Up north funk

I was beginning to worry that the giant ball of fire in the sky had forgotten how to do its job. But thankfully no P45 is needed, as it remembered just in time for the weekends away I had planned! It's been 2 trips up north, with the first one to York for bank holiday weekend and then the second to Leeds to (unofficially) start my birthday celebrations.

First up was York and after a couple of hours' drive, we arrived in the city and headed straight to our first destination; lunch. Tapas is always mine and Ollie’s go-to and the restaurant I’d booked, Sotano, was even nicer than I’d hoped because they had a lovely little hidden roof terrace. The food was amazing too; we got cheese and meat, ham croquettes, prawns and calamari, chicken thigh, patatas bravas and iberico pork. I naturally accompanied the meal with a couple of cocktails and confused all the staff by ordering them both at the same time (our round of 3 drinks nearly ended up at the table of 3 next to us).

After lunch, we had a little wander around. I love having a wander round a new city with no specific place in mind (not all those who wander are lost) and we still managed to hit all the main must-sees. We saw York Minster, the shambles (including all the Harry Potter shops), all the old buildings, and the church. We also did a little gin sampling at a gin shop and stocked up on some amazing sounding Whittard hot chocolates, before stopping off at a little pub for some pimms. Outfit planning for the saturday had been tricky as it forecast 20 degree sunshine but was still pretty overcast and chilly when I set off so I played it safe with blue skinny jeans, blue and white mesh printed top, white blazer and white trainers.

We were staying at the Moxy hotel which was in the perfect location and had a really cool vibe at check in, although the bed wasn’t the comfiest as it was a bit too bouncy! Anyway, after a couple of hours chilling in the room, we got ready to head out for the evening! I was definitely channelling Henry VIII vibes with my outfit; tan leather shorts (shein), white striped puff sleeve top (river island) and brown tortoiseshell strappy heels (ASOS).

The restaurant we’d booked for dinner was absolutely 10/10. Not only was it set back from the main road in a cute little courtyard, but I also loved the decor and we had a lovely spot next to the window to see the sun go down. The food was the main reason for the 10/10 score though. We got a steak sharing board which had 4 different steaks, garlic butter prawns and 4 sides (we went with parmesan truffle fries, beef dripping chips, chilli butter broccoli and house salad) and everything was incredible. I also sampled my way through the cocktail menu with my favourite being the passion fruit and chilli margarita.

And then I basically continued sampling my way through cocktail menus. We’d booked a bar for later on but had an hour gap in between there and the restaurant so we had a little walk and found a cute traditional pub called the Guy Fawkes Inn which had the nicest outdoor area! I took a break from the cocktails there to get a prosecco, before reverting to the cocktails in time for all-night-long-happy-hour at Manahatta, where we’d booked a table. Needless to say, we were very drunk by the time we got back, after a cocktails-and-beer-instead-of-water approach all day.

I was feeling surprisingly okay on Sunday (is that what being blessed feels like?) but Ollie was definitely suffering! Luckily we had a fairly leisurely day planned, having done all of the exploring the day before! After checking out of the hotel, we went in search of breakfast and eventually stopped off at a cafe called Melk, where we had brie and bacon open sandwiches and iced lattes. It was ideally located for our next activity too…

I love doing boat trips wherever I can and when I told mum I’d booked the one in York, she laughed at me and said it was lame. I mean, she wasn’t wrong. It literally just went up and down the river with very little to see at either end, but it was so lovely, especially given the weather! And for about a tenner each it was an experience worth doing I’d say. I’d dressed more appropriately for the hot weather on Sunday in this cute daisy print summer dress (shein), and added white trainers and blazer (which I really didn’t need).

The last stop of the day was dinner and I’d worked on the basis that you can’t go to York and not have Yorkshire pudding so I’d done a bit of googling for a good Sunday roast. And we definitely found one, at a cute place called Lucia that had a lovely outdoor area. It’s ironic that when we booked to go to York, we were excited that we’d be able to sit inside by then and then spent the entire weekend sitting outside. The lunch was amazing and the yorkshire puddings certainly did their namesake proud. But if I’m being critical, it needed about 10 times the amount of gravy!

Back home and I was so glad we’d gone away over the bank holiday as we still had an extra day to chill at home. The beautiful weather had stuck around which was perfect timing as it lined up with our garden makeover being completed! It was literally a wasteland before and so we’ve had a patio, decking and new lawn fitted, as well as some raised beds for flowers. And apart from a few more plants and delivery of our hot tub, it’s all finally finished. So we had a whole day outside enjoying it; pimms, antipasti lunch, prosecco, music, and sunbathing. You can’t ask for much more from a bank holiday in the UK!

Much to my delight, the glorious weather continued the following weekend, when we hopped on the train and arrived in Leeds bright and early. For all of COVID's downsides, the fact that you can mostly check straight into hotels in the morning hours at the moment is a definite upside. We were at the Leeds Marriott and the room was lovely and spacious, and the hotel was in a great location in a pretty little square.

The reason we'd arrived in the city nice and early is because we had bottomless brunch planned! Ollie may have complained at the girliness of the flower doorways and the neon signs (and the fact that he was the only guy in there that wasn't employed by the restaurant), but he certainly didn't complain about the free-flowing drinks. The service at Banyan was seriously good and they were round with the prosecco every 5 minutes to top us up, as well as bringing cocktails and beers. Strictly speaking, they were meant to only give us one drink at a time but they kept us topped up with 2 throughout. The food was really good too - we both got the breakfast hash which was sweet potato, chorizo, bacon, spinach and poached eggs with hot sauce.

As we'd arrived on the train, we'd gone past what looked like a little festival housed within the train arches so after bottomless brunch, we had a wander to check it out. Unfortunately, in this day and age, a wander is not good enough - an advanced booking is required (eugh boring). So we settled for happy hour at a nearby bar instead where we got a lovely sunny spot! It was nice weather on the Saturday so I'd dressed in a summery ensemble of printed shorts, sleeveless white blouse and lace up black sandals.

After a late lunch/early dinner from room service and a day-to-night transformation, we were back out again! this time I was in an orange blazer dress (I saw it first), with gold heels (pretty little thing) and cute statement black and white bag (shein).

The reason for the statement outfit was because we were off to a drag show! I was super excited about going to Viaduct show bar as I'd never been to anything like that before and I was a little disappointed that we'd only managed to get bar seats rather than cabaret ones. I'd thought we'd be in a totally separate room but it turns out we were just a little further away and the atmosphere was incredible! I hadn't even thought about the fact that it'd be Pride when we went but that only made the whole thing even more amazing. The performances were amazing, the many bottles of prosecco were amazing and the shots were amazing too.

The way we felt the next morning? NOT so amazing. So while me and Ollie were supposed to have a whole sunday funday planned, we hopped on the train home instead to nurse our hangovers, as well as my poor feet that had been destroyed by my heels! Well, I had to make sure I was back to full health in time for my official birthday celebrations to begin...