Verulamium Park: a green space with a difference

[caption id="attachment_2561" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Look at all that space![/caption]

When the sun is out, it's great to get outside, especially with the kids. Sometimes the garden is enough, sometimes a local park, and sometimes you just want somewhere a little bit more special.

We loved Verulamium Park in St Albans when we visited and would highly recommend it for a great family day out. Just half an hour from London (and not far from the city centre, which is well served by rail), it's absolutely huge (100 acres). That means there's space to play games (there are a number of football pitches with nets, plus netball and basketball courts, and lots and lots of green grass), enjoy the playground and splash park (for younger kids), and of course, sample some ice cream! There's also a rather beautiful ornamental lake, complete with swans (of course) - although, be warned, that the lake doesn't smell as good as it looks...

The park is also more than just a gorgeous green space - with a magnificent view of St Alban's Cathedral. Named after the Roman City of Verulamium, you can still see (and read about) the City walls. Plus, if you fancy a bit of culture, you can take a trip to the Verulamium Museum.

[caption id="attachment_2563" align="alignnone" width="1200"] The mosaic - 1800 years old![/caption]

Even if you decide not to do that, you should pop into the hypocaust (a sort of ancient central heating system) and see the remarkable, intricate, Roman mosaic, laid on top of it. They are both are around 1,800 years old.

The hypocaust was discovered in the 1930s by Sir Mortimer and Tessa Wheeler, and it and the mosaic have been left in their original location (thought once to have been part of the reception of a large town house). It's really worth visiting, as it takes about 10 minutes and is free, but is also really special - this isn't something you see in your average park! When you visit, do look for the one mosaic square that was laid slightly wrong - at a 45 degree angle to the others.

[caption id="attachment_2562" align="alignnone" width="1200"] The River Ver[/caption]

Verulamium is lovely for just walking around. The River Ver, which flows through it, is actually quite unusual - it's a chalk stream fed from an underground lake, and this means that if you walk along the path of the river, you may see all sorts of unusual wildlife.

The park does have a few kiosks for buying snacks and also a restaurant. However, we went to the local waffle house and really enjoyed our delicious waffles (especially the garlic butter and hummus one). Be warned though - the queues were huge (we left Brian with a newspaper, to stand and wait for 45 minutes). You can't book on weekends......

All in all, we'd highly recommend a visit to Verulamium, a park with a difference. The only negative was that it was extremely difficult to park our car, so it might be wise to get there early and spend the day enjoying the outdoors with no parking stress.

Find out more about the park here.

Another lovely places for the summer

Burghley House - with its great water garden.

King's Cross and its outdoor fountains

 

 

A day in Interlaken, Switzerland

[caption id="attachment_2531" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Me on the viewing platform at Harder Kulm, at the top of Interlaken[/caption]

I fell in love with Switzerland via the written word. As a child, I was a huge fan of the admittedly old-fashioned (they were dated even then) Chalet School books by Elinor M Brent-Dyer, and Switzerland was a major character.

The school was located in all sorts of places, from the Austrian Alps to Guernsey. But in one stretch, the girls attended school in the Bernese Oberland and such exotic sounding places as Interlaken and Lake Thun became surprisingly familiar to me.

So, I was thrilled to be given the chance to visit these places, to see them in reality.

Interlaken is a resort town on the Aare River, and has an incredibly dramatic setting: between two very blue lakes, Thun and Brienz. This positioning is known as being on an alluvial plain and goes back thousands of years (once upon a time, the lakes were joined together). It is really beautiful – especially when you go up, via a funicular, as we did, and view it from high up in the mountains at Harder Kulm (which has a terrific glass walkway, for those, like me, who aren’t afraid of heights, as well as a charming restaurant where I sampled some traditional Swiss noodles with apple sauce).

Interlaken is also right in the heart of the Jungfrau mountain region and you can travel from here to see the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau (and go up the Jungfrau, the highest point you can reach by railway in Europe, too, but that’s another story).

[caption id="attachment_2532" align="alignnone" width="1200"] A view of the city, from the restaurant at the Metropole hotel[/caption]

I arrived there by boat, which was a lovely and extremely scenic form of transport, but there are trains with excellent connections too, and they go all over.

The city is a great location for an outdoors holiday, surrounded by railways, cable cars, the lakes and mountains, all ready to be explored, by bike, train or hiking. In the summer, the lakes are so mild, that you can swim in them too, or scuba dive, windsurf or canoe.

Interlaken is also easy to navigate, full of shops and restaurants, and with a field right in the centre which is used as a landing pad for the many paragliders. I know my son would absolutely love doing this, although it did sound very expensive (over £100 a go). To be honest, Switzerland, although gorgeous, is pricey, but it’s also clean and beautiful!

[caption id="attachment_2535" align="alignnone" width="1200"] We went up to this viewing platform at Harder Kulm[/caption]

Interlaken is really lovely to get around, with a large promenade, the Höheweg, dissecting the city and with shops, cafes and more on either side. You can also go off the main thoroughfare, walking past the river and into the old town, where more restaurants and businesses await.

[caption id="attachment_2536" align="alignnone" width="1200"] And the views from the top were incredible![/caption]

I enjoyed mooching around the shops (especially the chocolate ones) and was disappointed not to have time to take part in a chocolate making workshop which I saw in the window of the wonderfully named “Funky Chocolates Club Switzerland”. It has daily hour long workshops for those interested.

For those who like their chocolate, the Grand Restaurant Schuh puts on a daily “chocolate show” which I’m very sorry to have missed.

I would also recommend a visit to the Metropole Hotel, which may surprise you as, from the outside, it is pretty ugly! Inside, however, it’s a four star establishment and it has a terrific panoramic restaurant with beautiful views of the city. I very much enjoyed the drink and cake I sampled there, and was impressed that the price didn’t seem to have been bumped up too much for the view! (I paid around 8 Swiss Francs)

[caption id="attachment_2533" align="alignnone" width="1200"] The Friendship Garden by the Hotel Interlaken[/caption]

Interlaken is very well served with hotels, including some which look spectacular. One of the oldest is the Hotel Interlaken, located on Höheweg Street. The first Japanese garden in Switzerland, the “Garden of Friendship” which symbolises friendship between this city and  Otsu in Japan, is right next to it.

Interlaken Castle is right in the heart of the city and is known for its collection of more than 100,000 tin figures. I’m afraid we didn’t make it to see these, but enjoyed walking nearby and hearing the story of the city’s monastery which apparently had a secret path connecting it to the convent!

[caption id="attachment_2534" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Can you see the face in the mountain?[/caption]

The legend of the Harder Man is about a monk who is said to have attacked a young girl who jumped off the mountains to die. His punishment was to have to look down on the scene of his crime – and indeed it does seem as if there is a face carved into the mountainside.

There are festivals and events in the region all year round, including the Interlaken Classics music festival (Easter time) and the Open Air Festival from June to September. There’s also an International Trucker & Country Festival each summer, while the centre of Interlaken is transformed into an ice rink from December to February.

All in all Interlaken was a lovely place for a day out and I’d have very much liked to have stayed longer and enjoyed all it had to offer – beauty, fresh air, outdoor activities and that chocolate!

Read about my trip to Meiringen and the Reichenbach Falls!

Disclosure: I was fortunate to visit Switzerland as part of a wonderful Great Railways Journey to the Jungfrau, which meant all my travel was free (including the use of the funicular up to Harder Kulm). However, none of the establishments had any input into this blog post.

The Little Veggie Pop Up (by Ella)

I'm delighted to have another guest post from my very gorgeous niece Ella, who's 16. So far, she has written on Barcelona and Whitstable. Today, she's closer to home, in London, and her mind's on food.....

"Whether you live in London, or have visited, you will know that a Pret a Manger can be found on almost every corner, especially in the centre of the city.

I thought I was perfectly happy with occasionally popping into Pret for a packet of popcorn and a hot chocolate. That is, until I discovered the Little Veggie Pop Up. As a vegetarian, I sometimes feel limited in restaurant and food choices - in particular when grabbing a sandwich or a quick bite - but Pret's Little Veggie Pop Up may turn out to be the answer I didn't even realise I was looking for.

Located in the heart of Soho, the cafe offers a wide range of vegetarian and vegan foods for all meals of the day. As you approach, you are instantly attracted to the bright green exterior which advertises the healthy aspects of the cafe as well as highlighting its vegetarian and vegan offerings.

Then, as you enter, you are greeted with the typical Pret interior - the cash point, dozens of delicious looking home baked goods in front of you and the fridges to the left. But in this Pret, there is a difference.

Instead of the typical ham sandwiches, egg sandwiches and just about every other sandwich filling you can think of, you find an assortment of extremely healthy and intriguing vegetarian and vegan foods, alongside ready to blend smoothies. My friend enjoyed an Asian Tofu Salad and I was tempted by an intriguing sounding vegan artichoke, tapenade  and olive baguette.

The atmosphere was busy and lively - no different to a regular Pret - and the customers ranged in age, as well as being both Londoners and tourists.

In the end, I went for a mushroom and avocado sushi salad (£4.20), along with a pot of edamame beans and a spicy chickpea yoghurt bowl (which I took home and put in the fridge, only to later find my meat-adoring mum had already devoured it!). The sushi salad was absolutely perfect - the combination of mushroom and avocado may not sound like a dream come true, but it somehow works, and the flavours complemented one another really well. Each item I bought was appropriately priced and sized, leaving me with no complaints.

So, if you are in the mood for something light, healthy and enjoyable then Pret's Little Veggie Pop Up is the place for you. I preferred it to normal Prets, but you have to enjoy vegetarian food to do so - the quality of food isn't necessarily better, but is no less.

The Little Veggie Pop (on Broadwick Street, London W1) was originally planned to be open just for the month of June, but due to its popularity it will remain open for the entire summer. I'll be going back again soon."

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