petersham

petersham is a summer go-to and think was last there about 18months ago over third wedding anniversary. in fact, we ran from home and met my parents (who went by car!) there so we've fantastic photos of us looking fit in compression tights. or maybe that's just the endorphin high speaking. was much less energetic at 38 weeks pregnant but did still religiously walk my 10k steps / 7km in hope of walking the baby out. no such luck and prof later laughed at me because 'walking doesn't work'. oh well, that was reason enough for me to give up. 

there's a different charm to the place in winter. all lovely soft light and crisp blue skies. walking along the thames path towards kew after lunch was good fun, albeit cold. the restaurant wasn't too crowded and while it does cost a pretty penny to dine there it was a nice mid-week treat.

cotswolds

after a failed attempt to go to the cotswolds after graduation, i was more determined than ever to visit. more sentimental than anything, really, having been as a child with family and brimming with happy memories of the idyllic time we'd. 

however it was different (older?) this time round and i found myself quickly bored of the beauty. felt spoilt and blase, like why do i not like this place anymore? why do i keep comparing it with the north east / scotland which i'm admittedly partial to... it also felt geriatric (sort of like the lake district!) and while i try not to be ageist about these things, there's a limit to the number of picturesque village i'll happily walk around, and number of tea rooms i will visit before losing my mind...

did stop at a cute little farm shop and stocked up for the week which was fun. bought carrots that looked like the sort bugs bunny ate (with the greens still on!) and other goodies which became dinner over the next few days. made a roast pepper soup for when we got back to london sunday night and it was so easy, fresh and flavourful that i kicked myself for not being more proactive about good produce and bothering to 'cook properly'.

also had the good fortune of a couple of great meals - the five alls being one of them.

and argh can't remember the name but this is the pub associated with barnsley house which also has rooms in case the hotel is too fancy.

i'd a discoball in my room, which was sorta funny cos at 7 months pregnant i'll literally what i can get. dancing days might be over for now but a disco ball that scatters light as i drift to sleep? why ever not :)

and what a view to wake to

the spa area was so simple yet well done, the landscapist made something outta nothing. suppose that's the skill, really, to make it look effortless and create value in the middle of nowhere.

and as a trip down memory lane, stopped for lunch at the swan hotel in bibury on the way back to london. was mildly disappointed as staying at swan hotel with the trout stream flowing in front of it was one of my favourite holiday memories growing up but it has been revamped and lost part of its charm.

st abb's

it's no secret that i've great difficulty leaving the north and jump at every opportunity to head back to the east lothian coastline. maintain it's one of the prettiest stretches of coast and just what i want (need?) after a long week at work. now if only it wasn't so far away! was tempted to escape london this weekend but it's been a packed week and after the cotswolds last weekend, sense got the better of me and i'd a hermetic time instead to get over the self-induced introvert hangover. and fb tells me that the train i would've been on had i needed to return to london this evening has been cancelled / delayed by >10h, with passengers needing to take a replacement train to manchester then change for london euston. cue my immense relief because that could very easily have been me and mega ouch for friends who were meant to travel on the (now) cancelled service.

so there. on to happier things! had an idyllic weekend north and went walking on the coast, which is always therapy. scampered on the scary cliff-y bits against my better judgment because i thought we weren't going off piste and was too lazy to wear walking boots, much good they did me from the car :p then we did go off piste and it was a little oopsy but lived to tell the tale.

stopped for usual chinatown chicken and salted fish fried rice (so bad but so good!) on the way to the station and had an uneventful journey back to london.

waterperry gardens and oxford

woke to blue skies and was grateful for my gorgeous room. father wanted to check out the gardens that we thought were nearby  (but weren't) so we went along after breakfast. obliging brother was cute and stood next to random things on command. aw :) did feel we lowered the average age by a good 20 years but the gardens had everything! i'm prob as picky about gardens / garden centres as i am about country hotels. a few favourite scottish spots are the berwick garden centre as well as the one in dunbar because of the cafe and gift shop. waterperry didn't disappoint and was tempted to soup and scones before a second lunch in oxford.

got lucky with parking (it can be such a faff) and didn't have far to walk to the city centre. christ church was pretty as ever but couldn't find the crepe man in the meadows. then again the last time i visited was a good three years prior.

was punted by a cute 16year old on her first day. respect!

then stopped for a late lunch at the vaults garden before driving back to london. yucky sunday evening traffic and a relatively stressful time trying to finish a 200 qn online exam before dinner. thank goodness my father and brother contributed (shh)

hartwell house

clever mama brought me mooncakes! and she'd frozen them upon purchase so they'd slowly defrost as she traveled 14h to get to me. they were delicious and i savoured them over the week, sending poor baby into hyperglycaemia every time i ate one.

hotel was adequate. bit unnecessarily posh but oh well, we went with our eyes open. much rather shabby chic / laid back charm. coworth park in ascot would be an example of that and i felt HH was overpriced. i get uncomfortable in overtly fancy places because i much carry my own bag and hm don't like being danced attendance on. 

dins was surprisingly good though! had expected it to be mediocre and overhyped / overrated but every dish was well done. had scallop two ways (oops, meant to avoid raw shellfish. shrugs...) and duck followed by mango souffle for pud. not pictured but my father's venison was also very good. not in the least bit gamey and so tender.

bookbinder's

back from the faroe islands friday night, 12h in london then off to the country! this city mouse is increasingly disenchanted by the pollution in london. stopped for a bacon butty before traversing london to paddington (ok not really that far) and hopped on a train to h&thames parkway. 

linked up with folks (they're not fans of london either and had gone straight from heathrow earlier in the day) and we found a cute little pub that served french food. fish soup and crepes? sign me up!

sweet crepes too :)

ventures north

as per the 'about me' blurb - "escaping london every opportunity" and a couple of weekends ago it was no different. thought to make use of my 1/3 railcard discount while i still could and hopped on a train north. was hankering after chawanmushi (because ikeda my go-to was under renovation) and unforch there's a little japanese kitchen in edinburgh that i'm partial too. the katsudon is solid and despite being ravenous, i struggled to finish it.

went walking the next day (it was the weekend of the festival, the fringe, the tatoo and fireworks!) and chanced upon this glorious rainbow.

broke in my new walking shoes (childs size, saving on VAT!)

and had to take the obligatory thistle shot :)

also went back to the waterfall i climbed just after passing finals and it was nice to have a touchstone that connects this most recent transition to the immediately past stage of life.

wengen

in my final semester of lawsch, i took a "take home" final exam to danang, vietnam to complete at a friend's birthday party. definitely one of my (few) proud moments, although the prof for that module was unimpressed by my lack of self-control. note to self: don't post gloaty holiday photos when you're in the middle of a 72h take home, at least not without restricting the audience first. but if i hadn't gone to danang, i'd never have met S who has become a dear friend over the years. visited her at her home near luzern a couple of christmases ago, she's come for tea at mine in london while looking at universities for her daughter and more recently, has been very generously extending an open invitation to her home in the mountains. 

jumped at the chance to escape the big smoke yet again and didn't need to have my rubber arm twisted. her cabin is in wengen, car-free and accessible only by cogwheel train (!!!). bonus - i love trains and even more so when i'm not on godawful virgineastcoast up and down the country. as luck would have it, found a weekend other friends (puerto rican lawyers based in NYC and their college-aged sons) from the same danang party (all connected through E&P our danang bday hosts) were going to be visiting and made a pre-party of it. was resigned to massive FOMO because they were pre-gaming prior to E's 60th birthday extravaganza in berlin which i very sadly couldn't attend because, well, work. but hey, a bonus weekend in the alps? sign me up.

the alpine cabin was what it said on the tin and when i told another friend of my weekend plans, he got very excited and thought it would be all bond baddie alpine lair stylez a la blofeld's lair from on her majesty's secret service with hot chickies in lycra. uh, think again. gimme S' swiss hospitality anytime :)

spent two glorious days walking in the mountains. S and her husband knew the paths like the back of their hands, walking in summer, skiing in winter and it was like living in a technicolour ricola advertisement, if you get what i mean. was feeling incredibly smug about my pseudo-mountaineering ability at 18 weeks gestation until i suspected they'd probably picked the easiest walks for us to do.

M would wake early and procure us fresh yoghurt, bread and cheese from the lone grocer. breakfast was a simple yet hearty affair and i could eat it forever and ever. the milk! the glorious fat in it! the butter! all the dairy products my lactose-intolerant constitution could stomach!

S even had the brainwave of doing a hot chocolate blind tasting! so we'd plenty of energy to use against gravity on the mountains.

alas i might've underestimated the summer sunshine and ended up lobster red. silly :( also missed my flight from zurich to london because of sunday traffic. but hey who's really complaining about an extra night in switzerland? had redeemed BA miles for the flight anyhow so took the first flight out monday morning and made it to the ward in time to prep for ward round. never mind it was walk of shame-ish cos i had to be gross and wear the same clothes i'd left the ward in on friday cos i'd gone straight to heathrow after work.  #winning