28. Sleep in a castle

After the trauma of sleeping in a tent for two nights and climbing Ben Nevis my reward was to sleep in a castle, a much deserved belated birthday treat. The castle of choice was Tulloch Castle just outside a town called Dingwell in the Highlands. 

The view from the road.

Before becoming a hotel and conference centre the castle believed to date from the mid 16th century served as a (not too shabby) family home for members of the Bain family and Clan Davidson, as a hospital after the evacuation of Dunkirk, and as a hostel for the local education authority.

Can you spot me on our rooms balcony?

 

Putting my stamp on the castle

I would say the three main features for a castle are a turret, a dungeon and a moat. Now this castle didn't have a moat but it was placed on top of a massive hill as a strategic defence and you can see the turret in the above picture and after a wee bit of exploring we found the dungeon!

My favourite part about the castle was that the décor inside was in keeping with its heritage, very medieval esq, a lot of wood and rich colours and quite frankly somewhere that could be used as a set for Game of Thrones.

Could see this in King's Landing.

Me trying to fit in the surroundings.

I would not be cold here in the winter with that bad ass fire!

A dining area reserved for private functions.

A door in to the grounds.

Sooo much better than a tent!

And this is my ABSOLUTE favourite thing in the castle, who thought to put a crown on a deer trophy head pure genius!

Bambi rocking the bling

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26. Have a spray tan

On a summers Sunday evening online shopping session I impulsively bought a voucher for a spray tan with the intention to use it for this years’ Ladies Day in Newcastle on 26 July 2014. I thought Ladies Day was the perfect opportunity to have it for as I would be among Newcastle’s finest dressed (and many questionably dressed) so I wanted to look my best and not reflect the (hopefully) shining sun off my pasty white skin. 

 The spray took place in one of Gosforth’s newest hair and beauty salons, Luma’s.

Luma's on Gosforth High Street

I wasn’t sure what I was letting myself in for, though Vicky the museum’s Comms officer had told me a few months previous about her experience of standing there in her pants while the spray tan lady person instructed her into different positions to get an even coverage. I did get myself prepared beforehand after reading online to make sure you exfoliate properly, shower at least 6 hours before and don’t moisturise or wear make up/deodorant before the spray.

If you’ve never had a spray tan before then you stand in a small open booth in just your pants and the spray tan lady runs moisturiser into you dry bits (knees, elbows and places you attract eczema) before she turns of the machine which sounds like a jet engine taking off and blasts cold tan at you in what I presume is a methodical pattern. It didn’t take very long and she did ask me to do strange positions with my hands but nothing too out there. After you’ve been sprayed then you’re left standing there to dry for a few minutes before you can get dressed. At this point I was left along so I took a few snaps while I was waiting…

This is the booth you stand in.

The tools of the trade

Now this is where the hilarity starts, what I wasn’t planning for is that I would be advised not to wear my bra because I would get tan lines so I had to walk up Salters Road (which is a looong road) braless, not an enviable experience! I could have got the bus home but I felt too self conscious being on a bus without a bra on but I also didn’t realise that I would come out a darker colour than the final tan would be because you have to wait 8 hours to shower to then take off the top layer so I did feel like I looked like someone who had a very bad home tanning experience. But I got home locked myself away and waited until the morning when I could see the final results.

Me with the spray gun

That's a lot of tan coming off!

What I was most worried about was looking like I had done it myself and it looked like a crap tan but I was very happy with the results. The only patchy areas were where my eczema was so if I got another one it would depend on how my skin was behaving at the time. As you can see from the Ladies Day snaps it looks really good and would recommend anyone wanting a spray tan to try out Luma’s in Gosforth.

Ladies day 2014

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11. Have a massage

22 August 2013. Can you think of a more appropriate day to tick something off my list?

Being week 5 of the 6 weeks school holidays, and with the imminent challenge of packing up my life to move into my own flat and the stress of my trip to the pyramids being scuppered from the unrest in Egypt I found myself a little tense so booked myself in for my very first massage.

I went to the Helen Lloyd Beauty parlour just near Haymarket which I have visiting previously for some de fuzzing and I was escorted into a room lit with candles and classical music playing in the background (the complete stereotype of what I was expecting.) I got ready to lie and the bed (yes there was a hole where I put my head so I saw the floor) and then Helen came back in, oiled up and started to work her magic. I was slightly concerned that it might tickle or I would fall asleep because I would be so relaxed but god I was wrong. I asked her to add a bit more pressure which resulted in her using all her weight to push the knots out of my shoulder blades and neck. . .it was like the same ‘pleasant pain’ I got when I got my tattoo that after a while was rather nice. At the beginning of the massage she kept on asking me if the pressure was ok but once it was in full swing she just kept quiet and I DID have to keep on reminding myself ‘this is a woman performing a professional service’ those with the less clean mind among you reading this will know what I’m getting at, especially with my sensitive neck issues!

All in all it was amazing, my back feels like a million dollars. If I could afford it I’d be back every week for a lunch time session. I think next time I’m like to try a full body massage though do they massage everywhere? Now I haven’t got any images in this post because I didn’t particularly want pictures of me in just my pants plastered on the internet so you’ll just have to use your imaginations or go for one yourself! 

What to pick to do next, oh the possibilities?!

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