5 Things Friday
From press days to holidays and everything inbetween; it has been a fun-packed week!
It’s Monday and I’m writing this as we speed up the M5 heading towards Yorkshire and home after a long weekend away. I say speed, it’s actually more of a stop and start but that doesn’t sound as poetic. It’s my first week of officially not being a teacher. It feels a little odd to not be joining my colleagues on the inset day today. Until now I’ve been going through the motions as though it was the school holidays, and it hasn't really crossed my mind that much (mostly because we’ve had so many other things going on this summer, but that’s another story!). Last night I worked out that I've spent thirty years living life around an academic year - September is harvest, December is nativity play, January is exhausting and any holidays have to fit around school term times. It all feels quite freeing and a little bit naughty that I’m just doing as I please on a Monday in September! This week has been quite a busy one. Let’s kick off with my weekend away.
1. A long weekend in Torquay
I’ll be the first to admit that I will normally take a foreign holiday over a UK destination any day, but having had 2 nights in Torquay I’m feeling pretty revived. We made the decision only the week before that some sea air would be nice. We weren’t happy to leave Teddy, our beloved Vizlador, at home as he now needs watching 24/7 due to a tail injury (that’s another story… this summer has really been fun, fun, fun!). A quick Google, and filtering to pet-friendly venues on Booking.com, and we had 2 nights in Muntham Luxury Apartments booked. We chose the superior apartment, with a small kitchen, lounge, bedroom and bathroom. The owners were lovely; warmly welcomed us and left us to it, which is how I like it. My granny lived in Torquay so I have lots of childhood memories of beach holidays here, and we pretty much had decided that whatever the weather it was going to be a weekend of long dog walks and fish & chips, and I was determined to get a sea swim in too. If you fancy a little getaway then I can recommend the following.
Meadfoot Beach - A pebbly beach away from the touristy part of Torquay. The beach is quite small but never busy, most visitors are locals who own the little beach huts on the upper platform. The cafe is excellent and a few nights a week it is open for pizza nights. There’s a car park and clean toilets! I braved a sea swim here and much to my delight was joined by a seal bobbing up and down in the waves. Definitely the highlight of the weekend for me.
Walk along the South West Coastal Path - Beautiful scenery around every corner as you walk through the little villages and towns that lie on the coastal path. We walked from Meadfoot Beach to Babbacombe which takes in Anstey Cove. You can walk all the way down to Cornwall on the path but we stopped and turned round when we got to the little seaside town of Babbacombe. We also walked the opposite way from Meadfoot into Torquay for dinner on both evenings. The path is fairly hilly (my calves knew about the 60k steps we walked over the weekend), but well maintained throughout.
Visit Ansteys Cove - One of my favourite little coves in Torquay and it was also a childhood favourite of Agatha Christie. The cove has steep steps down to a little beach and platform with a cafe, where you can get everything from a fabulous mug of tea and slice of apple cinnamon cake to a full English breakfast…we had both! It closes at 5pm. I never understand why most tea shops close at 4pm, surely that’s cup of tea time!
Torquay Marina - Like most British seaside towns, a few years ago Torquay looked like it was past it's best, but in the last decade or so there has been big regeneration in the area. It still has all the beautiful Art Deco buildings that made this the centre of the English Riveria during the Victorian period, many of which are or have been restored and the Marina has a modern feel now with lots of good restaurants. If you do visit you must try the fish & chips. Our favourite is the award winning Saltwater restaurant.
2. The Autumn Hues are arriving
I took advantage of a few spare hours between press days while I was in London to have a look around the shops. Autumn is full on now in all the stores and I love it. Print-wise, it’s all about leopard this season - it was everywhere and mostly paired with red, (this Cos jumper is on my wishlist). On the high street, M&S has the best offering in my opinion. I love this dress and these ballerina pumps are sure to sell out.
Apart from leopard print, the other stand-out feature of AW24 for me is all the wonderful autumn colours that are trending this season. Autumn has always been about this colour palette but it seems to be particularly prominent this season. All the designer fashion shows showcased khaki, olive green and burgundy and, thankfully, that’s trickled down onto the high street. I now count browns, beiges and creams as my favourite neutrals, but I’ll be adding in the richness of greens and dark reds through sweaters and accessories.
What’s next? My favourite items from the AW press days, including the must-have suede loafers and coat from a favourite high street store; this season’s best autumn bags; and my new favourite lipsticks. To unlock all this, please consider becoming a paid subscriber! For just under £1/week you’ll have access to all my travel archives, reviews, fashion and beauty, styling and much more!