Eateries - Taypark House, Dundee

So I thought it'd be fun to start a blog series with my favourite local places to eat & drink, you know, just in case anyone is ever in my neck of the woods!!  (She says trying to justify going out for breakfast once a week!!)  

Somehow, myself & my two good friends seem to be heading out for breakfast on a Monday morning now - not every single week, although it seems to be heading that way!  There are so many fabulous places near to us to choose from so I thought I'd start sharing them.  The place we visited this morning is totally new to all of us & was on a recommendation of my friend's sister-in-law & it is truly fabulous.  In fact, I think I'll go all out & say it's my new favourite eatery!

Welcome to Taypark House, Dundee.

Taypark House on the Perth Road is a former Scots Baronial home dating back to circa 1863 & is Category B Listed, isn't it just stunning?  There are several different rooms to eat & drink in, each with slightly different decor but equally as stunning.  The rooms are full of quirky decorative items & furniture & I have completely fallen in love with the place!  

I'm sorry about the 'toilet' photo but even those were fabulous!!  I appreciate that everywhere is fairly new & therefore spotlessly clean at the moment but I love the thoughtful touches of leaving a basket full of nappies & wipes & providing a comfortable tartan armchair in the bay window for breastfeeding mums.  Somebody has clearly done their research before doing this place up!

They have 4 suites on the first floor & 2 further rooms on the second floor boasting 180 degree views of the River Tay, which on a glorious day like today, would be stunning!  I noticed that they also do a supper club which I might have to investigate further for a certain upcoming birthday & you can hire rooms for private functions too.

We enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes, crispy bacon & maple syrup, which was divine & a total bargain at only £3.50!!  They serve Matthew Algie coffee, which I'm a huge fan of & we will most certainly be back soon.  We have to try out the lunch menu next!!

I found their menu on their Facebook page.

So, if you're ever in the vicinity of Dundee, I highly recommend a visit here, you'll not be disappointed!

New hair part deux!

Thanks for all of your suggestions last week!  I arrived at the salon last Thursday morning ever-so-slightly resembling Monica in Barbados (apologies if you've never seen this episode of Friends!!) due to the fine drizzle outside but having a much clearer idea in my head of what I wanted.

This was only my second visit to The Hair Warehouse in Dundee but in just those two sessions, I feel like my stylist Kirsty actually understands what I'm trying to achieve - even when I'm not entirely sure myself!!

I explained that the current colour of my hair just wasn't doing it for me & showed her my (many) Pinterest photos of what I liked.  She explained what was achievable & she was honest enough to suggest that being that much lighter wouldn't suit my skin tone.

So between us, we decided to take my hair slightly darker again but quite golden with blonde ombré underneath & round my face......and I love it!!  I feel so much more like me again being darker but the ombré really lifts it & stops it from being too much of a block colour.

Here's a couple of very grainy (ie crappy!) phone photos!

After cutting some more layers in & then rough drying, Kirsty curled my hair using Cloud Nine straighteners (which, in her opinion, are better than GHDs btw!)  I love this soft curled effect but annoyingly, I can only do one side of my hair well myself - anyone else have this problem?!  You can see a photo of the back of my hair on their website.

As expected, my hair is feeling a wee bit parched at the moment after all the abuse I've put it through since July but I'm using hair products containing argan oil which is leaving it feeling fantastic!  

So that's me feeling more like me again!  And for those of you who don't get the 'Monica' reference, here you are......!!

Days out with the kids #2 - The Dundee Science Centre

 

For this week's outing, we decided to try out the Dundee Science Centre as they've been advertising that they had a new Myths & Monsters exhibition on throughout the summer.  Although one of my daughters has been here before on a school trip, for the rest of us it was a new outing.

 

On entering, you come face to face with the exhibition.  These animatronics are on loan from the Natural History Museum & although they're great, there's not a lot of them, not as many as I was expecting!

 

As expected, the centre has lots of scientific experiments & games to try out which were great for my teenage girls but for Alfie at 4 years old, not so much.  I think on the whole, the centre is much better for older children, I'd say over 6 years old due to the nature of the displays.

 

The website says to allow 2-3 hours for your visit which I think is doable with older children, but again, with a 4 year old with the attention span of a gnat & who struggled to play a lot of the games inside, we really struggled to eek out a 2 hour visit.........& 45 minutes of that was in the coffee shop!  Dare I say, I also found it quite pricey at £7.25 per adult & £5.25 per child (under 4s free) but again, maybe if you were spending more time in there, it would seem like you were getting more bang for your buck!

 

So although there were some really interesting things to do in there for adults & older children, we won't be going back until Alfie is at least 2 or 3 years older so he can appreciate it more!