Rothbury has a glamorous visitor!

I am not much of a car lover really but my husband is, so his eyes lit up on Saturday when he spotted this glamorous vintage car in Rothbury.  I believe it is a Citreon Traction Avant which seemingly was the first mass produced car in the world. You have to admit it oozes style elegance and glamour, you can imagine that dressing up to be in this car would be compulsory.......hats, fur stoles and pearls certainly no jeans and trainers! Why it  was gracing Rothbury with it's presence I have no idea but it was nice to see a bit of class.

Where there is glamour, puppy dog likes to muscle in on the photo shoot!

Roving Rothbury Reporter Does Afternoon Tea

A lovely sunny Monday and a day off was surely a good excuse for Roving Rothbury Reporter to be out and about seeking out.... treats. Me and Jane a good friend of mine headed in the direction of Morpeth, where the choices of places to go for tea/coffee and cake are plentiful.
 I had wanted to go to  http://www.curiouslywicked.co.uk/page12.htm for some time now so after a brief ponder this is where we headed for. it certainly has an old fashioned grand feel as we climbed the stairs to "The Manor"  |I had hoped that there would have been a real buzz of busy-ness about it but there was more of an atmosphere of sedate elegance, it was a Monday I suppose and quite often establishments choose to close on a Monday as it can be a very quiet day so we were lucky that it was open.

We pondered the tempting menu for quite some time, it was 1 o'clock we were there so really lunch should have been our choice but we knew we wanted cake too so we decided to be naughty and opt for The Northumbrian Afternoon Tea so we had equal quantities of sweet and savoury. It arrived all decadently on a silver cake stand, sandwiches, cheese and fruit scones with ample butter jam and cream and the all important cakes. It was all very yummy and very very filling, a doggy bag would have been useful as we struggled to polish all the food off, we did each find a bag in our handbags and slipped in a scone each to take home.

My only grievance was that the teapot didn't hold enough tea for us to enjoy through out the food and as there was no extra pot of hot water we had to ask for another pot. We were politely told that any more tea would be extra to the price of the afternoon tea package for two, fair enough so we had another pot we never really gave a thought to how much that would cost...........the bill soon delivered that shock £5.25 for a pot of tea for two........ I did think that was a wee bit steep and sort of diminished the pleasure of our Curiously Wicked experience a bit!

Why does Natures beauty fill me with horror?

Rothbury today in the afternoon sunshine was looking particularly colourful wherever I looked. The green on the trees will before too much longer change into their rusty golden richness, equally colourful.

 Nature is a great provider of food for all the wild creatures as well as us humans.
Apples are a very tempting tasty very nutritious bite.

Rose hips however, may look bright and colourful and Rose hip syrup may be a rich source of vitamin c, given regularly to babies  born in the same era as me but boy do they give me a shiver down my spine just looking at them. Being brought up in a house with brothers, quite often as a child I found the contents of these innocent looking rose hips being emptied down my back...... some how while I am typing this I have the sudden urge to scratch my back!

Roving Rothbury Reporter Roots and Dandelion are good for you!

We had a cheeky visit to Alnmouth yesterday, cheeky because I should have been in my world of Coccuveda Creativity but the sun was shining and it is the last of the annual summer holidays so off we went for a spot of combing, coffee drinking and cake eating.

Unfortunately the beautiful sandy beach at Alnmouth was not too rich in the treasures that I like to collect, but Alnmouth itself had no shortage of options for coffee and cake. Dandelion is a few metres from the beach and has a lovely courtyard with outside seating, It was as bit fresh outside so the leather sofas in the conservatory were more tempting.

 We didn't stray from our usual Americanos, which were excellent, the only strange thing was the cups were saucerless which did seem odd especially when we needed one to put the sugar spoon on, but hey, the coffee was being enjoyed so what the heck!

Cakes we had were caramel shortbread slice which was nice and not too sickly and a generous portion of cake from "The Cakeroot Company" with apple and stem ginger,

 The price of round about £8 was a reasonable price to pay for what we enjoyed in the spacious comfortable surroundings that Dandelion offer. I would have no hesitation on going back again.

Roving Rothbury Reporter, A surprise in Bedlington

Now, over the many years I have lived in Northumberland I have very seldom had the occasion to go to Bedlington other than to visit the music shop for flute/oboe/clarinet hire for school girls.
 Yesterday however we headed out for a bit of shopping and as we are still in holiday mode the inevitable question was " where can we go for coffee?" I did want to go to Fairmoor Arts & Crafts coffee shop in Morpeth but unfortunately it is closed on a Monday. We just happened to have a copy of "The Appetite Magazine" (a favourite monthly read) in the car    http://www.appetitemag.co.uk/wp/  so with a quick flick through we found an advert for Swinney's in Bedlington and decided to point the car in their direction.

I don't think that I was particularly expecting anything special but The Appetite Magazine has always served us well and as this coffee shop had advertised in here I thought it was well worth a try. I was very glad that we had, after the first sip of Americano I knew we had chosen well, the coffee was so nice and smooth tasting I could have quite easily had another. Traybakes we chose were flapjack and a nanaimo bar, being a chocolate lover I was tempted by the dark gooey looking chocolaty delight. I reckon next time we might get a piece to share as I struggled with the fudgy richness, between both of us it disappeared though. The next surprise came when I went to pay....... only just over £6, so was fantastic value for money.

So if you have never read the Appetite magazine before I would recommend that you do because just like us you might find a surprising little gem of a place where you would least expect it!

Roving Rothbury Reporter Westward Ho!

Today's Roving Rothbury Report comes from us heading in a westerly direction to the Lake District. Of course it wouldn't be a straight journey there, as of course with being a lady with a few years behind me, the call of nature has to be taken into consideration as well as the highly important refreshment stop! We had intended to have coffee at the Forge Art studios in Allendale but en route we spotted The Garden Station at Langley, which reminded us of a recommendation, so there is where we stopped!

My quirkiness requirement was there abundance, the Americanos were fresh and satisfying, the traybakes were chocolaty and moreish. I was happy to have stopped there, the garden was beautiful and the people were puppy dog friendly and the icing on the cake was their  vintage china and local craft work for sale. I think anyone in the Langley area should call in here.

We continued on our westerly way but we did stop at Allendale to see the Forge Art studios but no refreshments this time.
Next stop was at the top of the world or Hartside pass and although we were enjoying beautiful warm sunshine the minute you stepped out of the car the wind had long hair flying all over the place.

From this brief stop it was full steam ahead to Keswick, where a Booths supermarket picnic was beckoning before I had to climb a hill!!!!

I am not the most active out doorsy type so I was not sure if climbing a hill in the lake district was within my capabilities, but I managed, some people might refer to the hill as just a little pimple in comparison to Skiddaw but I am chuffed with my achievement! I have never known such hot gorgeous weather in the lake district normally you have to make sure that waterproofs are close at hand.

View from top of the "pimple" I walked up

Roving Rothbury Reporter Over The Border!

Roving Rothbury Reporter has not been out and about much recently so there has not been anything interesting to report. It is holiday time now so there may be a few reports in quick succession or I hope so anyway.

Today we wandered over the border, to the land of my birth. Dunbar was our choice because it seems to tick a lot of boxes as far as things we like are concerned, Lovely coffee, a renowned beach for seaglass and a few arty crafty gallery type shops, the added bonus today was another day of warm beautiful sunshine!

First stop was at 1650 Coffee shop and coffee roasters, we were lucky enough to be able to park right outside so we were able to keep an eye on puppy dog. The coffee shop was lovely bright and clean with big leather sofas and an irrisistable coffee aroma. There were quirky colourful additions around including floral and gingham cushions, floral decorated menus, it was nice without being to twee! Two americanos a cherry flapjack and a chocolate tiffin were the order of the day, the cost was £7 which was a good price I thought for what we got. Delicious! Coffee, I could have quite easily downed another, I would have no hesitaion of going back there again!

The beach at Dunbar certainly came up trumps with our inevitable beach combing and it got puppy dogs seal of approval for swimming.

Although I strayed back over the border, time did not allow any further than Dunbar, as Dad's taxi was needed later in Newcastle so no chance this time to catch up with family , I will get up there soon though!