Copenhagen diaries: day 4

I recently realised that I never got around to writing about our final day in Copenhagen; we had an evening flight home, so we got pretty much a full day at the end of our trip which was lovely! Here's what we got up to, including two of my favourite things to do in Copenhagen...

After a final hotel breakfast, we checked out and stored our luggage before making our way to the bus stop - this was the first time we'd actually used the bus on this trip, and we were able to use the city pass on the DOT app for these journeys too. Our destination? Copenhagen Zoo, which I booked on Trip.com before we travelled. I don't often go to the zoo on holiday as we live fairly close to Chester Zoo, which is brilliant, but I absolutely had to visit Copenhagen Zoo as they have pandas!

My aunty is obsessed with pandas and has seen them across the world; I also work for a brand called Panda, so they're a pretty big part of my life. I'd never seen on in real life before and I was soooo excited to do so. They didn't disappoint - big, fluffy, lazy, adorable things. We went to see them first before exploring a variety of other animals as well as the petting zoo. As zoos go, this one is large and clean, and the animals all looked well taken care of and happy. You can even have lunch 'with' the pandas, although this is quite expensive so we didn't bother but you'd get a fantastic view of them if you did.

A zoo is a zoo, so there's frankly not much more to say, but we did really enjoy it and the weather was beautifully sunny. It's the perfect way to spend a couple of hours on a nice day, especially if you're visiting Copenhagen with kids. When we left, we headed across the road to the beautiful Frederiksberg Gardens - it looks absolutely stunning, and we were ready to enjoy a lovely mooch around.

However, no sooner had we entered the park than I got a phone call - I had booked to do a sea plane ride in the afternoon, and they wanted to see if I could come along for the earlier flight as there weren't enough bookings for the time slot I'd chosen. Of course I said yes (lest I have to miss out!) and we hot footed it from here to the Langelinie area on the bus and metro.

I checked in and then it was time for my first ever sea plane ride; I'm a bit of a transport nerd and having never done one before, I was really excited to have the chance. The ride costs £90 per person although they did kindly offer me a 50% media discount, so a huge thank you to Nordic Seaplanes for that. This was an absolutely amazing experience and I'd highly recommend it for a birds eye view of beautiful Copenhagen! The plane is super small and you can see right into the cockpit, and all in all the journey took around half an hour including taxiing through the water and the flight, then landing back into the water. Genuinely a mesmerising and really exciting way to see the city - you fly right over towards Malmö so I saw the bridge we'd crossed the day before too.

After my flight, we stayed in the area and visited a sort of artisan food shop which was right nearby - it's called Løgismose, where Kate got a sandwich and I got a massive bag truffle crisps. We sat outside and I showed her all of my videos from the sea plane ride over Copenhagen. Then it was time to move on, and when I opened my maps app to see how to get back to the city centre I noticed we could get the ferry!

Again, I'm a transport nerd and Kate loves a ferry, plus the little yellow ferries are again included in the city pass on the DOT app. So we decided why not - it's yet another vantage point to see the city, so we jumped on with a few commuters and made the short journey across the water to beautiful, colour Nyhavn. We decided this time to walk down the opposite side and see Hans Christian Andersen's house, then we stopped for a quick (but expensive) drink. 

Then it was time to head back to the hotel, where we had the chance to charge our phones, freshen up a bit, grab our luggage and have another can of coke each with our vouchers for not getting our towels changed each day. We got the metro back to the airport, and it was time to go home after another amazing adventure.

The zoo is definitely a great one if you want to see pandas or have little ones with you, and if you want to treat yourself and see Copenhagen from up high then the sea plane is well worth doing it. The yellow ferries are an absolute must in my opinion, especially as they're technically public transport making them a really affordable way to travel on water in Denmark's capital!

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Wirral Food Bank Donations: Christmas 2023

Donating to food banks, if you can, is important at any time of year but particularly at Christmas and especially right now during the cost of living crisis we find ourselves in. If you're anything like me you'll have seen a real growth in the number of Facebook posts asking for help and support - so I thought I'd put together a post about what to donate to the Wirral food bank this Christmas

Based on their website, the Wirral food bank are after some specific things currently:

There are some other things, not on this list, that would be great to donate to the Wirral food bank in the run up to Christmas and generally. These include:

• Tin openers (a lot of the suggested donations include tinned food which is no good if people don't own a tin opener!)
• Selection boxes
• Christmas pudding/Stollen
• Crisps
• Yorkshire pudding mix
• Razors
• Body butter/lotion
• Christmas crackers
• Popcorn
• Tea bags
• Peanut butter
• Syrup/honey
• Granola/cereal bars
• Cheese and crackers

Be sure to check all food you donate has a good shelf life on it so it lasts people longer than the Christmas period. Remember you can donate money to your local food bank too, in case you're not in a position to get out to the shops with everything going on during the festive season.

Share this post far and wide so we can ensure as many people as possible in Wirral benefit from generosity during the Christmas season.

(AD) What we got up to in Stratford-upon-Avon

Experiences marked with a * were press/gifted experiences.

Our recent staycation to the gorgeous Stratford-upon-Avon was jam packed, and we still could have done more! We really had the best time, and it's somewhere I'd definitely recommend visiting. I thought I'd give you the lowdown on everything we got up to, with prices and reviews... we had plenty of recommendations from the local Facebook group, which is a good tip if you're travelling somewhere new. The locals always have good ideas on where to go!

For reference, we stayed right in the centre of town in the beautiful Hotel Indigo, Stratford-upon-Avon. We had dinner at the restaurant, The Woodsman, on the Friday evening when we first arrived - this was incredible and I couldn't recommend it more if you want somewhere for a really special meal. Read my full review of the hotel and restaurant here.

Shakespeare Distillery Tour*

So on Saturday morning, after a lovely breakfast, we asked the hotel reception to book us a taxi to our first activity - a gin tour and tasting at the Shakespeare Distillery. This is slightly out of town, but I would SO recommend. We arrived and sat down in the café/bar area, before we were given a really insightful and genuinely hilarious talk on the history of gin and distilling by the wonderful Sarah; after this, Sam took us to see the 'stills' (named after Shakespeare characters, of course) as well as where the gin is stored, bottled and so on. They do everything themselves at the distillery; it's a small business with so much passion for what they do.

The second part of our experience here (which costs £19pp if you're interested!) was the gin tasting, which we were very excited about. You try three different gins or two gins and a rum, which Sarah talked us through - they do various flavours, and there are plenty of mixers, so it's important to know which should be paired together! You try each one straight and then each with a tiny bit of mixer, and then you're treated to a full size drink. If you're driving, you'll get a miniature to take home instead of having the full drink which I think is the perfect touch. You also get 10% off in the shop so we bought a glass each, a tote bag, and a miniature to take home. I so highly recommend this and we might even do it again when we go back with my parents!

Shakespeare Walking Tour

We couldn't visit Stratford-upon-Avon and not see all the Shakespeare highlights, and somebody in the local Facebook forum recommended we book a walking tour with the man himself ...okay, somebody dressed up as him! For £7 each we met at the Tudor World Museum in Sheep Street (slightly early so I popped down the next alleyway and treated myself to a Biscoff cookie from the Cookie Cottage!) then set off with our guide, dressed as the Bard, to see the relevant parts of town. 

We headed to all the hotspots and heard a wealth of information about each place, with some fun jokes and stories along the way. I'd highly recommend this tour if you want to see the highlights and learn some history! It ends at the church where Shakespeare is buried; you do have to pay to go in and see his grave, it was a suggested donation charge of £4 which seemed pretty unavoidable so I paid it to go in. We also managed to catch a choir rehearsal at the church which was beautiful!

The Garrick Inn

There are plenty of pubs in town, and we had heard that the Garrick Inn is one of the oldest; it's now a Greene King, so the food is pretty standard, but I'd booked us a table here for dinner. It was absolutely RAMMED, so much so they closed the doors in the end. The staff were friendly and the service was quick, so I would recommend popping in for a drink but I would imagine there are some much nicer restaurants down Sheep Street for food that's a bit more up-market. Just after dinner we also wandered back up through town as the Christmas lights had been switched on, which was super pretty.

The RSC*

Of course, I was desperate to see a show at the RSC - sadly there wasn't an actual Shakespeare play on at the time, but we were gifted a pair of tickets to see The Box of Delights. This is a really family-friendly festive play about a young boy tasked with saving Christmas after a chance encounter with a Punch & Judy man on the train home from school. It wasn't exactly my kind of play but the talent was brilliant and the set looked great too, and the RSC is such an iconic venue that it's a *must* if you're wondering what to do in Stratford-upon-Avon of an evening.

The Old Thatch Tavern

I really wanted to pop in to the Old Thatch Tavern for a drink because it was opened 400 years ago this year (2023) which was the year Shakespeare's First Folio was published AND the year Anne Hathaway, his wife, passed away. It was fairly expensive for a pub but really cosy, so we stopped for a drink and played some trivia on the TV just to say we'd been in! Shoutout to Owen of the Stratford Town Walk who gave me soooo much info and facts about the local pubs before we visited, if you can get on one of his tours I'm sure it'd be amazing.

Stratford Butterly Farm*

Sunday morning was a really crisp, windy day and we were booked in to visit Stratford Butterfly Farm. We walked here, which took us over the River Avon so that was nice - there is a foot ferry that I really wanted to try but it doesn't run during the winter months. We arrived at the Butterfly Farm and dumped our coats, then headed into the tropical area fullll of butterflies, the odd moth, a whole section about cocoons, an area with snakes, stick insects, a crocodile and more. This was a really fun way to spend an hour or so, and perfect if you're looking for child-friendly activities in Stratford-upon-Avon. There is a fantastic gift shop, too!

We of course popped to see Shakespeare's house one last time on our way to the station - and I wanted to show off my cute new sweatshirt* from Lighthouse, which I adore!

There is plenty to see and do in Stratford-upon-Avon, especially if you're a Shakespeare fan! The gin distillery tour and the walking tour were my highlights for sure, but everything we did was well worth doing if you're looking for things to do in Stratford-upon-Avon.

AD: Stocking Fillers with Wicked Uncle

Christmas is creeping closer and I've been loving sharing my gift guides - and I've got another one for you today! Wicked Uncle are an online toy shop where you can buy gifts for kids of all ages, from babies through to teenagers, making you the favourite family member - honorary or otherwise. I've selected some brilliant stocking fillers from them, which I'll talk you through today...

Sugar Mice

Starting off with a 3-pack of sugar mice - sweets are a must when it comes to stocking fillers, and these are something a bit different to your usual selection box or bag of Haribo. These are super cute and traditional, and for £3.99 they make the perfect thoughtful gift for a stocking. They're raspberry and pineapple flavour, so super sweet and tasty.

David Walliams Awful Auntie's Wonderfully Witty Word Games

My nephew loves David Walliams' books, and I thought this would be the perfect stocking filler for him - however it's definitely aimed more at younger kids, which is fine as I have plenty of those in my life too. It's a well made gift in terms of the physical quality of the cards, and it's something we can all join in with over the Christmas period. I'm taking my nephew to see the stage show of this specific book next year, and if you have tickets too then this would be the perfect stocking filler gift to go with them!

The House of Riddles - Exit Game

I absolutely love escape rooms, and the fact you can now get games to play at home that resemble that excitement is so cool; this is a game full of riddles and challenges which takes around 1-2 hours, and is perfect for the older kids in your life. It's something you can only play once, but it's the perfect gift for someone who loves using their brain and enjoys playing games with friends/family. I'm SO excited for this one, which we are actually keeping for ourselves! At £16.95, it's the ideal stocking filler in my opinion.

Hair Accessories - 4 Stacking Tins

For my little goddaughter Ivy, who is 4, I picked up these stacking tins for storing hair accessories - she's got gorgeous curly hair and I thought these would be the perfect addition to her bedroom (and her mum loves organisation so this will go down well for sure!). They're great quality, so cute and colourful, and can fit a good amount of bits in. At £12.99 they make a great stocking filler for girly girls.

I absolutely love Wicked Uncle; their website is easy to order from and you can get everything gift wrapped too, as well as cards and gift notes if need be. Perfect for sending goodies to the little ones in your life that you don't see as often. Their price points are really decent, and it's a brilliant way to support a family-run business. Highly recommend if you're shopping for stocking fillers for kids this Christmas!