A Little Getaway

Last week, Andrew and I packed our bags and jumped on a flight to the south of Spain. We'd scored a last minute deal on Living Social (I think I've mentioned them before?), so decided to cash in on some R&R and a little quality time after our months apart travelling.

We ended up in Algeciras, a port town near Gibraltar, and stayed in the Hotel Reina Cristina. Staying in the hotel felt a little like falling into the set of The Grand Budapest Hotel. It had obviously been the place to stay in its heyday, with kings, queens, sultans and other aristocracy, celebrities and politicians (including Winston Churchill and Arthur Conan Doyle!) all taking rooms at one point or another. However, now it seems to have lost some of its grandeur and the level of service that accompanies this and instead just felt a little sad and dated. Saying this, it was a good enough base for our trip.

We spent our week drifting in and out of the city centre, drinking coffee in the little cafés surrounding the pretty central plaza, visiting the shops and taking dips in the hotel pool. One of our evenings was spent at the interestingly named 'La Mafia' restaurant, which proved to be a rather yummy (and luckily not at all life-threatening) experience... I got a little over excited by the menu as you could choose exactly what type of pasta you wanted in each dish, whether it was spaghetti, little shells or a variety of different raviolis. Pasta heaven!

I had a very enjoyable week, although I definitely put this down to the company, not the area. Algeciras is a working industrial port and it lives up to this- the town is by far not one of the prettiest I've ever seen and there is not a huge amount to do. However, if you have sunshine and a pool, what more do you really need?

P.S- Gibraltar is so tiny and pushed for space that their airport runway has a road dissecting it! Cars are stopped like they would be at a rail crossing for planes to land! Craziness! 

P.P.S- the travel diaries shall resume soon! 

Swattesfield Campsite: A Walk on the Wild Side

This weekend, Marcus felt the call of nature and decided that camping sounded like a brilliant idea. However, in his typical man way, he left his less than enthusiastic girlfriend to do the actual finding of a suitable spot to pitch our (my) tent. After much searching, I stumbled across what seemed like a very pretty campsite in the north of Suffolk called Swattesfield, which previous campers claimed had good facilities. Therefore on Friday night we set off (me somewhat dubiously) to start our camping adventure.

I have to say, camping exceeded all my expectations. Swattesfield was beautiful- you could pick from a number of fields to set up camp and there was plenty of space so you weren't pitched near anyone else. The campsite provided hanging fire pits which were perfect for barbecuing, a cute little shop which stocked camping essentials such as firewood (and pick 'n' mix!), clean bathrooms and a pizza oven!

The campsite owner had even built a little shelter out of bushes which was ideal for playing in and there was a rustic swing hung in the woods. We were surrounded by twelve miles of mapped walks around golden corn fields and little forests. Essentially, it was a little slice of lush British paradise!

(I was very jealous of the glamping tents).

Our time in Swattesfield was totally chilled and was spent ambling around the countryside, picnicking outside our tent, wandering through the near by village and playing frisbee. Our biggest challenge however turned out to be cooking dinner.

We thought it'd be easy with our instant BBQ. But for some unknown reason, after roasting a couple of marshmallows, it burnt out!

So we decided to do things properly and Marcus pulled out the big guns.

After a few more (hundred) frisbee throws, our BBQ was ready to cook on. We gobbled down a couple of well earned burgers and then polished off the last of the marshmallows. Yum!

Much to my surprise, I found that I really enjoyed camping. Being in the middle of nowhere, disconnected from the bustle of every day life was incredibly refreshing and it was wonderful to just switch off. I'm also a girl who likes her creature comforts and was lucky enough to find that Swattesfield didn't leave me wanting. All in all, our trip was a lovely way to explore a bit more of the British countryside, spend some quality time together and simply enjoy each other's company (and copious marshmallows, of course!), all without breaking the bank. Maybe I've found my inner woodland nymph after all?