Escape to the Country: A Weekend in the Lakes

Hey,

Today I've got a bit of a mish-mash of pictures from last weekend. February is pretty special for us as it's when we got together (a whole nine years ago now!) and also when we got engaged, on Valentine's Day two years ago.

At Christmas, we got a really thoughtful gift from Chris' family of a one-night getaway voucher. If you follow me on social you might've seen that we recently booked New York for our wedding anniversary in July so we thought it'd be nice to use the voucher for a little break between Christmas and the big trip!

Even though I'm from North Yorkshire and fairly near the Lake District, I've never actually been for longer than a day trip. We'd been saying for a while that it'd be nice to spend a day or two up there so it seemed like the perfect opportunity!

We found the perfect little base at the wonderful String of Horses Inn about 15 minutes from Carlisle - a great location for the North Lakes.

As we couldn't check in until 3pm on the Saturday, we headed into central Carlisle for a few hours first.

Now, I have been to Carlisle a few times before and I wasn't really sure what we'd have to do there...

We decided to head to the castle first but having set off later than we wanted to, it had just closed by the time we got there! We had a little wander along the castle walls as you could walk all the way around the exterior.

You might be getting the impression by now that we hadn't planned this trip particularly well...

I was under the impression that Hadrian's Wall ran near enough through the city centre too but after trekking up and down a few of the trail paths, we realised that it was probably a few miles before we would reach anything resembling the wall.

With that, we gave up and did what we do best - went for some food and a beer! We came across the brilliant Dutch Uncle, tucked away within Carlyle Court, not far from the castle grounds.

This casual bar/restaurant was just what we were looking for with a small but interesting street food-inspired menu, cocktail list and great beers at good value.

We shared a Nduja, Prosciutto and Rosemary Pizza with a side of Dutch Truffle Fries with Garlic Mayo which was insanely good!

With that, we headed to the hotel.

The String of Horses is based in the small village of Faugh, Heads Nook, just outside of Carlisle. It's a traditional coaching inn; I LOVE old pubs, especially having worked in one back home for around 6 years.

I must say, I didn't know what to expect of this one as a hotel but it completely blew me away! Our room was so lovely and the whole inn itself has so much charm - with proper oak panelling, brasses and ornaments lining the walls, wooden beams, leaded windows, open fires, winding corridors and low ceilings.

Satin duster jacket - Lavish Alice (sample sale)

Off-shoulder choker tee - Tobi*

Green tassel earrings - H&M

Leggings - Tobi*

Polka dot socks - Joanie

Gold holographic sandals - ASOS

Our voucher included a meal so we chilled out in the room a while before getting a little dressed up for some hearty pub food for dinner!

I've been living in these black moto leggings from Tobi lately! I teamed them with my off-shoulder choker tee - I love that it shows off my new roman numerals shoulder tattoo.

Sunday was earmarked for exploring the Lakes. Being at the north side of the area, we chose Keswick for our day trip.

Our minuscule amount of research took us to Derwentwater, a three-mile long lake in Keswick, surrounded by dramatic peaks.

We weren't really equipped for much walking so we parked up by the lakeside and strolled around the water's edge and took a little trail up to the Friar's Crag viewpoint. Even though it was on-off raining/snowing, the views were beautiful!

A brief stop in Keswick town centre for lunch and we were off to our last activity - something I booked in advance and was really excited about!

I can't remember how I came across Alpacaly Ever After (great pun), I think it was on Tripadvisor, but it was such a good shout!

We spent Sunday afternoon with Farmer Terry (super friendly and knowledgeable) and his rescue alpacas - even getting to feed them and take selfies with these cute and goofy animals. A perfect day!

I'd love to go back with some proper hiking gear in the summer and do some further exploring.

Have you been to this part of the Lakes before?

Italy Part Two: Liguria

Hey,

So here we have part two of my Italy adventure! After spending a brilliant couple of days in Milan, we headed to our Italian coastal destination - Liguria!

Liguria is on Italy's North West coast, with its coastline also known as the 'Italian Riviera'. As we flew to Bologna, we knew it would be easiest to stay fairly northern and deciding to go somewhere less touristy than Rimini on the East coast, Liguria was our first choice.

The Riviera is peppered with little old-fashioned seaside towns in pastel colours. We chose to stay in Rapallo which is a pretty quiet resort but close to the more lively Santa Margherita Ligure and also luxurious Portofino - it sounded like a great base!

The train from Milan took around two hours and we arrived later in the afternoon. It was gorgeous to sit by the sea and have a few drinks and nibbles (you seem to gets snacks with your drinks almost everywhere in Italy!) as the sun set. We sat close to Rapallo's 'castello' - a medieval mini castle that sits in the water just off the shore.

Our hotel in Rapallo was my favourite of the three we stayed in during the trip. A pastel pink renovated (actual) palace from the 1600s, it was like my very own Barbie Dreamhouse! It also has a spa which you can book into for free and have all to yourself - I'd definitely recommend it.

Playsuit - In Love With Fashion via Topshop sale

Rapallo was a brilliant base for exploring Liguria as nearby Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino were just a short 1.80 EURO train ride away. On our second day in Liguria, we took the train and enjoyed exploring Santa Margherita, before taking the boat over to Portofino.

Portofino really is incredible for a day trip. It's where the wealthy choose to take their yachts and as soon as you step off the boat, you're greeted by boutiques like Dior and Louis Vuitton - which is quite surreal considering how small this little fishing village is!

We enjoyed the views from walking up the hill where there's a beautiful church and even further up, a castle. The photo above was taken from the top of the castle.

Playsuit - Boohoo

We were lucky to enjoy some of the best meals of the trip in Liguria. I think my favourite was our meal at Gli Angeli on the first night; I had the lobster soufflé above, followed by tiramisu. We obviously also tried a few pizzas too...

Our last day in Rapallo was up there with the best of the trip. We took the rickety old cable car up the mountain, where at the top, there's a religious sanctuary built in 1557 after a farmer claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in this very spot. It's absolutely breathtaking to see something so beautiful and intricately built in the absolute back of beyond up a mountain - amazing!

We had lunch at the top of the mountain in a lovely family-run restaurant. Eating fresh pesto spaghetti with the most insane views over the coast is something I'll never forget.

Outfit 1: 

Sunglasses - Ray Ban

Off-the-shoulder top - Primark

Patterned shorts - bought at Milan train station somewhere when I was too hot!

Velcro sandals - Vagabond

Outfit 2:

Jacket - Luxemme*

Necklace - Zara

Dress - Motel

Patent Sliders - Primark

The black jacket above from Luxemme was my absolute savoir on the evenings. Stylish and versatile, yet light enough to fold away into my bag - perfect!

While you wait for the third and finally instalment of my Italy diary, why not read my part one in Milan?

Italy Part One: Milano

Hey,

Wahhh my Italy travel posts are so overdue! It's been 6 weeks (wow) since the boy and I got on a plane to Bologna, ready for our Italian adventure.

We've both wanted to go to Italy for ages but it always seemed a little out of reach and if we were going to do it, we were going to do it right - and by right I mean eating and drinking as much as possible, all the while soaking up as much Italian magic as we could fit into seven days.

By happy accident, or idiotic mistake (however you want to look at it) we ended up travelling to three differnt areas in the north. We originally wanted to head to the Amalfi Coast, but we weren't sure as the flights available were neither cheap nor convenient. I found some flights to Bologna for half the price on Ryanair and excitedly booked them, thinking we could just travel straight across to the coast; a vast mountain range had other ideas...

With the trip up to our preferred seaside destination on the north west coast taking a good few hours on the train, we decided to break up the journey by staying in Milan. Enjoy part one of my Italian travel posts!

First Outfit

Sunglasses - Prada via Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet

Long stripe top - Ragged Priest

Leather/suede backpack - Oasis

Velcro sandals - Vagabond

Second Outfit

Choker - New Look

Lace-up front dress - Glamorous

We only stayed in the beautiful city of Milan for one night, though we felt like it was just enough. Milan is a city which is heavily centered around fashion and shopping and even though I didn't have the cash to blow in the likes of Dolce and Gabbana, Prada and Versace, it was amazing to window shop these gorgeous glossy boutiques.

We mostly just wandered around, taking in the beautiful architecture and soaking up our first experience of an Italian city. We wandered through one of the city's parks, got gelato (pistachio and coconut scoops, yum!), drank coffee, ate fresh pasta and admired the incredible cathedral in the centre - Duomo di Milano.

If we'd stayed longer, I would have definitely liked to pay the small fee to take a tour inside the cathedral. The Duomo di Milano is absolutely breathtaking from the outside, with its powerful presence over the city and stunning detail covering every inch. I can only imagine that inside is just as impressive!

And if I'd had the budget, I would have loved to blow it Prada's flagship store in the Gallerie Vittorio Emanuele - the historical glass roofed arcade by Duomo. I'll have to make do with my Prada sunnies for now!