Mid July we headed ‘up North’ to visit friends and family for the weekend. As we have a 3-month-old baby, we decided to break up the journey by stopping off at The Baraset Barn, Alveston. We picked The Baraset Barn because it was quick and easy to access from the M40 and meant we could be on the M6 nice and early ahead of the morning rush. There are just 16 rooms This was our first hotel stay with a baby so we were feeling a little nervous. From the website, the rooms looked large enough to accommodate a travel cot or a pram. The room did not disappoint, we had ample space for setting up little man. Sometimes hotels can make rooms look large on their website then you turn up to something tiny; this was not the case. If anything, it was actually the opposite as the room was much larger than I had anticipated. There is a small mini-fridge in the room that had bottled water and fresh milk for the coffee machine. The room also comes with two dressing gowns, an iron and ironing board....
Last week I headed into Winchester (with my 11-week old baby) to try the Summer Garden Afternoon Tea. It was my mums birthday, so her partner and I arranged to surprise her. My mum is gluten intolerant, so I’ll show you what the ‘normal’ afternoon tea is like vs the gluten-free offering. Afternoon Tea at The Ivy, Winchester is served between 3-5pm. As we had baby G with us, we opted to eat at 3pm to ensure we were home in plenty of time for the bath routine (how things have changed!). The first course of sandwiches and scones was promptly bought to the table alongside our glass of champagne. Our savoury selection included: Truffled chicken brioche roll Marinated cucumber and dill finger sandwich on basil bread Smoked salmon on beetroot bread with cream cheese and chives I love that the cucumber and salmon sandwiches were served on flavoured bread. This made them seem a bit more special than your average afternoon tea and delivered a deeper complexity of flavour. ...
I am a big fan of a bottomless brunch so this weekend Sisters Dine Out decided to see that Winchester has to offer! The venue itself is actually really nice and has been decorated to have a 'Victorian' feel. I have to admit, I really like the way it has been transformed. Apparently it used to be a YMCA café (according to our lovely waitress!) The brunch itself costs £29.99 per person and is served between 12 & 4pm every Saturday and Sunday. For this £29.99 you have 1.5 hours of bottomless prosecco, wine or beer and then two courses off their menu. We of course opted for prosecco ;) After all that booze and two mains, you could also help yourself to unlimited (yes, thats right...UNLIMITED!!) cake! We settled on a mixture of baked camembert and a selection of cold meats with breads and mozzarella, followed by some really rather tasty carrot cake and coffee & walnut cake. Yum! The cold meat selection was brought out first and I really enjoyed this p...