Staying In A Castle! | Dunskey Estate, Portpatrick, Scotland

 Dunskey Castle Apartment (£60 per night)

For the past week, my family and I have been holidaying in a beautiful stately home in Port Patrick: a beautiful sea side town just a 15 minute drive away from Stranraer and a few minutes drive away from the beautiful sea side town of Portpatrick.

The estate we are staying in is called Dunskey Estate: owned by the Orr-Ewing family since the 19th century. The family have split their huge home into separate  apartments which they rent out to holiday makers. Our apartment is the Dunskey Castle Apartment: the smallest and cheapest accommodation within the estate, but definitely not the worst!

Decorated with the most gorgeous shabby chic furniture, with huge bay windows, bits of semi-original furniture and an amazing winding staircase leading to the 3 bedrooms upstairs  (definitely my favourite feature of the house!), I wish we were staying for more than a week! The house has 3 double beds and 2 singles: one double bed downstairs that joins on to the living room, 2 doubles upstairs and 2 singles in a nursery room.

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The grounds of Dunskey Estate are stunning. Firstly, you have three gardens, which are open to the public to explore. The walled garden holds a vast array of plants of varying shapes and colours and sizes, and you can even buy ones from the grounds: perfect for those who are green fingered. Beyond the walled garden is a sprawling green, filled with hanging eucalyptus  trees, a huge pond filled with huge gold fish, lush green lawns and huge greenhouses. The greenhouses are filled with rainbow coloured plants and flowers, and there are even peach and banana trees. Outside of the gardens, is a maze, which my little brothers ran straight into as soon as we arrived, managed to get themselves lost, but at least we had some peace and quiet for half an hour or so and it is great if you want your kids to let of a little steam…

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As well as gardens, there are several walks you can take, all for totally different terrain and views, so it is perfect for everyone.

My personal favourite was the Glen Walk: a 24 minute walk through thick green forest, passing lightly trickling streams, to the most stunning private beaches. Port Kale is the easiest to get to (Port Mora requires a bit more of a hike, whereas Port Kale has a gravelled path leading right to it). However, the map the owners give you of the paths to follow really aren’t very clear, so you may have to whip out Google Maps before you go and check the route. The path splits into a road at one point, and we ended up going the wrong way. But, we found a huge enclosure full of maturing pheasants, who also love to roam all over the paths in front of you and then suddenly take off when they realise you have got a little too close!

The beach is rocky, but you can pick up some beautiful  quartz stones and huge shells. If you are not a big walker, you can drive down there, but it is not recommended. It wasn’t the loveliest of weather whilst we were down there: but the views of the surrounding cliffs and the crashing waves was the most amazing sight. You can even walk all he way to Portpatrick from here, if you feel like it!

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The other walk you can take it to the two lochs they have on the grounds. The first one is very easy to get to, just a short 10 minute walk along a gravelled path, through imported Canadian trees. If you are interested in fishing, then here is a perfect spot to fish, they offer a fisherman’s lodge, which I expect is full of fishing equipment for you to use and a nice dry place for you to sit if it is raining. There are some benches dotted along the grassy path that surrounds the first part of the lake. If you carry on along here, there is another path through a very thick forest to the second loch- but after a few days rain, the paths leading to it were thick with mud. There is an alternative path for wheelchair and buggy users that is easier to get back to the café and gardens.

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There is also a cafe and tearoom on site, which offer some really lovely lunches that are freshly prepared every day on sight. The permanent menu ranges from pulled pork burgers, to Venison steaks and Pheasant, to smoked salmon sandwiches and soups. They also offer new specials almost everyday. The staff in there are very friendly, and the cakes are also lovely  (highly recommend the walnut brownie- perfect melt-in-the-mouth consistency!) They even picked some fresh mint out of the herb garden for us to use to make a mint sauce the next day! You are also able to buy frozen Venison and Pheasant that are fresh from the wildlife on the grounds.

Alistair, the owner of the house, is lovely and very friendly and accommodating. He checked in on us as often as he could, without being too overbearing, and he is only a short walk across the lawn or a quick phone call away if you ever need him! If you have younger children, his children Lily-Mai and Atticus are very friendly and will happily play out on the rope swings or the slide.

There was a cake from the cafe ready and waiting for us when we entered the apartment. As you walk into the building, it does almost feel like you have entered the set of The Walking Dead, as you are separated from our neighbours not by a wall, but by two huge chairs! There is a scullery style room at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to your apartment with a washing machine, sink and ironing board, if you need to do any laundry!

If you are bringing an elderly or disabled guest with you, then I really recommend trying another apartment etc. There are stairs leading up to the apartment that may be a struggle. If they are able to climb one pair of stairs maybe twice a day, then you should be fine as there is a downstairs bedroom, but if it is not possible for them, then I do recommend looking elsewhere! We did not know this when we first booked, and it was a struggle for my 80 year old grandmother to get up and down the stairs.

Nevertheless, the apartment is very nice. With a small, but pretty much fully equipped kitchen (avec  dishwasher for those who do not want to be stood over a sink for a long time!). The gas oven is a bit of a faff, it felt very slow as was difficult to light, but if you’d rather eat out every night, then this shouldn’t be a concern to you!

Overall, I really enjoyed the stay. We had the chance to socialise with our neighbours (occasionally shouting “Good morning!” over the zombie chairs or trying to get the dogs attention! We even had a sneaky look at the accommodation next door, so if this apartment doesn’t tickle your fancy, there are 5 other apartments to look at! I shall link the website down below!

http://www.dunskey.com/

Iona 🙂 x

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A Day Out In Keswick | Where I Live

I’ve never really appreciated  where I live until recently. If you’re ever looking for a beautiful place to forget your worries and relax, then Keswick, Cumbria is the place!

Keswick is a market town in the middle of the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, UK. The town itself almost seems surreal: with huge grey slate covered houses and massive fells surrounding the town. The other day, me and the boyfriend spent the day there. We may only live 16 miles away, but we rarely get a chance to visit, and we love discovering new sights and new cafes. And Keswick is certainly full of them. So, I decided to do a little blog post telling you about our day and about Keswick itself! (Although it probably isn’t going to be a “little” blog post! So grab yourself a snack and a hot drink and chill! 😀 )

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The day started off with a trip to Booths to grab some lunch whilst I waited for my boyfriend to get there. They do the most amazing cold salad bar there,filled with all vegetarian pasta and salad bowls. It may be expensive but it’s definitely worth it. I also grabbed some of the freshly baked brownie from the bakery too, and then headed into town.

It may have been a Tuesday and not even the summer holidays but the main street was absolutely packed. The main street in Keswick is one big pedestrian Street, lined with mainly resident owned shops, with the occasional Joules shop or walking shop. If you ever come here, then you definitely need to visit Sweet Temptations on main street: one wall is covered in entirely pick ‘n’ mix boxes, with huge jars of sweets, home made ice cream, a candyfloss maker and the most crazy milkshake flavours in there  (including Vimto  flavour, which I was slightly wary about!). There’s also Friar’s  Chocolatiers, which is filled with the most incredible chocolates, sweets, jams, chutneys and so much more! They do so many original favours and designs of chocolates and sweets. Everytime I’m in Keswick I always go in there and pick up something to snack on, and this time it was Cinder Toffee!

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Luckily enough, the Market was on today, and I always love exploring the stalls, especially on very rare sunny days like this one! I decided I would wait to explore the market until Jon came! So instead I headed down to the lake. Derwentwater Lake is a 5 minute walk from the centre of town; the main road splits into two, one road taking you to Fitz  Park, the Leisure Centre,the river and the residential side of town, whereas the other takes you past more shops, through Hope Park and to the lake and Theatre by the Lake. The bridge that takes you under the road and to the entrance to Hope Park always has someone busking in it, and it always nice to walk through and listen to someone new, jamming on their guitar. Hope Park is my favourite park, it’s not full of kiddies rides, like Fitz Park is. It’s got the most beautiful gardens filled with gorgeous flowers. There’s a Pitch and Put (like crazy golf but not as hard!) as well as a golf course too. There’s a Cafe, an ice cream stand and a snack and drinks bar. Everytime I walk to the lake I always walk through the park, and it’s always filled with the cutest dogs!

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I went and sat on the grassy bank at the very end of the Lake, with a field full of Herdwick Sheep, right outside Theatre by the Lake. If you’re ever in Keswick, or the surrounding area for a day or two, then I highly recommend booking a ticket for a show there. The plays there are incredibly professionally directed, acted and set up and it’s such a lovely theatre (and that isn’t me being biased because I’ve performed there loads 😉 !) which is all very original. I sat with my feet paddling in the lake and ate my pasta salad whilst watching silly tourists hand-feed the very vicious geese!

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I chatted to some tourists and gave them some pointers about good, little known placed to visit here, and then left and headed a bit further down the lake to Friar’s Cragg, where you get the most amazing view of the entirety of Derwentwater and the surrounding fells.

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This is the kind of view that you can NEVER get tired of. I always love sitting here, you always forget you’re in the middle of a busy tourist town, and it’s very relaxing to listen to the waves lapping against  the rocks below you and watch the sailing boats and kayaks float by.

I sat here until my boyfriend eventually turned up, and I met with him and headed back into town to explore the market. The market is always full of homemade crafts, foods and homeware. I couldn’t take many pictures of the stalls, as they always get very funny about you doing that, but I managed to get one of this stall that sells succulent plants in a special sand that means they never need watering! I seriously need one of these as I ALWAYS kill plants!

We then popped into one of my favourite  cafes: Java. When I was younger, as I went to school here, I would always come in here whenever I was free and pick up one of their Chocolate Cups: a shot of Belgian chocolate from their chocolate fountain in a cup made of chocolate! Unfortunately I  don’t think they do them anymore, which is a shame, but they do so many more amazing flavours of milkshakes, frappes, teas, coffees and cakes, as well as being able to dip fruit and marshmallows in their chocolate fountain. Jon and I picked up two milkshakes: a Raspberry Soya milk one for him  (he’s lactose intolerant!) And a banana one for me and they were served in the cutest Mason jar cups, which makes me want to buy them even more now!

After that we decided to chill down by the Lake. We went to the beach that has all of the jetties along it with the boats that go all over the lake. I haven’t been on a ride on one of these in years, they are quite expensive but it’s well worth the trip! We looked at the geese and the swans with their new cygnets, although it was quite scary as the swans were VERY protective of their babies and were swinging geese around by their necks to keep them away! You can also hire rowing boats here, which is another thing I haven’t done in a while. So, if you’re a couple then this is definitely a very romantic thing to do! 😉

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We continued along the shore of the Lake to our favourite area to chill: it’s further away from the beach where all the tourists hang out so it’s a lot quiter  and less busy, and we sunbathed, ate Cinder Toffee and paddled in the lake. I even got sunburn, which is a very rare occurrence in the rainiest  place in the UK! I’d brought our Gopro with us, so we messed about with that too.

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There are so many other lovely places to discover in this gem of a town: like the little church hall that holds cute little craft fairs all the time, and the Beatrix Potter shop, the museums and all the little treasures that are hidden within the natural side of the town.

And I am so so proud of how far this little town has come after much of it was ruined by the floods both in 2009 and last year.

The community is still working incredibly hard to get it back to where it was, so if you go there in the next few months there will probably be a lot of building work on, but trust me, it’s all for good!

I highly suggest coming to visit this little town: it has something for everyone: from dogs, to parks, to chain stores, to little individually owned shops you’ll never see anywhere else; gorgenus gardens and the magnificent fells where you can relax and lose yourself in the serenity of this quaint little town.

I hope you liked this post, and it’s given some of you who are wanting to travel to the UK an idea of where to come (although in the next few years that’s going to become increasingly difficult as we have sadly left the EU…but we’ll save that rant for another day!!). I hope to make this into a series where I show you some of the best areas to visit in my local area before I move away to the big city on the other side of the country in September!

Stay tuned!

Iona 🙂 x

 

Road Trip | Los Angeles

So, this is my last blog post for a while. I have exams coming up and I’ve kind of run out of adventures to write about. However, if any of you have any suggestions for future blog posts, then please leave a comment. The last thing I want is to leave my blog empty until August! When I first found out that I was going to California, LA had been the place I was most excited to visit. However, when I got there, it didn’t seem to be as amazing as I expected. Perhaps that was down to the fact that we didn’t spend much time there and everything was a little rushed (we only stayed there for 4 days). The apartment we stayed in was near Silver Lake, and was right up on the top of a hill. The owner of the apartment lived beneath us, and every morning her two dogs would come up to see us and have cuddles on the sofa. Shops and restaurants were all really close by, and every morning we got a much needed workout when walking back up the hill after having breakfast in a really hipster café on the main street. Our first day there was spent getting all the touristy parts of LA out of the way. We headed down to Hollywood Boulevard and walked along both sides of the street, occasionally stopping to take pictures of the stars whilst disgruntled LA residents tutted  at us. We then had a look around the Dolby Digital cinema, and at the hand and footprints there, and this made me realise actually how big some celebrities feet are…

We then attempted to find lunch, but with it being peak tourist season, the queues for most places were very long. Then was the  tour of Beverly hills, with a very sketchy tour guide who I don’t think knew as much about the famous houses as he said he did…

  

Day 2: It was time for the obligatory Barnes and Noble trip. As a huge bookworm, I was incredibly excited: the prospect of being able to find books, or versions of books, that aren’t available in the UK was overwhelming. And the LA B&N did not disappoint. 4 floors of books. 4 FLOORS! I could have stayed in there all day! I picked up an exclusive copy of The Maze Runner and If I Stay, before exploring more of the strictly- American shops. That evening, we headed back to Hollywood Boulevard to see the absolutely amazing musical Once! I’ve never really been into musicals, but I had goose bumps the entire way through. I’m an actor myself, and I could never act, sing and play an instrument all at the same time…

 Day 3: Was the day the childishness came out: Universal Studios. We had fortunately been able to pick up a VIP pass, so there were no queues for us! I’d been to the Florida Universal before this, which is bigger, but both are equally fun. We went on all the rides, whilst taking occasional breaks to explore the costume museum and, of course, get a studio tour!  It was so interesting to see into the back stage area of some of the most well-known Hollywood Movies. Plus, the tour guides are so funny.

Day 4 was unfortunately our last day in stunning California. Our flight was that evening, so we had nearly a day to do one last explore. That morning we ate our last breakfast: waffles with Vermont maple syrup and Madagascar Vanilla cream and French toast, before heading off on a hike up to Griffith Observatory for some stunning views of LA. Then, off to Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach, which unfortunately were slightly rushed since we needed to head off to the airport to catch a 12 hour flight back to the lovely UK(!) I was so sad to leave California, it was such an amazing experience, and I cannot believe how much we did in just 14 days! We may have had a few disasters, such as wallets being lost, and GPS’s breaking before heading into the desert, but I would never change anything about that holiday. Someone please take me back?!

Such sadness! That was my last blog post for a while! 😦 However, if you want to keep up with my daily shenanigans, head over to my Instagram(s) where I am posting every day this month (on bothaccounts! That’s 2 pics a day!!) @iona_moss  and @bl.ck_  .I really hope you enjoyed this little series and if you want to see more, there’s pictures on my Instagram (you may have to scroll down a bit, it was nearly a year ago!) but I also did a little artsy video on my youtube channel: :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmYdWHcFqzg ! Plus, there may be more of them to come in the future (not sure when, but some time this summer!)! Lastly, thank you to everyone who has liked and followed me over the past few weeks, it makes me very happy that people aren’t ignoring me and are actually enjoying what I’m writing! There’s only a small number of you, but its all so nice! See you soon, hopefully! X

You got that James Dean, daydream, look in your eye…

Road Trip | Nevada: Las Vegas!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? You know when you’re getting close to Vegas when you start seeing random casinos popping out of nowhere in the vast desert. After a 6 hour drive, it was nice to finally see some civilisation. The hotel we stayed in was the MGM Signature, which is an absolutely gorgeous hotel, and is massive. Our hotel room was basically an entire flat with a huge balcony looking out over the airport and, unfortunately, the boring side of Las Vegas (the side with all the casinos etc was on the other side of the hotel, but we were only staying there for a night so we didn’t mind). We arrived fairly late in the day, and by the time we had finally found the hotel (the directions were very confusing) it was time for dinner. So, we headed out into the heat to find the Cheesecake Factory. After an hour of walking (we were told it would take 15 minutes, but the streets were very busy) we finally found it! However, there was a huge queue outside and we had another fairly long wait to get a table. On our way back to the hotel we had a bit of a look around. Firstly we look around the massive mall were the restaurant was. The ceilings were all painted to look like the sky, and parts of it were decorated to look like European streets, with cobbled roads and fountains in huge squares. There were huge fish tanks outside the restaurant, with every fish imaginably swimming around inside it. Outside the mall were even more fountains: ones with huge lions that sprouted water from their mouths, and of course Caesar’s Palace fountain show. One of the things that amazed me was the amount of street performers: we passed several (very attractive) Thor’s and Loki’s, Power Rangers and Transformers. There were even a couple of children street dancing, which slightly worried me since it was around 11pm, and way past their bed time. But I suppose it is Vegas. I spent most of my time exploring in a daze. You are surrounded by flashing neon lights and, after a while, you start to become very confused and dazed, especially if you are very very tired. However I battled through the heat and the bright lights and finally arrived back at the hotel very sweaty  and a tad confused. We spent most of the next morning by the pool, which was first time in two weeks we had had a chance to relax. It was nice just lie there and stare into space instead of sitting in a car and worrying if you’re going the right way and hoping that you don’t get lost. We then packed up and headed off for our last 3 days in Los Angeles! To see more: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmYdWHcFqzg Instagram: @bl.ck_      @iona_moss See you next Friday! (Which will unfortunately be my last post for a while, but I’m working on things so that I can get more up as soon as possible. Any requests for what you want to see from me in the future?)  

Road Trip | California & Arizona: Barstow and the Grand Canyon

As much as I love the city, there’s nothing better than escaping into the unknown and being at one with nature!

We set off from Santa Barbara mid afternoon, and headed into the desert. I’ve never experienced the desert before, so as we drove further and further away from humanity, I had never realised how vast and empty it was. There’s nothing around you but sand, a couple of cactuses and the occasional small group of houses (which got me thinking about how they survive out there???). Occasionally we would drive through big stacks of golden/orange rocks that towered above you and created the only kind of shade from the blistering sun you would find for miles. We didn’t stop at all on the way there, as getting lost in the middle of a desert in the dark is not the most appealing idea. We finally arrived in Barstow, which is basically a truckers town: there a few motels, lots of food stores, fast food restaurants and shops that sell things like Sat-Navs, radios etc. It wasn’t the most exciting place in the world. But the one thing that shocked me about this place was how hot everything is: as soon as I stepped out of the car, a sudden gust of hot wind hit me. Everything in the desert is hot: the wind, the sun, everything. How people survive in this heat beats me.

The motel we stayed in was lovely. There was an indoor swimming pool, a gym and a  Jacuzzi bath in our room, which made a change since the motels we’d been staying in had (what felt like) 1 foot by 1 foot showers that had the worst water pressure ever, and it felt so much nicer. We spent one night there and set off the next morning for the Grand Canyon.

The drive was pretty much the same as the previous day: sun, sand, cactuses, more sand, more cactuses. However, as we got into the Nation Park green trees began to appear, which I was very grateful for. I mean, the desert was interesting, but seeing nothing green or alive for 24 hours was a bit too much. Finally we arrived at the Grand Canyon, and out hotel was a huge log cabin right on the edge of the canyon. The view from our window was insane: you could see the canyon perfectly and it was such an amazing view to wake up to. That night took one of the shuttles to a view point further down from the hotel and  watched the sun go down. I have never experienced anything like it: the sky set on fire and the canyon’s rocks caught the orange and everything was lit in a firey light. I could quite happily relive that memory again and again.

We woke up to a rather hazy view of the canyon, but it was still amazing. It looks so unreal: like it’s been CGI’d there and I couldn’t quite believe I was stood there looking down into it. We took a short walk around it, looked in some of the shops and grabbed some lunch before heading back into the desert.

On the way to Las Vegas we stopped in Kingstown: yet another truckers town, and had lunch at IHOP. America seems to be the only place where it’s acceptable to eat pancakes and waffles for lunch, and I wish it was acceptable in the UK. Several pancakes later, we headed off. On the way there we stopped at the Hoover Dam, which we looked at from a very windy bridge (the hot wind completely knocked the breath out of me and I could feel myself burning very quickly so it was really just a ‘take a quick picture and run trip’). However it was an amazing sight.

Las Vegas will be the next post, and then Los Angeles. However, he next two posts will be my last posts for a while: I have exams coming up next month plus I have exhausted my travel juices and have nothing else to write about until summer s I shall see you all then! YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmYdWHcFqzg