Thornbridge Brewery

On Wednesday I went to Thornbridge Brewery with the Meetup group I'm a member of.

Phil and I caught the bus to Bakewell and walked to the brewery. It's only a 10 minute walk, and this way Phil could sample as much beer as he wanted and not worry about driving afterwards. We walked along the river to get to the brewery, it was a really nice walk. I guessing that if we had walked along the road, the footpath would have been very narrow, if there was one at all.

For those of you that know me you might be wondering what I was doing at a brewery tour at all, seeing as I don't like beer. I still don't like beer. It was more for the social aspect; to get out of the house and do something different, maybe even learn something new, and of course to spend some time with nice people.

The brewery was surprisingly difficult to find. I had turned the GPS on my phone on and when it told me we had reached out destination we were standing outside a kind of small industrial park and there were no signs pointing to the brewery. We did notice a map by the entrance, which actually led us in the wrong direction at first, as it looked like you didn't have to go through the gates. Once we did walk through the gates we had to walk for a while before there finally was a sign that said Thornbridge Brewery, from there it was easy to just follow the signs to the brewery. So it's not like it was super difficult to find or anything, but it would have been nice if there had been a proper sign outside the gates so that we knew straight away to go though them.

While we waited for the tour to start we got to hang out in the shop, which had a lot of sofas and chairs to sit down on, it was almost like a bright cosy pub. The main attraction for most people in this room was the bar. We all got a half pint glass and could sample the various brews they had on offer. They only did 4 or 5 brews on their little bar, but you could have as much as you wanted.

I sampled the Baize chocolate mint stout... I couldn't really taste the chocolate at all! Didn't enjoy it. I did sample some of the lagers as well, and although a couple of them were quite fresh, I wouldn't sit down and drink any of them.

I really enjoyed the tour of the brewery. It's a small one but there was still a lot to see. As I hadn't heard of Thornbridge before I went on the tour I thought it was just a small brewery that only supplied beer to local pubs, so I was very surprised to learn how many countries they export their beer to. They export beer to Japan, USA, Sweden and Australia amongst others.

I thought it was a really nice way to spend the afternoon, and I really enjoyed it, even without drinking beer.

We paid £7.50 each for the tour, included in the price we got all the samples we wanted in the bar both before and after the tour, and we also got to keep the half pint glass they served the samples in, which i think they sold in the shop for around £3.50, so you really got your money's worth!

Definitely a nice day out, especially if you are interested in, and like beer, and if you don't.

Blue John Cavern

Simon and I went to Blue John Cavern on Friday.

Driving through the Peak District easily makes you wonder if you missed a turn, you go through a few villages but mostly it's just empty countryside, which is gorgeous, but sometimes makes you worry you've gone the wrong way somewhere. 

When Simon and I got to the Blue John Cavern parking lot we weren't sure if we were in the right spot. There was a sign for the cavern on the side of the road, a footpath leading from the sign down to a small cottage all on its own, the parking lot consisted of a few spaces on the side of the road, and the road continued past the sign for the cavern. I like the fact that it's quite small though, and that it's not really commercialised, makes it seem more special.

It was quiet at the cavern when we went, so Simon and I got a guide all to ourselves! We got along very well with our guide, Ben. It was more like just walking around with a friend who told us various facts about the cavern. Another benefit of working shifts instead of Monday to Friday, you can go places when it's quiet.

I enjoyed walking through and learning about the cavern, it was a really nice day out. If you're in the Peak District I do suggest putting a couple of hours aside for visiting the cavern. I suggest wearing good shoes when you visit the cavern though, the ground is wet and slippery in places. 

Twycross Zoo

At the end of February I went to Twycross Zoo with Simon. I'm only just getting around to writing this post thanks to studying.

We had perfect weather for walking around outdoors when we went, a bit chilly but nice and sunny.

I had a lot of fun watching the animals. When the animals were playing their personalities really shone through, especially the primates'.

Simon and I went in the middle of the week, when there was no school holiday,  so the zoo was really quiet. The very few people in the zoo made it feel like we had the place to ourselves most of the time!  I don't know how busy it gets in summer or on weekends, but if given the opportunity you should go mid-week while the kids are in school. Unless you have a school-aged child you want to take with you of course!

In all Twycross zoo is a nice day out. If you like the zoo and you live close by, a zoo membership might be worth considering, you will only need to go 3 times a year to pay off the price for the annual pass.

Dog Hunting in Bristol

Most people have heard of Wallace and Gromit, the stop-motion comedy films featuring the cheese-loving man and his dog. For 10 weeks this summer, ending September 8th, Bristol is host of 80 5 foot tall Gromits painted by various artists, the event is called "Gromit Unleashed". The artists include Quentin Blake (illustrator of the Roald Dahl books), Joanna Lumley, Pixar and Simon Tofield (maker of the YouTube videos "Simon's Cat").

I've been wanting to go to Bristol for a while so when I found out this "Gromit Unleashed" event was on I knew I had to go before it ended! I didn't want to book time off work for it since I knew I probably wouldn't need more than a day anyway, then, coincidentally, I got two consecutive days off work! Perfect! More time to find the Gromits!

I worried about the weather when I got to Bristol, it was proper throwing it down with rain! Luckily, for most of the time while I was there there were just some short showers. 

In the day and a half I spent in Bristol I managed to find 54 out of 80 Gromits. One Gromit is in London Paddington Station and quite a few is a way outside Bristol. If you have a car and make a small trip to London you will probably be able to find all 80 in a day. I am happy to have seen the 54 I did manage to see, it would have been fun to have been able to see all 80 but at the same time I don't feel like I've missed out or anything.

If you are able to get to Bristol before September 8th I do recommend that you do. Not only did I have fun looking for the Gromits, I also got to see parts of Bristol that I probably wouldn't have seen if I had just wandered around aimlessly. At the end of the Gromit Unleashed event the sculptures will be auctioned off to raise funds for Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children's Hospital Charity. 

Bristol seemed like an okay city, other than hunting Gromits I didn't really do a lot. I am not one of those people that are comfortable eating alone in restaurants so unfortunately I didn't get to check out any of the many great-looking restaurants there. I wouldn't mind going back with someone as there seemed to be a lot to see and do in Bristol but at the same time it's not a city I would go back to on my own again (unless there was another event I really wanted to go to).

Blackpool

I went to Blackpool on Tuesday. I've been wanting to go since I heard about the place, especially since people seem to have very strong opinions about Blackpool, mostly negative. I wanted to know what people talk about when they talk about Blackpool, when they compare other places to it what does it mean, and I wanted to know why people were always so negative about it.

The weather was absolutely beautiful when I went, the sun was shining and it was nice and warm. I hadn't realised how much I missed the smell of the sea until I smelled the saltiness of it when I stepped off the coach. I wish I had stayed overnight or at least late to see the Blackpool illumination, which seems to be the only positive thing people associate with Blackpool, but it will have to be another time.

Every other store facing the sea is an arcade in Blackpool, and although I found out I love the 2p machine when I was in Scarborough I don't understand why there had to be so many place offering it. People seem to associate seaside towns with arcades in the UK and I can understand why, I just don't understand how it started and why… 

When you go to Blackpool you can see that it has been the way it is for ages. The piers are old, the buildings are old and some of the rides at pleasure beach are old. There are some lovely old lampposts and benches there but other ways you can tell it's old is the paint peeling off, rust showing, wood falling apart (slightly worried about the piers). I can understand that maybe Blackpool feels like this is part of its charm, that you can see it's old by letting the rust show a little, but it also makes it look like no one looks after the place, like it's becoming a ghost town. It's not like they don't have the money, random very modern things are being thrown up on the promenade. 

The piers are kind of like carnivals or fun fairs, they've got rides and games and the stall holders try to hassle you into playing their games. I think my favourite thing about the piers are the old benches along the edges of it and the little buildings on the North Pier.

I also went to Pleasure Beach, I liked that instead of having one set ticket price I could pay for a "cheap" ticket that didn't include any of the rides, just so I could go in and experience the atmosphere and see what it was all about. It was like any other amusement park really… Not much to say about it, I've got a feeling it wasn't very busy when I went since it was in the middle of the week and not during a school holiday, and I'm very happy about that. It's very cramped as they've tried to fit a lot of rides into a fairly small space, I can imagine that during summer holiday you probably struggle moving around.

Then there is Blackpool tower, I went up it as I've heard they've got a glass floor that you can walk on and I wanted to check it out. Disappointed after "the Edge" in Melbourne I really hoped it was better than that. When I got up in the tower the glass floor is right outside the lift. It's only part of the floor so that if you don't want to walk on it you can avoid it. The glass was much clearer that it was at "the Edge" and I quite enjoyed standing on it and looking down.

Blackpool was an experience… I would like to go back and see the illuminations at  night but other than that I'm not bothered at all, if I go to the seaside I much prefer a beach without the tourist traps and people nagging me to spend money every 5 meters. I can see why most people have negative opinions about it.

Oxford

There is a local coach company in Chesterfield, Gee Vee Travels, that does day trips, I think they also do weekend trips and maybe longer ones but I've only gone on a couple of the day trips so far. It's not a tour or anything, the coach just drops you off and picks you up at the end of the day. My trip to Liverpool was with this company. The tickets are quite cheap, usually £12.50 or £15.50.

I want to go on quite a few of their day trip, so when I found out I had a day off last Tuesday and that they did a trip to Oxford that day I booked it straight away! (There are some perks to working shifts instead of Monday to Friday…) I've been wanting to go to Oxford for years, not that I've known anything about what's actually there except for the university. I think I've been wanting to go there just because it's a place I've heard about, which in my book is a good a reason as any!

The weather gods were even kind to me while I was in Oxford, it was one of the nicest and warmest days so far this year. The drive there took 3 hours, sitting on a coach for hours is boring but at least it's not a National Express coach with loads of drunken weirdos and screaming children on it! (Touch wood) 

I had put a map on my phone of things to see in Oxford. It was nice to see some of the historical buildings and some of the university buildings that I might not have seen had I just wandered around aimlessly, but I also enjoyed just wandering around aimlessly after I had seen everything on the map. I think it's because there was nothing specific in Oxford that I really wanted to see (if I'd had internet at home I would have been able to do a bit more research before I went!).

One thing I noticed about Oxford besides all the really old buildings were all the cyclists! The amount of bicycles parked outside some of the buildings; it was insane! But I also didn't see a lot of fat people, so at least people in Oxford get their exercise as well as being kind to the environment. You have to be careful when crossing the road though; everyone is so busy looking for approaching cars that they don't always notice a bicycle coming their way!

Oxford is a beautiful place, I do suggest going there for anyone that hasn't been, you'll see plenty in just one day if you haven't got time for more. I also loved all the cute and quirky shops there, some of the shops I walked past made me feel like I'd gone back in time!

I did think about going into the Botanical Gardens, but when I got there I saw a sign that you had to pay which I wasn't prepared to do when I knew I had to catch the coach back and didn't know how much time I'd actually be able to spend in the gardens. If you are in Oxford and you fancy a picnic there are plenty of other places to just sit down on the grass or a bench and chill out, something I saw a lot of people do.

One thing I did pay for was to go up Carfax Tower. It was only £2.30 and you get a nice view of the city. The 99 steps to the top are very narrow (you won't be able to pass anyone!) and if you're tall you will have to mind your head, luckily it wasn't very busy when I went, I don't know if it normally is, so I didn't have to wait for someone else to come up or down the stairs. 

Carfax Tower

View from Carfax Tower

I really enjoyed Oxford, I wouldn't mind going back there, especially on a day like the one I had! If I go back I will have to bring someone with me so that we can go punting! I've never been punting but it looks like fun.