Christmas in Bournemouth
A weekend away without the children might seem like a treat in itself but a child-free weekend staying in a sumptous room in a fantastic hotel overlooking the sea was a real luxury.We were staying in the Highcliffe Marriott Hotel in Bournemouth and were there to do some serious relaxing and a bit of Christmas shopping. We checked in at lunchtime and after dropping our various bags in the room, whizzed straight out into the town to make the most of the day. The beauty of The Marriott is that we were within walking distance of everything. We made a bee-line for the traditional Christmas Market in the Town Centre Square. The atmosphere was fabulous and it was genuinely the first time this year I've felt really Christmassy. I suppose the glass or two of Gluhwein listening to an absolutely brilliant live band helped to put me in a nice mellow mood. Usually, Christmas shopping is incredibly stressful but I have to say that I was feeling about as 'chilled' as you could get whilst browsing around the various wooden chalet stalls in the German Christmas Market. There were some lovely stalls selling hand-made, traditional wooden children's toys and unlike in many craft fairs, the prices were really reasonable. They even made up stockings for boys and girls of whatever age you asked for. They were selling like hot cakes so I'm not the only one who was impressed. Talking of food, there were stalls selling hot chestnuts and German sausages amongst the almost mandatory hot sugar-coated roasted nuts...mmmmm! I ended up buying a lovely top which would have cost around the £25 mark in Top Shop for only £12 and I bought a stocking filler purse from the same stall - all for my 14 year old daughter Megan. The stall selling various hand-crafted wood items was my next port of call where I ended up buying an amazing one-off jewellery box for the masses of jewelery Maddie,16, has accumulated recently!
The Christmas Market is smack bang in the middle of the town in Bournemouth and near absolutely everything. So once I'd finished stocking up on some gorgeous, wood and red Christmas tree decorations made by some very clever craftsman from the Schwarzwald, it was off up to Next and M&S to do the 'Xmas slippers for mum' run! The Bournemouth Marks and Spencer is apparently their first ecological store - am not entirely sure what that means but it was certainly very Christmassy in there. One of the things I liked about the Bournemouth 'shopping experience' (as my shopping-hating other half likes to call it) was the fact that alongside all the usual big brand stores were some fab quirky boutique shops. So many high streets are clones of each other nowadays that it makes a refreshing change to find one-offs in amongst the likes of Debenhams and Boots.
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One of the real highlights of the weekend though, (apart from seeing Rhydian trounce the other contestants on The X-Factor yet again) had to be the High Tea we treated ourselves to in The Print Room on Richmond Hill. It says on their website that 'The Print Room Restaurant and Grand Cafe bring a classic brasserie experience to the South Coast.' As I said, we went for the Afternoon Tea but in amongst us, people were indulging in the delights of the Charcuterie, dabbling with the anti-pasti and nibbling at fragrant olives. I couldn't stop myself from constantly looking up at the amazing, glistening chandeliers, the entire time I was in there. How on earth, they keep them so sparkly clean and twinkly, I don't know! High Tea in the stunning Art-Deco room, consisted of home-baked scones with the obligatory clotted cream, lady-like finger sarnies and a host of miniature pastries from their own patisserie. I indulged in a pot of Earl Grey and Mr. C went for the Ceylon.....there were numerous other possibilities. I confess, we also had a glass of champagne with our tea ( I know, I know....I'd already had mulled wine earlier.....smacked wrist Kathryn for being so self-indulgent!). Thing is, it just felt so right to go the whole hog in such a grand old building. I can imagine that candle-lit evenings in The Print Room with a pianist tinkling the ivories (brand new and a very shiny black) would be quite perfect.
By the time, we left, it was already dark outside and although we'd intended going to Aruba, on the sea-front, in the evening for the much-recommended cocktails, we actually stayed in our hotel room, completely sated by our High Tea and enjoying the precious child-free silence. Ahhhh bliss! After this weekend, I predict a Spring Break in Bournemouth at the very least.
For more information see
www.bournemouth.co.uk
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