Wine Tasting

This weekend, a group of family and friends went to the
Halfpenny Green Vineyard at Bobbington. I organised this because my parents had mentioned it and and have never been.
It was a lovely day. Our guide was the sweetest little lady who I thought was nearing retirement. We later found out she was 81! Proof of the benefits of red wine! I want to be like that when I am 81!

We had a tour around the winery which was interesting but there was nothing going on there. (We missed the main season which was earlier in October.)

Then we got to the main point: the tasting. There were 4 wines; a red, rose and 2 whites, which were all very nice, especially the red.
There was also a slide show with presentation showing a lot of grapes. Not so interesting but our tour guide made it more fun. For example, the vine is the second fastest growing planet in the UK, growing 4cm in 24hr in the main growing season. And after 4 years the roots have grown 25ft so they have natural access to water. Irrigation is not needed.

Anyway, if anyone lives near Bobbington in Wolverhampton, I would highly recommend the wine from Halfpenny Green. They only sell their wines in their shop but it is worth the visit. (And the tea rooms and craft shops are good too.) The shop also sells other local products.

And all proud to be Black Country!

Spa Day and Markets

Last week, thanks to a LivingSocial voucher, I went with 2 friends, Tricia and Katherine, to Spa 303 at the Hilton Hotel, Deansgate, Manchester. It was fantastic. We were booked in for facials and the sauna, steam room, pool and jacuzzi.

The pool is above the lounge of the reception and has windows looking from inside the pool downwards. Unfortunately I didn't see any one through the windows, even though I did send a fair amount of time swimming down and looking. :-)
The pool area was surrounded by 3 walls of glass. The view from the main wall was dull but the view at the two ends was better.

So we all spent time in the pool and jacuzzi. It was nice just to relax.

 The facial was lovely. My skin felt great afterwards. We were all a little worried as it was described as a pressure point and drainage massage. What are they draining!?! I was a little unconvinced by a facial massage. She ran a roller over my face which was a bit odd. But, overall, it was really relaxing.

After the spa, we went into the Christmas markets and meet up with some others.

The markets were very nice (the same Christmas market you find in every main city in the UK this time of year but still, nice). The main problem with these markets is there is too much food to try in one go. It is very hard to choose which to have! I was also surprised how early it closed on the evening. But by that time, we were all tired anyway, so after a drink at the pub, headed home.

It was a very nice day and great to just send time with some friends relaxing. Definitely a must-do again!

Now I has finished my PhD, I have decided to keep a blog of all the fun stuff I intend to do now I have the time, and of my travels.
I hope to do a fair bit of travelling now and intend to make the most of it. So this is a record of the fun stuff!