Cheer Yourself Up Post-Budget With a Splurge in Snixy Swoon's 70% off Summer Sale

I featured Snixy Swoon a fortnight ago, and I've been wearing the samples she kindly sent me for review ever since. There were a couple of other pieces I wanted to buy for myself, so I visited her Etsy today to buy them. Turns out I visited on the right day! The store has just added a 70% & a 50% off, summer sale catagory, with little cat necklaces for just £2. I picked some of them and one of the huge, floral, statement necklaces I was after for £12.50 rather than over £20, which they are definitely worth.

Have a visit yourself and scoop up a bargain  

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SnixySwoons

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Loads of tiki pieces starting from £3.50

Summer in Newcastle, County Down

Continuing on our week in The Mournes, here's what you can see & do in Newcastle, the main seaside town at the base of the mountains.

It's always been a fun, family destination with twee, little shops with fancy dress & jokes to buy. There's a new bead shop where you can pick & choose from hundreds of designs and make your own necklace, bracelet or brooch.

Doll's house accessories in Bon Bon's

There are a handful of amusement arcades with video game machines, two penny drop gambling games and a few rides too.

Down in between the buildings we found an outdoor funfair with five rides including small chairaplanes and a waltzer.

These boats are £2 a go.  

For food there's a KFC, Subway, Country Fried Chicken, Mauds Cafe and dozens of ice cream parlours.  There's even a machine that makes candy floss outside Bon Bon's shop.

So whether you're staying at The Mourne Lodge, Dan White's Cottage or Hanna's Close, or just down for the day, Newcastle is a nice little nostalgic seaside stop off.

Expensive, but cool, American import sweets available from Ben & Jerry's icecream shop.

Visit The Fairy Village at the Giant's Lair, Slieve Gullion

Just outside Newry is Slieve Gullion Forest Park. The carpark is free and they've a giant playpark, also all free. There's a cafe and ice cream vans or you can bring your own picnic.  

What we had visited for however is the new sculpture walk, complete with magical fairy village. I would have gone wild for this sort of place as a child. The walk is around a mile through the forest, and again it's totally free. It's definitely work the drive down if you're from near Belfast like us. 

Eddie Rockets, Dundalk Shopping & The Armagh Planetarium

So I shared with you our lovely accommodation at Dan White's, but what did we get up to during our stay? The next few days I'll share with you what you can do down in the Kingdom of Mourne & surrounding area. Of course there are the outdoor pursuits like mountain hikes, biking trails etc. but if you've young children there are plenty of family activities too.  

Here is a good day's worth of fun should you have rainy weather during your stay. Newry is about a half hour drive from Dan White's and the drive comprises the Mourne Coastal Route which is outstandingly beautiful. You pass through picturesque towns like Warrenpoint where you can stop for fish & chips or an icecream.

Reaching Newry & following the signs to Dublin will bring you to The Quays and Buttercrane, the city's main shopping centres which are side by side. Both centres parking is paid, but it's about a pound for an hour, so it's not terribly steep. 

The Quays has Eddie Rockets, the first of the 1950s' themed restaurant chain to open North of the border. We hit it up for breakfast AND dinner. Their milkshakes are famously amazing, and I highly recommend the bacon and cheese fries. 

The Quays has stores like Topshop, Lush, H&M and Debenhams. Crossing over to Buttercrane you'll find Mark & Spencer and an absolutely massive Primark. Buttercrane also has some kids' fun going on during the summer months, plus an igloo where you can get your photo taken with Elsa from Frozen for £6. 

Leaving Newry & following the motorway to Dublin will lead you over the border to Dundalk, about a further half an hour drive. For those who aren't from Northern Ireland and might be planning a visit, crossing the border is simple. There's no passport check or anything, in fact you only know you've crossed over when the road signage changes from miles to kilometres.

Keep an eye on your phone network too. It may be worth switch off data unless your contract allows roaming, as your phone will switch to an Irish carrier even around Newry. 

Our destination in Dundalk was Marshes, their huge shopping mall. I didn't have a sat nav or map, I just winged it, and found it easily enough. Again you pay for parking, €1 an hour or so. The highlight of Marshes for us was Tiger, which I mentioned before. A really cool home ware store. You'll also find a huge Dunnes, a big Primark (called Penney's in the south) and lots more fashion stores. 

We left Dundalk to cross the border again and head toward Armagh. A good tip here is to NOT follow the signs to Armagh you see round Dundalk town. We followed that route and it was a twisty country road that took about an hour. I think you'd be quicker to fly up the motorway to Newry again & through to Armagh that way, on roads where you can do 70 mph rather than twisting through tiny towns doing 45 mph most of the way. Michael got really car sick that route too.

But eventually we got to Armagh & the planetarium. It's free to come in and walk about the displays, but you must be over age six to enter the dome shows. They run on the hour and we arrived in time to catch the 2pm show. Each programme runs for about 35 minutes, so we ended up staying and watching the 3pm & 4pm shows too, making rockets in the crafting room in between.

The shows cost around £5 per person & are well worth catching. We had a lot of fun that afternoon, and have decided we will call back again when we are down again in a few weeks' time. 

Scrapbooking. Making Memories in the Digital Age.

Do you ever get that awful sinking feeling imaging if your iPhone got wiped and those thousands of personal, family photos you never quite get round to backing up got deleted? I've an iPhone 4 that has about three Christmases worth of photos on it, literally thousands that I haven't backed up. I try to reassure myself that I've enough of a breadcrumb trail of uploads on here, Facebook, Instagram etc. There's no way I could afford to print, or even store the amount of photos I take these days. 

So a compromise is to create a snapshot of days out, by Scrapbooking. 

When Michael was little, I picked up a photo album in TK Maxx in the bargain section, and started Scrapbooking. I kept the odd nursery scribbling, tickets to events we would go to, that sort of thing. I think I got two books filled, then it tailed off.  

Here are a couple of examples of those first books. 

Now that we are starting our first summer as just a twosome, I've decided to start Scrapbooking again, to keep a record of our memories to pour over once Michael has flown the nest some day. 

I bought this lovely paper in Tiger in Dundalk (http://www.tigerstores.co.uk) and I think I'll pick up some more when we are down in a couple of weeks' time again.

The scrapbook is actually a photo album from Easons. It has dividers for photos, but they can be separated to slide the full page of paper in instead. It was a hefty £15.99, but TK Maxx didn't have anything suitable either.

The backing paper is a little too big, but I used the off cuts to make a pretty paper chain for the kitchen. 

While I have mentioned Tiger, I must sing its praises. Until yesterday I didn't know it even existed, never mind not knowing that there was a shop out there that sold everything in my taste ever. I literally could decorate the whole house from just that store. I can't wait to visit again and pick up more goodies.  

This Tealight bottle was something crazy like just €2. The felt bowl I bought to keep tea lights in was a similar price.

Their cards and postcards are two for €1 and I picked up this holographic bird and orange frame. 

This was my entire haul, but I will be back, and with a bigger basket! The Eames' atomic over-the-door hanger was just €4 MADNESS!

Dan White's Cottage, Cosy Accomodation in the Mountains of Mourne.

Our Summer 2015 adventure continues! We ventured to the mountains for two nights in the absolutely beautiful Dan White's Cottage. 

http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Dan-Whites-Cottage-Rostrevor-Newry-P45049

The self-catering cottage, once a shepherd's residence, is nestled in the foothills of the Mournes. The compact yet spacious accomodation sleeps five, with two separate bedrooms, a bathroom and kitchen/living area. I'd guess that it's recently been refurbished, as the living quarters are spotless and finished to high standards. You may be in the middle of nowhere with only sheep for neighbours, but the surroundings are luxurious. The cottage has a four star rating, and we adored it. We didn't want to leave! In fact I phoned my parents the first night to try to persuade them to come up to stay in the other room for the second night, I was so impressed with the place.

Finding the cottage is easy, even given it's almost off-road location. Follow the road from Newcastle to Warrenpoint, and along the way, before Rostrevor you'll see a sign for Kilfeaghan Lane to the right. It's a very narrow lane way, only wide enough for one car, but keep climbing and you'll eventually see little signs pointing you to Dan White's. You'll honestly think a few times 'is this the right road?' as it's so rural, but keep going. Our little, old model Clio made it there, so your car can too!

There Eamonn or Yvonne will meet you to give you the keys and answer any questions you may have. The cottage has a little peat burning fire, which will be lit for your arrival. You really don't need much with you- the kitchen is fully stocked with all the plates, cups, cutlery and basically anything you could think of needing to use. You've also a dishwasher and washing machine with powder there to use if you need to on longer stays.

There was also a welcome hamper and milk in the fridge, so if you are arriving after a long journey you can have a cuppa and some soda bread before unpacking.

There are tvs in each room with Freeview, and pretty good wifi. I could stream Sky News live onto my iPhone, but because we were near the border I couldn't watch BBC iplayer on my ipad. You will find all the BBC channels on the tvs though. 

The bathroom has little toiletry kits for you, so you won't need shampoo or conditioner with you. The shower is easy to use (I always get flustered trying to work other people's showers!) and the water pressure is great.

As you'd imagine it's very quiet at night, but be prepared for some 'baaaas' in the morning from neighbouring fields! We noticed this on the first morning, but by the second we didn't hear them at all. 

We had an absolutely wonderful stay at Dan White's, and I would recommend it to anyone, tourists or locals for a getaway from it all break. The surroundings are simply stunning and the cottage interior is equally beautiful.

You can connect with Dan White's on Facebook  

https://www.facebook.com/DanWhitesCottage

Stay was complimentary for review purposes. Thank you, Eamonn and Yvonne! 

We Are On The Road!

Just a quick update, with limited wifi! We are on the road, having driven over 500 miles since Sunday. I've lots to share with you soon of destinations here in Northern Ireland to visit as a tourist, or like us a tourist-at-home.

We've seen a fairy village, had a space adventure, shopped ourselves silly in the kitschest shop I've ever found, and slept in a cottage amongst the mountains with no-one around for miles except some sheep. 

I'm looking forward to sharing with you homely and wonderfully welcoming Mourne Lodge,  where the Game of Thrones crew stayed whilst filming down this direction. I also have to show you Dan White's Cottage, where we've been staying the past two nights; it's a self catering gem. But for now, it's time to hit the sack. Another hundred miles or so to travel tomorrow and more adventures ahead!

We Took The StenaLine Daytrip to M&D's, Scotland's Theme Park.

Yesterday was a busy day! My son and I had an adventure, taking the StenaLine Superfast Ferry from Belfast to Cairnryan, on a daytrip which included entrance and unlimited rides at M&D's, a theme park just outside Glasgow.

We chose to take our car, which costs from £31 for an adult, including M&D's, or you can book a coach tour which starts at £28 per adult. There are benefits to both choices. With the coach you can relax and don't have to worry about directions, driving, or petrol costs. We chose to drive however as you can go at your own pace, stop off at services for snacks, or a quick peek at Ayr on the way past, plus you've your own privacy in your car. I still get car sick on buses, so driving was definitely the best option for us, plus I love driving places I've never been before, it all adds to the adventure! 

http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries-to-britain/day-trips/belfast-cairnryan-mds-car

 http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries-to-britain/day-trips/belfast-cairnryan-mds-coach

So, I'll talk you through our trip, and you can see how it would work for your own trip. 

Check in at the Belfast docks is before 7am, so it's a very early start. You'll need a print out of your booking etc. but we didn't need passports, or any ID, although it recommends you have them with you just in case. You are given a lane to wait in, then you drive into the boat in turn. Once you park up  you can head up into the main part of the boat.

The 730am sailing is understandably quite quiet, but the whole ferry is open for business. There are multiple cafés and lounges, including the Taste restaurant where you can get hot breakfast and unlimited hot drink refills. 

After a quick breakfast, we explored the rest of the boat. There's a cinema, a children's play area and even a spa on the top deck. You can access the jacuzzi and sauna for £10, or book massages or pedicures. 

We settled in the Pod lounge. It's nearest the cinema, has computer access and XBox Kinnect for the kids. The whole boat has free wifi, which actually works! Plus there are charging sockets absolutely everywhere. If you're a frequent traveller you'll know the struggle of finding an ipad or iPhone charging plug at an airport, no such struggle on the Stenaline.

We settled down in the Pod lounge and Michael played Minecraft and popped in and out of the cinema. The Superfast crossing takes slightly over two hours, and by 10am we were off the boat and hitting the road in Scotland. 

The road to M&D's is pretty straightforward. You follow the A77 for about an hour and 45 minutes, so we were able to do the drive easily without a Sat Nav, just with printed directions. The A77 turns into the M77 near Glasgow, then you simply turn off onto the road to the A8 and from there you'll see signs for 'Scotland's Themepark'. I love long distance driving, especially places I haven't been, so I loved the drive. The first half of the drive is rural and absolutely beautiful, but the road is excellent quality, no bumpy gravel tracks! We drove off the boat around 10am and were parking up at M&D's at 12 noon exactly. The carpark is close to the entrance and completely free.

M&D's is like Barry's here in Northern Ireland. It's free to walk into and walk around. You could dander in and get food or play the fete games whenever you like. The rides cost a certain number of points, and locals can buy cards or wrist bands for a certain amount of rides. As part of the StenaLine day trip, whether by car or coach, you get an UNLIMITED ride wristband, so you can ride all the rides for free and as often as you can fit into the four hours or so you have there. Your wristband has a barcode which you simply scan to enter each ride.

We decided to start with the biggest, tallest ride, the Ferris wheel. I thought it would be a relaxing, pleasant start to the day. It was terrifying! It's really, very high and my legs went like jelly! It's a great place to start though as you can nosy at the park from above and plan where you'll go next. 

The park at just after noon was fairly quiet. We headed next to the kiddie ride section. There are about ten rides for ages 5-12 which my son just loved. At that time of day we didn't have to queue for more than one turn of the ride, walking straight onto most of them. All rides are measured by height, and some you will have to accompany your child on. Again because rides are unlimited and free, it isn't much of a problem.  

We were fairly hungry after our long drive, so it was time to find some food. The entire M&D's park is compact. It's not like when you visit an American theme park and spend the day trekking about ten miles between spaced our rides. The rides are a short distance apart, and there are food stalls scattered throughout the park. You can get hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and candy floss walking around the park, and there are plenty of picnic tables to sit and enjoy them, or indeed your own picnic.

We hadn't brought food, so we strolled back to the entrance plaza where there was a food hall with plenty of seating. 

Here there was a sit down, proper family restaurant, or quicker, decently priced fast food places for pizza, chicken or Angus beef burgers. We grabbed a popcorn chicken kids meal for under a fiver and shared it and that was plenty! 

There's also a shop called Sweet Explosion, where you can buy tiny chocolates that look like cupcakes, as well as mallow pizzas and traditional sticks of rock as presents and souvenirs, all a reasonable prices. 

Heading back into the park, we ventured to some of the more grown up rides. Michael unfortunately was a tiny bit too short to ride most of them, but if you are taking teenagers there are a good half dozen huge roller coasters and thrill rides to choose from. I was secretly quite glad I only had to go on the children's rides. The chairaplanes were excitement enough for me! They were definitely my son's favourite, we went on them three times. Even as the park because busier from 2pm on, none of the queues were for longer than ten minutes.

There is also a free high diving pirate act show on at various points through the day. Check the times to catch a show, near the chairaplanes. 

There are two long flume type rides, which have these giant walk in dryers to dry yourself off afterwards! 

Weatherwise we got really lucky, it only rained for about two minutes at one point, and the sun came out beautifully about 3pm. If you do get caught in the rain, there are stalls selling ponchos, so you don't really have to stop the fun if the weather doesn't play ball.

Amazonia is a rainforest attraction which costs extra, but we were so busy with the rides included, we didn't have time to visit it. You also get a free game of pirate golf included in your entrance price, and there is indoor bowling too should your day turn out too wet. 

Your homeward bound sailing is at 730pm, which means check in is at latest 7pm. We knew from the earlier journey it took about two hours, so we left M&D's around 430pm so we could stop off at services for food, and have a relaxing return trip. The four and a half hours at the park is plenty. We got to ride everything we wanted to, didn't feel rushed, and were ready to hit the road when time was up.

 Again the journey is pretty straightforward. Get on the M77 which turns into the A77 and stay on it for two hours and you can't go wrong. If you left M&D's about 3pm, you could easily spend an hour in Ayr, or stop off at any of the picturesque villages along the way.

We made Cairnryan in good time, and were tired out on the slightly busier 730pm return sailing. We explored the ship a bit more, taking in the shop. It's a well stocked, airport type shop, with lots of bargains. I bought a very necessary, large Carebear. 

Even with the return ferry being busier, there were still plenty of places to sit and relax, and a lot of choice of food and drink, from whole meals, to cafe snacks, or choices from the bar. 

The StenaLine docked in Belfast at 945pm, and we drove off tired but super happy. Thank you so much Steanline, M&D's and Bronagh for sending us on the fantastic daytrip. If you have any questions about the trip, and taking it yourself this summer, give me a shout on Twitter @rudedoodle. The trip runs daily from 1st July throughout the summer, both coach and car service. It's definitely worth the trip, and it's a bargain price for a family day out. 

Looking forward to our next summer 2015 adventure! This one will be hard to beat!