Marlborough

It's my last full weekend living with my parents, which means we had to have a trip out! We decided to go to Marlborough, a picturesque market town located in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The main reason we chose to go there was to visit The Polly Tearooms, a quaint old-fashioned tearoom. We had been there before but many years ago, so it was nice to go back again!

The disappointing thing about the tearoom was that none of the large selection of cakes were vegan, even though a few of them were gluten free (kind of annoying when one type of special diet is catered for and another isn't). There were vegan main courses, but it was mid morning when we were there, and besides, I like to have cake when I go to a tearoom! In the end, I chose to have a toasted teacake with jam, which was nice enough.

The tea I had was Darjeeling (one of my favourites), and even though it was in teabags rather than loose leaf, it was really delicious.

Overall, I have to say that the Polly Tearooms didn't compare to The Bridge Tea Rooms in Bradford-on-Avon, which is a truly special place. But all the same, it has a nice atmosphere and I enjoyed our visit there.

After our tea, we split up to visit different shops in the high street. I picked up a few things I needed, and then went for a photo walk! The high street is very pretty with lots of old buildings. At one end, you can find St Peter's Church and at the other end, you can find St Mary's Church and the town hall.

It was great to have a bit of a change of scenery and to walk around this quaint and picturesque town.

In other news, my move to Bristol is coming up next week, so look out for some more new travel adventures coming to this blog soon!

Travel Tips: Ten More of My Favourite Beach Destinations

I still have a few more free days before starting my new job, and I don't have much planned, so I want to use the time to write my first Travel Tips blog post in a while!

This one is going to be a sort of sequel to a post I wrote in May 2021 about my 10 favourite beaches. At the time I wrote that post, I was living at home with my parents, the UK was still under some lockdown restrictions, and I was unsure when I would ever be able to move back to Chile (something I'd planned to do in 2020), as there were still very strict restrictions out there. During this extremely challenging period, my blog was a source of escapism for me, where I could reminisce about past travels and dream about future ones. The beach post was definitely one of my favourite ones to write, as it brought back some great memories, from childhood holidays to more recent trips.

At the end of the post, I wrote a list of the beach destinations I planned to visit once I was living in Chile, which were as follows:

- Zapallar (Chile)

- Bahía Inglesa (Chile)

- Iquique (Chile)

- Arica (Chile)

- Cartagena (Colombia)

- Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Fortunately, in early 2022, I was finally able to get out to Chile and have my year and a bit living there with my partner, Claudio. During that time, we managed to visit four out of those six destinations - it would have been five, but unfortunately we both came down with Covid just before our planned trip to Bahía Inglesa, so that remains on our list for future travels in South America, as does Cartagena. 

After my time in Chile, I spent three months of this year working in Malta, so had the opportunity to visit even more fabulous beaches.

And now my previous list of favourite beaches is in serious need of updating! So here's a new list of ten of my faves, but made up entirely of beaches I visited in the 18 months between February 2022 and August this year...

Las Cujas, Chile

This is a beach not too far from Santiago that Claudio found out about on TikTok. The video he saw made it seem like a kind of secluded, "secret" place, which turned out to be far from the truth! But although it was very busy when we visited during the height of summer in February 2022, it was still a great experience to visit this picture-perfect beach with sparkling blue water, surrounded by vibrant green vegetation. We actually went there during my first week back in the country, and it felt like the perfect start to a year of amazing travels!

Read more here!

Iquique, Chile

Our first big trip of last year was to the city of Iquique, in the far north of Chile. This was the first beach destination located in the tropics that I ever visited, but it's not exactly a "tropical beach" per se - it's located on the edge of the Atacama Desert and has a dry, desert climate. That's not to say that the beaches there aren't great places to visit though - quite the opposite! The city has several beautiful beaches, which are ideal for surfing - the most famous being Playa Cavancha, a huge stretch of sand dotted with skyscrapers and palm trees, which reminds me of photos I've seen of Miami.

Read more here!

Arica, Chile

Arica is the furthest north city in Chile, right next to the border with Peru. We went there in June 2022 for some winter sun, as the weather there is sunny and nice all year round, which is not the case for the beaches nearer Santiago. The city has a huge beach, Playa Chinchorro, with big waves for surfing, but one of its smaller beaches, Playa El Laucho (pictured above), is probably my favourite beach in the entire country, as it's so picturesque and also has gentle waves which make it perfect for swimming.

Read more here!

Zapallar, Chile

This beach town near Santiago gets crowded in the summer (it's where many upper-class people have their summer houses) but when we went in the middle of winter 2022, it was so tranquil and peaceful. It has various examples of European-style architecture to look at, as well as some interesting rock formations, and is definitely one of the prettiest beaches in central Chile.

Read more here!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It was a dream of mine for many years to visit Rio de Janeiro, so going there with Claudio last December was really an incredible experience. Even though the weather was bad for most of our week there, we still enjoyed swimming and spending time at the city's beaches, of which there are many. Copacabana is a very lively beach and the perfect place to enjoy a caipirinha, but our favourite beach was Ipanema/Leblon. The view from Pedra do Arpoador of the beach and Morro Dois Irmãos is absolutely breathtaking.

Read more here!

Arraial do Cabo, Brazil

Our last day in Brazil was spent on a boat trip around the paradise that is Arraial do Cabo, a few hours away from the city of Rio. On this day, we were lucky to have sunshine at last! During the trip, we visited two beautiful white sand beaches, one on an island and one on the mainland, and we also jumped out of the boat at one particular spot to snorkel around a coral reef, where colourful fish were swimming. This was definitely one of my most special travel memories of all time!

Read more here!

Papudo, Chile

Our trip to Papudo in January was actually another one of my favourite travel memories. This beach town to the north of Zapallar has some stunning beaches (such as the one pictured above) as well as some incredible wildlife to spot. We took a rather extreme speed dinghy trip to a nearby island, where we were lucky enough to see some adorable penguins and sea lions! But most special of all, we saw a beautiful dolphin jumping in and out of the water.

Read more here!

Frutillar, Chile

This beach is somewhere a bit different to the others on the list. For one, it's not by the ocean or sea, but rather by a lake, specifically Lago Llanquihue, one of the largest natural lakes in South America. In addition, it's generally not a beach you'd visit for sunbathing and swimming, as it's located in the south of Chile, which is cold most of the year! But it's absolutely one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to - it has stunning views of the snowy Volcán Osorno across the water and is surrounded by lovely architecture.

Read more here!

Viña del Mar, Chile

Even though I'd visited Viña in both 2018 and 2020, it didn't make it on to my initial list of favourite beaches, for whatever reason. But anyway, it's going on this one! Viña del Mar is one of Chile's biggest and most popular beach destinations, and it's also one of its best. Not only does it have some beautiful beaches, such as Playa El Sol (pictured above), but it also has some fabulous architecture to check out, including several castles and palaces!

Read more here!

Ramla Beach, Gozo, Malta

Of course, I also have to include a beach from my months in Malta on this list. Although the island of Malta is very rocky and doesn't have many sandy beaches, its sister island Gozo has several. I had a great weekend in Gozo, which is a very beautiful and peaceful place, and especially enjoyed visiting Ramla Beach, which has some of the clearest water I've ever swum in.

Read more here!

It has been fun compiling this list of ten more of my favourite beaches! If I had to make an overall list of my favourite beach destinations from this list and my previous list, my top ten would probably be: Rio de Janeiro, Arraial do Cabo, Arica, Papudo, Algarrobo, Slano, Zapallar, Frutillar, Ramla Bay and La Serena. But I'll probably change my mind sooner or later, as I do about most of my Travel Tips lists, haha!

Hopefully, I'll be updating this list again in the future, because I plan to visit plenty of beach destinations within the next few years. Claudio and I want to do as much travelling as possible before having kids, including visiting Southeast Asia, Australia and Mexico. I'm hoping we can do at least one of these trips in 2024, which would be really exciting!

That's all for today, but I'll be blogging again next weekend, if I have the time. See you soon!

Check out the rest of my Travel Tips here!

Tewkesbury

This trip to Tewkesbury with my parents was a spontaneous one! We were actually planning to spend the day in Gloucester, as there was a classic car show down at the docks, and I also wanted to visit the cathedral. However, when we arrived, the city was packed and there was no parking, so we decided to drive on towards Tewkesbury instead.

Tewkesbury is quite near where we live, but I didn't really know anything about it before going. However, I ended up being surprised by how pretty it was!

The most famous sight to see in the town is without a doubt Tewkesbury Abbey, which is considered to be one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in the country. The building is huge and very impressive to see both inside and out. While we were there, someone was playing the organ, which really added to the atmosphere of the place.

The abbey has a really nice gift shop with lots of cute things to buy. My mum bought me this little button with a very wise saying on it!

After visiting the abbey, we walked through the town centre, which is quite pretty and olde worlde. 

We then went for lunch at the Abbey Tea Rooms, a rather unique café. The décor is made up of lots of different newspaper clippings, magazines, old records, packaging and various other interesting bits and pieces from over the decades. It felt like a very retro place and somewhere a bit different. The food was also very good (I had a jacket potato with vegetable curry and a Fentimans dandelion and burdock to drink).

We finished our trip out with a walk in the Victoria Gardens, next to the River Avon. This park is very peaceful with quaint views of the town.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this little day out and I would definitely recommend Tewkesbury as a place to explore.

Next week, I'm going to be starting my new job, so I won't have as much time for travelling and blogging as I have had over the last few weeks. Perhaps I'll have time for another post later this week, but if not, I'll be back here soon enough! 😊

Tetbury (and a Little Bit of Finland!)

Thankfully, we're not in the pandemic anymore, but my parents and I are continuing with our local outings that we started during the easing of the first lockdown, when it wasn't possible to go on holiday or travel far but it was possible to travel around to local outdoor areas. These outings around Wiltshire and Gloucestershire (and sometimes beyond) gave me an appreciation for the travel adventures that you can have on your doorstep, and how you don't always have to travel a long distance or stay somewhere for a long time in order to enjoy the benefits of a change of scenery. But during the 18 months between February 2022 and August 2023, I was only in the UK for less than 5 weeks in total, so hadn't had many of these local trips for quite a while (although I had local trips in Chile and Malta!)

So it was nice to get back into the routine of taking these little excursions, starting with a trip to the town of Tetbury, a few days after I got back from Malta.

Tetbury is a place I'm sure I've been to a few times before in my life but which I don't really remember, so going there felt like visiting somewhere new!

The main reason why we went there was to visit the Tetbury Goods Shed, an arts centre and café located in an old train station. Most of the station has been left how it was before, which gives the place a nice retro touch. Interestingly, the seating for the café is inside an old train carriage from Finland!

The coffee and vegan cake that I had there were very good.

I also particularly enjoyed seeing all the Finnish posters inside the train, including a rail network map of the Helsinki area. Being there made me feel a bit like I was on a European city break!

After enjoying our time at the café, we went to explore some more of Tetbury. 

Perhaps the most famous sight in Tetbury is the Market House, which was built in 1655 in a neoclassical style. It is quite picturesque with its yellow walls and baskets of flowers.

We also visited the church and met a lovely cat in the church yard!

Another fun thing to see in Tetbury is the Shaun the Sheep statue. (You can find a Gromit one at Cotswold Airport!)

It was also nice to take in the Cotswold scenery of the town.

To sum up, this trip to Tetbury was a fun way to get my UK travels started again!

In other news, I have now accepted a job offer and will soon be starting my first permanent role! The job is based in Bristol so I plan to move there pretty soon, which is quite exciting. I've always really liked the city, and I'm looking forward to exploring more of it and the surrounding area in the future. It also has its own airport, which will be convenient for travelling abroad! And hopefully Claudio will be joining me later in the year and we can start building a life together in the UK, at least for the foreseeable future.

Therefore, I'm making the most of the time I have living here in the countryside, and still have another local trip to write up and will maybe have one or two more before I move. So stay tuned!