Uncle Jim’s birthday weekend: Retford, Nottingham, Doncaster

July 12, 2021July 12, 2021Leave a comment

Not this weekend but the weekend before, we had a wonderful time celebrating my Uncle Jim’s birthday. Please continue reading for a description of mine, my Auntie Gina, her son Rich and Uncle Jim’s travels to; Ye Olde Bell Hotel & Spa in Retford, a day out in Nottingham and another trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster. Hope you enjoy!

We went for a posh meal on the Friday evening at Ye Olde Bell Hotel & Spa, Retford. As you can see, we dressed up nice for the occasion! The food was delicious, I opted for the lamb which was very succulent. Our original choice for dining out was Spencer’s On The Square, Retford, the venue for Uncle Jim and Auntie Gina’s wedding a few years ago – however due to covid confusions, we changed to the place they have celebrated their subsequent anniversaries. Ye Olde Bell certainly didn’t disappoint on a taste point of view, even if we did have to wait a little longer than expected for our meal to arrive – annoying!

Of all the UK cities I’ve visited over the years, I have never been to Nottingham, so I was super excited to go on the Saturday! We started off at the Victoria Shopping centre. I was quite smitten with a quirky fancy / alternative dress emporium lol. We moseyed leisurely around the shops, enjoying a latte and cake break half way. Unfortunately Auntie Gina couldn’t find a particular hair accessory salon, to her dismay and Uncle Jim’s best efforts! The weather was slightly changeable in Nottingham city centre; one moment overcast with clouds and the next we knew, rays and beams of sunshine! Nottingham City Hall in Old Market Square proudly displayed a Union Jack flag, which would then be in excited anticipation of the England football teams’ upcoming Euro 2020 games. We decided it would be fun to take some typical tourist photos with street performers and in Seaside themed comical booths, hehe. Furthermore, Uncle Jim was delighted to get a photograph with his lovely wife in front of the Brian Clough OBE statue! We finished off our great day with some more retail therapy, something Auntie Gina relished 🙂

Sunday – yes, another venture to Yorkshire Wildlife Park, haha! We were so disappointed when we arrived because the new Point Lobos enclosure for Californian Sea Lions was closed due to essential maintenance. We were however able to see the new mother polar bear Flocke and her three triplets at Project Polar 2, which was fantastic! I managed to get some pretty decent photographs of the tigers and meerkats which I was chuffed about, although it was a shame Uncle Jim was unable to catch a glimpse of his beloved, timid red pandas lol – likewise the giraffes unfortunately were not visible in their indoor huts. So though it was a sad we were unable to see some of the wildlife, it was still a brilliant day seeing all the other amazing animals. I think we walked for about four and a half hours in total around the park, I was knackered afterwards, haha – it definitely didn’t help I was suffering from a urinary tract infection and on antibiotics at the time. I was slightly relieved when we entered the gift shop at the new Yorkshire Hive at the end of the day. I bought my beautiful mum a red panda and a zebra teddy 🙂

Thank you so much for taking the time to read / view my latest travel blog post!

I just wanted to mention, it is a misfortune that we didn’t win the Euros last night, especially so cruelly on penalties – but I think the England lads did terrific in the tournament, and brought joy to so many people this Summer, in such awful, dark and unprecedented times. Well done, thank you, and bring on the World Cup!

Yorkshire Wildlife Park October 2020

October 19, 2020Leave a comment

Hi blog followers! This Friday just gone, myself, mum, my Uncle Jim, Auntie Gina and her son Rich had a lovely day out at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. I just thought I’d share with you a few photos and a description of our visit. Hope you enjoy!

Me mum and my sister Beth visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park only a month or so ago, however, my Uncle Jim, Auntie Gina and Rich had never been before, so we thought it would be a nice day out 🙂

When we arrived we had lunch at the ‘Tsavo Bakehouse’. To be honest, I would not recommend it as the service was poor and there was hardly any food choices available. After an unfortunate start, we had a leisurely stroll around the park. It was quite a chilly day, so sadly some of the animals retreated to their little huts in their enclosures to escape the cold weather, ha 😛 Nevertheless, we still had a very enjoyable day 🙂

We made our way from left to right, seeing the baboons and spotted dogs first, then we had a walk through the ‘Lemur Woods’, on to ‘Project Polar’, ‘Land of the Tigers’, ‘Leopard Heights’, ‘Into Africa’ and ‘Lion Country’ etc. Somewhere I have never visited previously was ‘Himalayan Pass’, so it was a fantastic experience to see the hyenas being fed raw meat and we also tried to spot the new red pandas, however they were being shy hiding in the trees! We had a rest and a hot drink at the ‘Masai Coffee House’ near the giraffes shortly before leaving.

It was great for us all to spend quality time again with mum. As explained before, she is sadly in the later stages of early onset Alzheimer’s disease dementia, so all time with her is very special and to be cherished. On the way out, I bought her two new teddies; ‘Leo the Lion’ and ‘Georgina the Giraffe’ – we have quite a collection of teddy bears now which I put into bed with mum after I’ve read her a nighttime story, very cute, hehe 🙂

Thank you very much for taking the time to read / view this latest UnicornPostbox blog post. Up next, I think I may do some more amateur art – perhaps a portrait drawing of Russell Crowe in ‘Gladiator’ as this is one of my favourite films 🙂

Take care, stay safe, much love, Lauren xx

(Please visit my Facebook and Instagram page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

Further Information:

http://www.yorkshirewildlifepark.com [Accessed 19th October 2020]

Yorkshire Wildlife Park September 2020

September 25, 2020October 17, 2020Leave a comment

Earlier this September, myself, my beautiful mum Debbie and my lovely sister Beth had a great day out at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, situated in Branton, South Yorkshire. Here’s just a few photos of our outing. Hope you enjoy 🙂 🙂

Over the last few months, as the initial lockdown eased, we have been venturing outside with mum to parks, eating at restaurants etc, but trying to be sensible, safe and very careful. (Me and mum shielded for 3 whole months during lockdown, we didn’t leave the bungalow once, it was horrendous). We decided a couple of weeks ago it would be nice to visit Yorkshire Wildlife Park, very close to where we live in South Yorkshire 🙂

We pre-booked an afternoon slot via the YWP website; we actually got a discount with mum being disabled and me her official carer, so that was really great. The park wasn’t heaving but I would say it was fairly busy, everybody however adhered to social distancing rules implemented for everyone’s safety.

Mum absolutely loved seeing all the animals, it was fantastic to see her face light up as we wheeled her gently around the park. Mum unfortunately is in the later stages of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease dementia, and struggles now with her mobility, hence the wheelchair 😦 😦

The food facilities were not like normal, as to be expected with current guidelines; we were unable to eat inside however we stopped half way around to have a hot drink and cookie break, whilst resting on a bench.

It was fortunate that all the animals were still visible to visitors in their enclosures, so it was definitely worth the journey! Brill to see the polar bears, lions, giraffes, tigers, rhinos etc, as well as all the other smaller mammals.

As we were leaving, we entered the gift shop and I bought mum two teddy bears, ‘Tilly the Tiger’ and ‘Pablo the Polar Bear’… She absolutely adores them, and looks so cute when I tuck her into bed at night, her cuddling them both 😀 😀

I just thought it would be a refreshing change to post something other than my art drawings which have dominated my blog posts as of late. Now that we are able to venture more than before (saying that, there are all the new Government restrictions I am aware of) I wanted to share with you some photos of our outings. As mum is an extremely poorly lady now, it is so important for us as a family to make fab memories together; this quality time with her is so so special and precious.

The next blog post will be progression photos of an amateur art drawing of my auntie and uncle, so do please keep a look out for that, it is already under way and I hope to finish it within the next couple of weeks.

Thank you as always for taking the time to read / view my latest blog post, it means a lot. Stay well, stay safe, and have a fantastic weekend!

Much love, Lauren xx

Further information:

https://yorkshirewildlifepark.com [Accessed 25th September 2020]

(Please visit my Facebook page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

A Selection of my Photographs: 2016

February 13, 2017February 14, 2017Leave a comment

Here is a small collection of a few of the photographs I took in 2016… I thought I’d just upload a few, as an example of some of my work pre-2017, before I upload any future photography… Hope you enjoy…

1. These photos were taken at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, towards the end of last year. I was actually on a date (the guy with the bug), he turned out to be an absolute tool so is no longer in my life (lol), but I couldn’t resist sharing the photo, the creepy-crawly looks super cool… all the animals there are awesome to be honest, definitely worth a visit if you’ve never been 😀 …

2. These next photographs were taken in and around Sheffield city centre, sometime in September if I remember correctly… I had an appointment in Sheffield, so took the opportunity to take my camera along and make a proper day of it mooching about here and there; the Winter and Peace Gardens, Millennium Gallery and so on 😀 …

3. These last photographs were taken earlier on in the year, in Hull city centre, on a first date with the aforementioned tool (haha)… as you can see I visited The Deep, as well as having a lazy stroll around the city itself, admiring some of the gorgeous scenery and architecture Hull has to offer…