Champagne

The last evening before we go and a bottle of champagne later so tonight's post is about that.

When we came back from travelling last time we happened to be drinking a bottle of champagne on the evening of a full moon.  We agreed that we didn't drink enough champagne and on that day decided that we would have a bottle on every full moon.  We have done that for the last ten years and have the corks to prove it.

Our preferred champagne for these occasions is Laurent Perrier.  This year is their 200th Anniversary as the house was founded in 1812.

If we could afford it we would buy the pink champagne whenever we could,  but we save that for special occasions and look forward to drinking some when we return.

Hummerbeck Summer sec

So tonight's smile - Nick has just invented a cocktail for a sunny evening in Hummerbeck - A Hummerbeck Summer Sec.  The recipe, which it might be impossible to replicate - one splosh Midori, one splosh Crème de Cassis, one splosh Strawberry Vodka and one splosh Crème de Banane topped up with Tonic water in a highball glass. (Nick says part/jigger/splosh/ etc are interchangeable so make your own decisions on that...)  Just missing a mix of chopped up fruit/ cucumber/mint etc etc as you like.

Bread

Speaks for itself really:

La Rosa Hotel and Campsite

I first came across La Rosa in an article in a Yorkshire lifestyle magazine that I read while at the Turkish Baths in Harrogate that first time for Iona's birthday.

The article described the campsite that had been set up in the Yorkshire Moors National Park near Whitby and the pictures showed a quirky, colourful and whcky place that I immediately wanted to visit, but then I was diagnosed and everything was put on hold.  When I started getting better I needed something to look forward to and even though I was still having chemo I arranged for Nick and I to stay at the campsite in one of the caravans and discovered that they had also opened a hotel on the cliff in Whitby. 

We arranged to stay there as well, in the La Rosa room with its huge window looking out across the harbour to Whitby Abbey on the opposite cliff.

The style of each room is individual and La Rosa was all about swans and roses. It made us smile straight away. The key was wonderful, the mirror spectacular and the bedclothes decadent. In the morning there wasn't a conventional breakfast, rather we had a basket delivered to the door with hot cheese scones and the wherewithal to make coffee.

The hotel also has a tea room which can be used by anyone.  It was the firs time I had come across glitter on cakes.  Same ecclectic style with plenty to fill up your eyes while scoffing your cake.

Then a couple of days later we moved to the campsite and the Tinkers van:

Loved the compost loo in the gypsy caravan.  Singing was the way to warn people you were in there.  The shower barn with the double shower and wind up gramaphone was also wonderful, especially with the candles.  We didn't get to try the outside bath, while looking at the stars but that could be  for a different time.  We did love the odd bits and pieces in the trees, the lights up the pathways and the dressing up tent.