On Thursday evening we went to some friends for dinner, and it ended up being a rather hilarious evening. Had a new food which I hadn't heard of (to which all my friends were shocked) - coca-cola ham. It was lovely and moist! The guys were extremely enthused by the fact that we spend the evening painting our nails - due to the fact that my friend had been given a gel nail kit. They are holding up extremely well! The best part was when she decided to paint her husbands toe - with what he thought was a pale colour but when he saw it was bright red! For some strange reason we all ended up doing a Weetabix challenge, which I can safely say is disgusting - never try it. We basically raced to eat a dry Weetabix, not a great idea but if you ever try it my recommendation is small mouthfuls :).
I arrived back from my travels this week early - as I had a day off on Friday so myself and the boyfriend had booked a spa day - lovely! So on Thursday evening we went to Worcester and had booked a hotel - The Hadley Bowling Green Inn. What a gem! It was in the middle of nowhere and from the outside just looked like your regular pub, but it had stunning views and when you stepped inside it was extremely modern and they had clearly put a lot of care into the place. An extremely reasonable price, which included breakfast (which was delish - I felt extremely American ordering bacon, waffles and syrup!) for a deluxe room which was probably bigger than my entire flat! The only downside was no air con, which I've come to expect in hotels now but that didn't let it down too much.
That evening we went to dinner at The Olive Branch in Worcester, as recommended on Trip Advisor (one of our 'go to' apps). The service was quite slow, but other than that it was lovely. We shared bread and oils to start - which came with your own bottles of oils to add to when needed. Then went for tapas which we shared, including; Polpette (meatballs), paella, chorizo, patatas bravas, their own take on Spanish omelette and haloumi. The food was quite rich, but lovely all the same and I was full to a perfect level at the end. Prices were around £6 per dish - and we shared a jug of extremely yummy Sangria too, so all in all the meal came to just over £50, not too bad considering we had no vouchers! (And I am the voucher queen). I would most certainly recommend it, lovely atmosphere, great food. Definitely don't go there if you are in a rush.
After our lovely evening out and night in the hotel we headed to The Malvern Spa, for an offer which included a day at the spa, massage each, drinks on arrival and lunch. It was a great deal, and my first ever spa day. The spa itself was perfectly relaxing, despite the fact that it's on an industrial estate do not let that fool you. They have an indoor to outdoor pool (I got a little excited about going through the flaps from one to the other), state of the art gym (which, yes, I did use, pat on the back for me) a lovely brasserie and treatment rooms. But my favourite place in the entire spa was by far the relaxation room! It was the sort of place I wanted my bedroom to look like, and it did exactly as it said on the tin. We both went for our full body massage, which was incredible, the girl who did mine had magic hands (what is the etiquette though - do you talk to them or are you supposed to be quiet?!) Then we were sent there afterwards to relax. And boy did I relax, we had our massages at the end of the day which was the perfect way to do it, as we ended in the relaxation room and gained an extra half an hour (people were thrown out at 5.30 from the spa, but because our treatments finished then we had until 6 to use the room). Another highlight of my day was the changing rooms, not only did they have hair dryers, but also curling tongs and straighteners! I can't wait for the day when that becomes the norm in all gyms and hotels how much lighter my bag will be.
My only qualms would be the guy serving in the outside bar - he was extremely unfriendly which is not ideal in a customer facing environment, and everytime somebody went to the bar for a drink he seemed to say, "oh sorry I've not got any out here, you'll have to go inside" (you would think he'd take the initiative and go inside and get it for you). And in the afternoon I had a hot chocolate which was to die for, and a brownie. Brownies a tricky one to please with me, as my stepmum makes the best brownies (Hazel's brownies - it should be a thing!) and having been given her secret recipe I can now make them almost as well as her. Therefore I'm difficult to please. The brownies were okay, but a bit too dark and not moist enough.
All in all I would say it's a great location, extremely friendly staff and reasonable offers, definitely somewhere to check out if your looking for a spa day!!
SD (sweet dreams)
Paigey x
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