Airfrikaans

It is a good idea to follow other blogs on your areas of interest. Today I discovered three very funny travel related travel sketches on a travel bolg website http://www.tipsfortravellers.com/ .

My favourite is the water sketch. In terms of British comedy it is very Catherine Tate. Like all good comedy it highlights something which has an element of truth and takes it to an extreme, in this case a character trait many may have witnessed in cabin staff, plus an Afrikaans twist. I'd love to know which show this is from.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV20B6bU8Pc

Macdonald Hotels - not that bad after all

I've been to the Macdonald Hotel in Machester for a meeting today. Previous experience of this company was very negative. They used to run the St Paul's Hotel in Sheffield. In terms of the chaotic service it felt like the chain equivalent to Fawlty Towers. I had a three terrible experiences in a row there. The last time was so bad and the manager so embarrased, the drinks we had ordered and waited for so long were on the house. This particular hotel is now run by the Mercure chain and has improved considerably. It is now a great palce end an evening out in Sheffield (see last post). Given the Sheffield experience I had a sense of dread about today in some respects, but consoled myself that this was just for a work related meeting, not a weekend away.

The meeting room was okay, but the various pillars got in the way of seeing the PowerPoint presentations. Tea and coffee was good and served in quite nice china. The lunch was tasty and the service efficient. The hotel felt of a good standard and does its job, but is a bit uninspiring. The location is ideal for work related meetings, it overlooks Picadilly Staion, so is a short walk from there. It is about ten minutes walk to the Bridgewater Hall and a good fifteen minutes from the Arndale Centre. For a leisure venue I prefer the Midland Hotel and the Raddison Edwardian. The location, next to the Bridgewater Hall is a better place to be if you are in Manchester for a few days and they are more stylish. They are also more expensive.

The Macdonald Hotel in Manchester wouldn't be my first choice of places to stay, but all in all I have a better view of Macdonald Hotels this evening than I had this morning.

Sheffield for a city break - why not?

I was out in my home city of Sheffield last night, but it felt a little like being away somewhere.

As my job isn't based in Sheffield, nights out in the middle of the week in the city centre are infrequent. A midweek night out is most likely to be a neighbourhood restaurant such as the Everest for a reliably good curry, Kitos for a satisfying Italian, or the Noodle Inn for something nourishing and oriental. All too occasionally it may be a meal at my favourite Italian restaurant, Marco at Milano, this is bit more expensive than the other places I have mentioned, but always very good.

Getting back to the point of the post, last night I met up with a friend in the city centre. The main purpose of meeting was to see the Pittmen Painters at the Lycium.

There was a lovely 'holiday' feel about the whole evening. Our pre-theatre meal, which was going to be a main course, ended up being three courses and even included dessert wine. The performance we saw is currently in Sheffield as part of a nationwide tour and due to go back to the National Theatre, so was of a standard you'd expect in London. The house was packed with an enthusiastic and appreciative appreciative audience. The evening ended happily with few glasses in the Champagne Bar at the St Paul's Hotel, where the atmosphere was vibrant.

It struck me the Sheffield would be a good place for city break. It has a good range of places to eat, city centre attractions and gorgeous countryside on the doorstep. It may be soon to lose a hotel (The Grosvener House), but that's because there are now so many better options.

I must do a future post on Sheffield for visitors.

Wish we were there at the same time!

I returned home the other night to a message from a friend saying she and her husband were going to book flights to Cape Town for a winter holiday and that she'd love to meet up while I am there with another friend. Great idea. I rang back, but it is a case of bad timing. They fly back the night we fly out, so we'll be on planes that pass in the night. In the air at the same time, but unfortuantely unable to meet up in Camps Bay and have a sundowner together.

Jervaulx Abbey - a haven for wild flowers or is it just overgrown?

Jervaulx Abbey, is in Yorkshire and was founded in the twelfth century and plundered during the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century.

It is described by the Jervaulx Abbey website as having “ crumbling walls........ heavily clad in diverse vegetation” http://www.jervaulxabbey.com/home.php . Others would describe it as a ruin which is very overgrown with weeds. The truth is somewhere in between the two.

Although the abbey is ruined, it is possible to get a feel for how splendid it must once have been. On a warm summer evening and with the right sort of light and the sun setting in the right direction, this would be an atmospheric setting to get some great photographs. On a very cold and windy day (the day I was there with two friends), it feels less romantic.

Unless you have a special interest in ruined abbeys, it isn’t worth going out of your way for, but is worth a look if you are passing by.

The Bowes Museum

The Bowes Museum is in the town of Barnard Castle in County Durham. It is the legacy of John Bowes and his wife Josephine Benoite. They wanted to bring art to the masses and this purpose built Museum is thanks to them, so it is said that the building was not completed until after their death. A friend described the style of the building as French Municipal, which sums it up really; it wouldn’t look out of place in a town square in France, so is a little incongruous in a typical English market town.

The artefacts cover European furniture, ceramics and paintings from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. It includes paintings by Caneletto ,Goya and many others and Recoco furniture.

The highlight of Bowes is the Silver Swan. It is a 240 year old clockwork swan covered in silver leaf, which moves as smoothly as if it was alive and eats a fish. You can see it in action at 2:00pm every afternoon and also by clicking on this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/england/realmedia/insideout/northeast/090114_io_north_east_swan?size=16x9&bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1

There are also temporary exhibitions. It is good to see that the museum promotes local artists from the present day as well as having fine art from the past. It isn’t all serious fine art and at the moment there is an exhibition called ‘Toys Tales’ which is all about children’s television characters.

The Museum has a rather odd and unenforced photography policy. To take a photograph, you pay extra, but can’t use a flash, they don’t do anything to people who ignore the rule though, so what is the point?

The swan is the fun part of the visit for anyone and there is much else to see that will please you even if you just have a passing interest in fine art.

The Old Lodge, Staindrop, near Barnard Castle

The Old Lodge is a great venue for a holiday in the countryside with friends or family. It is a few miles from the village of Staindrop and reached by a single track road. Being well away from street lights means it is possible get excellent views of the stars on a clear night. The property has four bedrooms on three floors. Most of the rooms are extremely large and well proportioned. The only ‘small’ room is on the top floor and only seems small in comparison to other rooms in the house. In fact it is probably as big as a double room in an average family home.

We found the layout ideal. Everyone can be together while meals are being cooked, but there is enough room for people to find a quite space. On the ground floor there is a large living room with kitchen, eating and sitting areas. It has a huge open grate fire and logs are supplied. The downstairs bedroom and en-suite are a good size. On the first floor there is a huge bedroom and family bathroom with roll-top bath. On the top floor another huge bedroom, a smaller bedroom and shower room. Outside there are outbuildings, a games room, a pleasant sitting area and a stream running through the garden. The Old Lodge is built up on a mound, so the grounds are not very even, which could present problems for people who are unsteady on their feet.

The furnishings and equipment add a homely feel. The crockery, pans, sheets and floor coverings are all high quality. As mentioned in a previous post, there are also nice touches like an ipod docking station and printer.

An added bonus is that the property is over 600 years old, so has lots of character, such as thick walls, leaded windows and some stone floors. It is part of the Raby Castle Estate and has previously served as a look-out tower and hunting lodge. It was restored in 1991 by the 11th Lord Barnard. Rentals can be arranged through various agencies, we used Cottages4You.