Everybody loves a mini break. As a young professional, they’re definitely the way to go. Forget holiday time, forget long haul flights – mini breaks are the way to go! Actually, don’t forget these things – nothing beats a well planned trip – but we should all be doing mini breaks much more! Travel broadens the mind and all that jazz…..
Recently I had the great treat of arranging a mini break to Wirral, up in the North West just outside of Liverpool. I, with Erin from the Northern Section of FoodGoblin, was visiting a boutique 4* hotel up there called Thornton Hall Hotel and Spa to review the restaurant and spa and planned a bit of an exploration of the area around it. I’m never in the North and I like to flesh it out a bit more whenever I’m up there – I yearned for stops along the way and oodles of fiddles in farm shops.
Recently I had the great treat of arranging a mini break to Wirral, up in the North West just outside of Liverpool. I, with Erin from the Northern Section of FoodGoblin, was visiting a boutique 4* hotel up there called Thornton Hall Hotel and Spa to review the restaurant and spa and planned a bit of an exploration of the area around it. I’m never in the North and I like to flesh it out a bit more whenever I’m up there – I yearned for stops along the way and oodles of fiddles in farm shops.
It became clear as I perused and perused my stop offs that a train just wouldn’t do – there were too many places to see and I was feeling adventurous! That’s when my break became even more….mini. I spoke to my friends over at MINI and their press team kindly offered to loan us one of their brand spanking new MINI Countryman fleet to complete my trip!
It was with immense excitement therefore that I picked up the keys and set off for a test drive in the countryside. It was a beautiful beast: a deep green one with black leather seats! I was surprised with how big it was too – I’m used to the standard MINIs which are, well, you know….’mini’. It was big enough easily for 5 people to travel in great comfort and with a spacious boot for my entire luggage as well!
I’ll disclose a most embarrassing story here. If you bring it up to me in person I’ll only deny it. I spent a good 20 minutes sitting in the garage unable to start it! It was a manual, like I’m used to, but it had this very jazzy key system where you have to plug this UFO shaped key into a slot on the dashboard, hit the clutch and press a start button, rather than simply turning a standard metal key. Sorry if this is me being terribly old fashioned, but I found this most new-fangled and it baffled me for a while. On the other hand, it makes restarting the engine MUCH faster if you stall. Not that I stalled, err…ever.
I’ll disclose a most embarrassing story here. If you bring it up to me in person I’ll only deny it. I spent a good 20 minutes sitting in the garage unable to start it! It was a manual, like I’m used to, but it had this very jazzy key system where you have to plug this UFO shaped key into a slot on the dashboard, hit the clutch and press a start button, rather than simply turning a standard metal key. Sorry if this is me being terribly old fashioned, but I found this most new-fangled and it baffled me for a while. On the other hand, it makes restarting the engine MUCH faster if you stall. Not that I stalled, err…ever.
I loved driving this – its powerful engine, height up from the road and comfy seats (with heaters) made driving an absolute pleasure! And so, it was two very giddy girls that loaded up their bags one morning, plugged in their road trip music (obviously the sound system is great) and set off on the motorway to the North!
Thornton Hall…coming right up!
Thornton Hall…coming right up!
I am so grateful for your article.