Friday, 31 August 2018

5 Days In Manchester - The Trafford Centre, Beespotting & Feeling Autumnal

It's been a long time since I last posted about a trip to Manchester on my blog. If you've been here from the beginning I'm sure you'll have read posts documenting our Christmas Market visits and the trip where we got engaged, but since then we haven't actually been for years. It was somewhere we went every November once all the festivities had began but as my love for London has just grown and grown, that's ended up becoming our annual Christmas trip instead. So when George mentioned he would need to be there for work, a week in August, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to head back and spend some quality time together. Whilst we obviously didn't get all day everyday together, the time we did get to explore one of our favourite places, go for nice meals and shop (the most important thing of course😉) was so lovely and very much needed, and when George was working, it meant I had plenty of time to pretty much do as I pleased so I thought it would be nice to share that trip here and some of the photos I managed to take.
Manchester bee outside Piccadilly station
We arrived on a Sunday early afternoon so it meant we had the full day together which was such a perfect way to start. After checking in at our hotel which was the Macdonald Manchester just next to Piccadilly station (not brilliant, but not awful, great location though and view) we headed to the Arndale Centre. I spent quite a bit of my time there throughout the week as it's so easy to get to and such an easy way to kill some time. After a spot of lunch, we did a little bit of shopping, you have no idea how happy I was to see a Homesense again, I always love visiting towards the end of the year as their Autumn and Christmas stuff is just the best. They've already started adding in pumpkins and Halloween bits so if you have one near you, now's the time to get shopping! Also the Lindt shop in the Arndale is the absolute best. We visited a few times during the week actually but can you ever have too much Lindt?
Macdonald Manchester hotel
Homesense pumpkins
Lindt chocolate
I'm not going to go through each day as most were the same, I tended to pop out for lunch, usually treated myself to a few bits (face masks galore) and then I'd aim to get some blogging done back at the hotel before George and I got the evening to spend together. As I've mentioned in a few posts recently, it can be easy to compare yourself to others and not feel good enough and I've definitely had phases like that over the last few months so I really wanted to take this week away to have a proper break from actually posting. I had a few collaborations go up that were already scheduled but apart from that I really took some time out and whilst I was still planning future posts and writing a few up, being somewhere else and not putting pressure on myself to post every single day was such a help. I really did feel so much better about my blog by the end of the week and I had so many ideas for the future. Anyway some evenings we chilled in the hotel, others we would go out for a meal and one night we also went the The Trafford Centre which was so much fun. My feet were absolutely not prepared for it, you forget just how big it is but it's also absolutely beautiful and it was so nice to be back.
The trafford centre
The trafford centre
The trafford centre
Selfridges cupcakes
Wetherspoons Cookie Dough Dessert
One thing I really loved about our week in Manchester was all of the bees we managed to find! I mean, there were definitely more that we didn't get chance to see but they are all so stunning. There are such a range dotted around the city, from more colourful ones to white to even rose gold and I always loved seeing a new one we'd not spotted before.
Manchester bees
As Homesense made me feel all autumnal at the start of the week, I had to pick up a few candles and I couldn't wait to talk about them. I actually spotted these first two in TK Maxx who at the time had a much better range of seasonal candles, I couldn't leave with just one. They're only mini and were £2.99 each which isn't too bad at all! They both smell absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to light them this Autumn. I actually had a few that had finished in the living room so I did genuinely have a place for both of these which makes a change. Later on in the week I had one final look in Homesense though and ended up getting one of their bigger candles. In just a few days they'd already added more autumnal bits and the Oak and Bergamot candle, not only smells wonderful but also looks gorgeous. I've decided to put this in our newly redecorated bathroom and I think it looks perfect.
TK Maxx candles - Sweater Weather and Mountains
Homesense DW Home Oak and Bergamot Candle
After a pretty busy week, we headed home on Friday evening, both absolutely shattered. Once we knew about this trip, we'd planned everything we would do for ages but as with anything you look forward to, it just flew by! I was definitely happy to see my own bed though and properly relax by the time we got back.
Starbucks
I'm not sure when we'll next be back but I'm hoping for a little Christmas visit I think. I have such happy memories of the Christmas markets there and it's been a while so hopefully we'll get a day there later on this year. 

Do you have any ideas of what to do in Manchester next time? Have you ever visited their Christmas markets?

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