Headland Hotel, Newquay

So when you've got the Winter blues, and your favourite hotel pops up with a great deal on Secret Escapes, then what's a girl to do? Be a bit spontaneous and snap it up sharpish, that's what.

I know it's been a while, as we visited on the last weekend of November, but I had such a wonderful weekend that I just have to share it with you.

The deal with Secret Escapes was for a two night break at the Headland Hotel in Newquay, including breakfast and dinner for one night. I loved this hotel last time we visited (previous post here) and we received the same great service this time around.

We upgraded to a 'Splendid' room, which was well worth spending that little bit more! Take a look around our home for the weekend...

Undoubtedly the best views I've ever had on waking in this bed...

After running around the room squealing at every corner and new discovery, we calmed down enough to unpack, and decided to crack open the champers left for us. We toasted the weekend out on our balcony, and recovered from the 4 hour journey by taking in the view and watching the waves.

A little bit blustery!

After a few hours of chilling out in luxury, we decided to wrap up warm and head out for the night. First stop was The Stable, where you can find the best pizza and cider with incredible panoramic views over Fistral beach.

We shared a 'Headland Herbivore' pizza, packed with herby roast potatoes and creamy Cornish blue cheese. I know, carb heaven right?

 All washed down with a speciality cider or two!

All fed and watered, we prepared ourselves to face the bracing wind once again, and headed into town. The annual Music and Cider Festival was in town, with a giant marquee full of cider loveliness and the best beachy acoustic music to sway along to.

That night also happened to be the night that the Christmas lights were turned on, so we headed back outside down to the Harbour, to watch the best firework display I've seen in years! A pretty magical start to our winter weekend...

Beefeaters and Burger Eaters

Our last day consisted of us running all over the city, to get in as much sight seeing as possible. We jumped on the tube (having become pros by now, tutting at tourists) across to Tower Hill.

The Tower of London is somewhere I've always wanted to visit. I've got a serious fascination with the Tudors, especially the reign of Henry VIII, so was really looking forward to experiencing some of this history first hand. 

Just a tip if you're visiting this or any other London attractions and you're heading into the capital by train, check out Days Out Guide for two for one offers. The gate price per adult for the Tower of London was £24.50, so we made a great saving with this offer. They have to be printed in advance though, so plan ahead and you can get a good deal, especially if you have children! 

We headed in through the gates, but noticed that a Yeoman Warder guided tour was about to start, so we tagged along. This was undoubtedly the best decision we made all day, as Billy Beefeater (@billybeefeater on twitter) was the funniest and most informative guide we could have had. He constantly had us in stitches when we weren't overawed by the history. He's not Anne Boleyn's biggest fan, that's for sure. I won't give too much away, but I can't implore you enough to make time for one of these tours if you visit.

We then wandered around on our own, joining the queue to see the Crown Jewels, housed in the Jewel House below.

They're a must see if you go, but I definitely found the White Tower a bit more interesting personally. Suits of armour and all sorts of weaponry - always the tomboy!

I was completely absorbed in the White Tower. The monuments and artifacts are so interesting, and there are many interactive exhibits that add to the fun. However, there's just this overwhelming feeling of history within the walls, that you can't help but imagine what it would have been like in the 1400's, wandering down the spiraling staircases.

Even the sky turned a foreboding colour of grey!

We didn't have nearly enough time to look around, and I'm looking forward to when we can next go back and give the attraction our full attention. I'd definitely make sure I had a full day ahead of me next time, but we had a train to catch and dinner to grab first.

Isn't Tower Bridge a thing of absolute beauty? I love it.

There was one more thing on my list that I couldn't leave London without, and I dragged my poor husband over the Thames and all the way across to Southbank to get it.

After a few wrong turns, we finally found our destination, Bleecker St. Hiding under a bridge was a little unassuming box of burger heaven.

After drooling all over my phone looking at these guys on instagram, we already knew what we wanted from the menu. That'll be two Bleecker Blacks (£10 each) and a side of Angry Fries (£4) to share, please.

As soon as our dinner arrived, I was more than forgiven for once again dragging poor Mr. P all across the city in the name of food.

Oh yeah. That's right.  Two medium rare beef burgers, topped with cheese, sandwiching a hunk of black pudding. Oh my days. Want a closer look? You know you want to.

Hands down the number one burger I've had so far. I'm a sucker for a bit of black pudding, but have never had it in a burger before, let alone a cheesy juicy rare one. It's outstanding. Well worth the £10 price tag, this would have filled me up on it's own.

But of course, this is me. There was no way I was leaving without getting some of those Angry Fries down me. Good sized skin on fries (none of that 'skinny' business thank you) doused in a generous helping of hot sauce and blue cheese sauce.

Needless to say, we devoured the lot. Well worth persevering with our map skills to find the place, this was the best meal we had, and a perfect end to our weekend away. We rolled our bellies back to the train, and dozed happily until we arrived back over the border.

Portobello Market

I'd planned our weekend with meticulous precision, and thought I'd organised everything. That was until the wonderful receptionist (with a wonderful name) Sara mentioned how close we were to Notting Hill, and the famous Portobello Market.

We dropped our plans for a day wandering the shopping centres, and headed on over to W11 early on Saturday morning.

Following signposts and groups of tourists until we started to spot the well known candy coloured houses and the markets started to materialise.

The first few streets of the market are full of antique shops and stalls, selling everything from old world maps, to war memorabilla. Fantastic hats and glittering jewelery at every step, and a smattering of creepy street performers.

I love looking at old, musty original books! There were some beauties to be had here.

We weaved our way in and out of the stalls, but not being able to get a very good look due to the crowds, we headed on down to the main event, food!

The stalls seemed to go on forever, and I don't think we ever did quite make it to the end. They run both sides of a street, that seems to run and flow into other streets like a river, make one long thin market gauntlet!

We discovered the stall above, upon which Mr P insisted that he had to try a 'smore crodough' - the baby of a doughnut and a croissant, apparently.

It was pretty good, I will admit. Flaky croissant pastry, but deep fried to give it that doughnut sturdiness, and of course, lashings of sugar.

However my tastes are a lot more...custardy!

The iddy biddy pastel de nata was a little mouthful of delight! A creamy cold egg tart with just the right amount of sweetness for an elevensy!

We countered this naughtiness with some fruit though, just to be on the safe side...

On and on we plodded, taking in more of the sights and sights of the busy market. It's unbelievably busy on a Saturday morning, but it's definitely worth persevering, and going as early as you can helps.

After a while, our feet got weary and it felt like we'd seen all there was to see, so we headed on into central London to do the typical touristy thing of Oxford Street and Covent Garden.

Not without picking up some lunch first, however. It took me a while strutting up and down to decide what I wanted, but the hot chorizo salad was a definite winner. Look at all that lovely orange oil!

If you're in London on a long weekend, then this one is definitely worth breaking the itinerary for!

Cider, Tea, Rum and Crab

On our last day in St Ives, we finally ran out of luck and the clouds and drizzle crept back in. What’s one to do on a day like this?

Visit the cider farm of course!

We huddled back into coats and hoodies and set off to Healey’s Cyder Farm, just outside Newquay. Here, you can wander in and out of the small barns on the farm and poke your nose in on all the busy worker bees bottling and packing the lethal ‘Rattler’ cider.

I couldn’t help but get distracted by all the animals dotted around to pet and dote on…

But the Mr found something else to coo over…

We jumped on the back of a tractor trailer to take a tour of the orchards, and spotted a few other furry beings.

No, not those furry beings.

All that bumping and jiggling around on the tractor had made us hungry however, so we snuck back to the café to sample one very Cornish delicacy that we hadn't yet managed to wolf down.

Cream Tea!

After all agreeing that clotted cream was most definitely meant to be on the bottom, we dusted off our crumbs and headed back for a mid afternoon snooze.

Led by our stomachs once again, we headed back into town to try one place which has been on my radar ever since we decided on our trip. The Rum and Crab Shack.

The name pretty much sums it up. The food revolves around a number of seafood dishes, everything from a spicy gumbo to a whole lobster, and everything in between.

The drinks menu is unrivalled by anything I’ve seen before. There is a set menu dedicated to all the rums available, split into categories such as light, dark and overproof etc. It almost sounds like a challenge to try each one…maybe next time!

For those not quite ready for a rum, there are a number of craft and speciality beers both on tap and bottled, and of course a number of cocktails. I had to try a mojito at the rum shack, after all!

Being my birthday treat weekend, as soon as I saw the menu I knew I was going all out. Steak and ½ lobster for me please! I look pretty happy with it, eh?

Unfortunately the lighting (and maybe the rum) didn’t help my amateur photography, but just look how juicy this steak was!

Everything was cooked to perfection, I thoroughly enjoyed every mouthful! The lobster was so meaty and covered in a lovely light butter, and the steak was, quite honestly, the best steak I've ever had in my life. It's going to take one heck of a steak to beat that bad boy.

Being a bit of a veg freak, I loved the fact that the salad was such a main feature of the dish, rather than being an afterthought. It's such a pet hate of mine when a really excellent dish is let down by some wilted leaves from a supermarket bagged salad. But don't panic, there were chips too.

Everyone's food was just as huge as mine, so there wasn't a lot of room for dessert, especially after the morning's cream tea. A digestif however, is always a good idea!

Cheers!

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