Profil von TQ2boyz

It has long been easy to write off Newton Abbot as just another town ruined by the mixed blessing of a Rail Terminus,but today I discovered a gem!

The Pharmacy Cafe is one of those delightful private non-chain coffee shops that has sprung up,even in the deepest provinces, to offer freshly made food and decent coffee to all at a reasonable price,

Spotlessly clean and still with all the original Victorian fixtures - now bedecked with novelty tea ware instead of bottles of ointment,tincture and embrocation - the attentive and unobtrusive staff serve the dozen small tables quickly and politely with a choice of freshly prepared savoury and sweet goods as well as the selection of teas and coffees that a 21st century visitor now expects - even in deepest Devon!

My lovely piece of Chocolate torte ( "I advise you not to eat it for about 5 minutes and then the flavours will be sublime at room temperature, if you can bare to leave it?" the young waitress advised with a knowing smile) and a worthwhile large cup of full flavour cappucino came to £4.55 and whilst my friend and I spent over an hour chatting and catching up, at no point were we stared at or tutted.

Yes Newton Abbot does have a Costa now,but surely we owe it to people who have the gumption to open a business to support them when they are doing it right!!

Puerto Mogan is what my husbear called,"Spains answer to Portmerion". It is a delightful confection of Canarian fishing village with a fabulous marina and a safe family swimming beach and being only 6.80 euros for the two of us on the bus from Playa great value for a trip out.

Having enjoyed the idyllic village and a fabulous gelatti on the harbourside we ventured to paddle on the beach before stopping for a long over due Tapas break.

The owner of Porto Alegre ushered us in - with an exterior temperature of 36 (100) degrees there were not many eating but this beach side restaurant was clean and he was very welcoming.

There was a respectable wait between us ordering the house tapas selection and it arriving - always denotes freshness to me anyway! A comfortably filling and varied selection of Canarian Potatoes,squid,chicken,roasted whole baby peppers,air dried ham with sun dried tomatoes on bread,deep fried whitebait type fish,chunks of spiced roasted white fish and sliced local cheeses.

A lovely lunch,with local sparkling mineral water and a fabulous beach view at a very reasonable price considering just how chic the location is - under 20 euros.

We had long talked about going to this bar with it's strict dress code that changes daily,and following reports of its recent refurbishment we determined that this would be our visit.

The bar was a lot smaller than we had anticipated and being dark - of some necessity - it is labarynthine and quickly becomes crowded,which some may find off putting.

The 5 euro entry includes your first drink which is standard and very good value since that first drink can be whatever you want (unlike the limitations put on you in the UK).

The facilities are clean and, although chaotic,well presented.And the staff,who are as enticingly attired and attractive as in the other bars,have none of the arrogance or surly service skills of some bars in the centrum.

THIS IS NOT A BAR.CLUB FOR THE FIANT HEARTED #BBBH

From the moment we walked in we were made welcome by the delightful young woman behind the bar,it is a shame that on such a fabulous day there was a limited amount of seating available out on the deck overlooking the Marina,but we found somewhere to sit and drink whilst waiting for the bar food we had ordered.

There was what I consider a respectable amount of time before the food arrived on hot plates,and we had found a suitable table by then to sit and eat our food. The food was very competitively priced and my King Prawn and Squid Tagliatelli with sweet chilli cream sauce was exquisite with plenty of full flavoured prawns and squid in it. My companions enjoyed their steaks and baguettes equally so with no complaints about anything,except that the previous occupants wine glasses and empty bottle was left on our table until after we had finished and left.

When you consider that I am a retired restaurant manager of some 35 years experience,finding only one such complaint is going some!!!

I would strongly recommend that the management invest in more outdoor seating since they have the area and if they have brought it in due to the time of year then they should be aware that Torquay regularly has excellant weather in September and early October.

Those of you who know us (hi guys…) will know that we are a serious pair of Titanoraks, and, obviously, along with that, we clearly have an appetite for high-end Victoriana. Which brings us, of course to the Barcelo Majestic Hotel in Harrogate. Now it IS slightly younger than our own home, with a landscape design framed in the sumptuous lounge bar dated to 1893 ( presumably it was actually built later), which makes it roughly contemporaneous, and certainly as LUXURIOUS as our fave-rave ocean liner. And, oh, what a land-locked magnificent Titanic the hotel is! Now, if you call your hotel “The Grand”, it only has to be grand, but if you call it “The Majestic”, well, it certainly should live up to the appelation. And, my, it does!! The hotel is astonishing. High Victorian ambition, beautiful decor, swooping stairways, cavernous rooms, STYLE STYLE STYLE!! The bedrooms (well, at least, mine!) are incredibly comfortable, sizeable, relaxing… serious chill zones! The restaurant and its beautiful chandeliers charmed the pants off me. The dinners were delicious (ok, there were Kenya Beans, but that’s my own problem…) and the breakfasts certainly lived up to the Barcelo standard (read my review of the Barcelo Las Margaritas for more information!). I was seriously fortunate in getting a budget deal on my stay, but I will certainly be taking my husband there at some point. He hasn’t seen Yorkshire yet, and I now know an EXTREMELY reliable stopping-off point for our travels. Four star??? Well, it certainly deserves a better rating than that!!

A review of a FUNERAL DIRECTOR?? HONESTLY?? Well, why the heaven not?? My Father died a few weeks back, and we desperately needed a kind, reliable and QUICK funeral director who could take all our problems and come up with instant solutions, recommendations, a total package, and with genuine support, warmth and sympathy. Father’s priest immediately recommended Nigel, so I gave him a call and within some ten minutes he had taken everything on board, listened, suggested, dotted all the i’s and crossed every imaginable “t”. We popped in to see him and were warmly greeted and provided with cups of coffee and a breakdown of everything we would need and an instant costing which we could work with. Nigel arranged the music for the crematorium, the death notices in the local paper; he liaised with the priest and sorted out the cremation service and the church service. We were able to go away knowing that a huge and serious load had been totally lifted from our shoulders. Thank you so much, Nigel, we could DEFINITELY never have done it so well without your expert supervision!!

I’ve just read the other review on here and can honestly say I am surprised. I can only assume that, in the two years that have passed, things have improved RADICALLY at the Potter’s Heron. We stayed there for three nights recently, and were treated with warmth and incredible kindness by the staff. Our room was very nicely styled, scrupulously clean, with one of those marvellous posturepaedic mattresses that guarantees an excellent night’s sleep. There were some fine free toiletries in the bathroom, and all the movies on the in-house system were free. We had dinner there two nights running and were extremely satisfied with both the service and the quality and price of the food. A “Nachos & Cheese Dip” for two could easily have fed four, and the main courses and desserts were well-presented. The bar-staff were spot-on and chirpy without the “ballerina smile” of some places. The hotel owners have obviously thought about the style and presentation of the hotel, and apart from a few stair-treads that were in need of replacements (and God, I am being picky here!) we have no complaints at all. Oh, and if Sandy is on reception, please give her our love. We were so pleased with her attentiveness we wound up leaving her a bottle of our favourite wine. There, does THAT redress the balance?? I really hope so!

OK, so you KNOW how much we love Teror, hidden away in the mountains (OK, VOLCANO) of Gran Canaria, a village that is on the verge of being a town! You also know we love the Cathedral (El Senora Nuestra de Pino – there is another review!). And now, there is the splendid little store of Alisios Canarias, which sells natural, organic, local perfumes, aftershaves, eaux de toilette, soaps, locally produced arts and crafts and some nice touristy stuff (OK, fridge magnets – get over it!). We first found the store a few years back, and then, like Brigadoon, couldn’t find it again. But we did a few weeks back and gleefully purchased some splendid new aftershaves. There is one that is based on Poinsettia, and one called “Lava” containing… you guessed, tiny little bits of lava, as well as the actual aftershave! The store is WELL worth a visit and the staff are charming too!

Snobbery is a terrible thing… we had been walking past the Martel nearly every night while staying in Gran Canaria for nearly eight years thinking that, well, it was in the Yumbo, ergo, it couldn’t be that good, right? I am here to eat some humble pie, instead of the excellent dinner we had! We popped in one evening on the off chance, to find the restaurant heaving with slightly noisy diners, and were instantly seated and looked after. Wine was brought to the table in seconds and the waiter most attentive. We ordered a couple of staples (Garlic Mushrooms and Prawns in Chilli Sauce and a good old fashioned Sirloin ) not as an obvious “hook”, but, in retrospect, the kind of meal that is so de rigeur it could easily be provided in a slapdash manner. Nope! The starter was spittingly hot and very well balanced, the prawns nicely juicy and al dente, and the garlic well roasted. The steak was just as I like it – JUST the medium side of rare and oozing just a smidge! The waiter brought a fine bottle of Sangre del Toro to the table and kept a steady eye on us as we ate, while also serving the other diners. The meal was incredibly reasonably priced (cheaper than out on Avenida Tirajana, anyway!) and we were most satisfied and vaguely embarassed at not having tried the Martel earlier. We can certainly add this one to the list of niteries on our holidays!

It was a breathtakingly serene, calm, dry, hot spring Sunday morning in Paris, so we sauntered along the Seine, intending merely to drop into St. Chapelle, about which we had been heartily recommended (see our review!). Once we had “wowed” mightily at that, we wandered over to the Cliff-Face frontage of Notre Dame, but were dismayed at the apparent queue to get in. As it happened this was ACTUALLY for the belltower for all those would-be Quasimodos, and the entrance was clear to go into the Cathedral. Now I have seen Salisbury, I have seen Winchester, but there is just something about Notre Dame that is…. INEFFABLE… NUMINOUS. Notre Dame really is a Holy Power-Point. The hairs on your arms and neck rise in supernatural wonder. The sheer Gothic might of the place is like a vision of heaven, and ohhhhh, it was Palm Sunday and the place was swollen with devotion. The organist was playing at Rick Wakemanesque rock volume and the pillars shuddered with the bass pedals and the cathedral rang with the top notes. The priests sailed down the aisles with huge holy-water soaked palm leaves, liberally soaking the vast congregation, the choirboys sang like literal angels and… well, I have no shame in admitting that when I received the host during the Eucharist, I was actually so overcome that I burst into tears on the poor unsuspecting priest!! For those who don’t have a faith, you will find Notre Dame an unequalled and stunning piece of architecture. For those of a religious nature, Notre Dame must be in the Top Ten of Most Spiritually Uplifting Sites. After Mass, we floated out of the cathedral a good eight inches off the ground, unable to believe the intensity of the experience. Now we attend Mass there whenever we are lucky enough to be in Paris. Holy, holy, holy….