Hello hello! You may remember a little while back that myself and my wee mam were down in Wales to celebrate her birthday, so today's post is allll about that. I will warn you that it revolves mainly around food, so just make sure you're either a) not hungry or b) have a snack at hand when you're reading it.
We stayed at the Celtic Manor resort which was absolutely beautiful (by the way, everything I'm saying here you have to read in a Welsh accent. Deal?). We were very lucky with the weather, so when we arrived it just looked so lovely and welcoming with it's little red bonneted balconies and big high windows. We were both starving so headed out to sit and have some lunch in the sun with some rather spectacular views of the Welsh countryside. Beautiful innit!
Look at that wonderful little face. I'm not allowed to say her age but all I'll say is that is if I look anywhere near as good as that on my 21st (double that and add ten - sorry Mum) then I will be the happiest bunny out there. After a good wander through the hotel and some chill time in the room we headed to The Grill restaurant for some celebratory drinks and a very, very delicious chicken dish. They're really good with gluten free here (they even have GF burgers that come with buns that don't actually taste like shit, huzzah!) so that's one to keep in mind. After that we headed into the centre of Newport to see Paolo Nutini, but the less said about that the better (because I might weep).
The next morning we got up to a lovely breakfast in the room, which they set up right at the window overlooking the golf course, and then took ourselves downstairs for - you guessed it - more food. This time in the form of their delicious Summer Berry afternoon tea! Look how happy she is at the prospect of more food.
It was gluten free (hence why I'm gesturing extravagantly at it) and they try their best to match it to the normal one so you don't feel like you're missing out! We spent a very, verrrry long time down here chatting and eating and bloating and eating some more, before we headed for a massage down at their amazing spa. I know, full tum plus massage isn't the cleverest idea but it was lovely, and b-e-a-utifully relaxing.
That evening we went to Epicure for my Mum's official birthday meal, which was definitely the highlight of the stay for me. I went for the 6 course tasting menu (do it - the more courses the better I say) and we had some truly delicious cocktails to sip on between meals. I say sip, it was a lot more like glug, but it's nice to sound ladylike. The staff were all incredibly lovely, and at the end of the meal they came over with a surprise Happy Birthday dessert for me Mam which was just the loveliest thing. She definitely almost did it a little cry.
The next morning we'd planned to go into Newport and explore, but we loved the hotel so much that we decided to stay there instead, so planted ourselves in the sun up at The Grill (which has a lovely view of the golf course). We literally just spent the entire afternoon there, eating crabfish burgers and fries and topping up our t-shirt tans. Which, by the way, I still haven't got rid of.
Amy
Thank you so much to The Celtic Manor for such a wonderful stay! I honestly couldn't recommend it more (as you can probably tell)
