Post Exams Freedom: Durham

Last week, I finally got my life back. Exam season had ended, the sun was shining and I was ready to celebrate my freedom. Not only had I finished what felt like a gruelling few weeks of assessments, I'd also finished my university career! I was flooded with relief at the simple fact that I'd survived, but bar that, I felt.... precisely as I had post exams, which was surprising since I'd been expecting to feel magically different. Older? More mature? I mean, I had just completed the last step in my formal education! No matter. This lack enlightenment wasn't going to deter me and so after my first decent nights sleep in months, I hopped onto a train to Durham...

...and promptly realised just how tired I still was. Thankfully, we refuelled at Tango and I was revived by a deliciously succulent burger, far too many fries and a large glug of ginger beer.

The next week passed in a whirl of cooking yummy food, sunshine, Pimms, eating out and afternoon naps (one of life's luxuries I'd sorely missed!). We attended a charity cricket match one afternoon, taking a picnic of summery food with us, full of strawberries, blueberries and cherries, cheese with onion chutney and pita and hummus. Oh and of course, more Pimms!

We also made the short trip to Newcastle for lunch with some good friends at (an incredibly amazing little place called) the Fat Hippo. (I tried to make out that I was excited about seeing our friends but they all knew it was the food I was so enthusiastic about... Apologies for the lack of photos, but take it from me, the burgers are TO DIE FOR!)

Another evening, we popped out for a Thai dinner at the Lotus Lounge where we demolished a table full of food, happily washed down with cocktails.

(Essentially you get the picture, yes?)

In essence, it was heavenly to have some free time: to sit around doing nothing and not feel guilty or cook and eat meals which took more than a designated lunch break hour. More than that, it was wonderful to finally have a chance to catch up with friends... especially one in particular!

Durham Part Two

After an evening of amazing food, of course the only natural thing to do was follow it up with, well, more food. So, on Sunday afternoon I was introduced to Tango where we tucked into a couple of burgers and I drank the prettiest drink I think I've ever seen!

I was presented with a wine glass with a shrivelled brown ball in the bottom. My glass was filled up with hot water and I watched as before my eyes, the ball opened up and flowered in my glass, infusing the water with a mixture of jasmine, marigold and globe amaranth tea. 

Not long after I'd stopped staring at my tea, our burgers arrived and we dove in. They were deliciously juicy and so I happily tucked away the whole thing. 

Once we'd gobbled up every last crumb, we went for another little wander around town. The light was beautiful so I snapped a couple of pictures to show you just how pretty Durham is! 

I really enjoyed visiting Durham- it's always interesting visiting a new part of the country- for such a small place, England really does vary so much from city to city. Hopefully, with any luck I'll be back soon!