Secret Santa Adventures

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day, whether you celebrate Christmas or not! For those of you who do, Merry Christmas!!! 

Now that it is out of my system, I wanted to tell you about my Secret Santa this year. I had it all planned out, 15 of us were playing so I was super excited.  I cut up small pieces of red card, wrote the names in gold glitter pen (of course) and sealed them with gold glitter and a snowflake. Everyone picked a name out of the santa hat in late November. Up to there it was going well, but then I went back to uni and all hell broke loose! Clearly my little elves playing the game should not have been left in charge haha, my request for everyone to take some of the wrapping paper failed miserably. The plan was for one person to bring the wrapping paper and everyone to take some and use it for their present, attaching the name tags I had lovingly prepared. The wrapping paper was plain blue, I mean come on! It wasn't even christmassy, but I told myself it would be fine and we would make do, but then one person waltzed off with it leaving no paper for most of us, myself included! Come the big reveal we ended up with all sorts of wrapping, including one wrapped in tissue paper and duct tape, however, it was a fantastic laugh with some weird and wonderful gifts being exchanged. Obviously I had to take photos of our surroundings too, they were so deliciously festive...

Moral of the story is this: 

1 - if you want it doing how you imagine, do it yourself! 

2 - who cares about organisation really, all that matters is the love, laughter and smiles exchanged on the day! 

Overall we had a fabulous time and laughed the whole night long, we spent the evening in our local pub the Queen's Head in Burley where they had the most beautiful decorations and also do some rather lovely food. If you live in the New Forest or are coming on holiday then check them out here. I have something a little different planned for secret santa next year, though for now it is a secret...shush! Enjoy the holidays y'all, eat, drink and be merry! :-) 

xoxo 

The Cottage Loaf

Hello everyone,

This morning I drove over to Llandudno in North Wales to see my Uncle and my Grandparents. For lunch we went to a lovely little pub called The Cottage Loaf. I have been there several times before with family and their food is delicious every time! 

Time for a bit of history, skip this bit if it’s not your thing! The Cottage Loaf has been a well loved pub since 1981 after it’s conversion from a local bakery. Parts of the pub are made from the masts and booms of a schooner called the Flying Foam which was ship-wrecked off the coast of Llandudno in 1936. The inside of the pub has a lovely homely atmosphere, aided by the stone floor, which actually came from Liverpool. Parts of the pub have been salvaged from all over, giving it a very eclectic feel. On entering the pub you can see the original bakery oven doors at the front of the bar and the mast of the Flying Foam, with a copper strip around it. When the Levi Jeans factory closed down in Liverpool the wooden flooring was recycled by the pub to be used in the upper bar area and the roof slates are from the Royal Liverpool Hospital. To top it all off the bar surface is constructed from two pieces of the vessel’s decking  joined together. 

Now for the food! This time I decided to have something lighter than my usual “Pint of Fish”. I had a very greek style of lunch, with some lovely fluffy ciabatta to dip in olive oil and sharp balsamic vinegar. Along side there was a ramekin filled with marinated green olives, sweet sun-dried tomatoes and tangy feta cheese. I adore greek food and this was such a lovely lunch, we were fortunate with the weather and were able to sit outside in the sun on the pub front terrace :-) 

The atmosphere in the pub is warm and friendly and the food is consistently wonderful, for a family pub lunch or even as a quick stop for a light snack I would give this place 5 stars! 

Let me know in the comments your favourite places for family lunches!

xoxo