A weekend in Champagne.
Friday, 24 July 2026
No plan.
Long drives.
Loud music.
French château.
Flaky Pastry.
Champagne flights.
Salted Butter.
Slurred words.
Imperial Nectar.
Summer dresses.
Lazy afternoons.
Early nights.
champagne
Showing posts with label champagne. Show all posts
The Junior Suite At M By Montcalm, Shoreditch
Monday, 20 February 2017
It seemed like our anniversary passed us by last year; we
were on a plane back from Hong Kong for most of it and spent the rest of the week too exhausted to do anything but Andrew being Andrew, he decided to book us a little romantic staycation a couple of weeks later.
The M by Montcalm hotel is that strange building that has popped up on City Road, just down the road from Old Street Station. We were in London early so we though we'd chance it and see if we could check in and luckily for us, the room was ready so we were able to go straight away. We had booked the Feel Better deal in the Junior suite and it came to around £300 (in October 2016.) Alone with the room, we were given a couple of vouchers to spend in the club lounge on the 16th floor. We didn't get time to spend them but I love all the surprise perks you get when you book a suite, drinks were around £8 so that actually would have got you quite a bit.
Apart from that, the room was a lovely size with lots of living space in the middle. The bed was majorly comfortable (and sprinkled with rose petals for our anniversary) and there was lots of light coming in from the windows.
We spent some time downstairs in the gym before coming back up to the room to get ready for dinner! I love to take ages getting ready when we have a nice hotel bathroom and I took a particularly long time here. The bathroom was stocked up with Hermés goodies and staying in a suite meant that we had complimentary use of The Bath Butler. Okay it's not as weird as it sounds, basically its a small list of bath time treats, I went for one called Bubble Bliss and right on time (4.30 to be precise) a woman turned up with a bottle of champagne and a plate of chocolate and strawberries before disappearing into our bathroom to set up. Twenty minutes later she said good bye and left us to enjoy the bath.
Whilst this hotel is the sister hotel to The Montcalm Marble Arch which we
stayed at earlier last year but it's completely different. Being less than a year
old and surrounded by the trendy, start-up culture in Shoreditch, the hotel is
an edgy, modern space and full of young, creative people and that is what we are all about at the moment. The room had white sheets, simple furniture, straight lines and lots of light but Andrew actually picked this hotel because of how it integrated technology into the rooms. Everything is controlled by tablets from the curtains to the heating. He loves all that kind of stuff but it's not something that I'm a huge fan of because it can be a little bit of a pain when you need to go to the toilet in the middle of the night.
Apart from that, the room was a lovely size with lots of living space in the middle. The bed was majorly comfortable (and sprinkled with rose petals for our anniversary) and there was lots of light coming in from the windows.
We spent some time downstairs in the gym before coming back up to the room to get ready for dinner! I love to take ages getting ready when we have a nice hotel bathroom and I took a particularly long time here. The bathroom was stocked up with Hermés goodies and staying in a suite meant that we had complimentary use of The Bath Butler. Okay it's not as weird as it sounds, basically its a small list of bath time treats, I went for one called Bubble Bliss and right on time (4.30 to be precise) a woman turned up with a bottle of champagne and a plate of chocolate and strawberries before disappearing into our bathroom to set up. Twenty minutes later she said good bye and left us to enjoy the bath.
The hotel is in a really great location, less than five minutes walk from Old Street station so after we had finished our champagne, we got ready for dinner and walked to The Red Dog Saloon in Hoxton Sqaure. We have a habit of accidentally picking almost identical outfits and it happened again here..
Overall we had a pretty lovely stay and yes, we would visit again. There are just two small things that I want to point out to you guys as they will be something that we actively avoid next time. We had booked the Feel Better deal which included an overnight stay, breakfast
and a 20 minute head or foot massage each and whilst we loved the room, the other two parts of this deal were not up to scratch. When we came to book in our
treatments (two weeks prior to our stay) they didn't have any slots left which is really bad practice if I’m honest, it should have been mentioned
at the time of booking! Initially they were very unhelpful about this but after putting up a bit of a fuss, we were refunded £30 off of the price. As for breakfast, there wasn't necessarily anything wrong with it, it was just a bit of a cattle market. I was expecting an a la carte menu but what I got was a small buffet that never got refilled.
Have You Stayed Here Before?
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Have You Stayed Here Before?
Bloglovin / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / Youtube
My May Day Bank Holiday
Sunday, 8 May 2016
I've
been really interested in trying a diary style post for a couple of
weeks now. The first one I wrote never made it out of my drafts but I
thought I'd try again and write about my May Day bank holiday weekend.
Let me know what you guys thing yeah?
I finished at 4
on Friday and although that should have been a good thing, it
was a bit of a pain because Andrew didn't finish until 5.45. I was
pretty exhausted but I decided to make the most of my spare time and go
to the gym, on my own for the first time ever - I'm still a gym newbie
remember. We go to one locally so I got on the tube back to Essex and
went straight there from work. I took my new Ivy Park shorts for a spin
and actually got loads more done on my own and felt so awake by the end
of it that I decided to get back on the train and meet Andrew for
cocktails!
We went to Searcys at Westfield because it's not too far into town, the prices are really good and so are the drinks! It's such an easy place to spend the evening and it means we have a huge choice for dinner afterwards. We picked YO Sushi. Obvs but I was a bit drunk to think about taken any photos before I stuffed it in my mouth.
We went to Searcys at Westfield because it's not too far into town, the prices are really good and so are the drinks! It's such an easy place to spend the evening and it means we have a huge choice for dinner afterwards. We picked YO Sushi. Obvs but I was a bit drunk to think about taken any photos before I stuffed it in my mouth.
The next morning, we were up bright and early! After
spending a whole year saying that we dont want to get
on the train again at the weekend, we decided that, that was the wrong
way to look at things and going into London at the weekend to do
something fun rather than work was a good idea.
So on
Saturday morning we jumped on the train to Oxford
Circus for breakfast! I'd been to The Riding House Cafe for a meeting a couple of
weeks back and it was absolutely delicious. So I was super excited to take Andrew there. I
ordered near enough the same thing as last time but with a different
smoothie. I loved how they arrive in cute little old school
milk bottles so I definitely wanted another one of those - this time I went for Racer,
chocolate and banana, my favourite smoothie combo - hold the espresso.
Now as for the food, rather
than just the usual avotoast and poached eggs that you know very well, I
love, I had avocado benedict which is a dish I search for
everywhere and rarely find, so when I did find it, I ordered it large. And stepped it up another notch with
feta. It was honestly delicious and my favourite
breakfast dish so far.
After
breakfast we went for a little walk down to Oxford Street but soon
regretted that - London is a nightmare when you dont know how to dodge tourists but I do, so we retreated back up to the empty back streets - it was absolutely empty
and a pleasure to wander down to Selfridges.
We somehow then ended up drinking champagne in the sun on their rooftop before deciding that, actually, we don't like the trains and getting an uber home.
We somehow then ended up drinking champagne in the sun on their rooftop before deciding that, actually, we don't like the trains and getting an uber home.
After a little nap, Saturday
night was spent on the sofa with a big duvet and all of Tesco's (think chocolate crispy bites, mango juice, and a 2 liter tub of mint choc chip) stuffing our
faces some more whilst watching Britians got talent and catching up on
first dates. It was pretty chilled.
On Sunday morning I went home and just relaxed with Molly because on Monday, I'd planned a long awaited trip to Lakeside with my Mum and as usual, that meant leaving at 9 and doing Primark before anyone else arrives! We bought alot, and we ate alot and it was a great day! I think I'll leave what I bought for some upcoming outfit posts!
LIFESTYLE: The Travelodge, Covent Garden
Sunday, 14 September 2014
When Travelodge got in touch to ask me to come and review a night at one of
their hotels, I was very excited! I spent a while thinking about where might be
best, maybe Brighton or somewhere we hadn't been before but I just love being
in London and having the opportunity to stay out as long as we wanted and not
have to worry about the night bus was just too appealing! I picked Covent
Garden since there was a restaurant we had both been wanting to try out for
ages there plus there's always loads going on there in the evening too! The
hotel was in a great location about a minutes walk away from the plaza part which is always a plus!
A Travelodge, for me, is somewhere that I would book for one night only if I
was going out clubbing and wanted to stay out over night or maybe for a work
stay, although there were lots of tourists there as well. The rooms were super
small which explains my lack of photos - my phone camera is a little zoomed in
and there just wasn't enough room to stand back and get a good view of the room - although I think this might just be because it was London as I saw someone else
stayed at the Brighton branch and their room looked huge! Otherwise, the room
itself was nice and clean, had a big white bed and that's all I was hoping for
really as we were only going to be using the room to relax and sleep in. It had all the basics like tea and coffee for two and there was enough
room to hang up an outfit or two each on the little rail! There was a nice
sized mirror and a TV plus a little shower room and toilet.
Have You Stayed At A Travellodge Before?
LIFESTYLE: The Dukes Polo 2014, Chelmsford
Monday, 28 July 2014
After years of hearing about this Essex event this year I was actually
invited to come along, you guessed it, that was what my outfit from
Freeport Braintree was for, it is also the event I rushed back from Brighton for - I could have done with a nice big watch to keep my on track as I did end up getting there super early! (more on my Brighton trip soon)
I put on my super sleek new outfit and met with the other girls from my
shopping trip before making our way to Hylands House. We got our VIP wristbands
and found ourselves a nice little table. We then spent the whole afternoon drinking champagne
and watching TOWIE being filmed - If you know me well, you will know that that is my kinda afternoon! haha not to mention the
amazing weather we had, it was super hot! As the big TOWIE fan that I am, I obvs wanted photos but I got embarrassed, so I decided on a few cheeky selfies/stakler shots - Enjoy!!
FASHION: Urban Junk Drip Backpack
Thursday, 29 May 2014
A few weeks ago Andrew decided to
book us into the Premier Inn hotel at Westfield
for the night! It's so cheap and lovely to just get away for the night and
relax, we went shopping and when it got too busy we went to the room for a nap
haha love a weekend nap. We normally go out for food and cocktails but this
time we went to Waitrose and the great eastern market, picked up some food and a
bottle of champagne and relaxed in the room all evening.
I
always struggle with what bag to
take since up until l last week I didn't really have a backpack. That's
where Urban Junk come in - when I spotted this super cute new brand, I
knew it was
time to get one! They have loads and loads of bold cartoon deigns which
is just my
kind of thing! It was so hard to choose which one I wanted because I
loved so
many of them but this one won in the end!
It has two big compartments and lots more different ones inside and all around the outside, I
love pockets haha. I seem to be taking it out with me every weekend now, I just
love the fun design and it brightens up all my outfits! Here's what I wore for our night away!
Top - River Island
Jeans - Primark
Shoes* - BANK
Backpack* - Urban Junk
Phone Case - Disney, Florida
LIFESTYLE: My Valentines Day with Andrew - Nandos, Gilgamesh & The Landmark Hotel
Friday, 21 February 2014
I did say that this would be my last valentines
day post this year and I'm so sad that it's all over now but I had the best
weekend ever, Andrew thought of everything and really made it perfect. Sorry
for the long and soppy post but I think this one is more for me, I know that I am
going to want to look back at it and remember our amazing weekend together!
_______________________________________________________
On actual valentines day we ended up
at Nandos, I wasn't complaining, I had a craving and a free whole chicken to
claim! I love Nandos and it was a great idea considering we hadn't booked
anything, I'm sure everywhere else would have been full! So while Andrew
munched away on the whole chicken, with chips, and mash, and a side of halloumi,
I went for my usual, 5 chicken wings, lemon and herb with creamy mash and macho
peas, yummy, I love chicken wings! After that we popped into Pinkberry to get
my new favourite new snack! Their cookies and cream flavour is amazing, it tastes
just like Oreos but is still loads lighter and fresher tasting than ice cream.
We went back to his and exchanged
cards and he gave me the 12 beautiful red roses, which was lovely considering
he has been telling me all week he didn't have time to get any, apparently he
sent his dad out to get them specially! They are lovely and currently sitting
in my bedroom window soaking up the sun!
The next morning we jumped on the tube with our backpacks
like proper tourists and headed into London.
I had no idea where we were going, this is the first time in our 4 years that Andrew
has managed to keep it secret until we actually got there. We got off of our
train at Marylebone station, and walked towards our hotel, The Landmark Hotel! It
was amazing, and enormous, over 100 years old and very majestic. When we
arrived our room wasn't ready so we headed straight down to the spa! After a
little bit of swimming and relaxing in the hot tub thing, I fell asleep on the
sofa while Andrew spent some time in the sauna, they just aren't my kind of
thing, I feel like I'm going to die haha I love a good afternoon in a spa!
Now it was time to check in! Finally,
I was so excited to see our room and I wasn't disappointed! what I loved about
it was that it wasn't like a typical hotel room, it was all old looking like
the rest of the hotel, and not old and broken kind of old, but old and
beautiful, you'll see what I mean in the photos! We put down our bags and sat
on the bed when all of a sudden, the door bell rang, what?! I didn't realise we
had a doorbell haha. Andrew opened the door and a maid came in with a bottle of
champagne on ice and strawberries on a silver tray. Andrew had thought of
everything!We didn't have much time as we had to start getting ready for our date! I had suggested Gilgamesh (as I normally do on any special occasion) So we drank our champagne whilst getting ready for dinner! Andrew popped out to get some cash and came back with another bottle of champagne, he's crazy but cute, he bought it because it was pink hahah.
I wore:
Top - New Look (Gifted Voucher)
Jeans - Primark
Heels* - Missguided
Andrew Wore:
Top* - Superdry
Chinos - River Island
Vans - Sole Trader
It has always been a silly dream of mine to get picked up in
a cab from a posh hotel and that's what happened, it was amazing, especially when I thought that we
were getting the train into Camden,
it's really not very far! Gilgamesh was also amazing as usual, we both ordered pretty
cocktails and got stuck in. The restaurant itself is absolutely
huge and everything is made out of wooden carvings, the chairs, the tables, the
bar and there are palm trees everywhere. Gilgamesh serves my 2 favourite ever
dishes and I couldn't resist to order them both as well as all the others. Hoba Miso
Chilean Sea
bass, which is covered in a sticky sweet sauce and served wrapped up in a leaf!
Andrew and I shared that and the organic rack of breaded lamb, mmmmm we always
just order loads of dishes and share them all as the food is too good to only
try one dish. Then, my favourite dessert, banoffee crumble, they just don't
serve it anywhere else and its so good!
Afterwards we jumped in a cab back to the hotel, after a
quick trip to M&S to replenish the strawberry supply and pick up some chocolate
we spent the night watching Take Me Out and drinking the rest of the champagne!
In the morning, we had a wonderful buffet breakfast, yes. I did eat two full plates of breakfast haha the decision between a full english or pancakes was just to hard! Afterwards we headed back to the room to pick up our bags and headed home!
The biggest thank you to Andrew for giving me a perfect weekend and making me feel like a princess!
I love you lots!
I love you lots!
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