Wolf and Gypsy Jewellery

WOLF AND GYPSY {gifted item}  A huge thanks to Wolf and Gypsy for the lovely Sixpence necklace! It’s an original 1914 sixpence coated on gold vermeil and is reversible so you can wear it on the side of choice, these guys have a lovely range of gold and silver designs to suit all tastes and styles and at the heart of the brand is a really important message!

Wolf and Gypsy love sentiment and history and the sixpence itself has been a symbolic gift of good luck since the 1500’s. As a brand they have a really strong ethos and strive to be ethical and sustainable! Check out these brand statements taken from their website ⭐️????

 

➳ Eco-Friendly Packaging // FSC® Certified, recycled

& biodegradable.

➳ Conflict-Free Gemstones // Handpicked for quality & unique features.

➳ Recycled Precious Metals // 14ct gold, gold vermeil & sterling silver.

➳ Hand Made & Designed // by Tori Shay & in our ethical work-shop.

➳ Committed To Positive Environmental Change // Member of 1% For The Planet, donation made for every sale.

The fashion landscape can be really confusing and to be conscious about where you source your pieces from can be really confusing when brands don’t have full transparency about how your pieces are sourced and made. Wolf and Gypsy are totally transparent about the product journey and you can wear with a smile knowing your piece of jewellery has been made with a conscience. Have you checked out Wolf and Gypsy? Head over to wolfandgypsy.com to shop now and use the code misshollyp for 10% discount!

Style and design bang on trend with the knowledge that your piece can be worn with pride ???? ???? ♻️ ???? 

Girly East Anglia Staycation

In the current climate when travelling is so uncertain and loaded with potential issues staying a little closer to home has been the best option.

Whenever I get time off work I always want to get as far away from home as possible (usually by plane) and that leaves lots of places super close to home left unvisited!

Being a bit of bargain hunter and with so many businesses offering great deals at the moment to entice customers back in, I managed to plan a luxury, jam packed itinerary for some great prices!

We started our adventure in Cambridge on Tuesday! Cambridge- stunning architecture, great shops, lovely food, punting, history, museums and culture! There’s a lot to offer!

We parked at The Grand Arcade which until the end of October is £1 per hour! So super cheap in the shopping heart of Cambridge for the whole day! The Grand Arcade is such a lovely, modern shopping centre with a huge selection of shops. We were really lucky to have picked a gorgeous sunny day so walking around was so pleasant. Outside you’ll find the market square which has daily market from 10am-4pm selling a huge range of goods and food and then arts and crafts on Sundays!

Coffee is always a must when you’ve had a little road trip and I had read and heard endless rave reviews about Bould Brothers Coffee! These guys now have 2 locations in Cambridge due to their success and I can vouch it is bloody nice coffee AND the team are REALLY nice! Great to see them using Strangers coffee which is local to Norwich.

 

Cambridge is hugely famous for punting; punting is a guided river tour of Cambridge by water, you can do it in groups, privately or have a go at chauffeuring the punt yourself! We went with the AMAZING Let’s Go Punting who kindly gifted me the experience for my first time with my mum! We had a shared punt which is divided by clear Perspex screens to keep people distanced safely with new Covid measures. I absolutely loved the experience, being on the water is so tranquil, the knowledgeable chauffeurs regale you with facts and information about your surroundings on the tours, all whilst your eyes feast on the backdrop of architectural grandeur of the iconic colleges. You glide under historic bridges, surrounded by wildlife and absorb all the beauty Cambridge has to offer. I can’t wait to visit again when it’s chilly and wrap up warm with a hot drink and see the colours of a new season. This experience was so special with my mum but would be great for a date or a group trip (up to 6) and I saw lots of doggies enjoying the punting on my travels too!

As a real foodie I always do my research of where I’m going to eat when I go away. I don’t like to visit chains and want to know we won’t be disappointed (yes I  am a control freak), after a few recommendations I decided on Six which is located on the sixth floor of the very trendy Varsity Hotel and Spa and to my delight when I booked on their website they had extended the Eat Out To Help Out concept and offered 50% off food up to £10 per person! We requested an outside table which is on an a terrace with panoramic views over the rooftops of Cambridge and hanging colourful flowers overhead as you look up to the sky, there is also a retractable cover to protect when required from the elements so your experience is never interrupted!

They have such a gorgeous bar in this restaurant and a huge range of gin and cocktails that I would love to sample but I didn’t because my mum was driving and I didn’t wanna be an annoying drunk on the way to Newmarket!

There is a truly varied menu with something for everyone, we shared the scallop and smoked salmon starters then I had baked cod and mum went for the king prawn and chorizo skewers, we each had a soft drink and an alcoholic drink and after discount the bill was £73.50.

On the very top floor there is another large roof terrace space with a bar where you can soak up the sun or wrap up under the stars. I would definitely love to stay here!

Our day in Cambridge had come to an end so we hopped in the car and took the journey down to Bedford Lodge Hotel and Spa in Newmarket. We booked their ‘Gourmet Getaway’ offer, which for £220 which included room, usage of the leisure centre (not the spa which is separate), £30 per head towards an evening meal in the award-winning Squires restaurant, a bottle of house red or white wine and breakfast the following morning.

It’s a beautiful and impressive venue with lots of racing memorabilia around to earmark its location and history. The hotel public areas are well maintained and very clean and so was our room. We booked a twin room and due to Covid restrictions it was still nice to see the inclusion of robes, Molton Brown toiletries and lovely tea and coffee facilities as I know some places have decided to remove these amenities for safety but I feel that would definitely have impacted the feel of the stay (please note if you want to use leisure facilities you need to take towels from the room and the showers are not open). The weather was just lovely so we went and sat outside for some drinks and the atmosphere was great as there was lots of people and a lovely buzz!

 

We had wine, champagne and cocktails and just had a giggle until our meal in the restaurant. I carried on my fishy theme and had a prawn cocktail and lobster mac ‘n’ cheese, the food was really lovely and the restaurant has a modern décor with dimmed ambient lighting which creates a nice mood. We finished the evening off with an espresso martini outside before hitting the hay.

Go to sleep full and wake up for more food, that’s what it’s all about right?

These days there is almost an awkwardness to know what’s what and in a hotel with a continental and cooked breakfast option its a bit like “Ooooh, what am I allowed?” So, I’m sure this will be the situation in most places, the continental options are available to order and you can have as many as you choose- like a buffet, then you have the cooked breakfast option of which you choose one. It was a lovely breakfast. Great coffee, my fave oat milk too! They have a signature green ‘Bedford Lodge Smoothie’ which was fresh and contained wheatgrass for a pick me up. We shared some Baron Bigod cheese and ham charcuterie off the ‘continental’ menu and I had the Bedford Lodge Full English and mum went for the sourdough toast with avocado and poached eggs. Breakfast was exceptional as was the service and it’s always a pleasure to see a venue sourcing as many local ingredients as possible.

The spa at Bedford Lodge is in a separate building to the main hotel and unfortunately is not open Mondays and Tuesdays so we couldn’t use it but we did go and have a look around before heading off on Wednesday morning. This is a PROPER spa, finished to an extremely high standard, lovely main areas in the hydro pool, an extensive treatment list, a lovely seating area where you can enjoy light bites and beverages and the staff were so welcoming and accommodating despite only looking around. They open evenings too for twilight deals so if this sounds up your street have a look at their offering here.

The ‘Gourmet Getaway’ deal is only on for September but do keep a look out as given the world at the moment; businesses are definitely having to adapt with deals for a new clientele.

From Newmarket we moved onto Bury St Edmunds, Bury is a short and simple drive from Newmarket and is a beautiful town rich in history with a lovely shopping centre.

We parked at Ram’s Meadow which set us back only £2.30 for the whole day in a large open air car park so one to remember if you plan a visit.

We headed straight from there to the beautiful Abbey Gardens ‘the abbey was once one of the richest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England. Its remains are extensive and include the complete 14th century Great Gate and Norman Tower, as well as the impressive ruins and altered west front of the immense church.

The relics of the martyred Anglo-Saxon king St Edmund, whose remains were moved to this site in 903, and his shrine became a place of pilgrimage. The abbey itself was founded in 1020 and grew in power and wealth up until its suppression in 1539.’

When I was a little girl I wanted to be an archaeologist so ruins are always a huge treat for me! The gardens are kept immaculate by volunteers and they were in the process of changing over to the winter plants!

Even after a long walk we were still full from breakfast so we tried to get as many steps in as possible before our lunch which was booked for 2 at the gorgeous Angel. We explored the grounds of the cathedral and found a nature reserve walk with lovely little goats! We then headed to The Arc shopping centre and rummaged through the sales and got some bargains then on the way down to lunch we hit every charity shop too!  I managed to get a lush black Hugo Boss blazer for £9.99! The Angel is a hotel and has a bar and restaurant and is a stunning and huge ivy covered building in the heart of Bury. The Angel are still extending their Eat Out to Help Out too for September which was a bonus when booking but we were still so full we couldn’t manage a full meal which also meant no Lottie’s waffles after either!! The restaurant is just stunning though, I adore the decor with different touches of modern art and the colour palette in this room. We just had soft drinks and shared a lovely antipasti board for 2 which was just enough! The perfect end to a lovely 2 days!

Welcome to the #FoodSavvy challenge!!

So as we embark on a new month, I have taken on a brand new challenge! Along side the support of Hubbub and Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils I have been given the opportunity to share with you my experience and journey in becoming more #FoodSavvy!

In Norfolk and Suffolk alone we waste 113,000 tonnes of food waste which costs the average household an extra £810 per year and the tax payer just in these 2 counties an extra £12.6m per year!!! That’s hugely alarming right?? I’m really excited to be given the opportunity to get involved in hopefully learning new ways to reduce this personally in my household and also raise awareness to my surrounding counties and further afield!

So, if you’ve been following me a while, I like to think; and I hope you’ll agree, I’m pretty savvy anyway and from my personal financial situation over the last few years, I’ve taught myself to become more #FoodSavvy and am really excited to see what new ideas I can take on board to drive this even further in my life! I’m a genuine lover of food and it sickens me to see food go to waste, so I always try to keep it creative in the kitchen and let nothing avoidable go in the bin but I know there’s still more to do!

This week, from tomorrow, Monday, I’ll be carrying on as normal and at the end of the week I’ll be doing my baseline measurement to see what waste I’m producing in my household on a normal week, before we put in to place some of the useful provided tools to aid in this months challenge!! I’m actually off for a few days from Monday morning on my holidays to France, so I’ll be getting my folks back at my home to save their avoidable food waste along with logging roughly any food that I waste abroad Monday to Thursday, all of this you can keep track of on my instagram stories! I’ve always been a lunch prepper, I’ve been using food recycling at home for some time and i consciously make the efforts to minimize a single use plastics in my life but even as a conscious person I know the results will alarm me when so many things on offer to us have not undergone the same thoughtful and sustainable journey we would want in an ideal world. After this week is done and we measure what’s ‘normal’ for me and my household, then we’ll start the reduction measurements from week 2! Food waste and the volume of single use plastics used world wide is a huge issue and I invite you this month to join the challenge and become more #FoodSavvy with me, from Norfolk, Suffolk and beyond!

The Style Show

Hey readers! It’s been a while! I’ve been really active on Instagram but not so much on the site so apologies for the break but I’m here, I’m back and I’ve got just the post to share to end this hiatus!

Several weeks ago I was invited to an evening at The Style Show in Eaton, Norwich. The Style Show is a a boutique where you can shop but it’s not just your regular clothes store! The lovely team in store are qualified stylists and can really give you some incredible, styling recommendations and advice!

That’s not all! They are also available to book in for full colour and shape analysis which you can do privately, off the shop floor. Chrissie the owner did a mini session on the evening to give us a taster of the kind of info that they share and how it works and what is involved in determining what suits you best.

With the colour analysis, I particularly love that the team will not say to you “you can’t wear ***”, if you really want to wear a colour that isn’t on your palette, they will advise you how to style it and make it work for you! Working in beauty, I see a lot of ladies who are told they can’t wear a certain colour and it almost puts them in a box which they are afraid to deviate from but Chrissie and the team won’t do that.

For example, I am ‘light/cool with a touch bit of bright’ so neutrals like camels and beiges are not on my palette, however I have a beige blazer which was my mums and is vintage Cerruti and to make it work they advised colour blocking with a black top to break away from the camel and add a statement lip which is from my palette to lift it and it works!

With the shape analysis they really teach you how to make clothes work with your shape and discuss length, cut, style, accessorizing, how to accentuate and minimize too, its extremely fascinating!

 

Clothing wise in the boutique they have some lovely items, age range they say would be 30+ but for any of my younger readers (and even me too as at 31 still trying to dress like I’m 21) if the clothes aren’t your style the specialist and detailed advice will cater for everyone who wants to take their fashion knowledge and ability to enhance their own personal style. I would highly recommend a visit. I know it’s certainly made me think very differently and look at things in a new way! It’s so so interesting!!

Thanks so much to the team for inviting me, educating me, opening my eyes and for the lovely goody bag too!!

Head over to their instagram here and check it out and give them a follow!

Thanks for reading all!

 

I’m back! Hx

Tips on how to book a great trip with Love Holidays

I always get asked how I find such good deals for things and how it always looks like I’m going lovely places and if there is something which I want to do I will find a way of making it happen in the best way possible, it just takes patience and persistence. Apart from my most recent holiday to Mexico which was booked through British Airways I have always gone through Love Holidays. For me and my personal financial situation their low deposit and installment option works best for me and I find it the most affordable way to book something several months in advance and not have to pay the full balance up front or put anything on a credit card. I’ve booked many different trips with Love Holidays now and I have come up with a bit of a system that I wanted to share.

First up if possible I would really recommend doing this on a computer instead of a phone if possible it makes it a lot easier. 

So go in to the site and set where it is that you want to go. When looking for a beach holiday I normally put anywhere in and then filter it down by minimum temperature and take it from there, if you know where you want to go then you can put in your specific location or you can also put in multiple locations too so its really flexible.

The next most important thing for me is to filter by star and filter by trip advisor rating, star rating of the hotel is something that will be different for person to person, I generally go 4* or above as in many countries the star rating standards are never as good as in the UK but that is of course each to their own, however Trip Advisor rating for me I find non negotiable, so filter it to 4 or above. 4 out of 5 really is the lowest I would go, 4.5 or higher and you know you’re playing it safe that its going to be pretty good.

There’s lots of different things that you can filter out for your requirements- that you do or don’t want on your holiday and once you have set the parameters sort by ‘Trip Advisor rating high to low’ 

This is a good way of those hidden gems coming to the top of the list instead of the most popular statistically, the cheapest or the biggest saving. I would do this first and then filter by price after if you wish and then you can cross reference against the ones which you saw high up the TA rating list.

Then in a separate window pull up trip advisor and have a little look through recent reviews, maybe read some of the bad ones to see if it’s people with way too high expectations or if they’re being ultra picky or just generally if their issue is something that wouldn’t bother you or the bad reviews genuine red flags about this hotel or resort. Have a look through the traveler photos too to give you a bit of an idea of what to expect. 

Then lastly for good measure because I’m ridiculously anal and hate being disappointed when holiday time is so precious I go and see if they have an Instagram and have a nosy at what’s on there, have a look at people who have tagged them and also shots which are tagged at that location. 

By this time you should know if you want to go to this place or not so if you do go through to the payment screen and select which deposit option you want to do as there is a few and you are good to go! Make sure when you select the room you pick the option with deposit option otherwise when you go to pay it won’t be there. 

You can log in and pay more at anytime outside of the scheduled options and can pay off early too if you wish to, just got to ‘manage my booking’ 

Just a note to be aware of with flights-

Ryanair’s current baggage policy literally includes a small handbag- like the kind you would use day to day for phone, keys, makeup etc. If you want to take a hand luggage case as well the cheapest way to do this is add priority boarding, this adds a standard size hand luggage case per person.

With Easyjet it includes a standard hand luggage case with no weight restriction, however, if you have a handbag on you with you purse/passport in etc it must fit into your case before you board as to have 2 bags you must be an Easyjet plus passenger and this is a yearly membership.

For further info please check the airlines websites! 

Love Holidays have a really good January sale too and other sales throughout the year so keep your eyes peeled for booster deals!

I hope this helps and you find some amazing deals! 

Safe and happy travels! 

Hx