Posts in travel

Tea and Bun Plymouth - delish vegetarian food review!

Tea and Bun Asian restaurant cornwall street plymouth

Last week I visited Tea and Bun in Plymouth for the first time.

I remember first hearing about the Asian restaurant on Cornwall Street, near Plymouth Market last year - I am not sure whether it had just launched, or people I knew had just starting talking about it…and it took me over a year to get my bottom perched on their stools and tasting their amazing food!

Tea and Bun is a small, cosy little Asian restaurant and it was just bustling with people eating in and ordering food to take away. It was Saturday lunchtime and it was so busy that I thought we were going to have to give up and go elsewhere - but just as we stepped outside we noticed somebody in the window putting their coat on so dashed back inside again. Yay, Tea and Bun was back on!

I ordered jasmine tea, mushroom and tofu ramen and fried mushroom gyoza. Chris had a selection of meaty small dishes! The food was amazing, and I already want to go back and order more gyoza.

I shared a couple of pics on my Instagram and from the reactions, I’m not the only person who loves their food! :D

It’s great to see a small, independent business in the centre of Plymouth doing so well. Small businesses often put their heart and soul into their, erm, businesses (being one myself, and being friends with so many others, I can tell you this first-hand!). And so to see Tea and Bun so busy it was exciting. I am thrilled for them and will be back eating gyoza as soon as I can get there!

Find Tea and Bun on Facebook here.
Tea and Bun, 135 Cornwall Street, Plymouth

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Sadie's musings, travel, foodSadie Hawker19 October 2019plymouth events, things to do plymouth, plymouth, tea and bun plymouth, independent restaurant plymouthComment

The famous Bahamas swimming pigs in Piggyville, No Name Cay, Abaco

Hey peeps!

flamingo air bahamas swimming pigs abaco

As you MAY KNOW (I spammed the heck out of these little piggy faces on Instagram!!) I recently met the “famous swimming pigs of Abaco”!

Now, firstly did you know that pigs can swim? And secondly, did you know that the Bahamas has swimming pigs?

Well I’d heard about the swimming pigs before, I’d probably seen them on Instagram, being famous pigs and all that. I knew they were found frolicking in the sand in the Bahamas, on an island in the Exumas. So when we were recently planning our holiday to the Bahamas, I told Chris I’d like to try and see the swimming pigs if we could. But it was harder than we thought!

We were staying in Freeport for a week or so and wanted to visit another Bahamian island while we were there. We looked at getting to and from the Exumas and it was working out really expensive, plus we’d have needed to fly via Nassau and it was going to take up most of a day to get there, and another to get back, which seemed daft for just a four day trip. So we shelved the piggy-visit, and I was a little bit sad, but nevermind, I’d still enjoy my jolly holidays.

We chose to visit Marsh Harbour in the Abacos instead, a much quicker 30-min or so flight via Flamingo Air (yes, flamingo!!) + a teeny tiny propeller plane (argh) - far more sensible than going all the way to the Exumas to see the pigs.

Well we soon found out that the Abaco islands have swimming pigs, too! They’re just not as famous as their brothers / sisters / long lost uncles in the Exumas. Even the plane had a piggy pic!

We were in Marsh Harbour for three days and found it quite difficult to find out how to see the pigs.

To cut it short this is what we found out about visiting the Abaco pigs:

You can take a day trip, it’s a whole day and departs from Treasure Cay. (Eg trip here.) We didn’t have enough time for a whole day trip.
To get to Treasure Cay you need to rent a car (approx $50) and drive there (approx 45 mins mostly on one long road).
You can charter a boat from Marsh Harbour - it would set you back a cool $800.
We were about to give up hope when Chris found a website with a link to Sunset Marine tours + we booked with them. It cost $55 per person and we had our own private tour, picked up from Treasure Cay. We met them at 10am and were probably back in Treasure Cay for 11am.

feeding the pigs in the bahamas exumas swimming pigs

I didn’t really know what to expect, but the pigs were scarier than they look! You must remember that they are still wild animals and they’re constantly fighting and shoving each other to compete for food.

Our guide encouraged us to feed the smaller pigs and when the bigger pigs notice and come over, we had to pull our hand away because the bigger pigs will bite. It took me a while to build up the courage to try feeding the baby pigs and they did nip me too - I don’t think I had my hand out flat enough.

The experience is pretty chaotic. There are tourists coming and going, trying to get photos, fuss and feed the pigs, and then leave. I’m glad we visited the pigs but it was quite stressful. I was constantly checking behind me because the pigs were so quick I was frightened I was going to get trampled by one of them and end up in the sand with pigs on top of me (LOL!!).

It’s really very bizarre seeing pigs snuffling and sniffling around on a tropical desert island, and there were chickens with these pigs, too! We didn’t actually see much SWIMMING from the pigs, but they do venture into the water to chase after food!

Our guide told us that there’s a hotel being built on Piggyville beach (it was under construction while we were there) and people can come and stay WITH the pigs. I’m not sure if I’d be keen on that! :D

So that’s pretty much my review of the famous swimming pigs. I’d really recommend Sunset Marina Tours, it was a lovely trip and our guide was really chatty, informative and just generally nice!

Now for all my pix….. ->>>> :)

Sadie x

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travel, Sadie's musingsSadie Hawker3 July 2019swimming pigs, bahamas pigs, swimming with the pigs abaco, swimming pigs exuma, exuma pigs, desert island pigs, do pigs swim, how to swim with pigs, how to swim with pigs bahamas, no name cay pigs, piggyville pigs, treasure cay pigs

Shop holiday - I'm going on a trip down memory lane!

handmade jewellery plymouth devon england

Hello everyone! Just a little reminder that all orders placed between 5/06/19 - 27/06/19 will be posted on 28th June.

I’m going on a trip and so will be processing (and making!) all orders on my return.

I’m heading to Miami, Florida, and then on to the Bahamas. This is my first big trip since moving back to the UK and so I'm very much looking forward to it - and some R+R in the sunshine!

Chris and I took the exact same trip the first year we met - 11 years ago! And so I thought I’d share some of the photos from my first time in Miami and the Bahamas, and then we can see how much has changed when I return next week.

We stayed in Miami for a few nights, then went over to Abaco, before spending the last few nights in Freeport, Grand Bahama.

I’d been desperate to drink from a ‘real’ coconut all holiday!!

When we arrived in Miami I was THRILLED, because at the time my fave everrrr show was CSI Miami, Horatio in particular was just the best character in my opinion!!

Within a few hours of arriving, I’d been my usual idiot self - I raced Chris to the pool outside, tried to take a short cut, slipped and really banged my shin - so I had a gigantic purple bump for the first week or so of our holiday (I hurt the exact same leg a few months later in Madeira, so thought it was cursed on holidays!!).

Miami was amazing. The first night we got there, we went out and ordered dinner. I ordered a Greek salad from the starters section, and it was the biggest salad I had ever seen. And as soon as it was put in front of me, jet lag hit and I almost fell asleep on top of it! Haha.

We caught a bus to a huge mall, and I couldn’t help myself and bought five pairs of shoes that I somehow managed to squeeze into my case - the cream leopard pair are in the pix below, with my freshly bruised shin!

After Miami we took two more planes, and a boat, to get to Abaco. Our cabin had a hammock overlooking the ocean, it was lovely. We tried to sleep in the hammock one evening and were awoken by some really strange, creepy noises - so back to the cabin we fled!

I can’t believe it’s been 11 years since that trip, and what’s also unbelievable is that I still have a good lot of those clothes (not that they all still fit me!). I’m hoping for more adventures this time, too :-)

So that’s my trip down memory lane :-)

Sadie xx

Sadie's musings, travel, styleSadie Hawker4 June 2019miami, bahamas, grand bahama, freeport bahamas, travel blogger, travel to miami, travel to bahamas, abaco islands, resort wear, csi miami

Louise Thompson's Bali style - pink earrings by Shh by Sadie

Louise Thompson Made in Chelsea earrings bali resort style

MORE gorgeous celeb style inspo from Made in Chelsea’s Louise Thompson.

Here she shows us how to rock these pastel pink handmade Candy earrings. She’s paired them with a monochrome striped ensemble, and again with an amazing tropical print kimono wrap dress. The pop of pink looks stunning with both looks.

Shop more of Louise’s Shh by Sadie looks here.

Photos taken from Louise Thompson’s Instagram.

Louise Thompson made in chelsea pink earrings bali resort style

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as worn by, press, style, travelSadie Hawker21 May 2019louise thompson, made in chelsea, louise thompson bali, louise thompson earrings, made in chelsea fashion, welsh designer, resort wear, bali resort wear, bali, resort style, slow fashion, ethical fashion, summer style, pink earrings

Chanel Paris Rue de Cambon review - buying my new orange mini flap Chanel bag

Hello my lovelies, it is me talking about handbags (again!) - one of my favourite subjects, after jewellery and shoes of course. And maybe food…haha.

So as you may know, last year I decided to put myself on a shopping ban.

This was for several reasons - one being that I have way too many things - I joke on Instagram about being a hoarder and maybe I really am! I look after all of my many many many things and so never really get rid of them because they’re sentimental to me, and still have plenty of life left in them. So this was one main reason for the shopping ban.

Another big reason is my growing awareness of the impact of fast fashion (something my fantastic friend and sustainable fashion designer / educator Jennifer Whitty first opened my eyes to):

of buying something on impulse that you don’t really need, and how wasteful it is then buying something else to replace it the following week / month / year.
of the impact this disposable culture is having on our environment.
there are many more reasons I’ve worked hard to not buy “fast fashion” and disposable items, and encouraged others to consider their buying behaviour too - but that would take up a whole blog entry in itself, so I’ll save it for another time.

You may be asking - what the heck has this got to do with buying a Chanel bag in Paris?! Good question :D

So last year, with my shopping ban, I began saving up all of the money I’d have spent on little, splurgy, unnecessary purchases to put towards one bigger purchase of something that to me, was more exciting, satisfying and important than those smaller, instantly-gratifying purchases. Something I’d use again and again for years to come, not just a handful of times and then put it in a cupboard or a charity shop. And so I began saving for a new Chanel handbag.

Once I had a goal, I began saving harder and started to see the money build up. As you may also know, I’ve been selling some of my clothes on depop and eBay - well this money also went into the Chanel pot and by December I was ready for my new baby!

I wanted to buy a coral or a baby pink mini Chanel bag, which were colours that Chanel released in its 2018 / 2019 collections. You can’t buy from Chanel online so I was going to have to travel to London to buy my new bag.

The thing with Chanel bags is that they don’t always have the styles, sizes and colours in stock - and so you could make your way to the store to find that the bag you wanted was not available. They don’t reserve the bags for you either (maybe they do if you’re a valued customer, but I’m certainly not one of those!).

Anyway before I could consider venturing to London to try and buy my new bag, the impromptu New Years Eve in Paris trip happened, and so where better to try and buy my bag!

So when I was in Paris I Googled where the boutiques were, which one was closest to my hotel, and it turned out that it was the famous Rue de Cambon flagship Chanel store - well that seemed like a good enough place to shop :-)

Online reviews of Chanel Rue de Cambon were mixed - some people reported snobby staff and lack of stock. Others raved about how helpful the sales assistants were. So I woke up at 6.30am to wash my hair especially - it’s not every day one buys a Chanel bag in Paris! Though the hairdryer in the hotel was one of those vacuum-looking ones that leaves your hair looking like a cloud of frizz, so I needn't have bothered. And with Chris in tow, I walked an hour through the beautiful streets of Paris to Rue de Cambon.

The Rue de Cambon building site - we thought this was the current Chanel store closed for refurbishment. It was HUGE.

When we arrived at Rue de Cambon we were gobsmacked - there was a massive Chanel construction site, all boarded up, and it looked like the store was closed for refurbishment! *Sad face*!

I knew there were several other Chanel boutiques in Paris, so we decided to find a cafe, have a cup of tea, and then walk to the next nearest one. However, as we continued down Rue de Cambon, I saw a little sign, and a doorman outside of the actual Chanel store! It was still there! Luckily we hadn’t turned around and walked back the way we came, as we’d have missed it completely!

And so we entered Chanel. I was approached by three sales assistants who each were very polite, wished me good morning and showed me towards the bag department. It was about 11am by now and I’d read online that you should go early so that there’s more chance of your bag being available. I was told that there were three people in front of me, and would I mind waiting? Of course not. I’m here for the bags, baby :-)

While waiting I looked at the bags in the counter displays. Most bags are kept behind sliding wooden cupboard doors and I was thrilled to see that there were some pink mini Chanel flap bags hidden inside when the door was opened for another customer. YAY.

Soon it was my turn to be served and I was shown the mini flap bags available. They come in square and rectangular shapes and personally I prefer the square shape (which is also slightly cheaper than the rectangle) - although the sales assistant told me that the rectangular shape is more sought after.

The orange square, the coral rectangle, the pink square + my first Chanel bag, Yorkie :-)

Pink and orange peeping at me while I drank my tea

They had the pink square (in quilted rather than chevron pattern), along with a coral rectangular shaped bag. I knew I wanted the pink one - yippeeeee.

But then I asked what other colours they had in stock and was shown the latest season’s ‘orange’ colour. It was a bright orange-red and extremely vibrant and attractive, but not what I’d gone in to buy.

However, the more I looked at it, the more I liked it. I felt it was more grown up than pink, and was certainly more striking. Hmm. Chris of course preferred the orange, but I didn’t want to rush my decision, having planned for six months to buy the pink!

We were offered a tea (me) and coffee (Chris) so I could take some time to consider my choice (no champagne was offered - and I’d been ready to accept this time, haha!!). While I sat drinking my green tea my two little bags were positioned in the cupboard waiting for me to decide which one was coming home with me.

And I surprised myself by choosing the orange! (You know how much I love pink!) So the orange bag was wrapped up in the exclusive white Rue de Cambon packaging and off we went together, new bag and I (oh, and Chris, too).

I now find I have to match my lipstick to my bag ;-)

My experience of the Parisian store was very good. The sales assistant did escort me to the door with my bag, which was a bit awkward because I’d wanted to look around the store a bit more, and it was like a Mr Bean sketch, where I kept thinking she was handing me the bag, would go to accept it, and she held onto it - CRINGE :p

It was another week before I used my new bag and I’m happy with my grown up choice.

I’m still saving my non-spendings but there’s no Chanel planned for the foreseeable future, I’m happy enjoying the ones I have :-)

Sadie xx

PS. You can read about me buying my first Chanel bag in New York here.