Bush Hotel, Farnham | Review

There's nothing I love more than a little weekend away, and my wife & I recently visited Farnham in Surrey to celebrate our first wedding anniversary - side note, that year has flown by! We really enjoyed our time in Farnham, and we stayed at the gorgeous Farnham Bush Hotel. You can find all of our thoughts below...

I was invited to the Farnham Bush in exchange for an honest review.

Farnham Bush - location

We travelled to Farnham by train, as we don't drive; the hotel is around a 10 minute walk from the train station, which was really straightforward, and it's very centrally located in terms of the town itself. There's a Sainsbury's opposite, in case you've forgotten anything, and various pubs, restaurants, cafés and shops nearby. It's around a 10-15 minute walk from Farnham Castle too! So in terms of location, I don't think you could ask for more. There is also plenty of parking if you are driving in, and you just need to log your reg number on the tablet at reception.

Farnham Bush - our room

We were in a Vintage Double room with a garden view; these are some of the oldest rooms in the hotel, which by the way dates back to the 1600s, but the room itself was very fresh, warm and modern. We had a comfortable bed, a TV, space to get ready, room to relax, a gorgeous bathroom with walk-in shower that came with body wash, shampoo AND conditioner. There was an iron, hairdryer, air con/heating, WiFi and of course, the promised garden view. We both slept really well, and couldn't complain at all about the room. It was decorated really beautifully, and I particularly appreciated the full length mirror to check my outfit before dinner...

Farnham Bush - the grounds

One of our favourite parts of the Bush Hotel, Farnham was the gorgeous garden/grounds; it was cool but sunny when we visited, and it was really nice to sit out here with a drink both on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Despite the proximity to the town centre, it's a really quiet, tranquil space with so much gorgeous greenery and plenty of seating. I can imagine this is the place to be during hot summer days in Farnham!

Food at Farnham Bush

We had dinner at the on-site restaurant, and it was delicious. For my starter I had a stunning crispy duck and hoisin salad, while my wife opted for the prawns. And for our mains, she had the steak and I had the Bush Burger. It was all perfectly cooked, really tasty and piping hot, with great portion sizes too. We also shared a pudding, the chocolate and passionfruit tart - it was a lovely and refreshing finishing touch. My wife had the house red to drink, which she enjoyed, and I had a glass of Sea Change Sparkling which is a nosecco, not something offered on a lot of menus so I was chuffed to see it as a non-drinker!

Our booking included breakfast, which was lovely - there was a hot & cold buffet, a great free-from section, and you could also order off the menu too. I had a lovely sausage sandwich and a croissant, as well as a smoothie; my wife had a bacon and sausage sandwich with a cappuccino. Again, the food was hot and tasted great, and there was a really good variety to choose from.

If you're planning a trip to Farnham, I'd definitely recommend The Bush Hotel - it's a really peaceful, centrally located hotel with comfortable rooms, really attentive staff and great food!

September 2026 reading round up

I had an absolutely awful reading month in September - I've been rewatching Bones, which has really taken up all of my time, and I've just generally been in a bit of a reading slump. I am, however, off on holiday in October; a proper 'fly and flop' holiday, where I plan to get *plenty* of reading done! Anyway, here's what I did manage to read in September... 

Whistle by Linwood Barclay

This was our book club pick for September - we always spin a wheel to decide on a genre, then everyone throws in some book suggestions and we do a poll to choose. This month it was horror, and this was the book we landed on. I am a huge fan of Linwood Barclay, and this is his first actual horror book - and my first ever horror read! I didn't think it was particularly scary, though it had very creepy elements. I really enjoyed it; there's a split timeline, and we're following a woman who moves her & her son to a rural house for the summer, where some really weird things start happening. In our other timeline, we're in a small town following the chief as he tries to solve a string of disappearances and very odd events. As the two stories merge, we're allowed a glimpse into a dark underworld that really gets under your skin... 4 stars!

Big Little Truths by Lianne Moriarty

I loveeeee Lianne Moriarty, and I was so pleased to be back in the world of Big Little Lies - this time for the sequel, ten years on, when the little kids are now teenagers and the mums have all moved on from those crazy events... or have they? I listened to the audiobook of this which was fantastically done, and honestly I just really enjoyed it. 4 stars from me.

The Bali Bucket List by Ava Wilde

Genuinely one of the most dreadful books I've ever read; this was a NetGalley ARC and that's the only reason I didn't DNF it - I think it might have been written by ChatGPT, which is gross. Girl's relationship breaks down so she flees to Bali to "find herself" in the most sad and disrespectful way, blogging about it all, and that's basically all that happens.It's very spicy, but in an incredibly cringe way, and the characters are awful. Hate hate hate hate hated it. Poor decisions, awful scenarios, pathetic people. 1 star and that's being generous.

Two Couples by Cathryn Grant

Another NetGalley ARC, and another one that really wasn't great. It's a thriller about two couples (duh) who buy a remote lakeside holiday home and find a dead body in the pool when they arrive. One person wants to call the police while the others are reluctant to do so - nothing really makes sense, and there are a few twists but none that add much to the plot, and generally it was just quite boring/predictable. 2 stars.

Andddd that's everything I read in September 2026. Started off well and went dramatically downhill! We go again in October...

24 hours in Coventry

I'm a big fan of UK travel - just jumping on a train and spending the weekend, or even just a day, somewhere new. And with that in mind my wife and I visited Coventry at the beginning of September, somewhere neither of us had ever been before. With just 24 hours in the city, here's what we got up to...

Hotel Indigo, Coventry

We stayed at the gorgeous Hotel Indigo - I've shared a full review of the Indigo Coventry, but in short it was absolutely fantastic. It's also super close to the train station (less than a 2 minute walk) making it perfect for visiting the city.

Cogs @ Hotel Indigo, Coventry

We had dinner booked for 7pm on the Friday evening, and we ate the Indigo's restaurant - Cogs. It was the ideal place to eat, and the food was sensational. We both had pâté to start, my wife had steak for her main and I had the most delicious truffle & burrata pizza. And there was a decent dessert selection; I had the dark chocolate brownie with salted caramel ice cream, and my wife had a Biscoff tiramisu! The bar menu also had plenty to choose from, including a fair few mocktails for the non-drinkers like me...

One day in Coventry - our itinerary

We had the whole of Saturday to explore the city, and we definitely managed to see plenty of what Coventry has to offer. After a delightful breakfast at Indigo, we headed off to our first stop of the day: the Coventry Transport Museum. It was £17 each to get in, so fairly expensive, but you get a whole year's worth of visits with one ticket. Great if you're more local, but not really relevant for us... There is SO much to see here though, from penny farthings and royal cars to old ambulances and even an F1 car! You can definitely spend a good few hours here, and I really enjoyed it.

On our way here we actually stumbled upon the Lady Godiva Clock, which is a mechanical clock on the front of Broadgate House. Each hour the bells chime and the wooden doors open, then Lady Godiva herself comes out on a white horse following by Peeping Top from a window above. It was just a really fun thing to see, one that we hadn't known about when planning our Coventry itinerary.

From the transport museum we walked down to see the new and old cathedrals, which are side by side - the new one is really quite hideous, truth be told, but the stained glass was very impressive. And the ruins of the old cathedral were also really cool to explore, especially as it wasn't raining... against the blue sky it did look spectacular.

Our next, and final, stop was St Mary's Guildhall. I booked our tickets in advance on Get Your Guide, for £9 each, and it took a few minutes for us to scan in then we were free to explore. It's much smaller than I expected, but it was an interesting insight into the medieval history of Coventry. More stained glass, a reconstruction of how the kitchen would have looked, some armour... it was cool, but didn't take us long to get around. There is a lovely tea shop attached, though, which has some fantastic cakes and food!

Coventry - our thoughts

Is Coventry somewhere I'd rush back to? Absolutely not, but it was a lovely night away and we did have fun exploring the transport museum and the guildhall; honestly I thought everything would take us a bit longer than it did, so we were left with time that we couldn't really fill. As we don't drive, we were fairly limited to the city centre - and there wasn't much else to do that we couldn't do elsewhere...

Hotel Indigo, Coventry | review

I was recently invited to the Hotel Indigo in Coventry, so myself and my wife hopped on a train to enjoy a gorgeous overnight stay and explore what Coventry has to offer! Below you'll find all of our thoughts on the hotel itself, and spoiler... we loved it.

Hotel Indigo, Coventry - location

The hotel is really well situated, directly opposite Coventry train station (literally a 2 minute walk) and then around 15 minutes into the city centre on foot. This made it super convenient for us! There's a small Sainsbury's and a retail park also within a few minutes walk, and you'll find Elle's Coventry across the road too - this is a social dining space with multiple independent kitchens, bars and coffee shops inside.

Hotel Indigo, Coventry - our room

We stayed in one of the suites at Hotel Indigo Coventry - ours was room 316, and it was absolutely huge. There was an open wardrobe space for us to hang our clothes, a long table space for getting ready, a super king bed, fridge/coffee machine/snack station, massive bathroom with bath, shower & double sink, and a generous seating area with a big TV. There was also WiFi, and the bathroom was stocked with gorgeous products.

One thing I will always say about Indigo Hotels is that the beds are ridiculously comfortable, and this was no exception. It was genuinely sensational, and we both slept SO well! They also do local decor really tastefully, and our room had a little 'peeping Tom' on top of the wardrobe - linked to the Lady Godiva legend, so that was really fun. There was also a ton of artwork throughout the hotel which linked beautifully to the city and its history, as well as murals by local artist Katie O.

Hotel Indigo, Coventry - food and drink

There is a bar and restaurant area in the downstairs of the hotel called Cogs; we had a couple of drinks here after checking in, and I have to say the Ribbon Fizz mocktail was sensational. They have a great selection of wine, beer, cider, cocktails, mocktails, soft drinks and snacks. We were able to charge the drinks to our room and pay for them when we checked out, which was super easy.

We ate at Cogs in the evening, and it was lovely - really quiet and peaceful, and we were sat right by the open kitchen which I always love. We both opted for pâté to start, which came with onion chutney and a lovely chargrilled bread; for our mains, my wife had the steak (which was huge) with chips & peppercorn sauce, while I opted for the delicious burrata and truffle pizza. I absolutely love truffle so this was just 10/10 for me. We ummed & ahhed over getting dessert and decided to just go for it - I had the dark chocolate brownie with salted caramel ice cream which was lush, and the waitress recommended their very own biscoff tiramisu which my wife chose. All of the food was tasty, filling and the perfect temperature. It also didn't take long to come out, which is always a winner!

The following morning we had our breakfast at Cogs too - there's a hot and cold buffet, and you can also order separate dishes off the menu. My wife had a full English from the buffet, and she really enjoyed it; the food was nice & hot which was definitely a plus, as hotel buffets sometimes fall short here. I had yoghurt, fruit & granola as well as a delicious bit of cake, so we were well set up for our day of exploring.

Hotel Indigo, Coventry - final thoughts

Overall we were really pleased with our stay at the Hotel Indigo in Coventry. The location makes it ideal if you're visiting Coventry by train, and the hotel itself is really well thought out and beautifully designed. I cannot overstate just how comfy the bed was, and the suite was just incredibly spacious. The service was also just brilliant, as ever! Would highly recommend the Indigo if you're looking for a really nice hotel in Coventry.

August 2026 reading round up

August was a busy month for me and as such, not actually a great reading month. I'm still ahead of schedule when it comes to hitting my 100 books target for 2026, and as always I'm sharing below all the books I read in August 2026 and what I thought of them...

The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley

I was so deep into this series throughout July, and I read the seventh book in the series at the beginning of August. It's a bit of a weird one, as the original sisters embark on a journey to discover the 'missing' sister - the seventh piece of the puzzle, who wasn't actually adopted by Pa Salt for reasons unknown. Honestly at this point I felt like I was kind of over it all, and the story really dragged a bit, and as she was never actually adopted into the family I still struggle to see the relevance. There's only one book to go, the story of Pa Salt, and I'm hoping that will make *everything* a bit clearer. 3 stars.

Glow Job by Kristen Bailey

I had soooo much fun with this one. It follows Ben, a chef/restaurant owner who has inherited a villa in Ibiza, and Chloe - burnt out and in desperate need of a holiday, who winds up attending the retreat that Ben starts hosting at said villa. It's just a whole barrel of laughs, awkward moments, fumbling romance and sunshine. One of my favourite reads of the year! 5 stars. (NetGalley arc)

Getting Away With Murder by Shari Lapena

I listened to this as an audiobook, and it's a decent domestic thriller; Jill and Ted are broke, and Ted's brother is incredibly rich, and together they decide to get rid of him in order to inherit his millions. But of course, things don't quite go to plan... it's nothing groundbreaking but it was an easy, enjoyable listen! 4 stars.

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

This was our book club pick for August and my god was it gorgeous! It's a sensational read about grief and the power of both books and friendship, and Libby Page just writes so beautifully. We follow X, a grieving young widow, who discovers that her late husband has left her one book a month starting from her birthday 6 months after his death. These books all have a reason behind them, and lead to some incredible adventures that allow her to heal over time. Simply gorgeous, 5 stars.

Around the World in 80 Dates by Jasmine Burke

Another one I just enjoyed immensely and had so much fun with; Amorie accidentally goes viral with a rant about her love life, and ends up with a column in a travel magazine where she has to go on 80 dates in the span of 6 months, while inter-railing around Europe. On day one she meets Noah, who becomes her travel buddy - he's looking for a steady girlfriend, so they agree to help each other. You can imagine the rest... stunning, brilliant, funny and just a good time for a holiday read. 4 stars! (NetGalley arc)

So, not many books read but some real gems in there this month - hopefully September, as we get into cosy season, will have a few more good ones coming through...