A TRIP TO YORK

A couple of months ago, Josh and I went on a fairly impromptu trip to York. I've not actually seen much of England outside London, so it was nice to play tourist for a couple of days. It only takes a couple of hours on the train from Edinburgh, so after a fairly stressful week at work (we went just before the Festival started!) I packed my bags and headed off on a sunny day.

Here's what we got up to...

WHERE WE STAYED...

I'd been invited to stay with a well-known hotel chain (hence the impromptu trip), so I confirmed everything, booked my (non-refundable!) train tickets and time off work. Then it turned out just a few days before we went (!) that we couldn't actually get booked into a York hotel. And everywhere in York was booked. And expensive. Like the non-refundable train tickets I had booked. Thanks PR!

So, after a fairly stressful day of trying to work out what to do, we decided to reclaim our holiday from being just a blogging trip, and booked a room at the very beautiful Hotel du Vin. This hotel was gorgeous - it's tucked away just down from the walls of the city, in a Grade II-listed mansion house.

My favourite bit was the absolutely massive bath - I even took some lush bathbombs for the occasion (I don't have a bath in my flat, so this was a total treat). It was expensive (particularly as I had not budgeted for a holiday, aaaargh), but it was an absolutely lovely place to stay and I'd definitely recommend it if you are feeling flush!

WHAT WE DID...

York is a beautiful city, so it was nice just to wander around its cobbled streets. We made a beeline straight for The Shamble, Europe's best preserved Medieval street, which is lined with 15th century buildings that lean over and almost touch in the middle. We also explored around the walls of the city (which has such nice views!) and took a look at York Castle and York Minster (although were too cheap to actually pay to enter them!

We did pay to go to the Jorvik Viking Centre, which is built on the site of the Viking-age city, Jorvik, and packed full of cool archaeology things (and a fairly hilarious/terrifying animatronic ride through a Viking village), and to visit the Treasurer's House, a house very close to York Minster with a 2,000 year history. The owner (a rich bachelor with an eye for pretty things) packed it with the most amazing antique furniture, ceramics and art, then gave it up to the National Trust, who have looked after it ever since. He has a mirror that is held up by a GIANT GOLD EAGLE. Definitely worth a visit!

Finally, we went to the (free!) National Railway Museum to look at giant trains. I wouldn't say I was the most enthusiastic person about rail transport, but it was actually really fascinating, and we got to have drinks in a fancy 19th century railway carriage, and watch a massive train spin round.

WHAT WE ATE...

If I'm honest, the majority of our trip revolved around food and drink. My favourite place was the House of Trembling Madness, an incredibly atmospheric medieval bar with stuffed animal heads lining the walls. It's in the Shambles and could easily be missed - you enter through a shop that is packed with different types of beer, wine and spirits, and go up a tiny set of stairs. We ordered Shambles sausages and mash and a platter board, and it was cheap and tasty.

York is full of amazing-looking restaurants, but they were all booked in advance! If you're planning a trip, it's definitely worth getting yourself a reservation early... I reckon we had to phone about six places before we booked in for dinner at the Walmgate Ale House, which was nice traditional food, but nothing particularly special. We lucked out with an amazing brunch at a traditional cafe near York Minster (I'm pretty sure it was Betty's Tea Rooms), and found loads of nice little pubs to stop at for a sunny beer garden pint or a Sunday roast.

And that was York! The accommodation was pricey (but so good), and there were more loud students than I expected, but it's a beautiful place and well worth a weekend visit. Now I think Brighton's next on my list... I want to see the Pier!

SPA IN THE CITY

As part of This Is Edinburgh's year-round mission to make our capital city as lovely as possible, Spa in the City is back for its eighth year, with free beauty treatments, talks and tips for all to enjoy.

This year, Spa in the City has been spread over two weekends (23rd & 24th in St Andrew Square, and 30th & 31st in the West End). I was invited along to the St Andrew Square weekend with a few other bloggers to try out some treatments, and the weather was beautiful!

St Andrew's Square is a lovely place to hang out, whatever's happening (even more so now the grass has finally been fixed after the winter!), but there was such a lovely vibe in the Square - beauty tents were dotted about, a band was playing, and everyone was just soaking up the sunshine.

Sassoon Salon step by step updo

We started the morning at the Beauty Heroes Marquee watching a blow & style demo by Sassoon Salon, who showed us how to do a few looks from their blow bar. It's always really interesting seeing hairstylists in action, and the difference a few simple steps can make to a style - I liked their dishevelled ponytail a lot!

Lush Spa

Then I headed off for my treatment - a shoulder and neck massage from Balance Spa at the Roxburghe. This was SO WONDERFUL, I just didn't want it to stop. The masseuse used Decleor essential oils so it smelled amazing, and in the treatment tent you could hear the soft murmur of people in the park, and music drifting through.

Afterwards I went for a wander around the other tents (making a beeline for the Lush Spa tent), then met up with my blogger pals for a Cocktail Master Class with Element, where we learned a few tricks and sampled a few drinks (and then were super inspired to use our 2 for 1 cocktail vouchers at their lovely bar on Rose St!).

And did I mention it's all free? And you get a goodie bag when you go to their registration tent? Mine included treats from Lush, mascara, face masks, and a special Spa in the City offer book (which can also be downloaded online) with discounts for food, drink, spa treatments and shopping (including H&M!).

If you fancy taking part in Spa in the City next weekend, it's popping up outside the Huxley on 30th and 31st May between 11.30am and 6pm. All treatments available are offered on a first come first serve basis, so it's worth heading down early to make sure you can get booked in. Treatments include Aveda massages, Benefit makeovers, Regis massages, hair styling with James Alexander Hair, and more!

Camera Obscura

Camera Obscura is Edinburgh's oldest visitor attraction, that sits on the Royal Mile, just down from the Castle. It's a five floor building of illusions & all sorts of trickery, that I've always thought looked super cool, but it seemed like too much of a touristy activity to do myself. Is that weird? I think that's weird. Anyway, it's one of the places that has long been on my list of "oh, I should probably try to do that one day", but I didn't really ever think I'd get round to it....

Until, my moment to play finally arrived with an I Spy Edinburgh invite - a Google City Experts takeover, described as the ultimate schooltrip for grown-ups.

And it was FUN!

Photo by Chris Scott

 The whole place is packed with all sorts of puzzley, bewildering fun. There's a mirror maze! A vortex tunnel! (which is AMAZING, but surprisingly difficult to walk through). An Ames Room, which magically shrinks you (I can't quite get my head around how this works), all sorts of optical illusions and fancy lights and weirdo mirrors, and just millions of things to play with.

If you are a big kid who likes talking millions of photos, you will LOVE it.

We played until we were dizzy (and needed to lie down). I don't know if I could handle it with millions of tiny kids around, but this is the nice thing about Lates-style events getting so popular - adults get to play too!

If you want to come along to events like this, it's really easy - just sign up to Google City Experts. Basically, if you upload reviews & photos of places in your city, then you can join the program and get all sorts of special stuff (including event invites).

There's just been another City Experts event in Edinburgh, held in partnership with the Science Festival (good choice, guys!) which was a massive space party, and it was BRILLIANT. I do like it when work and fun combine! I'll blog about this post-festival, when I'm a little less knackered - I've only got six days to go... 

Camping in Glen Etive

Back in June (which feels like a strangely long time ago), I went on a totally impromptu camping trip. I'd booked a week off work without much reason (I wasn't planning to go anywhere, it was just such a novelty to get time off in the summer in my new job), and apart from a few nights out, I had no plans.

Step in my pal Joshua, who had a camper van, a map of Scotland, and quite fancied a spot of adventure.

So we drove North West - about three hours from Edinburgh, up to the edge of the Highlands. Pals had recommended Loch Etive, which sits close to Glencoe, and is reached through a long, rambling glen, surrounded by mountains. 

We drove down a long, narrow road passing deer, the occasional tent, and the even more occasional farmhouse. 

I grew up on the edge of a wee Scottish town, near fields and farms and a country park, so I've been lucky enough to live near pretty beautiful scenery my whole life. But it's something else to be standing in a glen that's so, so quiet. All you could hear was the gentle sound of the river that ran down to the loch, and the crackle of our campfire. 

We had to battle off about a million midgies when we first set up camp (for future campers: Avon Skin So Soft is apparently a necessity if you're camping in West Scotland!), but luckily the weather was on our side... it was just drizzley enough to keep the wee terrors away, but still warm and not too soggy to sit outside.

It had been years since I last went camping, and I don't know why I don't do it more often! Scotland is a ridiculous, rugged beaut of a country, and it's so easy and quick to travel from a busy city bypass to a land that feels a little forgotten, and ready to be discovered.

AND I saw a red squirrel. 

Well done, camping trip. You were fun. 

A trip to the Olympics

I was trying to think of a catchy way to start this post, but I am just going to go with the obvious. The Olympics are REALLY BRILLIANT.

I was really lucky (after about ten attempts!) to get tickets to the Eventing, so Craig & I went down on the opening weekend. It was pretty much perfect! I thought the Opening Ceremony was wonderful (it was bonkers and fun and full of love for Britain, ace ace ace), and it was so exciting to be in London and be part of it.

We were watching the Dressage (Craig called it horse prancing) which was in Greenwich Park so we stayed in the world's most expensive Travelodge the night before. Apart from extortionate hotel prices though it was SO easy to get down and travel round London. We didn't even queue once!

Hi Zara!

The horses were BEAUTIFUL and it was incredible seeing so many horses and riders at the top of their game. The atmosphere was amazing too - all morning the stands were absolutely packed. We weren't allowed to make noise when the horses were entering the arena (in case they spooked), but everyone was buzzing after each test - especially after Team GB!

We had flags! 

 The park was really beautiful. As it was the start of the three day event they had the cross-country set up, so we were able to explore the course and go up to the observatory.

Huge cross-country jump!

It was just amazing. Every person there was smiley and in a good mood - even during the brief thunderstorm that kicked in half way through the day. Britain finished the eventing with a silver medal (woop woop) and it was really brilliant watching the medal ceremony at home, seeing riders that we had watched in person only a few days before.

Now I'm absolutely glued to the tv and can't get enough of it. How amazing has it been? The athletics! Andy Murray! Being third in the medal table! Team GB!

Exploring the Scottish Borders

One of the nicest things about moving that wee bit further from town is that suddenly I feel SO much closer to the country. There's a country park about two minutes down the road, big farmers fields behind my back garden and the Scottish Borders are less than ten minutes away by car. So perfect!

So recently, Craig & I took advantage of the lovely, lovely, lovely weather we've been getting and went on a wee road trip.

We drove to the beautiful Traquair House, Scotland's oldest inhabited house.

We just wandered round the grounds, paused to take slightly awkward outfit photos, completed the maze (yay), kept running into lively theatre groups, picked daisies and drank tea.

We then drove down to St Mary's Loch, which was just beautiful! The clouds had started to creep in at this point so it wasn't particularly warm, but it was gorgeous!

We managed to *just* escape getting caught in a boggy marsh, I felt a bit overdressed (next to all the proper hikers that we there), but didn't care, and Craig taught me how to skim stones!

This is a look of genuine giddiness when I FINALLY managed to skim a stone, I am so rubbish at it!

It was such a lovely day of exploring - I highly recommended a ramble around if you are at this side of Scotland!