SHOPPING: Northampton

While obviously not in the same league as a trip to Cheshire Oaks, Northampton does have a lot of shopping opportunities. On this trip we barely scratched the surface, calling as we did at a six stores. Four of these were at the Nene Valley Retail Park, where we secured (among other things) a trio of tea/sugar/coffee jars and a huge scratching post for Cleo. We then ventured out to Sixfields where we explored the wonders of Lidl (cheap cat litter and chocolate seashells). All in all it was a splendid couple of hours, and with so  much left unvisited it won't be long until we make another visit.

SHOPPING: East Midlands Designer Outlet (Near Nottingham)

As ever with these places, we ended up spending a lot more time here than we thought. Even though this outlet is quite small compared to the Chester one, we still ended up spending well over two hours here. Aside from a very cool pair of Lime/Black Skechers, I also got Rose a lovely little Radley back for her birthday.

MEAL OUT: The Manor House (Quorn)

Our third visit to The Manor House over several years, and the best so far I would say. We were seated by a window in a slightly quieter part of the restaurant, and though the service was a little slow, the food was generally good, albeit Lee's steak was a bit on the rare side. Aside from some dodgy mozzarella cheese, my burger was very nice and my fries even stayed good and hot so I didn't have to inhale them like you sometimes need to. For desert, Rose and I both partook of the excellent sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream, All in all, pretty impressed, though my expectations were quite low to start with.