Sisters Dine Out

 This week’s update and proposed timeline from Boris has bought about a lot of excitement for everyone in the UK. It feels like we are finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and we can start thinking about how to enjoy summer...if all goes to plan. As you know, back in October we were lucky enough to squeeze in a visit to the Salcombe Harbour Hotel & Spa for my 30 th birthday and we’ve had so many people private messaging us to ask about our stay and if we would recommend the hotel. So with a new lease of life after the announcement on Monday and the hope that summer getaways will go ahead, here it is, our review of the Salcombe Harbour Hotel & Spa. This was only my second visit to Salcombe and it had been well over a decade since my last visit. I had really fond memories of the town and was so excited to be able to get away from home for a few nights. When booking, we opted for the flexible room rate with breakfast and dinner, meaning that our breakfast ...

Last weekend we had the most amazing night away at The Grosvenor Hotel in Stockbridge, Hampshire. For the sake of transparency, I won the night away through a competition. The views in this blog are my own and have not been affected or influenced by the hotel staff.  The Grosvenor Hotel is prominently situated in the centre of the Stockbridge high street and has the most beautiful entrance, which can be seen below. At the moment, they have playfully placed two deck chairs and sand just outside the front door. The room we stayed in was 'The Cannon', named after Tom Cannon, a local horse jockey turned trainer who also lived at the Grosvenor until he died in 1917.  The room is decorated in a relaxing pale pink with pops of colour here and there. I can honestly say that the photos do not do this room justice. I feel like it looks really girly in the photos, but it didn't feel that girly in person.  Opposite the bed, a TV hides behind a mirror/frame. I thought this was a ...

Lainston House is situated just outside of Winchester, Hampshire and is part of the Exclusive Collection of luxury hotels.  The main house dates back to the late 17th century and is so beautiful. It was only turned into a hotel in 1981 and I can't help but wonder what it would have been like to live there when it was still a private residence.  We visited Lainston in August 2020 to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary and booked in to The Avenue for dinner. We had tied the knot at a local church back in 2015 and then held our reception at Lainston, so thought it would be the perfect place to celebrate. Due to COVID, we weren't 100% sure if our dinner was going to go ahead but luckily, the hotel opened it's doors just in time for our special day.  Originally, we were due to have the tasting menu, however, the hotel decided that, due to COVID, they would only offer the standard a la carte menu. This was extremely disappointing, however, we are going to return to enjoy t...

Do you remember that feeling when you were a kid and a vending machine full of sweets was oddly exhilarating? You'd walk up to the glass, peer in at all of those tasty treats and then mull over the options before excitingly picking your snack. Well that is exactly what it's like when you go to The Black Bottle in Winchester.  On your first visit, you will need to get a card (which is free) to load with credit to spend on the wine vending machines. You then keep this card to reuse on each visit, so don't worry if you don't spend everything in one go!  There are 32 different wines available giving you the option of a taster (25m) , a small (125ml) or a large (175ml) glass of your chosen wine. Each wine has a tag telling you where it's it from, what grape it is and a little description of the flavours, example below. This is really nice, because even if you aren't a wine buff, you can make a selection based on what you know you like and have the opportunity to try ...

At the beginning of February, we headed into Winchester as we usually do when we have a free weekend at home. Winchester is one of my favourite cities and when the sun is shining it's the perfect place to roam around and grab a spot of lunch. There are a number of cuisines on offer and this particular weekend we were really craving dim sum.  Dim T is an authentic Asian restaurant offering a variety of dishes including dim sum, noodles, ramen and soups. It is also conveniently situated on Jewry Street which in a short stroll from Tower Street Car park (which is where we always park when going into Winchester). If you are familiar with the city, you will know that there are a number of little cut through's that mean you bimble down to Dim T pretty quickly from the car park. I love dim sum because I'm one of those people that really suffers with food envy. When I see other peoples meals, I always want a little bit of what they have and I find that dim sum means I can have a li...

Lemon and Jinja (L&J) is based in the Abbey Park Industrial Estate in Romsey and is a Zero Waste refill station and cafe. You may be wondering about the name, well interestingly, the owner (Jess) and her family spent time in Uganda where her family set up a charity. Jinja is a town in Uganda and pays homage to the personal link between the two countries. You can read more on the L&J blog here . The store opened its doors in March 2019 and offers some amazing ethical, zero waste alternatives. As well as offering food, L&J also have a great range of non food items such as bathroom accessories, make up and clothes. A full list of items can be found  here  on their website. A friend and I started going to L&J a few months ago as they were a short walk from our office. One of the things I love about L&J is its chilled vibe. We often wander down for Chai Latte and snacks when we are having a particularly stressful day and need to get away from our de...

As I mentioned in my previous blog, during this time of quarantine we are spending time looking back at meals and venues we visited before starting our blog. We have been focusing on Afternoon Tea's most recently because what is better than tea and cake at a time like this? This Afternoon Tea is actually with my other sister-in-law as we all headed to New York together for a few days in 2017. As my brother had always wanted to have Afternoon Tea at The Plaza, we decided it would be the perfect place to rest our tired feet and refuel. First observation when we first went into The Palm Court   dining room was that the staff were actually quite rude to us. It felt like we were an imposition by being there, which is quite impressive when you have 4 people willing to spend around $100 per head on tea and cake. We almost didn't stay, but my brother really wanted to tick it off his bucket list, so we decided to ignore the rude staff and continue anyway. When the Aftern...