My April Days

* This includes a collaboration with Las Iguanas

It feels like April has just passed in a flash, I'm sure we skipped a whole month - how on earth is it May tomorrow? We've had a pretty amazing few weeks with plenty of sunshine, a spot of exploring and a lot of delicious food - our bank balance and waistlines definitely tell the tale of a very happy and indulgent April. So here are just a few of the things that I haven't shared on the blog this month.

An Easter to Remember

I think Easter 2019 will be one we all remember and talk about for years to come. How incredible was the Bank Holiday? Four days of hot weather and beautiful sunshine, I just loved that everyone was smiling and it was the perfect excuse to pack our diary with plans. We usually go away to visit family over Easter weekend so it felt pretty great to have an entire four days free with no motorway journeys and a good chance to really recharge the batteries. With two more bank holidays to come in May, would it be greedy to ask for some more sunshine please?

Nelsons at the Park

It's no exaggeration when I say that we recently found ourselves driving round Northumberland desperately looking for cake. Attempting to find a tea room with available seats and a fully loaded cake counter at 3:00 pm on a Saturday is a real challenge let me tell you, so I was feeling pretty pleased with myself when I remembered that a friend had recommended Nelsons at the Park in Swarland to me and we just happened to be a short drive away. BINGO! Plenty of tables, really lovely staff and THE hugest slices of cake you've ever seen, the community cafe is such a find if you're yet to visit you really must go!

Botanist

It had been a while since our last visit to The Botanist, yet somehow this month we managed to go twice. Our first trip we sat beneath the florals of the Mezzanine bar to celebrate the seven year anniversary of Simon doing a 14 hour round coach trip from Newcastle to London to take me on a first date, and our second visit was over the lovely sunny Bank Holiday weekend when we managed to bag ourselves a table on the roof terrace for cocktails in the sunshine. I'd forgotten how much I love The Botanist!

Pure Knead

I've been teasing my Whitley Bay Food Guide for some time now, and I promise you it is coming, I'm just taking my time over it. As part of our "important research" we finally made it to Pure Knead, somewhere that people have been telling me to visit for a rather long time now. The artisan bakery on Park View bakes delicious loaves (the queue of locals collecting their bread was pretty epic!), has a very impressive looking display of cakes and serves up delicious pastries that you can enjoy whilst sitting in their window people watching. I've been saying for a while now that we'd love to live in Whitley Bay - our visit to Pure Knead was so good we spent the rest of our afternoon looking at estate agent websites!

Alnwick Castle

We were too late for the full display this year but a quick visit to Alnwick Castle this month had me marvelling at the most incredible carpet of daffodils. I had no idea there were so many and that the views beyond the sea of yellow to the castle were quite so beautiful. I have a plan for next March already, I shall be making my way there as soon as the flowers are in bloom, hopefully armed with a picnic blanket and a basket full of food - what a lunch spot that would be! We had a little stroll in the sunshine, realised that we really do need to visit Alnwick Castle properly soon and now have an extra thing to tick off the North East Bucket List.

Battle of the Burgers

No Easter travels meant that this year we finally got to attend Battle of the Burgers at Wylam Brewery. A whole afternoon sitting out in the blazing hot sunshine drinking beer and pitting the region's favourite burgers against each other. Served in mini sizes for £3.00 each we managed to work our way through a few including Lola Jeans, Fowl Play and my first every try of Parm-O-Rama - it was almost impossible to decide on a favourite and just made me realise how incredibly lucky we are to have so many amazing burgers here in the North East!

Las Iguanas 

If gin is your thing you need to get yourself down to Las Iguanas who have just teamed up with local gin favourites Poetic License to create their very own Tropical Gin. Served with plenty of ice and slices of mango it's available nationwide but as it was lovingly created here in the North East I personally think it's best enjoyed at the restaurant on the Quayside, preferably out on the sunny terrace - get a plan in the diary!

As always for more adventures from New Girl in Toon make sure you follow me on Instagram. I post a new photo every day sharing the best discoveries in the North!

Las Iguanas treated us to a free G&T as part of their launch of the new gin.  All other things featured in this post were paid for by ourselves.