Days Out: Wentworth Garden Centre.

This is not your typical garden centre. There is lots and lots to do. With the garden centre, shops, lovely cafe, Large gardens, and Farm there we spent about 4 hours here.

I have previously been here but only on a short visit and I had said I would like to go back when the weather was better to have a look around the gardens.

On arrival we went and paid our admission, this was £3 for 2 people and off we went. Picking up a map as we went. 

Once inside the gardens we attempted the Maze. I don't have the best of luck with mazes and I am scared I will get lost. (I have once been in a maze for 2 hours looking for the exit) This one wasn't too bad we were out in 15 mins.

Then as you are all probably aware I have a thing about benches, I not only take pictures of them but I love to sit and have a rest and enjoy my surroundings. Well there were lots of lovely benches and surroundings on this trip.

We spent about an hour in the gardens and had a nice time seeing all of the varying areas. Well worth the entry fees.

Then dinner time, off to the cafe we go, there is a large selection and at good prices. The food is not the quickest but is made to order so is very fresh and hot. With a large indoor and outdoor seating area. On this visit I had learnt that I like pomegranates but I don't like Pims. All finished off with A pot of tea and a Jam and Cream scone.

After this we went to the farm, the farm is £5 for 2 people and 40p for animal food. There are a number of animals. My favorites being of course the piggies followed by my friend the counting pony. Also inside the farm there is a children's play area that is not as busy due to being for people who have paid for farm entry.

The garden centre was well stocked, but I think the prices were quite high, (even for a garden centre) There was a local fruit and veg stall, butchers and a deli on site.

There are a number of things you can do in this area. I would give yourself a few hours if you wanted to do the whole centre. I will be going back.

http://www.wentworthgardencentre.co.uk/

Speak Soon

Nicola x

Days out: Donington Race Track - Formula-E Testing day.

Days out: Donington Race Track - Formula-E Testing day.

I was lucky to get tickets to see one of the last testing days of the Formula E at their UK base before the start of the season in Beijing in a few months.

I have been a fan for traditional Formula One racing about 10 years ago. I never got to go and I wasn't too bothered either as I had heard a few bad things. 

Such as sitting around waiting for hours and only see something happen once every 3 minutes when they come across in-front of you. Also the noise, I am not the

best person when it comes to loud noises. I jump a mile at thunder and a balloon bursting.

As you are aware I am very proud to be an EV owner and driver and taking a sport I am interested in, advancing the technologies and making it more environmentally friendly was interesting to me. Therefore when I got the chance to go and find out more I was very excited. I was really excited to see another Renault Zoe actually registered and on the road. (up to now all we had seen were dealer demo cars) and then later in the day another one in the car park. We have gone 7 months not seeing another Zoe and then 2 in one day. Then much to my husbands delight he saw a right hand drive Tesla Model S parked right next to it. 

There are lots of statistics and information I could go on about but my highlights in a nutshell. The cars are engineered the same, same tires body etc. Therefore it is down to the computer tuning and the driver skill. I like this as no one team that can afford better gadgets have an unfair advantage. The cars are still very fast, A ‘normal’ formula one car would still have the speed advantage. But they have been racing years, and this is year one for formula-E. The noise, this was a strange one between our group I think we decided between, a loud remote controlled car and a a small jet engine. It was quite a whiney noise. 

One the day we all picked out favourite cars, I of course went for the shiny silver car of Virgin racing. The boys liked the matt black car that looked a cross between kit from Knight Rider and the Bat-mobile of team Trulli. I also liked having a few drivers that I knew who they were in the mix. 

After a coupe of hours watching from the grandstand everyone went on lunch and we got to go for a Pit Walk, this was a chance to get close to the cars and see the technology in the bays. This is also where I go some nice closer images.

After this we had our lunch and a walk up the hill to another vantage point. Through the day there were a few cars spin off and the safety car and crane were out. I guess this is part of the plan with the testing to get the drivers used to the cars.

After we had finished we had a look around the museum, (with our tickets we got 50% off entry making this £5) I think this was a good way to pass the time, but you wouldn't miss much if you decided not to go. There was a random war section at the beginning with tanks and old bikes, then it went on to race cars. There were lots of old cars and then through to modern cars. It was good to see how the aerodynamics have changed and the styling over the years. I then got to see a number of cars from back when I was watching Formula One in about 2000. Spotting the names of my favourite drivers and feeling like a child in a sweet shop.

I know there are only a few UK testing days left, but I would recommend going if you can. from going to this I am planning on following the Formula-E races. Now I just have to pick a team. With 2 UK teams to choose from I will see. I have a sneaky feeling it will be the Shiny Cars of Virgin Racing.

http://www.fiaformulae.com/en.aspx

http://www.donington-park.co.uk/

What do you think.

Nicola

What have I bought now? The Body Shop

The Body Shop.

Last week I was very lucky to receive a code for 40% off the website and in store. Also over the weekend there was a high cash back amount available on TopCashback.

I do have a love for Body Shop products, for various reasons. I love the quality, and how sensitive skin can use many of their products without having a breakout.

I also love how good their things smell. My only issue with The Body Shop can be the prices. Which makes it more of a treat purchase rather than regular. I ordered on Sat pm and this was delivered on wednesday with their standard free shipping.

A few months ago I bought a body butter and shower gel from the then new Pink Grapefruit fragrance range. I was looking at other items in the range at the time. But was good and opted for only 2. Well I can safely say I love the smell and wanted more. This was the first section I went to online. Sadly the body mist was already out of stock and this was the only other item I wanted for my collection.I purchased, the eau du perfume, the lip butter and the hand sanitizer. They all smell great and I cannot wait to use them. Whenever I use my current lines the whole house smells great for hours.

I also bought another of my trusty all in one face base compacts. I would love it if the body shop just did the refills of the powder rather than having to buy the whole set every time. As this seems like a waste of packaging. But I love this product, It gives a light to medium coverage, and if you wet the sponge you can make a heavy coverage.  This is great for in a morning when I need to wear some makeup for work but don't need to go fully with foundation. Simply put some on the sponge, glide on and go.

Hand cream, I do work in an office and a warehouse and my hands are often dirty. I do wash my hands often which makes my skin dry and I always have a good hand cream around. Also from handling money in the shop to using a delivery drivers pen, I like having my hand sanitizer too.

I also like that the body shop packaging is all recyclable. But I wouldn't really have expected any less.

What products are you loving? What do I need to try next?

Speak Soon

Nicola

New things: New Car

Over the last few months I have been looking into selling our second car and upgrading it. In theory there was nothing much wrong with the old car, It was getting on in years and a few things were niggling us about it. Therefore I thought time to look into changing it.

I have had bad experiences with cars and dealerships in the past. As I am the buyer and the name the finance goes in etc. I want to be the one the dealerships speak to when going to test drive etc. Usually the dealers wont speak to me and only speak to my husband. This annoys me very much. Another annoyance is that the dealers think they know what I want as soon as I go in. No I may not want the top of the range sports model car, but I may not want pink and shiny either.

I went to a number of local dealers, some of which were your usual salesey car garage, asking too many questions, taking way too long and not letting you even sit in a car.

Then I found Toyota, well this was a different experience altogether. I called on Friday and asked what the opening times were for sat to test drive the car. As my husband worked until late in an evening this would not be suitable. I was trying to rearrange a date that was suitable and was drawing a blank. The helpful sales may said no problem, can you pick the car up on sat afternoon and  then bring it back on the sunday. That way you can both drive the car and see what you think. This was a great idea. On the saturday I went to pick the keys up, I was literally 10 minutes signed 1 piece of paperwork got shown the car and off I went. Me and hubby drove the car and made a few decisions. The next day I went back to drop off the car, getting ready for a million questions and salesy pushy tactics. 

This was not the case, I simply sat down, he asked if we liked the car, and he showed me a few pre worked out figures on a new and nearly new car. He asked what I thought and off we went. I was very happy with all of the figures and decided to go ahead there and then.

This was when the fun began, I had been telling my husband we could not afford a new car right now and that now we had made the choice I would save some funds and buy in a few months. We I can say now this was a lie, I knew the maths and I was pretty sure before taking the car back that the deal was possible. This is when the suggestion was made to pick up the car on the very next day. This was a good plan, and helped with the surprise element. However caused me a problem, the car being part exchanged was the car my hubby takes to work. I arranged to collect him from work, so no problem.  I even got a bunch of flowers from the dealership to say thank you for the order.

To cut a long story short, I am now the happy owner of a Toyota Yaris Hybrid. My hubby had a very nice 5th anniversary present.

I will be completing a post of all about the car as I know a few people have asked for it. But as I have driven the car twice since it ws purchased, I think I need to know more about it, before I write it up.

Speak soon

Nic

I am going to get muddy for charity!

Get Muddy for Charity:

Well I never thought I would be saying this but I am running a 5k race and then to top it all off it ends with a muddy assault course.

Well anyone that knows me I am not the messiest of people. I don't mind hard work and exercise but mud is not my cup of tea.

However it is for a vey good cause and I have now registered and shall not be going back.

One the 14th of September I shall be running round a local country park (Clumber park) for Cancer Research. 

I am going to start my training on the 14th of July. As I do want to run the race.

I am going to be doing this as part of a team of 10 with others from my work and some people will be walking, but a few of us are competitive and shall be running.

To say I am not very fit at present would be true, I am aiming currently to complete this within 20-30 minutes.

Last weekend I went and bought my clothing, as due to the nature of the run and the muddiness I wanted some good off road running shoes that I would not be too precious about getting ruined. I also wanted to get them now so I have them ready to break in and train in. Also due to now losing quite a lot of weight my old gym clothes were falling off me. I didn't think it would be the best look me on a treadmill and my trousers around my knees.Therefore I now feel I have the equipment to complete the job.

Mentally I am ready, This is a charity very close to my heart and I am proud to be taking part to raise money and awareness. I just hope now I can get some sponsorship in as this will be well outside of my comfort zone. 

An actual challenge!

I shall post a few updates along the way of how the training is going and how the fundraising is too.

incase you did want to sponsor me the details are below:

Online Donations: 

https://www.justgiving.com/melody-maison-girls

Text Donations
Text the word melo94  £(amount) to 70070 

Speak soon

Nicola x 

Days out : Leeds (weekend away)

Days out : Leeds

Last weekend I was very lucky to go to leeds for a few days. I never realised that there were two contrasting sides to the city.

Day1: After checking into our bargain hotel (£27 as was a lastminute.com secret hotel) We went for a wander. Our hotel was about a 15 minute walk to the city centre shops. Where it was nice to have a wander around the commercial side and get free yummy frozen yoghurt samples on the way. This was where the sun was shining and everyone was just going about their friday night business. On the way back we walked down the canal side and lots of people were sitting in the beer gardens of the bars and having bbq’s. It was a very chilled atmosphere.

Day 2: We went to see the royal armouries as this was next door to the hotel and free. I don't really know what I was expecting but this wasn't it. It was a good way pass an hour when the weather wasn't too great before the plans of the afternoon.

In the afternoon we drove about 10 minutes and you had forgotten how close you were to leeds. There were gardens, benches and flowers. We popped to a gardens and to the tropical house. (but didn't pay to go in) It was nice having a wonder outside and sitting on a bench and chatting away. 

Last weekend proved a few things to me. All you need is a vague plan, somewhere to sleep and good company. Yes, i admit, the weekend could have been more luxurious or extravagant, but that wasn't the point, I can happily say I would not change anything about the weekend. It was a great way to have a break from ‘normal’ life and simply chill and feel good.

I wonder when and where the next trip will be.

Speak Soon

Nic 

Making Time: Small things can make a big difference

Making Time:

Hi All,

I know I have been a little quiet on here for a few weeks and thought I better explain myself. We all have busy lives and lots going on and sometimes we don't make time for things that can be important to us.

Well I have decided this is going to stop!

I have recently taken on a new level responsibility of in my day job. Although great is meaning I'm coming home from work frazzled and just wanting a shower and bed. Also as it is wedding season I am working many of the weekends too.

I have decided that this month I am going to make a conscious choice to make time. Even if its just for small things that make a difference I am going to do it.

1: Go back to the Gym. 

After a few things over the last few months I am now feeling healthy enough to go back to the Gym. I shall start taking my gym wear to work and getting changed before I leave. Therefore as I drive past the Gym on the way home, I should get a good hour in. I shall be aiming for 3 times a week again. When I do go to the gym apart from helping me tone up etc, all of the exercise helps me clear my head and feel energized and much better on the whole. Meaning I feel like I can get on with more as a result.

2: Me time.

Wether this is simply half an hour a day to catch up on my blogs, have a longer than necessary bath or shower, or watch youtube videos in bed. If does help for me to try and clear my head and have space. I know spending time with others and having a chat about the day helps some people and I do like this too. But I am the type of person who likes their own company too.

3: Family

As my family don't live locally to me I do have to make a conscious effort to see them. They do understand that at this time of year I am often not free on a weekend to go over. However I want to make contact with them more often. Wether just a Facebook message or a text I think its important to try and keep close.

4: Friends

This is kind of the same as family really. Over the last few years my friends have all grown up and some have moved away. We all work different hours and it is really hard sometimes to keep in touch. This month I am going to try harder to make contact at least once a week with my true friends. Again it does not have to be a grand gesture or lavish meet up. But just something to acknowledge that you are thinking about them.

5: Passions.

In my life I have a few passions and I want to maintain a constant connection. I am going to spend at least 1 hour a week on each somehow. One is Ice Skating, I love the freedom, and feeling of being graceful. (Especially as my day job is by no mean graceful) I get and I have recently been back at skating and I am going to keep it up. My other passion is Photography, and by this I mean not the things I am paid to take photos of. I love photography for the simplicity and lasting reminder of something. Wether I can get out and actually take new images, or simply review and edit my previous images. I want to connect with my past, and think of new ways to capture and remember my future. I love looking at sites like Pinterest for new styles and ideas.

So there we are, a ramble about me wanting to spend more time doing what is important to me. Taking more time to appreciate every day individually and make the most of it. As you never know what the next new challenge you may come up against will be.

Speak Soon

Nicola x