After sleeping soundly, we headed out of the lovely apartment in Clifton where we were spending the weekend to explore the local neighbourhood. It's an affluent suburb of beautiful Georgian townhouses, close to the centre yet far enough away to have its own charm. Bristol Zoo Gardens was our first planned attraction of the day, just …
Continue reading Day 2. Exploring Bristol – Clifton & Banksy
We'd planned a return visit to the city of Bristol, this time in midsummer making it a complete contrast to our festive break in the city a little over three years ago. Summer it might have been, but with the weather forecast predicting heavy rain all weekend we had come prepared. Bristol is located in …
Continue reading Day 1. A weekend in Bristol – first evening walk
We decided to spend a day in the small market town of Stroud nestled in the south west Cotswolds, ten miles south of Gloucester. The town had piqued our interest as it had recently been named by the Sunday Times as the best place to live in Britain so we were interested to find out …
Continue reading A day in Stroud, Gloucestershire
After spending the previous day visiting Sudeley Castle and nearby Winchcombe we moved our focus onto the Regency spa town of Cheltenham where we were staying. After breakfast we headed over to The Bicycle Hub located at Cheltenham Spa railway station where we'd arranged the hire of e-bikes so that we could take the Regency …
Continue reading Day 2. Exploring Cheltenham
We planned a weekend based in the Regency spa town of Cheltenham and on the way there spent an afternoon at Sudeley Castle nestled in the Cotswold hills. It is located just outside Winchcombe and only eight miles from Cheltenham. The castle and gardens are open daily from 10.00 - 5.00 p.m. until the end …
Continue reading Day 1. Cheltenham: Sudeley Castle & Winchcombe
Back in 1910 the six towns that came together to form Stoke were known collectively as The Potteries and comprise Hanley, Tunstall, Burslem, Longton, Fenton and Stoke. Although one might expect Stoke to be the actual city centre, it is usually regarded as Hanley. The Ceramic Trail is based around these towns which are located …
Continue reading The Stoke-on-Trent Ceramics Trail
To complete our weekend break in Durham we decided to spend our final day in Newcastle. Trains run frequently between the two cities taking just 15 minutes, with standard off-peak adult returns £7.90. As it was a Sunday we were able to travel on any service so we arrived into Newcastle station bright and early …
Continue reading Day 3. A Day in Newcastle
Sunshine streamed through the windows as we drew back the curtains and it looked as if the previous day's beautiful weather was continuing. We started the day with a walk through Durham's Market Place where stalls had been set up for the weekly Saturday market. Being unable to resist a browse through the stalls, we …
Continue reading Day 2. Exploring Durham Cathedral and University
Durham is a small city nestled on the banks of the River Wear in the north east of England. It's famous for its Norman cathedral, 11th century castle and world renowned university, with this part of the city designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In his book 'Notes from a small island' Bill Bryson called …
Continue reading Day 1. A weekend in Durham
Getting there: By car: Blackpool has a motorway link direct to the centre of the resort – take the M6 to Junction 32 and the M55 will lead you there. By train: The town has 3 railway stations, Blackpool North, Blackpool South and Blackpool Pleasure Beach. With direct services from London Euston, Birmingham, Glasgow and …
Continue reading Blackpool – 12 top things to see and do
