I’ve been dreaming of visiting the Smoky Mountains ever since I first heard Dolly sing “In my Tennessee mountain home…” but none of the songs really do justice to their scale or beauty.
We picked up our rental car and wound our way into the mountains.
We headed to the highest point: Clingman’s Dome
It felt a little like standing on top of the world.
When I could finally tear myself away from that view, we headed back down the mountain and made our way to the edge of the Smokies – to Maggie Valley and Cataloochee Ranch.
When we arrived at the ranch, our lovely hosts fed us enough to put us into a food coma. We awoke the next day to this beautiful view.
After another feast for breakfast, we decide to spend the morning exploring Mingo Falls.
I have been lucky enough to visit some of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world on my travels, and while these didn’t quite match the scale of others, they were by far the prettiest.
After soaking up the beauty of the falls we headed down to the valley floor to a visitor centre and lost ourselves in a little bit of the Mountain’s history.
Before racing back to the ranch for our afternoon activity…
I have been riding since before I could walk, but while I’ve practised western riding once or twice it isn’t quite the same to experience it in the English countryside.
Riding this beautiful girl through the mountain trails really is something I will never forget.
When I was eleven, I discovered Leanne Rimes (thanks to Coyote Ugly) and Country Music became my guilty pleasure. (Believe me, for a teenager in the UK it was not cool, but I fell in love with it anyway.)
I love almost all genres of music, but Country is the clear favourite.
There isn’t much of a country music scene in the UK, so visiting Nashville has been on my bucket list for a very, very long time… and if you can’t do something special for your 30th birthday when can you??
We rose bright an early on our fist morning in Nashville (very early in fact – thanks jet lag!) and didn’t waist any time heading Downtown. I have been following Kelsey Montague‘s art on Instagram for ages, and literally stumbled into her famous wings not long after we left the hotel.
I think this picture accurately sums up my feelings about being in Nashville for the first time…
Why can’t every city have bike stands in the shape of music notes?
After the obligatory walk down Broadway and a spot of boot-browsing, we decided to head for a lunch time treat with live music.
Yes, it may be a little gimmicky but BB King is a musical legend so how could we not eat here?
We walked off lunch by heading up the hill to look at the State Capitol building.
Which had a great view past the war memorials and across the city.
Not long after this the top end of a hurricane hit Nashville and our afternoon activities were rained off. We retreated to our hotel where the jet lag caught up with us. After a quick snooze, we were refreshed (as was the city) so we headed out to The Station Inn. If you are ever in Nashville and want to hear some of the best live bluegrass go there – the Sunday Night Jam was brilliant. I’m not going to say more than that as it’s really the sort of place you have to experience for yourself.
Day Two dawned almost as bright and early as the first so we headed out to explore some more.
As the weather had perked up a bit we headed to Centennial Park, which is a beautiful oasis of green in the middle of a very concrete-and-glass city. It also happens to be the home of a full-size and to-scale replica of the Parthenon from Ancient Greece…
For reasons that I still can’t wrap my head around, just over 100 years ago the state of Tennessee decided to spend lots of money it didn’t have, building this in the hopes of attracting visitors and boosting the local economy. It now houses an art gallery which sadly was closed on Mondays.
I’ll be completely honest though, Nashville was a bit of a let down during the day. If you aren’t day-drinking on a bachelorette party and/or don’t like country-music-themed-museums you might be a bit stuck for activities. We spent most of our 2nd day wandering aimlessly and doing a little shopping in 12-South.
Another way to pass time in Nashville is by queuing to get in to this famous place:
The concierge at our hotel warned us that people had been known to queue for up to 7 hours for a show at the Bluebird, but we didn’t want to spend all day sat on a wall so we took a chance and arrived just under 3 hours before the first show. Luckily we timed it just right and made it into the singer-songwriter showcase that evening. (Side note – since mu visit, the Bluebird has now started to allow online booking for some shows to eliminate the queues. More info here.)
So that’s another item I can cross off my bucket list!
Last month we took a little time out and headed to Pembrokeshire for a few days R&R.
Driving south we took the scenic route through Snowdonia and along the Pembrokeshire Coast before arriving at our destination: Slebech Park
Slebech really is a haven away from the rest of the world (no mobile signal). The building itself isn’t much to look at, but the converted stable-block rooms are a modern twist on country comfort.
The main thing I loved about Pembrokeshire was that virtually everywhere was dog-friendly and Cali was positively encouraged into every restaurant and shop with us. (It’s a good job the rest of the world isn’t like this or I fear she’d have a terrible shopping habit and I’d have an empty bank account!)
We visited Pembroke Castle on our first day and enjoyed a free guided tour. Followed by a look around the town (and in Cali’s case, a chance to scoff all the yummy biscuits people offered her) and an afternoon on Tenby beach. We ate at the South Beach Bar and Grill while the sun set over the sea outside.
The second day was spent tiring Cali out walking around the Slebech Park estate and later exploring Picton Castle and Gardens. The gardens were the real star there – I’m aware I’ve probable middle-aged myself by saying so, but they were very special.
On our way home we stopped off in the Pembrokeshire National Park and spent a happy couple of hours exploring it on horseback. Later we ate dinner in Aberaeron before heading home.
Two months ago Cali and I took some time out and spent it with family in the Scottish Borders.
We stayed in this house, which is what I would call ‘unusual’ and ‘unique’. It’s extremely spacious which makes it excellent value for money – but (I’ll be honest) not quite to my taste.
The house is not too far from Kelso which is a perfect town for a touristy day out shopping for knick-knacks. It’s also only an hour and a half from the coast. We visited Eyemouth – which has a small but perfectly formed beach and a great coastal walk (past the smugglers bay!)
If you do get chance to visit Eyemouth, I would also recommend this lovely pub.
But the main draw of this house is that it’s very much off the beaten track and the best of the Scottish Borders is right outside your front door – waiting to be explored.
On another note… this post is, as usual, a little late. I’ve been getting into bad blogging habits over the past year and you may have noticed that the number of posts has dwindled a little. I have all the best intentions of remedying that but all is not so simple as it would seem! I’m going to share a little more about my journey over the past year soon, but for now, let’s enjoy Scotland…
Lately, every time I open Instagram, someone I follow is posting pictures from Venice. It’s easy to understand why, as Venice is full of hidden treasures and quirks. I’m exceptionally jealous of anyone visiting for the first time. (I’ve been lucky enough to visit on 2 occasions and I wouldn’t say no to a third trip there!)
The best time to see Venice is early morning – if I could give you one recommendation it’s to get up just after the sun does and go a-wandering.
I’d also tell you to travel via water wherever possible and to make the short trip to the nearby island of Burano – where you will find some of the most beautiful hand-crafted lace you ever laid eyes on.
These insta-adventures have got me reminiscing so I thought I’d share a few pictures from my travels…
Last month we had a short family trip up to Scotland – back to my favourite area on the west coast. We’d decided to travel with 3 dogs in tow so were limited on options for where to stay but struck it lucky with a beautiful rented cottage on the Ardmaddy Estate.
We weren’t quite so lucky with the weather (having arrived in the lead up to ‘Storm Desmond’) but we made the most of the few moments that the sunshine managed to break through the clouds. The Ardmaddy estate is only a few miles from the Isle of Seil – which gave us the perfect opportunity to explore this ruggedly beautiful island.
This is the last post in my Sardinia series. I may have only spent a week there but there was so much to see and do – when I got home and started wading through all the photos I realised how much we’d packed in. If I could do it all again I would go for longer so that I could take a little more time to soak it all up. It really is a little gem of an island.
On my last night on the island, I was really craving Pizza so, on a recommendation, we headed of to ‘Casablanca’ – which must be the cosiest little bistro in the Winter months as the restaurant has gorgeous vaulted ceilings. It was so warm though, that we opted to sit out on the street under the night sky and take in the atmosphere of the Old Town.
Having had such success with our guidebook when looking for somewhere to eat out, we decided to give it another spin for the next day’s activities.
La Pelosa was listed as one of the most spectacular beaches on the island so we headed over to it. Unfortunately, everyone else must have thought so too… when we got there you couldn’t see the beach for people. The waters were a stunning colour but the area lacked the tranquility we were craving so after snapping a couple of photos we turned around and headed back to Alghero.
On the hunt for another activity, I remembered reading about Neptune’s Cave and we managed to book ourselves onto the last trip of the day.
Things couldn’t have worked out better – even if we’d planned them. We had a quick bite to eat on shore, then hopped aboard and set sail for the cave. It takes about 40 minutes to reach by sea – and you have to pay extra for the crossing – but it is preferable to walking from the car park, which involves a climb of 654 steps.
The cave itself is roughly 80 million years old. I can never remember which is a stalactite or a stalagmite – but there were a lot of them! The very helpful guide (who spoke 4 languages) told us that only 1% of the cave is still “living” due to reduced rainfall in the area.
Tall folks take note though – there are a lot of low ceilings and things to bang your head on (as demonstrated by the blurry photo lower down)
Alghero may not be the largest place to visit in Sardinia but it’s certainly one of the prettiest.
The old-town is by far the most picturesque part – and can be reached via little archways leading off the harbour. Be warned though – the streets are made up of pebble-stone cobbles and therefore not somewhere you should venture in heels.
On our first night we headed for dinner at Il Pavone – a restaurant the guide book recommended. We got there a little early, which was a blessing as we managed to catch the sun setting over the sea in the harbour – a little bit of pink-tinged magic.
Almost everywhere you go in Sardinia dinner is made up of 4 courses: Antipasti, Starter, Pasta/Risotto course and Dessert. Il Pavone did not disappoint on any level. I’s been owned and run by the same man for decades and he took the trouble to introduce himself to all the diners that evening. The waiter had been there for 25 years and between them they helped us pick the most amazing selection of food. However, our guidebook had advised us to ask for ‘black gelato’ for dessert and it wasn’t on the menu. Nevertheless we asked …and were provided with the most amazing gelato I have ever tasted.
I didn’t take my camera to dinner so unfortunately can’t show you this wonderous dessert on the blog. I did manage to snap a quick picture on my phone so if you follow me on Instagram you’ll be able to see it for yourself.
After our brief stop to explore Castelsardo, we continued on to our next destination.
For the second part of our trip we stayed at the Corte Rosada resort near Alghero. The hotel had a private beach and it was a haven for local wildlife. I spent most of my days here making more fishy friends and pretending to be Dr Dolittle.
Porto Conte itself isn’t more than a few houses grouped along the shore. It has a private harbour – but we got around that by hiring a pedalo so we could go and admire the boats.
Girl In The Pretty Dress 