Posts with the label st albans
Showing posts with label st albans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label st albans. Show all posts
12 Aug 2019
A Guide To St Albans City
Compiled after three years of 'research'...
It says a lot about me that when asked what I will miss the most about St Albans, I quite openly say ‘the food’. But I swear this post isn’t just about food… probably… Anyway yes, after 3 years, 3 months and 19 days of living here, here’s my guide to St Albans City.
Where to stay & how to get here
It feels like this section needs to be included but obviously I haven’t had much need to be booking hotels whilst I’ve lived here although a lot of our friends and family did when they came to stay for our wedding and no one had any complaints about the following. The Clarion, White Hart Hotel & Premier Inn are all very central but there are also several v nice options on Airbnb – just make sure they are based in the centre. If you fancy treating yourself, St Michael's Manor is a fancy hotel in town and Sopwell House is a spa hotel about a mile out. If you want to drive in, be aware that it can get very busy in the centre. You can’t park on the streets unless you have a permit (and the traffic wardens are not chilled out folk) so stick to the central car parks. St Albans is only 20 mins outside of London St Pancras so you can get here via train from most places if you change at London. The train station is a 10-minute walk from the centre.
Where to explore
With its cobbled streets and ye olde vibe, St Albans is a great place for a wander. Wandering around the cathedral grounds is an absolute must; it’s a spectacular building with one of the longest naves in the country. I would also highly recommend the cathedral tower tour should you have the time. In town, you can head up the old clock tower for a quid which is an interesting spot of history and has great views of the cathedral and market from the rooftop.
The traditional street market is on every Wednesday and Saturday and it’s one of the best around; it could easily keep you entertained for a couple of hours with the huge array of shopping and food stalls. There’s also a farmer’s market every second Sunday of the month and a French market also pops up every now and again.
If you’re in the mood for nature, head to Verulamium Park. Whilst it can get busy, the lake is beautiful and the various roman ruins make it just that bit different. Also, make sure you go check out the Roman mosaic in the park which was built around 200 AD and is v impressive.
If you fancy a bit of a country walk, head out to Redbournbury mill, a fully working watermill in the countryside. It’s a great bit of history and you can stock up on fresh bread from the bakery afterwards.
If in doubt, St Albans is a great place for a good old shopping – Flower Box and Raindrops on Roses are gorgeous independent shops and the Jo Malone and Oliver Bonas stores great for some window shopping (or not if you’re feeling flush).
Mostly though, eating should be high on your agenda…
Where to eat
It is no exaggeration when I say I could write a dissertation on eating in St Albans so I have tried to refine this and keep it to the crème de la crème of St Albans foodie spots. Let’s talk breakfast first: our grab-and-go staples are the cinnamon buns from Gail’s or the almond croissants from the Brown Bread market stall which is in St Albans daily. To this day, I maintain these are the best almond croissants I have ever had and I am beyond thrilled that Brown Bread also frequent our new town of Ely. If we’re fancying more of a brunch, we tend to go for the dreamy pancakes-and-bacon set-up at The Pudding Stop or head to Bill’s which has never let me down (the garden plate is a fave). You won’t struggle for brunch in St A – check out Street Café, Hatch and George Street Canteen as well.
For lunch, if you’re not hanging out in the many cafes of St Albans, my absolute favourite is Peddling Pizza which can be found at the market every Wednesday. Voted the best market stall in St Albans, and set-up by a St Albans local, I have yet to find a pizza that tops these. The Waffle House has been a favourite of mine since I was a kid and I will always maintain you should get a savoury one, and then a sweet one. Some people have disagreed with me when they’ve seen the size of them but you can’t break me.
And for dinner, if you love cheese and wine as much as I do, then you have to go to The Bishop’s Cave; an absolute corker of a cheese and wine bar. Can’t recommend enough. There’s Lussmans which does upmarket food for incredibly reasonable prices. They are sustainable, pay all their staff proper wages and were in the Sunday Times’ list of the 100 best places to eat in the UK. We also really like Little Marrakech; a lovely little Moroccan restaurant which crackin’ food and décor.
Cafes have been frequent haunts of mine whilst we’ve lived in St Albans; at least once a week I can be found sat in one of them typing away. I’m currently typing this in Nkora which is relatively new to St Albans – their other two branches are in Shoreditch I believe. Think Scandi décor, sourdough sandwiches and a solid range of un-typical baked goods. Probably my favourite café around these parts. St Albans Museum + Gallery courtroom café does great food but is also worth visiting for the setting. The building used to be the old town hall and they have restored the old courtroom for the café area. It’s a spectacular room complete with the dock, witness box, & judge chair. Plus you can go downstairs to the original cells and come up into the dock like you actually are about to stand trial. Certainly a unique setting for your sandwiches. Also worth having a nosy around the museum & gallery afterwards - yours truly got married in the gorgeous Assembly room upstairs. I’d also shout out to The Exquisite Peacock Emporium by Love Koffee which do epic muffins and the upstairs of Café Nero – yes, I know it’s a chain, but it’s a really peaceful spot full of solid oak tables/floors should you fancy a cosy place to get some work done. If you’re happy to head a bit further out of town, Aymi café has highly instagrammable décor and really great food.
As for pubs, we are regulars at the Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, so much so that we had our wedding reception there. It’s got low beams and open fires on the inside, has a gorgeous garden with cute fairy lights and views over the lake, crackin’ live music every now and again and does great food. The Boot is my favourite during the winter as it’s always really cosy with candles on the tables and steamed windows. During the summer, The Blacksmith Arms has a great beer garden and a walk to the The Prae Wood Arms a little out of town is always worth it for the country-house vibes. The recently opened Gin Cave is also worth a visit should you be a fan of gin.
And for the sweet stuff – The Pudding Stop obviously has to be right at the top. I’ve mentioned it like 54325 times before so I won’t bang on about it again – it’s a dream. The Shaken Cow does crackin’ milkshakes with hundreds of flavours and Darlish ice cream does Persian ice cream which is so good. Oh and afternoon tea at The Ivy is definitely worth a trip.
Yes, okay, we have strayed into dissertation territory. I’ll stop now…
5 Aug 2019
A Flat With A Spiral Staircase
And just like that, 3 years, 3 months and 19 days in St Albans came to an end.
By the end, we were drowning in cardboard boxes and had given away all our furniture on freecycle; I felt like every day was just furiously packing without actually making any progress and I was like sweet jesus will this ever end. There wasn’t a lot of time for getting overly nostalgic. I had moments; weepy moments as I walked through the market and went to our favourite pub for the last time. But I also had a certainty that it was the right time to make the change and so I powered on through.
About six months into our relationship, when we were stretched out on his bed one lazy Sunday afternoon, Gary first mentioned living together. I was living at my parents in Bedfordshire and he was living in a shared house in London. We would spend another six months umming and ahhing about where and when and what we could afford until one night in February, just after our one-year anniversary, I decided that we should just get the heck on with it. We decided on St Albans and looked at a fair few flats to rent but it was the one with the rickety spiral staircase overlooking the cathedral that drew in this hopeless romantic. It was hidden just behind the high street and surrounded by trees and cafés. Out the back window, the Hertfordshire countryside stretched before you and out the front, the cathedral dominated the view. It was surrounded by the constant sounds of the city and the bells. We moved in on 1 April 2016.
The green front door opened straight into the small open plan living/kitchen area, the poorly constructed bathroom was straight off the kitchen and there were two very small bedrooms – one being just about big enough to squeeze in a double bed. We furnished it with a mismatch of furniture from our former respective homes and we filled it with joy and life for the next three years.
Cue montage. The view of the cathedral, framed by different colours of the many trees, changing depending on the season. The smell of chestnuts wafting in from the Christmas market. Sunny weekend mornings walking through the market. Our super friendly neighbours, Andy and Steve. Spontaneous trips to The Pudding Stop. Many cosy evenings, Sunday roasts and summer afternoons in the garden at the Ye Olde Fighting Cocks. Makeshifts BBQs on the terrace. Homemade pizzas spread across the coffee table. Cinnamon buns and almond croissants on a Saturday morning. Promotions and new jobs. Cosy Sunday afternoons and drunken dancing in the kitchen. A little Christmas tree popped up in the corner. Christmas lights twinkling throughout town. The summer food festival. Picnics in the park. The yearly pub crawl with friends. The constant sound of church bells and the sounds of the town on a Saturday night. Fresh flowers from the market. An abundance of Lush bath bombs. Typing away in cafes on a Friday afternoon. Sooooo many candles. Regular trips to the Odyssey cinema. Friends and family crammed onto our one sofa. Channel 4 news in the background as dinner bubbles on a weekday evening. Sunsets in the park. Cat sitting. Drunken evenings in the pub where we planned our future. Picking out an engagement ring. Walking through the centre of town in a wedding dress. Driving home and seeing the cathedral on the horizon. That inexplicable feeling of home.
There was no one reason as to why we chose St Albans to set up our first home together but, despite the endless impracticalities of the flat, I have never been so sure we were ‘meant’ to be somewhere. It was the right time to go but, when we were finally packed up and I stood alone in the empty flat, and the finality of it hit me; I felt slightly heartbroken. But life goes on, and a new home was waiting for us. So I left our keys on the kitchen worktop a la the final episode of Friends, before heading out the green door and down that spiral staircase for the final time.
14 Jul 2019
Moving On: We Have Bought A House & We're Moving To Ely
We are now homeowners…
So yes, as I briefly mentioned here and here – we have been going through the process of buying a house since April. I haven’t talked about it on the blog much because you hear so many stories of these things going wrong and falling through that I’ve just been trying to allow it to tick along in the background and not think about it too much (I did have a wedding to distract me tbf).
But actually, things have gone pretty smoothly and we completed on Friday! Yesterday, we went to pick up the keys and we will officially move in next Friday. The house has been unoccupied for six months so had somewhat of a funky smell about it, the garden has become an actual meadow and there is no running water although we are not entirely sure why. But it’s ours.
We decided last year that we would buy a house in 2019, after the wedding, and have been considering where we would buy a house for a good couple of years before that. As to why we seemingly have picked a place out of thin air – I wrote in more detail over here why Gary and I are a little ‘rootless’ in terms of places to ‘settle down’. But to clarify the obvious, no matter how much we love St Albans, we have always known we cannot stay here if we ever wanted to own our home. St Albans is sob-into-your-bank-account expensive and we can’t even afford a one-bed flat here. You’re looking at £800k for a terrace house for crying out loud (when did I become the person bitching about house prices, when?!). It sucks but there isn’t much point labouring on it.
We considered a lot of places, originally just widening the circle around St Albans and looking at other areas of Hertfordshire. We did a lot of day trips. We also considered areas of the midlands and Kent (where Gary is from) but nothing ever felt quite right and I’d resigned myself to rent forever and staying in St Albans… which is hardly the worst fate in the world.
Gary took to browsing google maps a lot and sometimes we’d just click on places at random and be like ‘what do you reckon XXX is like?’ These places would then be ruled out either due to the length of the commute or by other people’s reactions (people do not speak highly of Peterborough FYI), but mostly due to house prices. The further north you went, the lower the house price but the higher the commuting costs. It was hard to find the sweet spot.
And then one day, Gary casually asked me ‘have you ever heard of Ely?’
I didn’t even look up from my laptop. ‘Where?’
‘It’s a town – city maybe – just north of Cambridge.’
My ears pricked up. ‘Cambridge you say?’
‘There’s a big cathedral, old-looking houses and, well, it’s affordable. Just.’
Boom. I was interested. We took a day trip. We took another. And another. We spoke to people from the area, who knew the area. No one looked at us like we were idiots. I took my mum. She loved. I took my mum again. She decided she was moving there. Ely is pretty, with cobbled streets, a gorgeous gothic cathedral and canal boats bobbing on the river. But there’s also practical housing estates, a station and four different supermarkets. We seemed to have found the sweet spot, entirely by accident.
(Of course, nothing ticks all the boxes and both our commutes are shite. But just on the reasonable side of do-able when you can work from home half the time, and Cambridge presents other job opportunities for the future.)
We went to stay for a few days just to get a sense of what the commute was like and allowed Ely to settle in our minds for a few months. And then around March time we got itchy feet so, after some discussion, we decided there was no harm in starting viewings, just to get an idea of what we like and don’t like house-wise. But we wouldn’t actually start making offers until after the wedding.
Aaaannnd we put an offer in on the first one we viewed. If you have ever been house hunting, I’m sure you know that everyone will tell you to view a fair few houses and not put on offer in on the first one you see… advice we clearly ignored. We viewed a grand total of 2 houses and the second one was in a very half-hearted manner. The thing is, sometimes you do just have to trust your instinct. Particularly when the house is the only one you have seen on rightmove that is close to town, has four bedrooms and is within budget. Gotta do what you gotta do.
Which is why we have ended up getting married, taking a 3-week honeymoon and moving house all within 6 weeks. And honestly, we only had that much time because we had to stand firm on a completion date – as the house was already empty, the vendors wanted to complete a week after we landed back in the UK. Which was fair enough but near-on impossible for us even before you consider the jetlag.
We are swapping a tiny flat for a four-bed house, monthly rent for a 20+ year mortgage, a city centre for the suburbs and lazy Sundays for DIY projects (we’re planning on knocking down a wall… what could possibly go wrong?). I will miss St Albans, truly, but I’m really rather excited to get settled. I want this new house and new town to become our home, to know we have years of time ahead of us in this place. I’m excited to have Cambridge on our doorstep, to be able to get to the coast within an hour and have all these new lovely-looking parts of the country to explore. And I’m excited for Ely; for this little city (one of the smallest in the country) to provide us with new people, a new local pub (v important) and a new chapter.
Photo by Robert Gramner on Unsplash
4 Jul 2019
Moving Home with Limited Time, Plenty of Denial & Nowhere to Park a Removal Van
Gary and I keep asking each other if we’ve phoned the council. Neither of us want to phone the council you see so instead of one of us just phoning the freakin’ council, we’re just asking the other if they have phoned the council.
It’s like, the shittest form of procrastination ever.
Anyway, needless to say, neither of us have phoned the council. We have both emailed them though. You’re either a phoner or an emailer and I think it’s fairly obvious which category Gary and I fall into.
In case you’re not aware, we live in a rented flat in the heart of St Albans and when I say heart, I mean heart. Very well protected, difficult-to-get-to-heart. You cannot drive to our flat – it is literally impossible. Our flat is basically in the cathedral grounds which is why I am always uploading cathedral pictures to the ‘gram when I have no ideas for my photo-of-the-day because we can look out the window and ooooo big church. Getting to our flat on foot is possible – there are many ways to do that – but if you’ve never been before, you basically need me to direct you over the phone because it is well hidden. Which is why I spend approx. half my life shouting DO YOU SEE THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE to delivery drivers who refuse to read the delivery instructions I have so carefully provided. Future tenants: for gawd sake, use CollectPlus at all opportunities.
ANYWAY. When we moved into the flat, we were able to remove a bollard in the cathedral grounds and extremely carefully drive our removal van up the usually-on-foot-only pathway into the little square our flat overlooks, unload all our stuff, and then carefully drive back out and replace the bollard that usually prevents anyone driving up.
We assumed we would be able to do the same when we move out this month. It is literally the only way to get a removal van within half a mile of our flat.
HA HA.
We are no longer allowed to do this. Something to do with the very old, very uneven flagstones that are struggling to bear the weight of all the people passing through the cathedral grounds, let alone that of a removal van. I mean, tbf, I do moan about the game of Russian roulette one has to play when walking over those flagstones in the rain. Will you step on the wrong one and have your feet and shins soaked as the mini dirty-rainwater tidal wave seemingly bounds up out of the ground or will your jeans make it home without muddy splash marks?
So the question is – how the fuck are we going to move out? Hence trying to contact the council and see if they will make an exception to the whole bringing-a-van-up rule because we can’t help noticing there wasn’t a problem when they were hauling in an inflatable Santa for the Christmas market or when the new brewery opposite was hauling in their craft beers. But the council aren’t responding to our emails and neither of us wants to phone the council switchboard and explain the situation 254 times whilst someone tries to find the right department. Let's just say we haven't had great experiences with the council in the past - there was a whole 'saga' last year over some floodlights being left on overnight to shine right into our bedroom... let's not get into it.
In the meantime, we have 14 days until we move out, no furniture whatsoever for our new house, are still in possession of a lot of furniture in the flat that we no longer want and haven’t even started packing. Plus there’s work on the new house that needs arranging, about 897987 people I need to inform of our address change (including the optician, bank & wedding photographer) and I think I’m supposed to be going to work amongst all of this. How am I dealing with this situation? Denial mostly. Hence why I’m writing this when I really should be clearing out the bathroom.
Remember when I thought it would be ‘fun’ to get married, go on honeymoon and move house within 6 weeks? Uh huh.
Photo by Leone Venter on Unsplash
11 Mar 2019
Spring Cleaning With Fantastic Services
Gifted
My week has started well. Guys, the flat is clean! And not just whizzed-the-hoover-round clean but CLEAN CLEAN. I'd go so far as to say cleaner than when we moved in. I can practically see my reflection in the super shiny sink and I can assure you, that has never happened before.
Tell me I'm not the only one who never achieves a sparkling bathroom? It's almost as if I'm only making a half arsed effort or summin'. Hands up okay: I could use this post to talk about how I live a busy life and never have time to clean but the truth of the matter is, yes I am busy, but I also just bloody hate cleaning. It's boring, grosses me out and I could always think of approx eight million other things I would rather do with my free time. Like eating Camembert or browsing holidays to New Zealand (latest travel obsession). But I don't actually want to live in squalor, funnily enough.
The answer? Fantastic Services.
So Fantastic Services is the one-stop shop for all home services. You name it, they do it. You can see a full list of services on their website but it includes cleaning, gardening, pest control and landscaping. Their cleaning service includes a regular cleaning service, one-off deep cleaning, upholstery, windows, guttering, end-of-tenancy, holiday rentals... honestly, the list goes on.
This afternoon, I was lucky enough to try out their one-off cleaning service. Just after lunch, a team of three arrived at my flat after keeping me updated with their arrival time via text. There's no parking nearby so they had to carry all their equipment from the car but that didn't stop them being really friendly and cheerful. They asked if I wanted a room prioritising (and I practically begged them to sort out our bathroom) and then they cracked on, leaving me to get back to work.
They blitzed the entire flat and I was so impressed by how thorough they were. They really 'gave it some welly' as my mum would say. Everything was scrubbed within an inch of its life. The floor was mopped, the bins were emptied and the upholstery hoovered. I watched them pull up all the sofa cushions to hoover underneath and tried to remember the last time we had done that (and then hid because didn't want to see what was lurking under there). I genuinely can't get over how white and shiny my bathroom looks right now - perfect for the brighter change in seasons.
Fantastic Services are mainly based in London, Manchester, Liverpool and Oxford but are currently expanding their services - check out their area coverage here. St Albans folk - see what they offer in our little city here. These guys are there for any household jobs you may need doing, from cleaning to plumbing to fitting your blinds. Also, they have a super cute Instagram page - check it out here.
I was kindly gifted this cleaning service but all opinions my own.
24 Feb 2019
A Beautiful Lunch at Aymi Café, St Albans
This is one of those occasions where I’ve opened word to write about something else and have found myself writing about the lunch currently digesting in my belly. I’m not sure how interesting it is for anyone but me, but hey; my blog, my musings.
The weather right now is a delight. It’s like February just really wanted in on the spring action so has decided to go for it, even if everyone else is left feeling hella confused. This time last year the Beast from the East was here; this year, we got blossom and ice cream. Yes, that’s right; I JUST HAD AN ICE CREAM. I’m such a stereotypical Brit, losing my shit at the first sign of blue skies.
G was a teensy bit hungover when we got up this morning but I had a real urge to not let the blue skies pass us by whilst we sat on the sofa, still in a it’s-mid-winter mindset. So I suggested we head out for a walk and maybe go check out Aymi Café – a relatively new boutique café – which has been on my radar for a while thanks to its major instagramability (totally a word), but I’ve yet to nip in as it’s about a mile out from the centre (aka, not within five minutes from my flat; someone hand me the world’s smallest violin).
It was a cracking day for a lil walk though so we made our way across town for spot of lunch.
As I knew it would be, Aymi’s décor was a joy. Think pale greys & rose golds, with white tables and cute succulents. And that flower wall. Yes, I do want to recreate in my own house one day. There’s a sofa running along one wall, with blue & gold cushions to settle into, and the counter is adorned with a big selection of cakes, scones and brownies. Oh and they also do a beetroot latte should that kind of thing float your boat (tbf, they look cute and pink which tempted me despite the fact I don’t even drink coffee).
We both went for open sandwiches; I had the goat’s cheese, beetroot, rocket, walnut & balsamic and G had the bresaola, parmesan, rocket & tomatoes; both on a slice of toasted sourdough. They were both beautifully presented, and really, like really, tasty. Like okay-I’m-a-bit-surprised-at-how-good-this-is level of tasty.
I was keen to try out the cake selection but eating ice cream and sitting in the sun seemed like too good an opportunity to miss IN FEBRUARY so we heading back out to find the ice cream parlour in town. I shall, however, be heading back to Aymi to delve into their menu further – and take more photos of that flower wall of course.
23 Feb 2019
Dining In St Albans: Here’s Where Your Next Date Night Should Be
I’m slightly loathe to use the term ‘date night’ but I have yet to formulate a better description of the evenings where G and I leave the flat together to go dine out and dally over food and wine. We eat together nearly every night and yet it’s the act of deliberately sitting down to eat somewhere different that somehow makes you feel newly connected. Date nights are important and should not be rushed. Here’s some of my favourite places to go in St Albans:
For Friday or Saturday: The Bishops Cave / The Gin Cave
I’ve talked about The Bishop’s Cave before; the moment I knew a cheese and wine bar was opening in St Albans I was there (read more here) and took my girls the last time they came to visit. Honestly, I just think it’s the best. This little bar, with its lovely lovely vibes, serves cheese, antipasti, wine and craft beer. The moment you walk in, you’re faced with a huge cheese counter with at least 40 different types of cheese. The staff are really attentive and seem to delight in finding you a cheese that you haven’t tried before and really like. It has just the right balance of feeling busy and yet like you have your own secluded corner. On our most recent visit, we were moseying on over to celebrate our anniversary when we noticed that, right next door, The Gin Cave had opened! Same guys, same branding but this cute little bar specialises in – you guessed it – gin. Have a gin before or after your cheese; either way, what a great night out. The Bishop’s Cave is quite small and very popular so you really do need to book in advance, but I promise it’s worth the wait.
For Sunday: Bill’s*
Fun fact: when we first moved to St Albans, I assumed Bill’s was an independent restaurant. Quite how I’d managed to miss all the other Bill’s dotted around the country, I dunno, but that’s not the point. It just has that vibe. It maintains its independent-restaurant quality despite the fact that it’s not and I think that’s part of the reason I go back again and again. Last year, Bill’s had a make-over (which I wrote about here) and the food and décor is still just as dreamy a year on. Expect vintage sofas, luxurious velvet chintz chairs, walls decorated with antiques and lovely pops of colour. The food is beautifully presented but lacks pretention; it’s tasty and wholesome. Whilst Bill’s is famous for the brunches (which tbf, are amazing), on our most recent visit* G and I spent a cosy Sunday evening in there and it dawned on me that Bill's is actually the perfect place for a Sunday date night in the winter. We had a big bowl of mac & cheese (for yours truly) and wellington & mash for G. Topped off with apple & salted caramel crumble (for me) and lemon meringue pie in a glass (for G). They let us sit undisturbed for as long as we wanted; no ‘table required back after one hour’ – a crime against dining out in my opinion. We just sipped on their pink lemonade and nattered whilst sat on comfy sofas; perfect Sunday evening date night.
For whenever: The Pudding Stop
Ah The Pudding Stop. On balance, I will probably miss this place the most when we leave St Albans. Often busy, a little more hectic perhaps, but what a bloody lovely concept. Puddings! All the puddings! You couldn’t get a better setting for a date. Indulge in their counter selection (the butterscotch blondies are my fave) or get serious and settled with their pudding menu (I really need to try the chocolate chip bread and butter pudding). Go for the evening (they are open until 11) and add in a glass of wine. Go in the morning and have their amazing pancakes – also highly recommend the Oreo milkshake. Hell, go whenever you fancy – eat in, takeaway – all the options. They even now do bake-at-home puddings which you can pop in the oven and boom, baked cookie dough pudding on the sofa for tonight’s date anyone? Oh and they have an online store so even if you don’t live nearby, you can still partake in the joy.
*Our recent meal at Bill’s was complimentary but all love my own.
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