REVIEW - THE WAGGON AND HORSES

As of 8.30am yesterday morning, The Waggon & Horses in Millhouses opened its doors once again and I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek during the 'friends and family' dry run on Tuesday. 

True North Brew Co have worked their magic to turn - what was once a flame grill restaurant - into a cosy, family friendly pub and they've 100% succeeded in renovating the venue beautifully.

Before you walk in, you know it's going to be good - and that's just because of True North Brew Co's track record. They own and manage ten venues in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire (you've no doubt been to at least one). But if you didn't know, they're the dream team behind Sheffield favourites; Forum, Common Room, The Old House, The Broadfield, Riverside, The York, Crown and Anchor, The British Oak and The Blue Stoops. 

The tap room is a great space to bring well-behaved dogs. So that's a bonus for a Sunday afternoon when you've had a stroll around the park and you fancy a cheeky pint! The restaurant area also has a really comfy feel to it too. It's going to be great for family get togethers and a top choice for date night (either with your other half or your besties). To be honest, the whole place has bags of character and has been furnished to a high spec. You'll love it!  

Moving onto the most important part - the food. Waggon & Horses has three separate menus depending on the time and day of your sitting; Brunch and Lunch Menu (8.30am - 4.30pm, Monday - Saturday), Evening Menu (From 5.00pm, Monday - Saturday) and a Sunday Menu, including roasts. 

Take a peek at all of the menus here:  www.thewaggonsheffield.co.uk/dining/

I opted for a Pegora pizza (V)  - Ricotta, courgette ribbons, goat’s cheese, roasted peppers and rocket with the addition of crispy parma ham on the top and a side of chips to share. The pizzas are 12" and bases are made from a homemade sourdough recipe so they taste delicious! They look great too - definitely Instagram worthy. 

 

Pudding was a scrumptious choice of lemon meringue pie with Italian meringue and lemon sorbet, which I would highly recommend trying. It's the perfect size for sharing, or a treat for those with a sweet tooth! Jam packed full of flavour and the sorbet is a nice touch too. (Just look at the presentation!)

Followed by a cup of tea from the pot. You can't go wrong with a good cuppa to end a scrummy meal. So you'll be pleased to know, there's enough to make at least two cups of tea in that pot!

My overall impressions are that the place looks amazing, the food is gorgeous
(I personally can't wait to try the waffles from the brunch menu, or even the Sunday roasts!) and the staff are really friendly too. If you've not been for years or fancy trying somewhere new then give it a go. I've not even mentioned the Gin selection - so maybe i'll have to do a follow up and go for an evening meal and drinks soon. 

There's no doubt that The Waggon & Horses will be a firm favourite within Sheffield’s food and drink scene. 

Good Luck & thanks for having me! 

Krissie x

SACHA'S BABY SHOWER

On Sunday 31st January 2017, we gathered a beautiful bunch of Sacha's friends and family together in Hull to celebrate the (almost) new edition to our family - also known as Button. 

Sacha had spent the morning with mum having a few spa treatments at The Village and a wander around the City of Culture. Meanwhile, Holli, Isabelle, Nanna and I met up with the rest of the ladies to put the plan into action. The wonderful staff at Fudge had already set up the table with china cups and saucers and it looked amazing, they were really accommodating. However we just had the final touches to pop into place before hiding out of eye view around the table. 

Everyone contributed to the day in one way or another, whether it was helping to set up, making decorations, buying prizes and favours - it was a fantastic team effort. 

After months of strategic planning (so that she didn't find out), collating pretty ideas and telling a few fibs, we could finally take a deep breath and watch as she walked through the doors and into her lovely surprise baby shower. 

Tears fell and cuddles were given before we tucked into a delicious Afternoon Tea with sandwiches, chocolate eclairs and scones! The food was to die for, and we were particularly impressed with the vegan dish they made Holli, complete with her very own shortbread biscuits for pudding. 

You couldn't wish for a better way to celebrate a new arrival. 

The venue was beautifully quaint and the staff made us feel at home. We would certainly recommend visiting and perhaps even hosting your own event there! 

We can't wait to go back with Button. 

I spent the majority of the day filming and taking photos because I wanted to capture every last minute for Sacha to look back on. You can see the baby shower brought to life in the the short film below. 

Button is already such a well loved baby and I can't wait to meet the little one!

Enjoy, Krissie x 

Sacha - I might not have been there for that one special day, but i'll never miss the rest. 

WALKS IN THE WOODS

In August (2016) I celebrated my 28th birthday and my family came over to Sheffield for the weekend to help me say goodbye to another great year. It was supposed to just be mum and dad that visited, but then Holli (older sister) decided to surprise us all too. 

EXPLORING MACAU

If you're a real explorer with a passion for adventure, you're going to love today's blog and video. 

Day 5 saw Rachel and I venture into the heart of Macau, accompanied by her friend to visit many of the famous landmarks and we also did some urban exploring of our own. 

TRAVELING TO HONG KONG

When your best friend lives across the other side of the world - and you only manage to see her once or twice a year - the idea of spending 17 days in paradise together, is something you will always say yes to.

I did just that. 

Back in May I packed my case (to the brim), said a final goodbye to John and then set off on a 5,946 mile journey to Hong Kong to live out a once in a life time opportunity with my beautiful friend Rachel. 

I'd not seen Rachel since she came to Sheffield for a couple of days before leaving the UK to start her new working contract in China. Therefore, I decided to capture as many moments as possible through photos and videos during the trip and have began to put together daily vlogs for us both to look back on. Especially as Rachel had dedicated a massive amount of time putting together an itinerary of activities, trips and relaxation. Too much to remember off the top of our heads. 

Below are some photos taken from the first leg of the journey, and if you scroll to the bottom you can watch the vlog too. I flew by myself for the first time (meaning that I was concentrating on not missing flights instead of filming) so this video is just a short introduction and the rest are much more action packed! 

I will be sharing more blog posts with photos and videos over the next few weeks, so please let me know if you're enjoying them. 

- Leaving John at the train station - 

- The view from my seat - 

- Overlooking Hong Kong - 

- Reunited with Rachel - 

Thank you for an amazing few weeks Rachel <3 

Krissie x 

SHEFFIELD BLOGGERS NETWORK

Sheffield's Blogger Network and True North Brew put on a bloggers event at The Forum this week and my lovely friend Julie invited me along. 

It was my first bloggers event actually and one that i'd love to attend again. 

The Forum is the perfect venue space for an event like this - it was held in the seating area to the left hand side of the bar, which meant that the rest of the public could carry on drinking on the other side. 

There's a raised platform / stage area which was perfect for showcasing presentation slides on a huge screen behind. Plus with the seating arrangements made it a great social event, whilst still being able to interact with the speaker. 

Jess Bridgeman from Don't Fret Club spoke at the event about content strategy and social media and although most of what she spoke about made sense to me because of my day job, it was good to have a few minutes to listen and think about applying those tactics to my blog. 

The team put together a raffle to end the night and I was lucky enough to win a True North Brew Gin Set (below) complete with Sheffield Dry Gin and Fentimans Tonic Water. 

We even came away with a good bag of offers, Leadmill tickets, tea and more information about Forum parties. 

It was a great night and i'd recommending attending again if you're a budding blogger or interested in meeting like minded individuals. 

I would love to hear more speakers and potentially see some entertainment at  future events, because I don't think people were ready to leave at the end and it's a shame to wrap things up so early in the night. 

You can keep track of the Sheffield Bloggers event HERE and find out more about True North Brew HERE. 

Krissie 

x

STAYING AT ST PAUL'S MECURE HOTEL

This is blog post 3/3 about our 9 Year Anniversary celebrations, therefore please read PART ONE and PART TWO before you continue. 

As explained in part two, we decided on the day of our anniversary to book into a hotel with a spa for the evening. Although we booked the room at last minute, we still managed to conjure together a list of important requirements for the hotel. 

1. The room had to have a bath - this is due to the fact that we don't have a bath in our house. Yet one of the ways I like to relax is by throwing a Lush bomb into a bath filled to the top and soaking until i'm a prune.  

2. It needed to be located central in the city. Purely because we wanted to have everything around us; shops, restaurants and bars without having to walk far. 

3. It also had to have a spa with relaxation rooms and a pool - just to help us indulge even further and have the ultimate relaxation experience. 

A little Google search for 'hotel and spa Sheffield' soon brought up a list of potential places. However, by following St Paul's Mercure Hotel on Twitter for some time, i remembered their facilities after previously having a nosey at photos - which made the decision pretty easy. 

After calling to confirm that the room did in fact come with a bath and complimentary access to the spa, we were advised by the check-in assistant to sign up and become a member on the Mecure website to receive 10% off our booking. - An added bonus, which meant that i could upgrade the room (for the same price) to include a late checkout of 6pm on the Sunday. (After all, I was going to take full advantage of that bath and spa!) 

Checking in was fast and friendly. The staff are all full of smiles and that always makes the process 100 times better. They put us in a gorgeous room over looking Sheffield Peace Gardens and the Guild Hall, but most importantly it had a bath! 

I loved the decor - mustard yellow is one of my favourite colours and this theme ran throughout the whole room. 

A queen sized bed took up the majority of the room, surrounded with amazing snapshots from inside the Peace Garden's. 

John loved this area of the room for reading. He actually suffers with back ache and these chairs were a complete comfort for him - a nice feature, especially for him to wait while I was getting ready! 

As a make up lover, this desk doubled up as my dressing table with ample room to layout all of my products and brushes. 

Wow, even now I love looking back at the views we had. I couldn't stop watching the clock whenever we were in our room and actually took about 20 photos with the sky changing throughout. 

The bathroom definitely didn't disappoint. I'm not even ashamed to admit that during 26 hours, I took two baths and  two showers. Not because I was dirty but because I could. 

As you can see by the colour of the bath water, I even made a trip to Lush to pick up a couple of bath bombs: one for each afternoon. 

Plus, the room came with complimentary smellies and bath robes for us to use too.

...

Overall, it was a fantastic treat and there's no doubt that we will be back again. 

See you soon St Pauls Mecure, Sheffield

Krissie

x