Gadding About in Guildford

Last week, I ended up going to Guildford with my mum and midde sister, to explore and shop!

Aside from a shopping centre that housed the expected assortment of high street shops, Guildford has a nice long main street, with a whole bunch of more high-end high street brands.

Something I liked about the town was the architecture, and that in some cases, the old store fronts have been respected by the brands that have moved into them, meaning that this town with its modern brands has a quaint atmosphere.

Unfortunately I wasn't feeling my best on the day we went, and had sprained my knee the day before, which made walking up and down the hill somewhat interesting!
Still, I enjoyed looking around, and whilst I didn't buy anything exciting, I left feeling inspired by the architecture and window displays (and also the awesome candelabra above, seen in the window of Anthropologie!)

This little trip out counts towards another goal on The List:

039. Explore 30 towns/cities/villages

I'd like to go back to Guildford another day, when I have more money and better health, as it's a great town to do some shopping! 

Scones, Stoolball and Soggy Socks: a Trip to Steyning

Alright, so the 'soggy socks' part is an exaggeration (I wore boots) but when I went to explore Steyning with a friend last Saturday, it was a pretty soggy day!

Steyning (pronounced 'stenning') is a sussex town with a ton of old architecture and a lot of cute little shops, both on the main street and in Cobblestone Walk, which hosts a number of 'sheds' where independent traders sell their wares.

It even has its own museum! I would have made a separate post about the museum, as it counts towards a goal on The List, but no photography was allowed inside, which wouldn't make for a very visually interesting blogpost.
I did, however, see the Steyning man, a vamping horn, and have memories of school PE lessons dredged up by the presence of a stoolball post! (And if you want to know more about those things, you'll have to go to the museum).

After exploring in the prevailing drizzle, we took shelter in Cobblestone Tea House, a really quaint little cafe, and obviously a very popular one because it was still packed after lunch time!

Of course, cream tea was on the menu, so it was cream tea that I had! A fine way to round off a trip (and a pretty good way to finish off a blog post).

Looking for an Ocean

On Thursday, a friend and I took a day trip to Portsmouth, to find Cute Things, drink Tasty Things, and find a road named after a book...

Bigger on the Inside: Horsham Museum

Today I ended up at Horsham Museum and Art Gallery, which I'd stumbled upon one Sunday (when it was closed).
From the outside it looks pretty small, but once you get past the door, there is a lot to be seen, with many different permanent collections alongside their temporary exhibitions.

Compared to other local museums I've been to, this one turned out to be up there among the best!

The museum is a real aladdin's cave of rooms, each dedicated to one or two of the collections on display, with a couple of gallery rooms (which currently have temporary exhibitions by current artists).

Dodging the Rain in Arundel

On Saturday, I went to the town of Arundel, Sussex, with a friend.
We'd planned it for ages, having looked at the different places to visit on the town's website.

...it rained. All day.

But that didn't stop us from ambling around, taking in the sights, albeit from beneath our umbrellas!

Beachcombing for Treasure

Today I found myself on the beach in Worthing, and halfway through gathering up interesting bits and pieces that had washed up on the shore, realised I was completing a goal from The List!

005. Go beach-combing

I didn't go too far from the pier, but collected up an assortment of interesting seaweed, shells and even a chunk of driftwood!
 

There were also a few things that I didn't pick up...

Halos in the Sky (Whitby Trip Part 3: Abbey and Church)

It was a cold and windy day when my friend Sara and I went to Whitby. After warming ourselves with food and tea, and meandering around the shops, we went to Whitby Abbey, the town's most famous landmark.

Despite the cold and wind, the weather was also clear and sunny! When we reached the abbey, I realised the sun had a 'halo', which is a phenomenon that happens when light interacts with ice crystals in the air. (Wikipedia page)
I got a couple of great shots of this, the best one being at the top of this post.


Along with the abbey, we wandered around the grounds of the Church of Saint Mary, which also sits upon the cliffs, close to the abbey.

To reach the church and abbey required walking up 199 age-worn steps. It's such a task that there are benches on the way up, so visitors can stop and take a breather! The steps are wide, with railings either side to help people on their way. There are grooves worn into the steps, from the footfall of countless people who have walked upon them! I found it was easier to walk straight up the middle, taking the steps two at a time. Then again, I do have long legs and good balance ;)
The view from the steps was great, and if they hadn't been so busy I might have stopped to take more photographs than the one of the church, above. But I digress. On with the pictures!

Whitby Trip (Part 2: The Food!)

A few days ago, I posted about some of the things I saw when my friend Sara and I went on a trip to Whitby. Including a squirrel on a motorbike.

This post is about the food!

The Cabin Cafe, just across the road from the station car park, was our first port of call. We were freezing and starving, and big mugs of tea and sausage baps had never been more of a welcoming sight!
I didn't get any pictures of our food because we both scoffed it as soon as it reached the table, so you'll have to take my word for it that, simple as a sausage in a bread roll is, it was damn tasty.
Our tea was served in brightly-coloured 'Moshi Monsters' mugs, the perfect size for wrapping chilled fingers around. The cafe has a friendly and comfortable atmosphere. It also had some really cute Easter baskets in the window!
Would definitely go back to this one. Those sausage baps were yummy.

Our second stop for sustenance was at Marie Antoinette's, which we went to on the way back from a windy walk around Whitby abbey.

Whitby Trip (Part 1, Including a Squirrel on a Motorbike)

As I blogged previously, I recently went on a day trip to Whitby with my friend Sara.
Our journey took us through the North Yorkshire moors, which looked rugged and stunning beneath the cold blue skies!

This post is part 1, focused on Whitby town, but we also went to Whitby Abbey and ate in a couple of great cafes, which I'll write about in separate posts.

Something that really stood out to me in Whitby was the number of independent shops. Spread through winding and narrow streets we found sweet shops, jewellers (selling Whitby Jet, of course), gift shops, clothing shops, and plenty of fish and chip shops! I loved the window display for the tiny chocolatier's, above. We went in to have a look and it smelt delicious, too! :)

Pre-Easter Trip!

Some may remember that last April, I went to visit a friend in Scunthorpe, and we ended up going to S-con (Scunthorpe's very own annual anime event) and Lincoln.
This year I visited Sara again for the purposes of S-con and Adventures in Northern Towns.

This time around the town in question was Whitby, which is a couple of hours drive from Scunthorpe, so it was a long day.
I'll write a couple of posts about Whitby as I took loads of pictures at the abbey, some in the town, and we also ate in a few places, so I want to blog about those separately.
Once again this trip helped towards some goals...

36. Eat/drink in 30 new places
39. Explore 30 towns/cities/villages
48. Visit 5 different counties

Hurrah, progress!  

As for S-con itself, it was laid back and fun; once again I helped Sara on the Bring and Buy, and this time I sold stuff! I made £30, which just about covered my travel costs. Result!   

The End (of the Month)

 

I’ve already posted a little about this past week – the kilo sale and Parklife café – but here’s a round-up of the rest.

The Pleasure of Parklife (and Cake!)

As part of my birthday trip to Worthing on Tuesday, we went for lunch at Parklife in Bath Place. 

The large sign and bright pink shop front make this café impossible to miss. Once inside, the vast array of tempting cakes will have your stomach rumbling!

Vintage Clothing Kilo Sale

Yesterday, I went to a kilo sale at the Worthing warehouse of vintage clothing retailer To Be Worn Again. With clothes being priced at £15 a kilo, it wasn't something I was going to miss out on! Also as yesterday was my birthday, I was able to go armed with lots of birthday money to spend. Hurrah!
I went there with Dad, who has a liking for their selection of shirts.

Keep reading for more about the kilo sale, what I bought, and my tips on how to shop at one of these events.

4th-8th April: Scunthorpe, S-Con and Lincoln

Okay, the next couple of posts will be catchups on my Month of Doing. I went on a trip 5th-8th, so most of this post will be about that! I was also able to work towards several things on The List, including 36. Eat/drink in 30 new places, 39. Explore 30 towns/cities/villages and 48. Visit 5 different counties.

Friday 4th
I did some volunteering. We put out all the Easter stock...this was mostly a lifetime's supply of egg cups!

Saturday 5th
This was the first day of my trip to Scunthorpe! My friend Sara lives there and invited me to visit :)

Random snap taken from the coach, with Steel works in the background