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A Luxury Break At The Celtic Manor & A Chance To Win Afternoon Tea

November 12, 2015 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 22 Comments

We were recently invited to review a night and dinner at The Celtic Manor and what a stay it was. Stepping in to The Celtic Manor is like entering a haven of luxury and calm. The lobby is impressive and the reception area also includes a mall where you can purchase an array of Welsh goodies. Considering it is a large and busy hotel it could easily become impersonal and cold but this resort is far from that. Every guest is taken care of in the same manner and every inch of the hotel is designed to be beautifully modern and relaxing.

We have stayed at The Celtic Manor previously and having stayed in two different standards of room I can confirm that the rooms are comfy, spacious and full of the finishing touches you would expect from a 5 star hotel. The bathroom has spa favourites Elemis products for you to pamper yourself with, robes and slippers are also provided for you to wear if you fancy a trip down to the pool and spa area.

A fully stocked mini bar and complimentary tea/coffee tray are in each room as well as incredibly comfy beds and armchairs for you to relax and watch the world go by from your balcony.

Celtic manor room

I enjoyed two long luxurious soaks in the gorgeous bathroom using my Elemis treats. It was so nice to have some peaceful pamper time.

The true highlight of our stay was our visit to the Terry M restaurant based in the hotel. On our previous visit we had eaten in The Olive Tree and enjoyed the all you can eat 3 course dinner buffet there – the quality of the food was fantastic but Terry M is on a different scale altogether. The three AA Rosette flagship restaurant presents intricate seasonal dishes created by head chef Tim McDougall, feature the finest locally sourced ingredients for fresh, intense and mouthwatering flavours.

We decided to try the 6 course tasting menu.

We enjoyed canapés and an amuse bouche to start..and a glass of champagne of course!

Terry M champagne

Terry M canapes

There followed an incredible 6 course tasting menu:

Parfait with a delicious medjool date:

Celtic manor tasting menu

Hand dived scallops:

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Fillet of Welsh beef:

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Look at that sugar work!

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And a perfect soufflé:

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At the end of the meal we were presented with this delicious plate of goodies. The chocolate lime Macarons were the best I’ve tasted and tasted EXACTLY like chocolate lime sweets from my childhood..the palmier was pretty awesome too.

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The next morning we enjoyed breakfast in The Olive Tree and it was just as good as any other meal we have experienced there. There is such a wide variety of food on offer, from green smoothies ( delicious), pastries and cakes of all kinds – even freshly made welsh cakes, full English of course, cereal and the most amazing fluffy pancakes with crispy bacon and oodles of maple syrup.

Celtic manor breakfast

Fluffy American pancakes with super crispy bacon

After breakfast we hit the pool and spa area. We had a good swim about ( to work off our over indulgence ) then lazed about in the his and her spa areas. After we checked out we didn’t want our stay to be over too quickly and relaxed in the bar/lounge area with a mug of hot chocolate and some books. Perfect end to an incredibly perfect stay.

We have also enjoyed afternoon tea at The Celtic Manor in the Summer and it was one of the best afternoon teas I’ve tried ( and I’ve had a few ) a great balance of both sweet and savoury dishes and they catered so well for my gluten intolerant sister.

Celtic manor pate de fruit

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Celtic manor pastries afternoon tea

Now for the bit you are all waiting for..how do you fancy trying out both the Autumn afternoon tea and checking out the resort itself?

Win afternoon tea at Celtic manor

I’ve arranged for one of you lucky readers to win an Autumn afternoon tea at the resort with a guest. Just enter the easy rafflecopter form below for your chance to win. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Filed Under: Hotel Reviews, Restaurant reviews, Reviews, The Wonders Of Wales, Travel, UK holidays · Tagged: afternoon tea, autumn afternoon tea, Celtic manor Newport reviews, Celtic manor spa, competition, Olive tree, terry m, the celtic manor reviews, win

Win A Munchkin LATCH Starter Set

August 28, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 23 Comments

Another competition for you lovely lot. I do spoil you 🙂

This time you could win a LATCH bottle starter set from Munchkin.

Firstly, about Munchkin. As a blogger I work with lots of brands and Munchkin is right there as one of the best. I’ve been a blogger ambassador for them since March and we have been extremely lucky to try out a number of their fantastic products. I know that I can trust their products and that my children will like using them.

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What is LATCH?

With the goal of helping new mums reach their breastfeeding goals, the revolutionary Munchkin LATCH™ bottle feeding system is designed to offer mum everything she needs to make the transition from breast to bottle feeding as natural and comfortable as possible, for mum and baby. The LATCH teat has a truly innovative accordion base that moves, stretches and pumps, just like the breast, ensuring baby establishes and maintains a proper latch and continuous connection to help reduce the symptoms of colic. As baby grows, so does the LATCH™ teat range. Stage 2 and 3 teats allow Mum to increase the flow as baby’s feeding demands increase.

I’m hoping to start Chloe on a bottle over the next few weeks so I will keep you posted on my progress. She is very attached to my boobs so I really hope she will enjoy this new experience.

This is the starter pack you could win just by completing the simple rafflecopter form below:

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The Newborn Starter Bottle set includes 2 120ml bottles, 2 240ml bottles, 4 Stage 1 teats, 2 Stage 2 teats and the LATCH bottle & teat brush.

The range is now available from Boots and Kiddicare.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: bottles, breast to bottle, competition, munchkin latch, win

A Plum Prize

July 5, 2012 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 6 Comments

*Before we start at the end of this blog is a very lovely easy to enter competition.*

A month or so ago whilst Izzy was having one of those days (and nights) I entered a spurt of competitions online..mainly to kill time while she was napping as I knew she would be awake before I got the chance to actually do anything. Well it looks like I should thank my teething child as it has definitely paid off.

Two weeks ago I had an email telling me that I had won a competition with Plum Baby if you hadn’t heard of Plum and well if you aren’t a parent that could certainly be the case they produce an organic food range for babies and toddlers which is a bit different to the norm..definitely more adventurous that you would expect for little uns but in a good way. So the email informed me I had won an all expenses paid trip to Buckinghamshire staying at a hotel, two days at Plum cookery school with food expert Beverley Glock and one of my fave celeb chefs Rachel Allen ( check my earlier blogs for one of her awesome biscuit recipes) that’s pretty good yes but wait there is more.. They also threw in £500 to spend on Izzy and a video camera to continue filming the weaning journey. Woop I was more than excited.

Train travel was included in the prize so I ( very hesitantly ) climbed aboard a train from Swansea and made 4 changes including London underground at rush hour all by myself (and Izzy of course).
It was pretty scary but most people were amazingly helpful and I had an offer to lift the pram off at every stop.. I think my beautiful little girl made people all gooey.

The first day at the cookery school I met the other mums ( there were 5 winners in total) and their wonderful babies! This was easily one of my favourite parts of the whole experience.. Izzy loved spending time with babies of a similar age and I enjoyed chatting to some really lovely mums. We met Beverly and Rachel who were both really friendly and down to earth.

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Rachel and Beverley showed us how to cook dishes such as stroganoff and sweet cape curry (to the same recipe as Plum use for their sweet cape taste adventures) as well as Muffins using a pouch of fruit purée as a substitute for a lot of the fat content of a usual muffin- definitely one to try.

To finish off we made chicken nuggets ( the healthy way) using chunks of chicken breast dipped in egg and covered in crushed up Plum baby crisps. These were so good you would never know they were covered in baby snacks.

I enjoyed all the recipes although I was ever so slightly disappointed that we weren’t more hands on with regards to the cooking as I do love to cook but I picked up a load of tips including : wash your eggs prior to use.. (If you are wondering why just think about it a little longer) using fruit puree to sweeten cakes etc. The only one I will admit that I won’t be trying at home is the cauliflower cheese made with formula milk to serve to the whole family- I tried it and it tasted fine but just not for me..sorry Beverley.

I’ll finish off with some more lovely photos and a bit of good news for my lovely readers I have not 1, not 2 but 3 sets of the new taste adventure range Plum baby food up for grabs and it couldn’t be more simple to enter, in fact I am giving you 3 entries each. 1. Comment underneath telling me why you would love some Plum goodies. 2. Tweet me @writingforfun telling me why 3. Post a pic of your baby on twitter with the hashtag #Iwantsomeplummunchies I will pick 3 winners from all entries made before 8pm on July 15th 2012.

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*a quick thank you to all at Plum, Beverley Glock and Rachel Allen as well as Finn PR.

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Filed Under: Parenting/baby, random, Recipes · Tagged: baby food, Beverley Glock, competition, Cookery school, Plum baby, prize, quinoa, Rachel Allen, weaning, win

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