The Neverland!

"So come with me where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in never never land!" 

Once again my favourite time of year has come around and gone ever so quickly. Every year since 2006 LeeFest has invited local and up and coming bands to play a small festival in Kent. However, what makes this little festival oh so special is that it was created by my neighbour Lee, in his garden when his parents went away for a weekend and told him not to have any house parties. 
So what better idea than to throw a mini festival in your garden. 

I still remember looking over my back fence seeing the amazing atmosphere Lee had created. Ten years and three venues later LeeFest was transformed into The Neverland, which was so fitting with a festival that seems timeless. 

Now this was my third time attending LeeFest after one of my older brothers has been going ever since it started. My first official experience of this little festival was in 2012 where to my delight Bastille played when they were first starting out along with Mystery Jets, Man like me and To Kill A King. I did in fact manage to get a picture with Dan Smith (the lead singer of Bastille) however, to my annoyance my eyes are closed in the picture! But being able to now say I am seeing them play the O2 in November after falling in love with them in 2012 is a dream come true. 

Although I did not attend in 2013 LeeFest was the host to some amazing acts such as London Grammar, Clean Bandit. With The Cribs, Frightened Rabbit, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobious Pip, Mo, Years and Years, and Jack Garratt playing in 2014 when I finally dragged along many of my friends to this festival I could not stop raving about. 
And Oh boy have some of these act become huge stars in the years following their LeeFest performances. 

Frightened Rabbit 2014

MO 2014

This year LeeFest took their game to a whole new scale, with doubling the size of the venue and creating a whole new theme they really had their work cut out. But, their hard work and dedication really paid off and I can defiantly say this was the best LeeFest yet. I really enjoyed spending the weekend with all my friends and just having such a laugh partying the night away in all the wonderful realms they had created. 
Beach parties in Mermaids Lagoon, raving in Skull Ridge and never growing old in the Neverwoods, there were endless opportunities for fun. 
Among these sets some amazing acts performed including Everything Everything, Circa Waves, DJ Luck and MC Neat, Shura, Corey Fox-Fardell, Nimmo and the beautifully angelic Lianne La Havas. 
I cannot wait to watch these artists develop into well known acts, as they truly deserve it.

The Neverwoods main arena

Circa Waves

Everything Everything

Lianne La Havas

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed hearing about LeeFest and maybe you might give it a go one year, or another small festival!

A trip to Ireland

Last week my parents and I took a trip to Ireland, and while we were there we visited Belfast, Cushendall and Dublin. 

We started the week in Belfast where we went on a fascinating black taxi tour, and learnt about the history of Belfast in terms of  the conflict that occurred in the the late 20th century. For me this was the first time I'd really learnt about the troubles that happened in Northern Ireland, which I found extremely interesting. I would definitely recommend taking one of the tours or finding out about the history of Belfast if you ever visit. While in Belfast we also visited the Titanic museum, where we took far too many pictures outside by the Titanic sign! 

On the next part of our trip we ventured up the coastal road, and stopped in many picturesque villages along the way including Cranny falls, Ballymena and Ballycastle. We stayed in a village called Cushendall where we stayed in a small B &B. From there we visited the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge, the Giants Causeway and the Glenariff waterfalls. 

Finally, we travelled back to Belfast to catch the train down to Dublin. We stayed in Dublin for three days and travelled round all the tourist spots on a sight seeing bus....where we encountered many humorous bus drivers which made the journeys more fun. First we visited the Guinness Storehouse, where I had my first pint of Guinness, where I found out that I don't really like it! We also visited Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, the Wall Of Fame, the Little Museum of Dublin, the Natural History Museum and Trinity College. Most of our trip to Dublin revolved around me dragging my parents to places that had something to do with The Script....which they kindly obliged! 

I had an amazing time visiting a few of the places in Ireland, and cannot wait till I can go back and explore the many more beautiful landscapes. I felt really at home there and  feel like for some reason I had a real connection with some of the places I visited, which may be due to Dublin having a similar atmosphere as London. One thing I do know is that I will definitely be back! 

Here are a few pictures from my trip, I hope you enjoyed this post & thank you for reading!

Dublin- Wall Of Fame

Belfast Mural

Belfast Mural

Belfast- Old Court House

Belfast- Titanic museum

It was raining but we were still smiling

Fishcake starter in 'The Potted Hen'- Highly recommend, their food is delicious

My Battered cod, Asian vegetables and chips- 'The Potted Hen'

My dad's Duck, broccoli and potato main course- 'The Potted Hen'

Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge

Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge

The Dark Hedges

Temple Bar

Guinness Storehouse

Guinness Storehouse

Dublin- Liffey River

An afternoon with a view

On the 4th August my mum and I went and had afternoon tea at the Shangri-La Hotel at The Shard in London as a special treat. Now as you know I am an avid home baker, and of course I love going and seeing what new baked treats are out there, and where better to find new and unusual flavour pairings than a fancy hotel in London!

At the Shangri-La hotel you are given two options for afternoon tea, one being a Traditional English tea with earl grey scones with jam and cream, egg & cress sandwich, crab sandwich, cucumber sandwich, smoked salmon sandwich, chicken sandwich, egg & mayo sandwich, chocolate and caramel mousse, cheesecake, strawberry & basil cake, Apricot and white chocolate compote and a blackcurrant and violet macaroon.

The second option was the Asian tea which included spiced scones, spiced crab sandwiches, vegetable gyoza, prawn dumpling, duck sandwich, wasabi and ginger cured salmon tartlet, cheesecake, raspberry lychee and rose macaroon, tea and ginger roulade, peanut caramel and chocolate tart and a white chocolate and apricot compote.

It was such a lovely day, with a beautiful view across London, and it gave me many more ideas for new bakes that I need to try out at home. 

Asian Afternoon tea

Traditional English Afternoon Tea

Thanks for reading!

A summer holiday to remember

Last week four friends and I visited the Greek Island of Crete, where we stayed in a small town called Stalis. We had an amazing week away with a few trips into  the well known town of Malia, as well as relaxing by the pool, and taking a boat trip. As it was our first holiday away on our own there were some ups and downs but I don't think we could have had a better time.

A view of Santorini island from the plane

Our hotel was a 5 minute walk to the beach and had three pools, as well as a spa and other activities.....although, we only really used the pool. Most of our trips out to the local town included a drink at our favourite restaurant/bar called 'Akti', which for the record sold THE best waffles.....and the free WiFi tempted us in too.

A view from the hotel of Stalis beach 

Stalis Beach

Akti waffles

Activities pool

Main pool

My best friend Grace and I on Stalis beach

Malia was a 45 minute walk along a coastal road, lined with many shops, restaurants and bars which made it quite a nice walk of an evening. The buzzing atmosphere of Malia did not disappoint however, I did think that the 'strip' would be much larger than it was but none the less we had a great few nights, despite clubbing not really being my kind of thing. We met so many funny and nice people while there, which gave us quite a few things to joke about during the holiday.

Grace, Amy and I on our balcony

Grace and I 

On our final day we visited the beautiful Chrissi Island just off southern Crete. The pure white sands and clear turquoise sea made us feel like we were on a dessert island or in the Bahamas. The island has two beaches one which has more pebbles and 'the Golden Beach' which has white sand. There are no inhabitants of the island, with only two bars for the tourists.

Chrissi Island

Chrissi Island

Chrissi Island

Thanks for reading! :)