The Boating Lake Tea Shop Photo Diary & Chat

I wanted to share with you my outing to a boating lake and tea shop located by the sea in Redcar. My mum had seen this particular tea shop advertised on facebook, including photos and positive reviews. We went early so it was quite quiet in the café, and the menu was really great including freshly made cakes and posh teas. I went for a slice of rainbow cake and Whittard earl grey tea, both were exceptional. I love Whittard as a brand and the colourful cake was very tasty.

The café is just next to the boating lake, they had boats for families to go on and we spotted a family with a mini electric boat too. The weather was misty and atmospheric but it wasn’t too cold with a jacket on. There was an event on at Tuned In over the other side of the lake, so we went for a potter around. There was an impressive sand sculpture display, a vintage photo shop and more. There was lots of stalls mostly for charity and we spent some time at each, there was a real mixture and something to suit everyone. The event had a bit of a buzz to it although it wasn’t too crowded.

We spent a while browsing a very good secondhand stall, they had a selection of books and jigsaws with other things at great prices. I had a friendly chat with the stall holder, she was kind and helpful to me. I bought two books and my Mum bought a few things, one being a jigsaw. I took a fair few photos which paint a picture of the enjoyable morning we had.

How’s things with you?

Are vintage cafes and community events your kind of thing too? :-) Xx

Barnardo’s Charity Shop Book Haul

Welcome – it’s been a little while since I last posted, hope you are all well. I have a few book hauls which I’m hoping to catch up with on my blog. This particular book haul was from Barnardo’s charity shop while we were visiting a relative nearby. I’d popped into this particular branch a couple of times, the last few times I went in they started stocking books and there selection was pretty good.

My favourite find from this haul was Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And other concerns by Mindy Kaling, and it looked like it had never been read too. I’ve already finished this book and loved it so my further thoughts will be posted in a review soon. I picked up The Snow Globe by Sheila Roberts, another brand new looking book. I finished this before Christmas, it’s a snappy light hearted read to curl up by the fire with.

The last two books I decided not to keep as I realised after purchase that they had triggering themes to them. I’m sure someone else can enjoy them more than me so I donated them back to charity. I spent £2.00 on four books, 50p per book seemed pretty good.

My Book Purchases:

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And other concerns by Mindy Kaling

The Snow Globe by Sheila Roberts

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

Do you ever buy secondhand books? 

Let me know what charity shops or otherwise you visit! :-) Xx

The Snack Diaries | Part Eight

Doisy & Dam Date & Himalayan Pink Salt Milk Chocolate
(From Too Good Farm Shop, £1.45 for 40g)
This was a special treat purchase for me. The small portion gave me a chance to try out the unusual flavour, with a piece each for the family, the taste was great and more delicate than I imagined. It’s organic, made in the UK, soya and gluten free. The packaging is gorgeous too!

Bradbury’s Apple Fruit & Grain Baked Cereal Bars
(From Home Bargains, £0.89 for 6 bars)
These were an experiment for me, they are priced extremely reasonably and I’m glad I gave them a shot. The fruit taste was a little artificial and a bit too sweet for me though. I would still say try them for the price, great to put in your lunch box or to cut up into pieces and have with yogurt.

Nine Carob, Sesame & Flax Seed Snack Bars
(From Too Good Farm Shop, £1.99 for 4 bars)
These were my favourite from the four choices, extremely tasty with the chocolate on top but they didn’t feel too sweet or unhealthy. They work out 50p per bar, so they are okay to have once in a while. The packaging is very modern too!

Whitworths Yogurt Coated Banana Chips
(From Poundland, £1.00 for 150g)
Poundland snacks are so great, they offer such a wide variety of nuts, seeds and fruit sometimes coated in either yogurt or chocolate. The banana chips were a bit too crunchy but the yogurt coating was tasty. I prefer their chocolate coated raisins and yogurt coated peanuts, there is something to please everyone in the range.

I enjoyed getting back into the snack series posts. 

Let me know what you have been snacking on lately! :-) Xx