Ladies Day At The Goodwood Races

A few years ago I was very, very lucky to receive an invite to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party, but it left me with a rather unusual problem: a surfeit of beautiful millinery.

Languishing in a box and dust bag combination on the top of my wardrobe, a navy blue brimmed hat, trimmed with a gauzy bow waited. Waited for a reason to be lovingly dusted off again for a special occasion that never seemed to present itself. I had tossed up the idea of a hatted afternoon tea for my 30th birthday, but my lazy busy self didn't quite organise it.

Unique London: The Old Royal Naval College Painted Ceiling Hall Tour, Greenwich

Do you ever have those moments where you realise that you are a square peg in a round hole, and you are absolutely ok with that?

Most modern ladies, they buy handbags and dresses off Instagram, but having spotted the Painted Hall ceiling tours on a good friend's instastories, I knew we had to make our way down to Greenwich to take in this unique tour.

The Luxury Brunch Afternoon Tea at Le Meridien Hotel (warning: this is not a typo)

Brunch is somewhat of a religion in New Zealand, and Afternoon Tea is rather a genteel worship of tinkling tea cups in England. They are both altars that I spend an inordinate amount of time at, both in London and away, and more than once I've declaimed them to be my favourite meals.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Le Meridien but all thoughts, 

flavour sentiments and brunch chants are entirely original.

Somehow, the stars aligned to not only find an afternoon that both Becca (of Runaway Kiwi infamy) and I had free, and coincide with an invite to try out the Brunch Afternoon Tea at Le Meridien Hotel in Piccadilly. Living our best lives indeed.

Hutong at the Shard: Luxurious dining with a London vista

Breathtaking London views, incredible flavours from Northern China, elegantly arrayed surrounds and a beautiful Wishing Tree, every branch perpetually hung with lucky red wishing cards. Hutong at the Shard is both everything that you think it will be, and yet nothing quite like your imagination.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Hutong at the Shard,

but my palette and misuse of ancient Chinese proverbs are all very much my own.

Invited to try out the newly launching menu courtesy of Head Chef Fei Wang's home province of Sichuan (the home of giant pandas and Asia’s longest river, the Yangtze), Shandong (known for its Taoist and Confucian heritage) and Beijing (known as much for its modern architecture as its ancient sites such as the grand Forbidden City complex) we toasted our good fortune with crisply poured glasses of Veuve Cliquot and much laughter.

Eating at the luxurious Bovey Castle Hotel - Codename: OperationDon'tTellAftab

They say an army marches on its stomach, attesting to the importance of forces being well-provisioned, but when this phrase was invented they hadn't quite encountered the voracious appetites of 4 particularly travel obsessed food bloggers.

Having organised a night at Bovey Castle escaping the confines of London for a few belated birthday celebrations, we made sure to enthusiastically test their onsite restaurant offerings, not least as we were a 40 minute drive from Exeter St Davids.

Our stay at the luxurious Bovey Castle Hotel - Codename: OperationDon'tTellAftab

Many moons ago, in the distant realm of Devon, a shire far far away from the steel and glass towers of Londinium (about 2.5 hours by iron horse) a gallant Fresh Prince was fearlessly escorted by 3 Princesses (take THAT mansplaining!) to a beautiful stone castle snug in the wild valleys of Dartmoor.

We think he may have liked it? But, let's rewind a month or three.

10 London cocktail spots this summer

My little blog profile image came about almost by accident. I was chatting to a Kiwi cartoonist one day on Instagram who offered to use me as a practise subject (his name is James Espie, check him out) and he, given a few of the few photos of me on the blog, drafted up my cool little avatar. Cocktail in hand.

So, in essence, I blame him for this habit.

Nb: Post contains a couple of blogger invites, marked with*
but I've been back to all of these on my own dime.

The habit of meeting good friends in delicious bars around the London. Ok, ok, who am I kidding. It's a labour of love that I greet with glass in hand. It's quite a London thing - with commuters living in all corners, a well planned or last minute (there aren't many in between) catch-up somewhere lovely is one of the pleasures of living in London.

An afternoon at the polo and exploring the Cowdray Estate.

Boarding the train at Waterloo Station armed with morning cups of tea in hand, we chatted the whole way through our 50 minute journey to Haslemere, watching the skyline change from forests of steel to boughs of ancient leaves.

We were bound for an afternoon at the Polo, to watch the pinpoint trained ponies and riders duke it out for the Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup, a match played to honour one of the riders.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Cowdray Estate, 

but my swooning prose is very much original and unaffected.

After a quick 20 minute cab ride through the country lanes lined with stone built cottages, many with yellow framed windows* - we dismounted for a tour and lunch at Cowdray Manor House. What used to be the family home of Lord and Lady Cowdray, is now an exclusive residence that can be hired out for special occasions, wellness retreats or for private use.

5 things I miss whilst travelling

Travelling is awesome. And challenging, and frustrating, and joyful and educational.

But most people don't focus on the darker side of having a travel addiction.

Touring Lord's Cricket Ground (and learning to bat with Matthew Hoggard)

How often do you find yourself in the cricket nets at Lord's, getting tips on how to improve your skills from an ex-England fast bowler before taking a tour through the hallowed 'Home of Cricket'?

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of the England and Wales Cricket Board
but my terrible hand eye co-ordination and ensuing words are all my very own.
Tours don't usually include a personal Cricket masterclass.

So for Shikha (of Why Waste Annual Leave) and I to find ourselves batting and bowling in the Marylebone Cricket Club nets at Lords, we actually couldn't stop grinning at our blind luck - and when Matthew Hoggard MBE, former England test cricket team bowler and captain of Leicestershire) saw me pick up a cricket ball and just how terrible my bowling was, he also smiled. Slightly grimly if truth be told.

An annual afternoon tea at Dalloway Terrace, Bloomsbury Hotel

A year ago we met here. We gathered amidst green boughs, tinkling teacups and marbled table tops. On the table champagne flutes sparkled, delicately dove grey striped crockery nestled arranged just so and green blooms drew the eye to the space left for our afternoon tea towers to occupy.

Disclaimer: We were again invited guests of the Dalloway Terrace at The Bloomsbury Hotel but my (very many meandering) thoughts are still mine.

It is amazing how simultaneously so much, yet so little can change in 365 days .

How to travel in-between "travelling"

Alas, our lives aren't always a constant flurry of airport lounges and glamorous glasses of champagne poured at 30,000 feet. Mine certainly hasn't been - for the last 5 years I've been balancing a full-time job with running a blog, trying to sneak travel in as much as I can, and lately freelancing for clients.

This has meant that I have had to become creative when trying to slake my wanderlust around a 9 to 5 desk job. Luckily, I live on one of the best islands in the world. People often worry about becoming a travel blogger, thinking that they don't jet off to all corners of the world every weekend and they won't have enough content. Well, to that I say phooey.

Hitting the high notes - A limited edition jazz afternoon tea at the Sheraton Grand Hotel Park Lane Hotel

Our evening started as the sun set over the Hyde Park tree canopy. Shaking off my long day at a desk and having sat for a reflective half an hour, I was more than ready to slip into the Sheraton Grand Park Lane hotel, to try out the limited edition Jazz Afternoon Tea with Binny & Aftab.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of the Sheraton Grand Park Lane Hotel
but my verbose words are all mine.

As I sank into the luscious carpet, the harpist gently strummed the final chords of a catchy pop tune (the song escapes me now) and I looked up to see the mischievous grin of Binny float through the door, Cheshire Cat style.

Expat Life: Giving my London home a touch of New Zealand #travellinkup

How on earth do you define home as an expat? I've said before that London has my heart but New Zealand is my soul (whereas my appetite is totally multicultural) as a throwaway Instagram caption, but actually it's more true than I gave this unconsciously summoned phrase credit for.

I guess this post could be subtitled 'how to make home a home, when you move your home to a new home a really long way away'. Which would be an achingly long subtitle.

So, I decided in a moment of New Zealand caffeine fuelled inspiration to share 5 of the ways that I celebrate my New Zealand roots 12,000 miles away from where they began. Putting the Kiwi into London effectively!

Relaxing on the doorstep of Richmond Park: A staycation hotel review

To say this was the laziest most relaxed adventure yet would be an understatement. 

At the beginning of this year, my one and only Mr Kiwi put me on a travel ban. After a 6 week period that included a surprise birthday trip to Gothenburg, a myriad of business travel, a weekend staycation and two awesome weeks roadtripping around Texas and Louisiana at the end of last year, he felt like he had had enough.

So in order to assuage the flame of wanderlust that has my soul (one day it may waver so I'm making the most of it whilst I can) I had to get crafty. I mean, compromise. Yes, compromise. *shifty eyes*

ANZAC Day, Lest We Forget.

Pre-dawn on the 25th April, families gather around the world. Quietly they huddle in their jackets, their antipodean accents muffled by the chilly air.

Slowly in the darkness the crowd begins to thicken, take shape, many around weatherworn memorials thousands of miles away from their birthplaces.

Aqua Shard: Brunching in London clouds

The Shard and I have a tempestuous on again, off again relationship. On our first rendezvous this bastion of the London skyline was moody and somewhat icy, our second dalliance was a touch more blue sky and secretive (an unbloggable lunch at the Shangri-La), and the third a cheeky twilight drink - but on this particular date, we managed to enjoy an early brunch cementing our liaison as an everlasting London romance.

 Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Aqua Shard but my (very many) thoughts are only ever mine and more repeat visits on lovely days are going into my diary. Ps. Sister restaurant Aqua Kyoto has a bottomless brunch reader special until 28th May if you click this sushi treatise about our visit... (#notspon, just delectable)

After a flurry of activity organising a secret trip in honour of Aftab's birthday, 3 of the self-named Angles (sorry, random insider joke) gathered around a table with one of our American favourites (she is definitely not square, I promise) to breakfast and gaze over the London skyline full of anticipation for our incipient journey. Laden with weekend bags full of mischief and a train booked for 11am, early on the Sunday morning we checked in with the restaurant front staff (who didn't even blink an eye at how much clothing we had packed) and took our seats over the London city skyline.

Cornwall roadtripping: our favourite places to explore

Both my friend and I had eyed up the beautiful scenery, cosy thatched cottages and wild beaches of the Cornish coast often enough to each have a wishlist of places to explore, so on our long weekend, we tried to fit in as many places as we could.

Result? The best road trip we could have hoped for, complete with excellent tunes, copious snacks and occasionally crazy weather conditions. Full of pirates and smugglers, intriguing history, rampant gardens, cream teas where we discussed the big questions (cream then jam, or jam then cream, obvs) and weather conditions that changed by the minute from hail to beaming sunshine.

Important disclaimer: I've only visited Cornwall the once so I can't ever call myself an expert, and ideally we needed an extra day to spend in St Ives properly, but these were the places we loved.

10 of the best unique UK daytrips (when you've done all the usual ones)

We've all been there. The chat around the office water cooler is of exotic European jaunts, talk in the tea point is of tropical destinations and patter in the pub is all glamourous stays in luxurious hotels and spa pamper sessions. And there is nothing in your diary.

It's bank holiday season again.

Legging it to Land's End, Cornwall

According to ancient Maori mythology at the northernmost tip of New Zealand - Cape Reinga - the spirits of the dead travel on their journey to the afterlife to leap off the headland, and climb the roots of the 800-year-old pohutukawa tree and descend to the underworld to return to their traditional homeland of Hawaiki, using the Te Ara Wairua, the 'Spirits' pathway'.

In true British style, Land's End (or in Cornish: Penn an Wlas or Pedn an Wlas) is a headland and holiday complex near Penzance where tourists flock to witness the Western most point of the UK and enjoy a cream tea.