I'm someone who lives in the fast lane. I'm away all the time, I go on as many holidays as I can possibly squeeze into my annual leave allowance, and it's not unusual for me to have plans every night of the week. But September took it to a new extreme even for me! I was away every single weekend, and since August was pretty busy too, I was actually away for 7 weekends in a row. As far as I'm concerned, that's what summer is for! I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to chill now the weather is miserable and it's getting dark by 5pm (I actually gasped when I just checked todays sunset time to verify that stat). I've already done my write-up for one of those September weekends, as I was in Sardinia, but what about the other 3?
Ash and I always take each other away for our birthdays. He took me to the Peak District, I took him to the Lake District, he took me to Belfast, and this time I took him to the Shropshire Hills. We love a little hot tub break and with his birthday in early September, that's where I spent the first weekend of the month. We've done the glamping thing a couple of times and I have to say that this is one of the best places we've been to. Eastridge glamping just had it all. The pod was spacious, private, and beautifully decorated. The hot tub was perfect. And the location of the whole thing was exactly what we needed; based in a small village with a pub just 5 minutes away, sat on the edge of the Shropshire Hills National Landscape so only a stones throw from lots of walks, and only a 30 drive from Shrewsbury. We booked the Longmynd pod and I got a discount by booking directly through their website, rather than on booking.com where I originally found it.
Because the pub was only a 5 minute walk away, it would've been totally rude to not make that our first stop. The town of Habberly was really quiant and picturesque so it was a lovely walk to the Mytton Arms, and the weather was still nice so we sat outside to enjoy our pints. Which was just as well really since we were very much in farmyard territory so any enclosed spaces carried a very farmyard smell.
The pub had a cute little food truck at the back serving burgers and scampi and even steaks! It would've probably been a nice option had we not forward-planned for something even better... a picky tea. Not just any picky tea (an M&S picky tea). So we headed back to our pod to enjoy some champagne and a few hours in the hot tub, before eating our banquet on the bed. Perfect!
The next morning we woke up to gorgeous blue skies so after a cheeky breakfast pastry in bed, we were off to get the steps. I love the AllTrails app generally but especially for days like this where you're in a very rural area that you haven't been to before. For anyone who doesn't know it, it's for showing you walking routes in your local area, with photos, difficulty ratings and even user reviews (does it get muddy, was any of the path blocked, how beautiful was it from 1-10). We knew we wanted a decent walk but not one that took up the whole day so after choosing a 5-miler, we headed into the Shropshire Hills (specifically Earl's Hill).
I wouldn't say I'm a professional hiker. I wear trainers, not walking boots, and I take a regular handbag instead of a sporty practical backpack. But I'm a strong walker and I'm fit and healthy so when the trail was rated as 'moderate', we thought that'd be no problem at all. What the online reviews failed to spell out was that once you reach the path up to the peak of Earl's Hill, it's basically just a sheer mountain side you're supposed to walk up and over. How anyone would do it without walking poles is beyond me. We attempted a bit of it but decided that we'd rather avoid dying or getting helicopted ambulance-lifted during this trip, so we took the route around the mountain at 820ft elevation, instead of 980ft. The views were probably just as insane anyway. Honestly, Shropshire is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to in the UK. The scenery was so beautiful and the fact we were blessed with amazing weather to appreciate it in was even better.
Near death experience averted, we continued on our beautiful walk until we hit the nearest pub. The Nags Head had a lovely pub garden with the most insane views. I always want fish and chips and I always want to share meals. Luckily Ash always indulges me, so we split a fish and chips, and a steak sandwich (both of which were incredible).
The rest of our walk took us through the cutesy village of Pontesbury, where we stopped off at one of the pubs for a drink. I was definitely ready for a pint by this point (especially with the weather) but Ash decided it was coffee weather instead (honestly, I need to whip him into shape).
We knew we wanted 3 important things from this day of our trip; a walk, a visit to Shrewsbury, and time to enjoy our pod and the tub. Initially, we figured we'd probably do it in that order and have another similar night as the one before. But then after looking how many pubs Shrewsbury has, and realising that Uber is randomly available in the tiny village of Habberley (?), we decided to swap it around and have a chilled afternoon in the hot tub. Which was literally perfect? The weather was gorgeous, it made for a nice difference than the night before, it was perfect for after a long walk, and it meant we could enjoy plenty of hot tub drinks, knowing that noone needed to drive anywhere.
Then we got ready and headed out for part 3 of our perfectly planned day! I love any town or city with Tudor black and white architecture so I was keen to arrive while it was still light to appreciate it. Shrewsbury has so many cool pubs, so many lovely buildings. We started outside since it was sunny, then went to a spot called Ten & Six which had an adorable Alice in Wonderland themed cocktail menu!
For a relatively small town, Shrewsbury had it going ON. Loads of pubs, loads of people out, plenty of live music and cool spots. We had such a fun night and it's definitely somewhere I'd think of planning another trip to! But for this time around, we waved goodbye with pizzas in hand and headed back to our pod for another meal à la bed to round off our trip, before heading home in the morning.
The second weekend of September was one that I'd been looking forward to for months and months. Way back in April, I got an advert for Hilary Duff tour dates and as someone who was obsessed with everything Hilary Duff did back in the 2000s, AND someone who's been obsessed with her new comeback album, I just knew I had to go. So me and Mum headed up to Manchester for the night. We arrived nice and early and obviously we were there to see Hilary Duff, not specifically to see Manchester, but we still wanted to make the most of our day. So we had a little wander around the city, and nipped into the library because it's a pretty impressive building and neither of us had been in before.
When I have plans in the evening (non-dinner plans), I much prefer to eat properly in the daytime so that I'm not having to eat just before going out and then having that post-food slump. We toyed with the idea of some kind of tapas, but actually a proper Neapolitan pizza was screaming my name. I sent a photo of the food at Forbici to Laura and Fulvio (Neapolitan by marriage, and by birth) and it got the seal of approval from both of them! It was so delicious and I loved these little pasta fritters too as a little something extra on the side.
We were staying at the Roomzzz hotel in the old corn exchange, which was a really beautiful building and has this cool kind of conservatory area on the back which is shared with lots of bars and restaurants. Before heading up to get ready, we stopped off for a little cocktail and had our first few sightings of Hilary Duff fancy dress.
My Mum HATES fancy dress. I love it, my Dad loves it, Aidan loves it, but Mum hates it. Obviously she's done it plenty of times over the years but it's always very much against her will and when there's a strict need for it (like at a fancy dress party). So convincing her to go in fancy dress to a concert (not a requirement), and to wear pastel colours (also not her favourite) to be the blonde Lizzie to my brunette Isabella, was a challenge. Luckily she loves me to the moon and back, so as you can see, we were the perfect Lizzie McGuire movie duo! I got most of my outfit off Vinted and tried to choose individual pieces that I could and would rewear again. I'm a big advocate for a factually accurate fancy dress outfit; but I'm very against an outfit whose second stop is landfill. The only landfill core here were the face gems (adorable) and the fake microphones. But I couldn't resist, they just looked too perfect!
We got there nice and early so that we could get some drinks without stressing or rushing. Honestly, it was such a good one to arrive early at because everyone had gone so all-out with the outfits that it was lovely to just peoplewatch and appreciate the effort everyone had put in. Our effort was certainly appreciated as we got so many lovely compliments on our outfits, and someone even asked if they could take a photo of us. As for the concert itself, it was simply incredible. La Roux made for an amazing opening act, and then every single one of Hilary Duff's song were perfect. She did a gorgeous mix of new and old, with the pinnacle at the end obviously being 'what dreams are made of'. It actually felt like quite an emotional night. I grew up with Hilary Duff. I watched every single one of her films in the 2000s and I used to dream of being exactly like her when I grew up. Going to see her now that I'm 30 and all grown up made me realise that 8 year old me would not only have killed to be Hilary Duff when she was older, but she would've killed to turn out exactly as I have too. That felt like a really special realisation to come to, and an even more special one to come to on a special mother daughter night out like this one!
We didn't have anything in particular planned for the next day but we also didn't want to rush off, so we had a nice slow morning and went off in search of a cute cafe. We headed to the Barton Arcade to scope out a place called Pot Kettle Black but there was a giant queue, so we opted to admire the arcade building but then went to a spot called La Vie over the road instead.
Mum is what you might call a nervy traveller - despite our train not being until late in the afternoon, she didn't want to go much further than 10 metres away from our hotel because of the time it'd add on to go back and get our luggage. Luckily, we found plenty to do within a very short distance! I once again tested the limits on my likelihood to burst into flames, as we went for a look round the cathedral. It was a really beautiful building and they had this lovely angel wing exhibit as part of it which was super cute.
Another 10 steps away and we were in Shambles Square for our final pit stop - drinks and a pub lunch in the sun. I was loving the Tudor architecture (again) and the food at Sinclairs Oyster Bar was actually amazing! Me and Mum had such a lovely weekend and I love that we always carve out this quality time for just the two of us. The timing of this weekend was even more apt because her and Dad then went on holiday for over 3 weeks, so it had to last us until Octgober!
After spending the 3rd weekend of September in Sardinia, I was off again for the 4th and final weekend to celebrate my friend Sophie, and her twin sister Chloe's 30th birthdays. At this point, I'd been south-west, I'd been north-west, and I'd been abroad. The only option left was to head east... to Skegness for a Butlins big weekender! I'd never done a Butlins big weekender before (obviously I'd heard the legends), but as I already mentioned, I'm a big fan of fancy dress. I'm also a big fan of copious amounts of alcohol, and of 2000s music soooo. Recipe for success.
After getting checked into our apartment, we got ready and headed straight out. We'd decided to do a bit of group coordination for the fancy dress and Friday night was the softer theme, since we knew we'd have less time to get ready after travelling. So the theme for night 1 was coachella/cowgirl! Even though I love my cowboy boots, I actually left them at home because I had visions of sticky floors and spilled shots, so I went for a cowboy hat as the main link this time. I was pretty spot on with the visions too; Butlins was exactly as I imagined it. Really fun, really busy, lots of drinking. I was impressed how many acts they had on actually and how many different rooms and venues you could go to. I admit I didn't do a whole lot of research before arriving so there was a lot more going on than I'd maybe expected. I basically expected that the main and potentially only activity on the agenda was drinking! Obviously that was a large part of it, I wasn't totally wrong. The only annoying bit of Butlins was that there were queues everywhere for everything. The bar, the toilet, getting in the venue, getting out the venue. At one point, we actually walked back to our apartment to top up on drinks because it was faster than waiting at the bar!
Unbeknownst to me (again my bad researching), there were also loads of activities on in the day! Line dancing, silent disco, pub quiz. We decided to go to the pool party which was less of a pool party and more of an adults-only entry to the waterpark with some music on. We had a little go round everything (pool, lazy river, wave machine) but because the waterpark was only open for 3 hours all weekend, it meant everyone was flocked there at the same time and it kind of started to feel like sharing a giant bath with an uncomfortable number of hungover strangers.
After surviving about 45 minutes at the pool party, we realised what activity was calling to us more than all the others. Day drinking! We were blessed with amazing weather (especially for the end of September) so we headed to the pub, got a nice lunch, and then sat in the beer garden enjoying a few drinks, playing some Cards Against Humanity, and avoiding the death swoop of all the nearby seagulls!
Then it was time to get... dirrty. In case you haven't guessed, the group fancy dress theme for night 2 was 2000s pop princesses! We had Jennifer Lopez, Avril Lavigne, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and I went as Christina Aguilera (Xtina era). Absolutely obsessed with getting a fancy dress look as accurate as possible so I was super happy to find both these trousers and this amazing wig. It was only about £15 and I added in the tiny plaits for that perfect dirrty music video finish. This risqué outfit was actually perfect for a Butlins night because it gets super hot in all the venues, so I was breezily dancing the night away in my bikini. Dancing the night away to Cascada, who was performing live! That was super fun, and there were loads of good DJs on too. We had a right laugh, I loved the music, and I love any excuse to get all dressed up (in costume or otherwise). As cheap, fun, outrageous weekends go, I don't think you could've beat Butlins. I hope the girls had a fabulous time celebrating their 30ths there. And I returned home from my 7th weekend away on the bounce, for a much-needed rest!
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