A GIRLS NIGHT OUT AT THE IVY!

Last night Kirsten Butler (aka The Little Wedding Helper), Emma Norton and I had a fabulous girls night out at The Ivy Clifton Brasserie.

I've always wanted to eat at The Ivy in London but it's still on my 'wish' list so I was very excited to see whether Bristol's newest addition to it's thriving restaurant scene would live up to my expectations.

In the heart of Clifton Village, the restaurant is based in the old Bank building on Caledonia Place.  The entrance is quite impressive but it's the inside that has the real 'Wow' factor.  With lots of beautiful dark wood, amazing Art Deco light fixtures and a stunning bar area, it's really quite breathtaking when you walk in.  

I have to mention the staff - all immaculately dressed, they were welcoming, friendly and attentive and I was really impressed that every member of staff who dealt with us seemed to know who was having which dish at our table.

We all started with a cocktail and I had the beautiful 'Lavender Lady' which was delicious with quite a delicate flavour.

The menu is really extensive and we loved the fact that along with some unusual dishes there were also some great comfort dishes like their signature hamburger and fish and chips.  Our starters were superb - I had one of my all time favourites, the classic Prawn Cocktail, and was really pleased that it was fresh with a great tomato flavour - not at all sickly or over creamy, but my companions' dishes looked wonderful too, with Kirsten choosing the seared scallops and Emma the Mozzarella di Bufala - which I think I want to try next time!  The ladies decided on steak and fat chips and I went for one of the days specials which was two different types of lamb, incredibly tender and tasty.

In the past I've not been able to resist the dessert menu but these days I find that so many things are too sweet or sickly that it takes a really good pudding to tempt me but I have to say EVERYTHING on the dessert menu appealed to me.  I was a bit worried as Kirsten and Emma chose the Creme Brûlée which is one of my ultimate favourites and I thought I was going to be jealous but I HAD to try the Chocolate Bombe with an ice cream centre and warm salted caramel sauce, which our waitress poured over the Bombe.  I can happily report that it was divine!  Our only regret was that Kirsten didn't video it melting under the sauce.  All washed down with a delicate bottle of rose and finished off with coffee.

We all felt it was a real dining experience - wonderful surroundings, great service and a fabulous menu, beautifully cooked and presented!

We ate in a room off the main dining area, which we all thought would be wonderful for a smaller wedding party as it had a garden area too and the whole experience was really rather special.

It's also worth mentioning that they serve afternoon tea so once you've done your wedding dress shopping you could pop in to rest your weary feet and treat yourselves!

I'll definitely be going back - hopefully might surprise my husband and treat him for a special occasion!

HEARTFELT VINTAGE - THE WHOLE VINTAGE PACKAGE IN ONE BEAUTIFUL SPACE!

If you haven't yet discovered Heartfelt Vintage then I guarantee you're about to fall in love!  This Clifton gem is home to a lovingly curated collection of beautiful vintage outfits from hand-stitched Edwardian silk dresses through to gorgeous 1950's cocktail numbers, including some stunning vintage wedding dresses.  We can't wait to see what they'll be bringing to this year's Wedding Fair!

While you're shopping, you can also rest up and have a cup of tea and a delicious snack from their extensive menu - or make a real event of it and book a table for one of their sumptuous hand-made afternoon teas! 

But it doesn't stop there, as Heartfelt also provide vintage hen party packages where you can choose from a vintage makeover to photo shoots, fascinator making or afternoon tea with live music.  For all vintage enthusiasts out there they also hold The Sunday Sessions - afternoon tea accompanied by live music from some of the best vintage inspired musicians around!  AND they're just about to launch a supper club!  So if you haven't visited yet, get your glad rags on and give them a visit - you won't be disappointed!

1950s brocade dress with red velvet fascinator
Venue: Goldbrick House; Photographer: Bristol Contemporary Photography; 
Hair & Fascinators: Able Mabel; Make-up: Claire Clark; Flowers: Emerald & Jade;
Dresses & Accessories: Heartfelt Vintage

Venue: Goldbrick House; Photographer: Bristol Contemporary Photography;
Hair & Fascinators: Able Mabel; Make-up: Claire Clark; Flowers: Emerald & Jade;
Dresses & Accessories: 1920s satin dress with original veil - Heartfelt Vintage

Venue: Goldbrick House; Photographer: Bristol Contemporary Photography;
Hair & Fascinators: Able Mabel; Make-up: Claire Clark; Flowers: Emerald & Jade;
Dresses & Accessories: 1930s satin bias cut dress - Heartfelt Vintage

Venue: Goldbrick House; Photographer: Bristol Contemporary Photography;
Hair & Fascinators: Able Mabel; Make-up: Claire Clark; Flowers: Emerald & Jade;
Dresses & Accessories: 1950s satin, diamante & tulle dress - Heartfelt Vintage

Venue: Goldbrick House; Photographer: Bristol Contemporary Photography;
Hair & Fascinators: Able Mabel; Make-up: Claire Clark; Flowers: Emerald & Jade;
Dresses & Accessories: 1980s does 1920s lace dress with handkerchief - Heartfelt Vintage

Photographer: John Barwood Photography; Hair & Makeup: Claire Clark;

Dress: 1950s Lace tea length dress; Headpiece: 1950s

Photographer: John Barwood Photography; Hair & Makeup: Claire Clark;

Dress: 1970s Edwardian repro lace dress - Heartfelt Vintage; Flower Crown: Heartfelt Flowers

Heartfelt Vintage

Email: heartfeltvintageltd@gmail.com

Tel:  0117 904 2898

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THE BRISTOL MARRIOTT ROYAL HOTEL - A UNIQUE WEDDING VENUE IN THE HEART OF BRISTOL!

I recently had the great pleasure of sharing a lovely lunch with Sue Sullivan, the Wedding Co-ordinator at The Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel and took the opportunity to chat to Sue about what this beautiful venue has to offer brides and grooms.

Like many of us in Bristol, I regularly walk past this landmark hotel on College Green and I  have enjoyed afternoon tea in one of the classic lounges but I had no idea just how much this four star hotel can provide for wedding couples.  

The Bristol Marriott Royal is licensed for traditional and civil ceremonies and can cater for everything from small informal ceremonies up to 264 people, with a range of rooms from the calm oasis of the Palm Court, the Art Deco Palm Bar and Walter's Restaurant or a small private dining room.  They offer special rates for you and your guests to stay at the hotel including use of the spa and the Romanesque floodlit pool as well as a hair and beauty salon - so you and your guests have everything you need to just kick back, relax and enjoy your day!

However, what's really special is the unique service Sue and the team offer to couples holding their wedding at the hotel.  Sue has worked at the Bristol Royal Marriott for 11 years, the last 8 as the hotel's Certified Wedding Co-ordinator and her lovely relaxed exterior hides the fact that she has dealt with every wedding situation imaginable and is pretty much unflappable.  What's more this lady loves weddings and is passionate about making your day really special and unique to you.  

From the minute you choose the Bristol Royal Marriott as the venue for your big day you will feel totally looked after.  Your accommodation will be booked and approximately 10-12 weeks before your wedding day you will be invited to your menu tasting and have an opportunity to see another wedding set up.  The hotel is particularly proud of its catering  with everything cooked and prepared in-house, fresh for the party and they have some delicious packages from an elegant afternoon tea, to canapés, a classic wedding breakfast, a vegetarian menu, even a children's menu and lots more.  There really is something for every taste.

Approximately 6-8 weeks before your wedding, Sue will meet with you to go through all the final details for the day.   At this point a time line and running order will be drawn up, the menu and drinks decided on, and everything you can think of covered including entertainment, room set-up, table decorations and flowers.

Two weeks prior to your big day you will meet the Chef & Banqueting Manager who is your dedicated contact for the day and point of contact for any external suppliers such as your florist, the cake caterers and photographers.  They will ensure the guests know where they should be on the day, will give any Toastmaster speeches if needed, and make sure the room will be set up exactly as you want.

What really impressed me is Sue's dedication to her job and her couples - she tries to make sure she is there on the day and at the ceremony and to say goodbye before you leave - it really is a truly personal service.  In addition, the Bristol Royal Marriott offers numerous different packages to cover everything you could conceivably need.

Add to this the central location and speedy access to Bristol Airport, so you can whisk yourselves off to your honeymoon destination, along with extra discounts for Sunday and Friday weddings and it's pretty much the perfect wedding venue.  On top of which, the hotel even offers you dinner for 2 on your first anniversary - what could be more perfect!

BRISTOL VINTAGE - MAKING THE WORLD MORE GLAMOROUS CUP BY CUP!

When Katie and I started the business nearly 8 years ago, little did we know how it would grow!  Starting off with afternoon tea crockery, we just couldn't stop collecting and are now able to supply full tea and dinner crockery for over 120 people!

We are completely addicted to vintage and select every piece ourselves.  If we don't love it, it's not in our collection. 

As we are total magpies, we now also have a large collection of props, including picnic hampers, suitcases, our vintage bicycles, Mabel, Albert & Rose, vintage sledges, typewriters, rugs, stepladders ... in fact we can sometimes source specific items for you!

We love helping you set up and style your wedding or just hire out the props and extras so you can do it yourself.  We can even provide a full waitress service and work with caterers to supply full afternoon tea or just scones and cakes.

If you're having a retro party, we have a large selection of Babycham glasses as well as lots of quirky ornaments, cameras, books and smaller items.

We have jugs, teapots and fishboxes which can all be filled with beautiful flowers ...

 ... and we're particularly proud of our collection of vintage wind-up picnic gramophones. We're even unveiling a new gramophone at the fair!

Our latest addition is a 'photo wall' which we'll be showing off for the first time at the fair as well.  So do come and say hello - the fair is our way of sharing all the vintage love that's out there so we hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do!  See you on Sunday! xx

OX PASTURE HALL - A PERFECT 'VINTAGE' VENUE!

My great passion in life is travel - abroad and in the UK - finding new places and spreading the word.  Because of that passion I've also come to love a good hotel.  I used to be happy (and occasionally still am in the warm weather) with a sleeping bag and a tent but these days you'll more often find me looking for something a bit special - boutique hotels and beautiful places to stay with all mod cons and that little bit extra something.

We were recently lucky enough to spend a night at Ox Pasture Hall, near Scarborough  in beautiful North Yorkshire and I can honestly say, it was one of the loveliest places we've stayed in a long while! We turned up after a difficult weekend - initially cancelling and then rebooking, which didn't phase Lynsey on reception just one bit. She took it all in her stride and welcomed us with kind words and open arms, including our dogs in the very warm welcome and going the extra mile by serving our afternoon tea in our room so we could have a bit of quiet time.

The tea itself was superb - lovely fresh sandwiches (with their crusts cut off as is traditional!), a selection of gorgeous cakes including lots of yummy chocolate but also an AMAZING mini mango tart (fortunately there were two of everything or there could have been a fight!) and two enormous scones with a very generous pot of cream as well as jam and butter!  All this on top of being slightly overwhelmed by the size of our suite, which was, quite frankly, almost as big as the downstairs of our house!  The decor was really soothing - sand coloured with cream and sage linen and curtains and beautiful honey coloured wood.  We had an enormous lounge with a great sound system, TV, dining table and very comfy sofa, a bedroom with a huge bed (and second TV - luxury!), and a superb luxury marble bathroom with THE most amazing taps on the bath and sink as well as a wet-room type shower!  Nothing had been missed, with lots of extra touches - a fan for summer, heater for winter and lovely bath robes for after your soak!

We needed a pet friendly hotel as we were accompanied by our two Scottie dogs.  Lots of hotels say they accept dogs but this one genuinely loves them.  All the staff make a fuss of them and we were  seated in an area of the Bistro with extra space for dogs.  There's a lounge area next to the bistro with an open fire and, in fact the only place our pooches couldn't go was the restaurant.  Not only that, but, as the hotel is located in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park and only two miles from Scarborough, there are moorlands, woods and beaches galore to walk your four legged friends!  The beauty of our suite was that it backed onto a lake owned by the hotel as well as having a courtyard at the front where they could run out for a quick night-time walk.

It's hard to describe how peaceful Ox Pasture Hall is.  Surrounded by fields, we woke to the sound of bleating sheep just outside our window.  Lynsey and Shaun, the owners, are completely in tune with this and have set up benches and seating areas around the grounds - perfect for reading or just contemplating the landscape.  There are lots of  little touches throughout the hotel like this, which show just how much thought they have put into it.

We were looking forward to dinner but hadn't really taken on board what a reputation the hotel has for being one of the best restaurants in the Scarborough area. The head chef is renowned for cooking fabulous food and the modern creative menus are packed with local and regional produce showcasing the best of Yorkshire food and we were blown away by our meal.  We both loved our choices but my salmon with horseradish ice-cream starter was out of this world and I think my duck leg was probably the best I'd ever had.  I was determined to resist dessert but Jason, who was looking after us, brought two spoons for Cookie's Caribbean Cocktail, including creamy mango rice pudding, coconut pannacotta, passion fruit sorbet and pina colada - dreamy!  

Obviously, I was also looking at Ox Pasture in terms of a wedding venue and I think it's pretty perfect.  Set in 17 acres of secluded grounds with stunning panoramic views of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, the hotel can cater for almost any type of wedding from large, exclusive use; Asian and multicultural weddings; outdoor nuptials; evening receptions and small intimate affairs including civil partnerships and wedding vow renewals.  The venue also lends itself to seasonally themed weddings - think winter snow or spring flowers.  What I love is that the hotel has lots of character areas but also some barn-like rooms which are perfect for decorating in whatever style and colour you choose (I couldn't help but picture Mabel, our vintage bike, sat outside in the courtyard).  There are several courtyards with fountains - perfect for photographs and, in fact, you can take a look at their wedding gallery for inspiration but here's a peek at a few past weddings.

If you're looking for a venue in beautiful surroundings, with amazing food, friendly staff who go that extra mile and will help make your day really special, as well as incredibly comfortable accommodation and a fabulous 'morning after' breakfast I really think it's you couldn't ask for more.

We left the next morning feeling properly rested after a great night's sleep on a wonderfully comfortable (and enormous!) bed.  My only grumble was that we couldn't stay another night!

We made a 10 minute detour into Scarborough (where I spent many happy childhood summer holidays) for a walk on the beach before heading off back down the motorway and back into the 'real' world.  I've already recommended Ox Pasture Hall to a couple of friends who are looking for a break from the rat race and it's definitely on our 'return' list. 

I'd love to hear from anyone who gets married there - I think it would be pretty darn magical!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING ...

Today I received my long-awaited book order through the post and it occurred to me that it would be a perfect Christmas present for anyone who loves Bristol Vintage so I thought I'd write a quick post to let you know about it in time for Christmas ordering!

To give you a bit of background, several years ago I read about someone who was putting on a 'market' in her flat in London.  I was intrigued, signed up and that's how I met Kerstin Rodgers, aka Ms Marmite Lover.  I loved her instantly - she is one of those people with a big personality - fun, feisty, bursting with ideas and not afraid to put those ideas into actions.  

At her first market I sold my vintage wares from her bed and shared her bedroom with several fascinating stallholders, including a cocktail bar on her ironing board!  Sadly, she's no longer able to hold the at-home markets, but her last 'night market' will be one of my enduring Bristol Vintage memories - I was based in her gorgeous garden shed-cum-guest room, surrounded by fantastic-smelling food stalls and a piano-accordionist playing Radiohead's 'Creep' with barely a free inch to breathe, the evening was so popular- a surreal, fun and inspiring night to remember!

Kerstin launched the supper club/pop up/underground movement in the UK in 2009 with The Underground Restaurant and her Find A Supper Club website is the major online resource for supper clubs to advertise their dates and locations.

Her first book 'Supper Club: Recipes and notes from the underground restaurant' is one of my favourite recipe books (and, according to my husband I have far too many!) and has proved a really popular gift amongst my friends.  It's also stunningly beautiful, fabulously innovative and the sort of book I like to just sit and read in the evening.

My copy of Ms Marmite Lover's Secret Tea Party arrived this morning and immediately fell open on one of my all time favourite sweet treats - Pasteis de Belem (Portuguese Custard Tarts). I'm ashamed to say that, what was supposed to be a productive afternoon working, has ended up with me salivating over glorious photographs of divine afternoon tea recipes, from the obligatory Marmite Sandwiches, through fabulously simple Olive Oil & Chocolate Crostini, naughty Magic Meringue Mushrooms to the wonderful Outrageous Multi-tiered Raspberry Pavlova as well as teatime cocktails!  Including tips on furnishing and setting the table, making your own cake stands and reading tea leaves, the result is another beautiful, imaginative, inspiring cook book that anyone who loves cooking, baking AND eating will adore!

Right - had better get back to work ... but think I'll just make a Ginger Hot Chocolate to keep me going!