admit we were super lucky with the weather – even the locals admit 5 consecutive days of pure sunshine and 20+ degrees in May / June is unheard of – but all in all it was amazing.  I’m so pleased that revisiting a childhood haunt wasn’t a huge disappointment.

I would thoroughly recommend staying with Stuart and Jane – and they’re currently extending their caravan park – so you can have your own space, still with that amazing view.

Millport will always be a very special place to me (although if my parent’s plan to go and live there when I was a small girl had actually come to fruition – who knows where I’d be now!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My name is Libby and I’m a Fitbit addict…

Posted on by Libby Price

I have been a massive fan of my Fitbit Charge HR since I got it for my birthday in 2015, I’ve worn it religiously since and so monitored every step, flight of stairs, minute of sleep for many months.

Fitbit

So imagine my devastation when it stopped working last week.  After a particularly energetic boxing session it just stopped counting steps – and no amount of resetting would get it to work, and then the screen died completely.

Now I know Fitbit customer service is brilliant and will send you a replacement (and they subsequently have – thanks Fitbit!) – but that would mean waiting for 5-7 working days, which seemed like an eternity stretching out in front of me (pathetic I know!) and I’d also secretly had my eye on the new Alta – so with Amazon Prime I could have that the next day so I ordered one immediately (how did I ever function without Amazon Prime?!  Even if my mother doesn’t approve of their taxation arrangements, they do make my life much simpler!!)

So the next day – after a seemingly wasted 24 hours (steps without wearing your Fitbit are just so pointless………….) my shiny new Fitbit Alta arrived.

Fitbit Alta

I very excitedly set it up – but couldn’t get the ‘buzzing’ function to work.. I read online that the vibration is a lot more gentle than the Charge HR – but unless the feeling in my arm was going, I was certain it wasn’t working.  I Googled (oh dear, more people my Mum doesn’t approve of tax-wise) possible fixes, but nothing worked.  Therefore I contacted Fitbit and a new Alta was on its way.

Thankfully the initial one still counted steps (phew!) – but I hadn’t realised just how much I relied on the vibration function for alarms / call alerts etc, so it was a real relief when a fully functioning Alta arrived a few days later.

A number of friends have asked me for my views on the Alta (being an oversharer means people always know I have an opinion) so here goes!!

 

FitBit Charge HR

Pros

The Charge HR monitors EVERYTHING – including the one thing that makes it unique amongst the FitBit stable, your heart rate.  This is really interesting (yes, I’ve checked it after many different activities!!) and you can get pretty graphs when you log on to the website.

The Charge HR also counts the flights of stairs you’ve gone up and down (I’m still not sure how it does that – potentially magic?!).  This has made me park on a higher floor in the car park and walk up and down the stairs more regularly at work rather than saving everything I need to take down until the end of the day.

It automatically registers sleep and exercise (I think some of the other FitBits don’t do that – although don’t have any personal experience)

You can set it to buzz for an alarm and when you’re receiving a phonecall.  This worked brilliantly for me as I often don’t end up in my own bed come the morning (annoying children, nothing more exciting!) but I know I will still be woken up.  It also means if you’ve left your phone on silent in your handbag you don’t miss a call (or if you’re in a meeting you can still be alerted without looking rude and having your phone out!!)

Cons

When I bought an HR they only came in black – since then the range has increased so you can have it in 6 different colours.  However, whichever you buy you’re stuck with that colour – you can buy ‘bling’ to brighten it up, but the base colour remains the same.

It is quite a chunky size, and so looks quite cumbersome and not very feminine – particularly if you’re going ‘out out’!  (And you couldn’t not wear it, as then you wouldn’t get all of the steps when you’re dancing / walking home from the pub etc).  The strapmark I have after a week in Scotland getting a tan makes it look HUGE!

It’s not splashproof so you need to be careful when you wear it.  I didn’t wear it for the mud run I did because of this (I’m still a bit bitter about the missed step countage!)

** Edited to add:  I’ve just been shown by a friend that it is splashproof just not fully waterproof – I shall be less careful in future.**

FitBit Alta

Pros

It’s BEAUTIFUL – sleek and stylish and much less ‘functional’ in its looks.  You can also change the bracelet for other options – leather, metal, beautiful designs – meaning it can look more like jewellery.

You can set it to alert you with a gentle buzz as an alarm, when you receive a call or text message (it tells you who it’s from – and with a text also shows you the content) and also if you haven’t done your 250 steps that hour.  Pretty much all the buzzing functionality of the HR and then some.

Again, as the HR, it automatically monitors your sleep and exercise.

The battery seems to last a lot longer than the Charge HR (even though I’ve perfected the ‘charge it in the car to not waste a single step’ routine).

Cons

It doesn’t measure flights of stairs.  I didn’t realise before I bought it and was a bit sad to start with. But this was mainly because it was the one target I managed to hit most days – so I guess, if I already hit the target it doesn’t matter?!

It doesn’t measure heart rate – I don’t think this is the end of the world though, I guess it depends what you want your FitBit for.

Sometimes it doesn’t want to sync with your phone app.  I never had this happen ever with the HR.  However if I turn wifi off and on again it tends to then work – so who knows why!!

 

Overall I am a total FitBit convert / addict.  The customer service has been great with both problems so whilst reliability has been an issue (and even worse for some friends) it has never been a major issue.

I also love the fact that you can connect with friends who also have FitBits and do workweek hustles or weekend warriors to see who’s done the most steps.  One of my workweek hustle groups is lovely – we chat most days, and whilst it is a bit competitive – mostly we’re just competitive with ourselves and hitting our own 10,000 steps per day (even if that means walking around the house / garden as midnight approaches!!)

And it’s definitely got me walking more – 100% – so that’s got to be a good thing?!

My name is Libby and I’m a FitBit addict………………………….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue playsuit?!?

Posted on by Libby Price

Blue playsuit

Get in from work, open up the Next delivery that has arrived during the day.

First item – nice tunic top, size 16, sensible length, capped sleeves – perfect for a 40 something mother of 4.

Then the next item – ‘blue playsuit, size 16’.

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!
It’s that internet shopping after too much wine again,
Why on earth would I have thought that I’d look good in a playsuit,
I’m going to have to trog into Redditch to return it or get the slightly creepy delivery man to come and pick it back up…..

Check item tag – it’s the age 16 one I ordered for Daisy as her age had sold out.

Panic over.  The people of Alvechurch are safe and will not need to see me in a playsuit. Phew.

Home from home (if you live in a mini Downton Abbey?!)

Posted on by Libby Price

Every few months the husband and I try to get away from it all (‘it all’ being the construction company we run and the 4 kids!!)  We rarely get chance for ‘date nights’, so this is the time for us to reconnect as a couple (that sounds so tossy)  Sometimes we fly off somewhere far flung – but this week we had just 24 hours away, down the road in Broadway on the edge of the Cotswolds.

We’ve stayed at The Dormy House hotel before and had a wonderful time, and then we received an email from their sister hotel, Foxhill Manor offering an activity break we were intrigued.  So – dinner, bed and breakfast in the Sunday Times Hotel of the Year 2015 – along with some segwaying and shooting – what’s not to love?!

Being the right side of Brum – the Farncombe Estate (home to the Dormy, Foxhill and The Fish) – is only 45 minutes away, perfect for a quick escape from reality.

Due to the husband having an important work meeting first thing (can’t really complain, it’s our work that means we can do such things) we didn’t set off as early as we would have liked, so we thought we’d be cutting it fine to make it in time for our time slot of 2.30pm for the ‘activities’.  Thankfully we arrived with a few minutes to spare – so had chance to check out our fabulous room (Birch).

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and do the important things like connect to the free wifi (and for the husband to take calls to provide DIY SOS services to some friends whilst I had a mug of peppermint tea!)

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Then we were collected by our instructor for our activities.

We started off with rifle shooting – it would appear my husband’s mis-spent youth shooting random insects (actual insects, not code for anything else!) with an air rifle in Falcon Lodge stood him in good stead to be a good shot with the rifle.  Unfortunately I wasn’t so great (humph, as we are very competitive!!)

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Thankfully we then moved on to pistols for which I appear to have a natural eye (my career as an assassin may still happen) and I whipped him (as in scored better, not pistol whipping, that would have ruined the whole romantic night away really). Eat your heart out Lara Croft (if she was wearing a floral shirt with a double chin…..)

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Next it was segways.  The husband has already been on the kids hover boards (in fact he even did some dusting whilst aboard) but I have steered clear as I’m not a big fan of such things.  But I promised I’d give this a go.

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There was quite a bit of swearing shrieking, but after 10 minutes I’d sort of got the hang of it.  Then the instructor took us out of the ‘tennis courts’ – one of the few flat bits on the whole estate – to go on a ‘safari’.  This is where it went downhill – literally!  Given I’m not a fan of going down a slope on a bike – I should have guessed that I wouldn’t enjoy it on a segway!  Within seconds, I’d stropped off it and set off marching down the hill – very reminiscent of pretty much every skiing holiday I’ve ever been on!

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Thankfully once it flattened out I coped with getting back to the front of the hotel.

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And within 2 minutes of being back in the hotel I had a glass of champagne from the trolley in the lounge in my hand #perfect.

We were then taken to meet the chef who explained about the meal for that evening.  I am sure if we were fussy about food they could have been obliging, but we’re not (back to those double chins again!) and so went with the fabulous menu offered – we could also chose what time we would eat.

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’twas then back to the lounge for more fortifying champagne, and a bit of cake for me.  Husband isn’t a cake fan (fool!) and so asked if he could have some cheese, and a beautiful ploughmans’ appeared from nowhere. Now that is service!

After an afternoon nap, Pointless on TV and a relaxing bath with Cotswold Life magazine (when in Rome and all that) it was down for pre dinner drinks.  Yet more champagne!  Half of the 8 rooms were occupied during our stay – and we chatted to 2 of the other couples before dinner in the lounge.  We are both quite sociable people (you’d never guess from all of this oversharing would you?!) so we were fine chatting away – but I do think this is one bit that might be a bit overwhelming for some people – as it is such a small hotel, there is nowhere to hide!!  We were also brought some lovely hors d’oeuvres to soak up the fizz!

Then it was dinner – which was stunning. Not overly fussy – but really tasty.  The food itself is included in the overnight price – as are the drinks in the lounge – but you do have to pay extra for any drinks with the meal.  We started off with Bathtub gin and tonics (the brand, not out of the bath, that would just be weird).  I loved it – but the husband didn’t – so I had both #winning.  The wine list is extensive – and we went for our usual safe bet of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  The house Sauv B is from Chile – and the husband has a hatred of all Chilean wines – but the staff persuaded him to try it, and it was actually really lovely, so we’d try that one in the future I think.

After our 3 courses in the dining room we retired back to the lounge for the husband to have a cheese board and port in front of a roaring fire – a perfect end to the day.

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Before we retired for the evening I did pop to the ladies – and it is fabulous (I was a bit gutted I didn’t take my phone with me – to take a photo, not just because it meant I couldn’t play Words With Friends whilst on the loo!).  Each of the 4 stalls has a different James Bond photo in it – I went for Daniel Craig in the end.

The next morning we were up bright and early as we had massages booked over at the House Spa at the Dormy House at 9am.  Breakfast was wonderful – a mix of buffet and then anything you wanted cooked.  We both went for Eggs Benedict – and it was recommended we had it with their local bacon – and it was awesome.  It would have been lovely to linger over breakfast, with never ending tea and coffee and the morning’s papers – but the spa was calling.

2 full body massages later, I floated to the pool to wait for the husband – but 30 minutes later he hadn’t materialised, I began to wonder if the masseuse couldn’t wake him after he’d fallen asleep !  I went on a search to find him in the spa lounge, fully clothed and working!  He’d decided an hour of relaxation was quite sufficient – and was cracking on with emails sipping lemon and ginger tea.  I headed back down to the spa for 20 lengths, a sauna and a steam room before getting dressed ready to head back to reality.

A lovely lunch in The Potting Shed followed -before the drive back home.  It may have only been a 24 hour escape, but it was truly wonderful – and we very much hope to repeat it in the future.  We’re even considering an exclusive use booking for a weekend (as otherwise children under 12 can’t come, and I’m not sure our 3 youngest would think it fair to be left at home whilst we only took the eldest!) – so if any of you are up for it?!?

 

I should point out this is not a sponsored post, we paid full whack (and quite a considerable whack at that) for the night – but it was worth every penny.