Elma - Royal Leamington Spa

Our Anniversary Meal.

I wanted to chose a place for our fifth anniversary meal that would be different, something fun and something I knew we would both enjoy. Looking briefly up restaurants in Leamington, Elma stuck out, one because it was turkish and two because the name reminded me of an elephant I am 99% sure it was a multi coloured elephant from a story book. 

I emailed the restaurant trying to book a table for 17.30pm they quickly replied explaining that they didn't open until 6pm but suggested I could still go and have drinks up the bar. I thought that it was a really nice touch and made me really look forward to going there.

It was now time to go to the restaurant after getting changed in public toilets and doing my hair and make up in my car. It took us roughly 20 minutes to find the restaurant even though it was only 2 minutes from the main high street it is
hidden down a side road. We eventually got to the restaurant at about 6pm we walked in and explained we had a table booked for 17.30pm etc and the lady told us they had opened early for us, I instantly felt guilty.

We sat down and the lady came over to take the spare table cutlery away and take our drinks ordered, we both ordered a coca cola and a still mineral water. Roughly 5 minutes later she came over and took our food orders, we had a cold meze sharing platter which was beautiful, I ordered a saffron chicken and chips turkish style obviously and Sam had a duck stew. I was so impressed with both of our food it was perfect. 

we waited roughly 20 minutes before having dessert we had another sharing platter of baklava, pistachio ice cream, vanilla ice cream and saffron candy floss which was soooooo yummy and I really enjoyed it. We also bought a bottle of turkish Raki which I haven't had since 2012 in crete,  So I had to buy it haha. The total bill with everything included was £70 which I thought was really good for what we had.

I would 100% recommend this place to a friend. if you are looking for great food that has a relaxed atmosphere.

Becky xx

The Episode Hotel - Royal Leamington Spa

The Hotel Myself and Sam
Stayed at for our anniversary adventure.

The hotel is on the edge of the main town in Leamington. I paid £54 for a double room for 1 night which included a breakfast. I looked on the board when we arrived and it said for what we had would cost £80 so I was extremely happy.

We got into Leamington at roughly 11am, Check in wasn't until 2pm so I went in and just asked if we could leave the car in their car park, which we could. Me and Sam walked roughly 30 minutes exploring the lower part of the town until going to the tourist centre and getting a map and asking for information about things to see. We walked around the shops just getting our barrings then headed back to the hotel.

It was 13.15pm so I thought I would ask if we could check in but the man explained they were fully booked the night before so we would have to wait. Rather than walking around we just sat in my car talking and laughing until 14.01pm then we checked in. We had room number 24, I was kind of dreading seeing our room after being able to see how small the rooms down stairs by the car park were. 

I was totally shocked to see our room was huge and modern and clean, the bed was massive and so comfy. We didn't stay in our room long on that day because we spent the afternoon and early evening in Hellion Lakes Hotel, Golf and Spa which is in a separate blog which should have been uploaded a week before this one. 

We got back at roughly 19.30pm and were starving. We headed down to the hotel bar after having a little chill in our room. 

We had a fruit cider drink and ordered a antipasti sharing platter which has chorizo, parma ham, bruschetta, sun dried tomatoes and cheese stuffed peppers. For our mains we both ordered a free range chicken burger with fries. It was yummy the burger bun was rock hard but that is my only complaint.

By 21.30pm and we were in bed chilling on Facebook and watching a little bit of T.V. Eventually I fell asleep and kept waking up to check the time for some unknown reason. We had set an alarm for 8.30am to wake up for breakfast. We woke up and packed a little bit, got dressed and stumbled down for breakfast. I wasn't feeling to well, I had a massive headache.

We went downs stairs and were greeted by a lovely waitress, I sat down and Sam got me some Apple juice. I ordered a full breakfast and Sam had eggs benedict. We both had a cup of tea and went back upstairs to finish packing. We left the hotel at roughly 10.30am. We were going to be exploring the town so I asked about a local car park, the lady at the reception told us we could leave the car there, which I thought was amazing.

I really enjoyed my stay here and I will always recommend it to family and friends. 
Have you ever had this kind of hotel experience?

Becky xx