Category: Driving All the Way – England

Road trip in England.

Goodbye UK Summer 2023

January 18, 2024January 18, 2024 sweet surrender No Comments

Okie dokie… I’m so late in posting this! Hahaha! It’s already January 2024, winter 2024 in the UK. No longer summer 2023 hahaha! We went to England on the 13th August and came back to Malaysia on the 31st August.

The reel below is our journey back from one airport to another. From Newcastle International Airport to Dubai International Airport to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Of course, the last leg was from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching.

So, that’s the end of my UK trip. Next, it’ll be Singkawang and Pontianak trip. This actually happened back in October 2023. If you do follow my Instagram, you would have seen the posts already. I just started sharing about it recently hehehe…

Driving All the Way - England, Going Places

A Half-day Trip to Darlington and Lunch

December 27, 2023December 26, 2023 sweet surrender No Comments

We went to Darlington to window shop and had lunch when we were in the UK during summer. We’re supposed to buy something there but ended up buying nothing. We had lunch and left.

Didn’t do much here. Didn’t take many photos too. Here are what I shared on my Instagram.

Before we head home, we had out lunch at Uno Momento. They served traditional Italian fare and cocktails. You can find relaxed and cozy quarters with pavement seating. The business was really good. It was packed. Luckily we managed to get a table for 8 of us without much waiting. The service was good. However, we were disappointed with the steaks and mussels that we ordered. It has many branches around the UK. Maybe it’s just our luck that day as there are actually many good reviews about them. That’s one of the reasons we decided to dine there.

Finally, this summer holiday post is coming to and end soon. One more post to go hehehe…

Driving All the Way - England, Food Porn, Going Places

A Leisurely Visit to Staithes

November 29, 2023November 15, 2023 sweet surrender No Comments

Staithes is a seaside village in North Yorkshire, England. We went there on a Sunday after lunch. Since it’s a long weekend due to bank holiday and also school holiday, the place was very happening. It was quite hard to find parking but we were lucky to find two (we drove two cars there) after a bit of search. It’s a good thing all of us could fit in two sedans. If we’re to drive three (2 sedans and 1 caravan), it will be an issue for the bigger vehicle to find a parking.

The Drive

The drive to Staithes was quite a scenic drive on the highway and the altitude was rather high that you could feel your ears blocked for a moment like when you’re in a plane. Even going down the highway could make your stomach felt funny like riding a roller coaster hahaha!

A Picturesque Village

It’s a bit of walk down hill to reach the village after we parked. The sun was so bright and hot. However, the view was quite stunning. The village’s 18th century cottages and cobbled streets are one the interesting things to see here. Great place for taking unique and quirky photos too. No wonder it attracts many artists to immortalize the place on canvas for centuries.

We just walked around enjoying the views and take some photos there. We didn’t visit Captain Cook & Staithes Heritage Centre. In fact, we didn’t know it’s there hahaha! Anyway, in case you want to know, the museum operating hours are from 11am to 4pm daily except Friday during summer. Meanwhile, the operating hours are from 11am-4pm daily except Thursday and Friday during winter.

You can spend a night or two there if you want. You might be lucky to catch the Northern Lights there if you visit during autumn and winter from September to April.

You will not miss the view of two bulky headlands (‘nabs’) which shelter the tiny harbour. They are the two cliffs of Cowbar and Penny nab.

By the way, this place is also popular for bird watching.

That’s pretty much that I could share about this picturesque village on the Yorkshire Coast. We spent hours there. Unfortunately the public toilet near the car park was closed when we reached there. So we drove to Saltburn to visit the toilet and a quick stroll. You can check out my 2018 Saltburn trip here.

Driving All the Way - England, Going Places

Half-day at Spilmans Farm

November 22, 2023November 14, 2023 sweet surrender No Comments

It’s been a long time not joining the fruit picking fun. During our summer vacation in England, we went to Spilmans Farm (Church Farm, Thirsk YO7 3NB, United Kingdom) to pick some strawberries and raspberries. They had potatoes too but we didn’t pick them. Not to forget sunflowers are available as well. All these are only available in the summer. In Autumn, you get to pick pumpkins.

Farm Shop & Cafe

Spilmans Farm is a family run farm since 1941. There’s a farm shop and cafe there selling many products made from the harvest from the farm and souvenirs. Just look at how colourful and the varieties of alcohol and spirits selections that they have. What you see here are just a portion of them.

There are also Moonshine Ice Creams (contains alcohol) and Yorvale Ice Cream (from Fossfield Farm in Yorkshire). We did buy the ice cream, the non-alcohol one of course hahaha! Very rich and creamy ice cream. If you are hungry, there are wood-oven pizzas and other snack available too. You’ll just have to see what they are serving while you’re there and order accordingly. You can see what we had and the summary of what we did there in the video below.

Aside from that, you can find jams, honey, cheese, cookies, and more in their farm shop too. I spent quite some time looking at the products they’re selling. It’s quite interesting to see. I love to browse through this kind of products in shops.

Sunflower Field

After fruit picking and lunch, we decided to walked to the sunflower field just to have a look. You will have to pay to pick the sunflowers. We did not need them, so we didn’t pick any of them. You have to be careful when you’re in there as there are some thorny plants on the ground.

It’s my first time seeing so many sunflowers. You’ll see many insects flying around too. Just don’t go and disturb them and they won’t sting or bite you.

We had a great time taking photos of the sunflowers. It’s fun to take photo of the flowers when there are bees and other insects on the flowers. It gives the photos more life. Look at how pretty the flowers are.

Lastly, we had a great time there. Not a bad place to visit for the young and old. Do check out Spilmans Farm official website for fruit picking schedule.

Driving All the Way - England, Going Places

A Quick Visit to Yarm

November 15, 2023November 14, 2023 sweet surrender No Comments

Had the opportunity to visit Yarm aka Yarm-on-Tees, when we were in England. Yarm is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It’s not far from where we were staying. We went there for an evening walk. Of course, we had to drive there.

Just look at the architectures here at the High Street. Georgian-style old buildings with their red pantile roofs. It’s like you’re going back in time. Ignore those cars there hahaha!

At the back of row of shops, there’s River Tees. You can see the photos of the river in my Instagram’s post below.

Here’s the two landmarks that you definitely won’t miss when you’re there. The railway viaduct (left) and the high street and the Yarm Town Hall (right) can be seen at the center of the High Street. The high street was voted as the ‘Best High Street’ BBC’s Breakfast programme on 19 January 2007.

That’s pretty much about Yarm from me. We’ll go to another town in the next post.

Driving All the Way - England, Going Places