MEAL OUT: The Castle (Edgefield)

 

After we did the Chocolate Factory escape room in Banbury we headed off in search of 'The Castle' at Edgehill. On the way we passed The Raven which we'd been to a couple of times before and enjoyed, albeit the last time we went there I found the seating very hard on the bottom! 

No such problems at The Castle, no, the main problem there was the lack of car parking. Thank God we arrived early as the place quickly filled up after we took our seats, I have no idea where everyone managed to park their cars! 

One look at the header of this post probably gives you a good idea of what this place is like, classy, with old stone walls and plush seating. Also very nice staff and lovely food too! 

We both had a lovely burger and fries while sitting at probably the best table in the whole place - this was the view we enjoyed during our meal. Cracking! Would definitely go back here another time!

ESCAPE ROOM: Scramm - The Chocolate Factory (Banbury)

 

Another new Escape Room site, this time in Banbury, but another chocolate based room. We did pretty well on this one until the end when we couldn't make head nor tail of the instructions on the wall. A shame really as we had successfully managed to fish the keys out of the case on the wall using bent sticks and also moved another set of keys around a maze using a magnet on the other side of the wall... we just had a couple of steps left to go, but I don't think it would have mattered how long we had to be honest, the last bit was just too confusing. Still it was fun all the same. 

Everards Meadows (Fosse Park)

After a quick visit to Fosse Park today we decided to pop in to the Everards Meadows place and see what it was like. For a weekday in March it was quite busy, but quite alright really. We ended up sitting on high stools next to a big stupid barrel thing, which we wouldn't do again, but overall quite a pleasant experience.

MEAL OUT: The Blue Ball (Braunston)

 

Many, many years ago (actually Jun 2016) we visited The Blue Ball with Lee and Su and really liked it. For some reason though, we never returned, until now. We saw the sign for The Blue Ball every time we went by on the way to One Way Out at Oakham and eventually decided to make the trip and see how it was now.

Well, it was actually very nice. The staff were really friendly, it's a nice atmosphere in there, not too big, not too small, not too crowded, not loud, not too quiet and the food was really nice too! Will definitely go back. I had scampi (with curry sauce for some reason) and Rose had steak and ale pie, with lots and lots of green beans.

For pud we shared a very sickly sticky toffee pudding that was more like a treacle sponge with toffee sauce all over it. Very sweet, but very nice and more than enough for two of us!

ESCAPE ROOM: Brooklands Cup (Daventry)

 

Situated in the premises of 'Daventry Minitature Race Cars' this was a new venue for us and despite a lack of parking (I initially parked next to a skip that seemed to be on fire, and subsequently got blocked in by a Range Rover) it was pretty good. We were slightly handicapped by dropping some acetate sheets on the floor and the fact that we didn't always twig when something we'd done had unlocked something on the other side of the room, but overall it was quite good.

After we did the escape room we had a look around the place at the many Lego builds (including lots of Star Wars ships upstairs) and other models. As ever it was a lot of stuff crammed into not enough space... which is a shame as if displayed better it could be really good. Will probably go back and do the other room at some point. 

FLOWERS

 

SHOPPING: Meadowhall (Sheffield)

Another trip to Meadowhall, and a fairly productive one. Maxine was off work with an eye infection so I went to TAG on my own and briefly saw Gina. Nothing much new but I did see the new blue dial Aquaracer Solargraph (and the pink one) and also the Porsche Carrera Panamericana Tourbillon. Elsewhere in Beaverbrooks I finally caught the new blue and black Formula 1 which was also pretty cool. 

Other than that it was the usual stuff... Lindt, Hotel Chocolat, etc etc... and some earrings from Warren James for Rose's birthday. Also we popped into Holland and Barret, where we bought some nuts on 3 for 2 but for some reason it ended up being 3 for 1, which was even better... 

MEAL OUT: Langton Arms (Church Langton)

 

Another trip to the Langton Arms, this time for Sally's birthday... and a great meal was had by all. Rose had sausages and mash, while I had chicken and leek pie and mash. The pie wasn't huge, but it was big enough, and it didn't have much leek or ham in it, but it was very nice despite that! For pudding Rose and I shared a sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream ice cream.

LEGO: #11 Roses