Hello Happy Bunny

For the weekend, I met with some friends and travelled to Cotherstone. We started off at Cross Lanes Organic farm, Barnard Castle, which runs a farm shop with local and organic produce and a cafe using local ingredients. The menu has a wide range of items, including a pizza menu where the pizza are cooked in a wood fired oven. We shared an Italian Pizza, Breakfast Pizza and a Chicken Tarragon Pizza. I didn’t believe this at first when a friend told me, but there are sheep on the roof! One side of the roof is covered with grass for the sheep. I have never seen anything like it before… Later on, we drove to High Force, the largest waterfall in England. They normally close the area at 5pm but we made it in time! It is very beautiful and calming. We finished off the evening with dinner at the Fox and Hounds pub in Cotherstone, which was just opposite the cottage we were staying at. We arrived at 8pm only to be told that due to two large parties being booked there, it would...

So I have come to the end of my Edinburgh blog posts! As a treat, here are a few more photos I took around the city. This gold post box was installed here to celebrate Sir Chris Hoy’s gold medal victory in the Olympics, Hunter Square This strange fellow was hanging around near Edinburgh Castle The World Famous Frankenstein For dinner, we went to Frankie and Benny’s. Bacon Cheeseburger with chips and tomato relish Woo Woo Just plain and simple coffee. Slurp. A bunny who sneaked into the antelope section at Edinburgh Zoo We went back to Frankie and Benny’s for breakfast on the last day. This is the Lighter Breakfast. A view of Edinburgh Castle Bagpipe player – you will see a lot of them in the city! Jenners department store Scottish National Gallery This is a still from a video I took of a man playing bagpipes…with fire! Edinburgh Fringe Society – I like the quirky decorations! Monument Art Scottish Parliament Building –...

After spending most of the morning at Edinburgh Zoo, we were very hungry. Having looked at places to take afternoon tea, The Dome really stood out for me. The building is very impressive from the outside, and looking inside, it is even more beautiful. There are many floors dedicated to different occasions. For afternoon tea, we went to the Georgian Tea room, and this was the view looking down. We received a warm welcome from the host. Afternoon tea is served from 11am to 4pm at a cost of around £18 per head. It consists of a selection of cakes (we had white chocolate eclair, chocolate mousse, and a white chocolate orange tart), a choice of fruit or plain scone with jam and cream, and a selection of sandwiches (egg mayonnaise, smoked salmon and cucumber, beef and horseradish and ham and mustard), as well as tea or coffee. I think it was a good value afternoon tea, and I was very full at the end. The waiters were very friendly. My only criticism is that I would have like to se...

The Elephant House is most famous for its literary significance. This is where JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books and Ian Rankin is said to have frequented here – he even mentions it in his novels. The Elephant House serves hot food, cakes and coffee all day and attracts many locals and tourists alike. The styling of the interior is quite unique – the tables and chairs are not what you would find in a typical cafe. In my table was a chest of drawers which contained notes and letters from past customers. There are a lot of elephants (obvious if you look at the name) – models, posters, chairs, books…Also, there is a display case with photos of JK Rowling and a signed copy of Harry Potter in another display cabinet.   Having read reviews online, the hot chocolates are a speciality of the The Elephant House, so I decided to try a Banana Bounty. This is hot chocolate with coconut and banana liqueur. The taste is quite surprising – it tastes quite summery. The fruit flavo...