norwich – MISS HOLLY P

misshollyparish blog

Gyre and Gimble Bar and Distillery

Have you heard of Gyre and Gimble? Gyre and Gimble is a cocktail bar, gin academy, distillery and now has its own house brand of gins and spirits. Situated above The Strangers Tavern and right by the historic Strangers Hall, Gyre and Gimble takes is name as a nod to the weird and wonderful world of Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carrol and with the ‘strangers’ location, it seemed a fitting title! Curiouser and curiouser!

Duo team Craig and Rory have transformed the former Gin Palace (which also had a brief stint being called Door Eighteen) into one of the newest hot spots on the Norwich cocktail scene. With exposed brick, botanical accents from draping plants and industrial fixtures the décor is perfectly fitting to the trends we are leaning towards and will suit all tastes and styles. The team are currently operating an offer of ‘Drink out to help out’ with a selection of £5 cocktails every Wednesday evening and serving up grazing platters to enjoy while you drink. Their cocktail menus have a host of different drinks, they have the largest spirit selection on offer in the city and they are always working on new drinks to surprise and delight. Look out for the next menu launch which is focused around sustainability and no waste

There is an on-site ‘Gin Academy’ which you can book to enjoy a gin making experience where you will learn about the history of gin, the process of how to make and the chance to design, create and take home a bottle of your very own gin! The session last’s for 2.5 hours and you will enjoy cocktail tastings during your distiller for a day experience and all of this is £85. A great treat and lovely gift too.

With all of this at their fingertips and with the teams knowledge and expertise they have now branched out and developed their very own brand of gin and very special it is too! They have developed 3 blends and have a strong mission of sustainability at the heart of their brand, with bottles being 95% recycled glass (most have a max of 60%), wax seals so no plastic lids or seals, and recycled paper labels, the journey of the development is about as green as it gets.

The 3 different blends are all inspired by Lewis Carrol….

Callooh Callay Coastal Gin- 45%- blended with samphire, seaweed and Norfolk Lavender. The most gorgeous illustrated walrus and carpenter logo label and a percentage of sales go to Friends of Horsey seal protection charity. Inspired name from The Jaberwocky

Nohow- This is a classic London Dry coming in at 42.5%, with notes of aromatic pink pepper, citrus and spices, Nohow is named with a nod those crazy twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum

Queen of Hearts Cherry Gin- 40%- A cherry gin which a rich and layered deep taste of cherries throughout. The colour and label is inspired by the famous Alice in Wonderland character, The Queen of Hearts.

These are all available to buy now and available in the bar by the glass!

All the labels of the gin are bold and bright colours with strong typeface and illustration logos, which are reminiscent of the ever growing world of craft beer.

So what are you waiting for? Go and visit Gyre and Gimble! You can eat, drink, chill and create!

Thanks for reading,

H x

misshollyparish activity

Escape Hunt UK- Norwich

There’s a brand new escape room that has opened up in Norwich!! Escape Hunt UK is the new addition to Norwich’s entertainment scene and has a variety of games to get the mind boggling and ignite all your puzzle busting skills!

Escape Hunt started in 2013 and now has over 40 locations in 17 different countries hosting over 250 games!

At our site in Norwich we currently have 3 classic physical escape rooms- Alice in Puzzleland, Aladdin and Our Finest Hour and 2 virtual reality games Mission Sigma and Survivor. I was lucky enough to be invited to to try out both formats so I can share with you and hopefully answer any ponders you may have if you’ve been considering an escape room have felt unsure.

So, the physical escape room I tried was Alice in Puzzleland, I don’t want to give anything away but just some insight about what to expect. So the max group size is 6 people and you have 60 minutes on the clock so solve all of the puzzles to get out of the room. Every escape room has a different plot and all the puzzles will be unique! You can expect to problem solve, code crack, solve cryptic clues and riddles and more! It’s great fun, amazing for team building and is really eye opening between friends. One of my favourite things about it is seeing how differently your brain works to your friends and where your different strengths lie to get to the end result, team work is required and working together is a must!

In the room, you have no phones, there is a connection to ask the host for clues if you are getting really stuck and of course you are not actually locked in, so if you have any claustrophobic fears you can get out so do not worry!

The room which I did was so well done, fun, imaginative and fantastical. The BEST thing about escape rooms though (especially this year), is that WHATEVER you have going on, whatever is on your mind, you really can’t do anything other than focus on what you are doing so it really is a very welcome break from reality for 1 hour! I can’t wait to go back and try the other rooms. We did escape in 49 minutes (no thanks to me I don’t think though)!

Next up, I tried the virtual reality game! Myself and 2 friends played the game Survivor, the format is different to the physical escape room and is literally like being in a video game! So again for up to groups of 6, you enter into a large area where you VR headset and have 2 hand held joypads/controllers which are secured around your wrist. Before the actual game begins you have a tutorial to get to grips with the controls and then you’re off! Again the games are timed for 60 minutes and the game that we played was a task based RPG, it was so fun! We didn’t manage to complete, we managed 60% which wasn’t amazing but we were proud, as non-gamers it did take us a few minutes to warm up but it did not compromise the fun AT ALL!

As a general activity the team are really committed to the safety of customers with excellent procedures in place for covid with masks mandatory for all guests and staff, an extremely clean setting and lots of cleaning and santiser available.

Prices start at £20 per person on groups of 4-6 for physical games and £25 per person for physical games of groups 1-3 and all Virtual Reality games. All games also are for ages 8 and up so great fun for all the family!

So what are you waiting for? Go and test you puzzle busting skills with some buddies!

Have you done an escape room before? Did you get out?

H x

misshollyparish circus

The Hippodrome Circus Great Yarmouth

If you are looking for a fun and entertaining day or night out for the kids and adults too, look no further that the Hippodrome circus In Great Yarmouth! Since Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and the cast of The Greatest Showman melted the hearts of film lovers across the globe, circus is more popular than ever! In 2018 we saw the 250^th anniversary of circus and we are incredibly lucky to have one of the ‘last surviving, purpose built, total circus buildings’ in the UK right on our doorstep in East Anglia! The Hippodrome Great Yarmouth was built back in 1903 and has been kept in the the most impeccable condition with its original features preserving the traditional circus charm. The Hippodrome’s shows combine acts across stage, air and water and it has 1 of the only 3 rings in Europe, with the feature of the floor lowering to fill with water and transform into a pool, where audiences can enjoy this range of talents, show after show!

The Hippodrome has been delightfully handed down through the Jay family and with the well-known local hero Peter Jay sharing his 40 years of the hippodrome experience last year and handing the torch over to his son Jack, who is our fantastic ring leader and leading man in the circus come-show ‘Pirates’; the family message is very much alive and present here.

From the second I walked through the doors of the beautiful building I was hit with a wall of nostalgia that I am always subconsciously craving. I am obsessed with times gone by and being able to step inside a piece of history evokes every sense I have. This is such an incredibly loved building, inside and out and you are literally walking in time in a place of entertainment history. The retro and charming interior has been cared with love and does nothing but compliment the experience. The walls are covered in posters and memorabilia from the shows hosted over the years and gives you a glimpse into how circus was in the days of animals and odd balls, as opposed to the unique and raw talent from over the world which we see today.

Jack and his team spend each season between shows not only script writing but also attending and researching shows to source the most exciting, original and ground breaking acts. This keeps the Hippodrome fresh and exciting each show for all the new guests but for the die-hard loyal fans that attend every show year after year. With the exception of Christmas day this is a 24/7 job and which the love, passion and dedication of the team we continue to see it thrive and succeed as much as ever!

The Hippodrome hosts 4 house shows per year which fall in line with the school holidays to give as many opportunities as possible for families to attend, they do 2-3 shows per day from afternoon to evening. Kicking off the year with the Pirates Live over Easter, then the longest running summer show ‘Circus and Water Spectacular’, October half term gets creepy with the Halloween Spooktacular and then seeing out the festive period with Christmas Spectacular!

You will get to know and love the dynamic comedy stylings of Jack Jay and Johnny Mack who’s on stage chemistry is perfect and their humour infectious. Great laughs for the kids between acts and fantastic nods to the adult audience with some cryptic ‘in’ jokes. The shows without Johnny feature other well-known names from the UK entertainment scene so the hosts are always a delight.

The global acts the guys source are phenomenal, I have been attending most shows for the past couple of years and without fail every single time I see something and I can’t quite believe my eyes! I’m squirming and squealing with adrenaline and I am literally on the edge of my seat! They vary from weird, to unbelievable and super extreme but every single act I cannot fault and excites me enormously.

I don’t think I can gush mush more about the circus do you? Seriously, book some tickets, take a mate, when you arrive grab some popcorn and a drink from the licensed bar and sit back and enjoy the show!

After the show keep half an hour spare to visit the on site museum behind the ring where you can look into the rich history of this circus with a huge amount of old outfits, props and memorabilia it is a fascinating insight to the years of rich on site circus history and so much more!

Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.

H x

misshollyparish blog

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!

misshollyparish blog

The Bay at Jarrold

It’s been a while since my last post but I’m extremely excited to share with you the newest and most fabulous eatery in Jarrolds called The Bay, a gorgeous open plan wine bar and seafood restaurant!

I have visited 3 times already, once for the launch night too where I got to sample many canapés which gave me a taste of the shape of things to come and a couple of times to have a nibble and a drink!

The decor in itself is so beautiful, its situated on the second floor and has launched along with the new look homewares department and The Bay gets its name because of the stunning bay window that the restaurant wraps itself around and the design is that of hanging industrial lighting, exposed brickwork, cool toned neutrals and grained wood with lots of foliage scattered around, its modern, classy, airy and just gorgeous. It’s a great addition to not just Jarrold but Norwich and has really filled a gap for me especially.

Food wise the menu is heavily focused around salmon and has sharing platters, a caviar menu and other hot dishes and brunch style dishes too. I tried the gorgeous salmon sharing platter which for £10.50 per head is an absolute bargain in my opinion for the quality, selection and quantity you get.

They are planning on doing various seasonal specials and have an oyster bar as a special too! In addition to all of this there is the most lovely and carefully curated wine list too with champagne by the glass and one of the loveliest house reds (a pinot noir) which would not feel wrongly paired with fish for the red lovers out there.

I hope I have tempted you in for a visit! Currently The Bay is only opening for lunch but I think it’s a bit of a case of wait and see how it takes off to determine the finalized open times but please if you are a seafood fan put it top of your list to visit!

Thanks for reading, H x