Sunday 24 March 2013

Finding an Ibizan hippy vibe in Morocco...


My owners recently went on holiday without me. They went to Marrakech, Morocco.  It happens sometimes.  I don't really mind if I'm honest, as I go & stay at my grandparents house & they spoil me rotten. 

Yesterday I saw some photos of one of the hotels my owners stayed; Hotel by Beldi.  As the hotel is dog friendly & looked so lovely I just had to share the photos on my blog. 

The hotel, which is fairly new, has been built within the beautiful huge gardens of the renowned Beldi Country Club.  The Country Club is frequented by a very stylish French elite crowd & is owned by a French family.

The hotel itself has been designed in the style of a small traditional Moroccan village, apparently called 'douar'. 



It has small narrow winding streets which lead to the rooms & traditional materials have been used in its construction.








The beautiful huge grounds with olive groves, rose gardens, herb gardens & wild flowers look stunning.  I would just love to potter around, sniffing the flowers & laying in the sunshine for a snooze.




Beldi even has its own little Souk! You can shop for pottery, antiques, carpets & rugs....




Two of the three restaurants have large dog friendly terraces & the food looked so good that the eating options at Beldi deserves its own blog post...




The public areas all looked stunning to me too, especially the traditional Moroccan tea-house... 



The rooms seem quite 'shabby chic' (I sound quite a design connoisseur!)  So, basically the rooms are chic (with their own private roof terraces or little patios), but not luxurious for those who like the finer touches in life.



There was also a spa, which my owners didn't use apparently as they were too focused on soaking up the Moroccan winter sun . I don't blame them given the dire London weather this year.



Oh & to top it off, Beldi has a resident pooch called Bis, so you've got a little furry friend to play with too!







Beldi Country Club
Km6, Route de Barrage,
 Cherifia
 Marrakech



Date of stay: mid-March, 2013

Sunday 17 March 2013

Sheltering in the Village...

Yet another rainy day in London. Yucky. When is winter going to end? I really hate the rain and the cold. Luckily we were not outside too much today.  We hopped into the car & drove to Bermondsey Street.  This cool little street has transformed over the last few years, yet it still seems untouched by tourists, despite being close to Tower Bridge & London Bridge. 

This must be THE most doggie friendly street in all of London. So many cafe's, restaurants & nice little shops, including the collar couture shop - Holly & Lil (where I got my sparkly green collar).  I will be writing a lot about this street in my blog.  



Today we went to Village East.  We've been here a number of times & I do rather like it. 
















It was already quite busy when we arrived (c11am), so we took a seat at the bar.  A great spot as I could watch the doorway & look at everyone coming in. It also meant a lot of people came over to pet me. I saw a pug come in too, but he didn't see me & he went into the back part of the restaurant with his owners.

The waiters were really friendly here & bought me a nice bowl of water without my owners needing to ask for one.  




My owners ate brunch. They said the scrambled eggs & eggs Benedict were the nicest eggs they've had in a long long time. The coffee must have been good too as they had a few cappuccino's & flat whites. Sitting at the bar & watching cocktails being mixed, they got tempted into drinking a couple of Bloody Mary's too.




My owners like the industrial &  "New York restaurant feel" to Village East. I've never been to America, so I don't really know what they mean, but this place feels pretty cool to me. 




















Village East
171-173 Bermondsey Street
London
SE1 3UW


http://www.villageeast.co.uk/



Date of visit: Sunday 17th March, 2013.

Sunday 3 March 2013

Jewel in the crown...


Today we headed to another hipster part of London (East again of course) - to Bow.  My owners Sunday lunch spot was a gastro pub called The Crown. 




The bar area (i.e. including the dining area) is dog friendly, so that's basically all of downstairs & that's a decent sized area. 


I really loved it here. The staff were really friendly & offered me a bowl of water as soon as they spotted me. I loved watching the door, waiting for other dogs to arrive. I saw 2 other dogs, including one dashing black Dachshund. 


Turns out he was Italian & so you can imagine how much attention he gave me. We stopped by their table on the way out & we gave each other a sniff. His owner exclaimed "that's a bit of bling!" when he saw my collar. Well, yes, it is quite glamorous, but I'm a stylish little pooch & so I can carry it off. Its a new collar by the way, from Holly & Lil on Bermondsey St. I'm sure I'll be blogging about that shop sometime, as we go there a lot. 


The Crown had a lovely relaxed vibe, as reflected in a few large tables suitable for sharing. Two ladies joined the end of our big table. I stretched up the legs of one of them, making her jump & she screamed out loud. It was very funny. Despite my owners trying to stop me, I also enjoyed looking across to their food, once my owners food had been consumed.








My owners loved all the natural light in here; the big windows with views out to Victoria Park & the shabby chic decor; worn leather sofas, wingback chairs with cushions & exposed wooden floor boards.  This place basically felt like one VERY cool country pub. 











My owners said this was some of the tastiest food they've had in London (I was certainly going crazy with that delicious smell of beef). That probably explains why they ate A LOT; one had a traditional Sunday roast followed by a chocolate dessert & the other went for a big veggie pie followed by some sort of apple crumble pie. All that was washed down with wine (white & red) & prosecco. Blimey. That January diet has well & truly ended...







After a long lazy lunch at The Crown, we then had a lovely long walk around Victoria Park - just across the road. Blog to follow on our walk...





The Crown

223 Grove Road
Bow
E3 5SN

http://www.geronimo-inns.co.uk/thecrown/





Date of visit: Sunday 17th February 2013