Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The Pig – at Bridge Place Hearts’ desires
Break free from captivity in animal-print trainers
A warming log fire, a steaming bath, a cosy, rustic interior – what’s not to love about The Pig – at Bridge Place’s Hop Pickers’ Huts just outside Canterbury in Kent? Dotted along a wooden walkway, complete with little letterboxes for the morning papers, these romantic hideaways are set along a babbling stream.
With beautiful bedding, velvet sofas, cushions and recycled wood-panelled walls, they’re definitely somewhere you won’t want to leave in a hurry. This Jacobean gem sits in the Nailbourne Valley and, amazingly, was once a top rock venue hosting the likes of Pink Floyd, The Kinks and Led Zeppelin.
A huge kitchen garden is the focus of the property and the food is all locally sourced from within a 25-mile radius.
There’s also a cosy bar with roaring fire and a restaurant and spa. It’s only rock and roll, but we like it. thepighotel.com
That’s amore
Famous as the setting for Shakespeare’s 16th-century play Romeo and Juliet, love is always in the air in the captivating city of Verona.
This was proven when locals Michele D’Alpaos and Paola Agnelli made the front pages when they fell for each other across their balconies in lockdown last September.
And if music be the food of love, the magnificent must-see Roman amphitheatre Arena di Verona plays host to the world-renowned summer Opera Festival.
After a moonlit stroll across the Adige River, over the Ponte Pietra, festooned with love locks, cosy up in the riverside Terrazza Bar al Ponte over a bottle of Valpolicella, produced from the region’s fine vineyards.
In the heart of the medieval city and just a stone’s throw from Juliet’s balcony, the five-star Due Torri Hotel, housed in a 14th-century Venetianstyle palazzo overlooking the pretty Piazza Sant’Anastasia is the perfect love nest.
www.duetorrihotels.com MY
In the years BC (Before Coronavirus) walking was my favourite form of exercise. I am lucky enough to live in one of the most beautiful parts of Northern Ireland and I’d always remind myself of that fact as often as I could by vernturing out. It was a past-time, a hobby, a lifestyle.
But now, in the year AC (After Coronavirus) it is a lifeline. On the days I don’t get to leave the house I, and those around me, see a huge shift in my personality.
I feel very low, my head is fuzzy and I struggle to bring myself round. I have no doubt I’m not alone in this.
Fresh air and exercise are as vital to us as food and water at the minute. We are so restricted in every other aspect of our lives, this is the only freedom we have. Almost 12 months in to the pandemic and almost three lockdowns later, it is really starting to take its toll on us all, and our mental health.
So I have started to boost my mood in small ways to make the little daily tasks just a little more enjoyable.
I haven’t bought myself one item of clothing in more than a year. This isn’t a boast, it’s a fact, my heart just isn’t in clothes shopping these days – what’s the point?
However, some items are essential and need replenishing and one of them is trainers. I have literally worn out my last pair – which I found out after stepping in a ice-cold puddle and having ice-cold water seep into my socks.
So as soon as I came home I went online to buy a new pair. I usually go for black & white because they in turn go with everything, but I was drawn to a pair of leopard print Nikes and the more I scrolled, the more animals I saw – zebra, tiger, snake...even a tropical rainforest. I thought why the hell not. After living a year of black and white, it’s time to go a bit wild..
Walking has become our favourite pasttime over the last year as throughout each lockdown, it is the one thing we have always been permitted to do.
The reason why is because exercise is extremely important and we all need to be as fit as possible in order to fight the virus if we come in contact with it.
However, it is not just our physical health which has felt the benefits, as getting outside in the fresh air also does wonders for our mental health too.
And in one part of the country, walkers have an extra spring in their step thanks to the thoughtfulness of one woman.
If you have ventured through some of the beauty spots of East Belfast and North Down, chances are you have noticed some brightlypainted rocks with words of wisdom and messages of hope written on them.
They have been strategically placed so as many people as possible will see them, meaning anyone who is feeling down or vulnerable will be given that extra little boost to help get them get through the day.
The person behind this kind gesture is
Laura Payne, from Holywood, Co Down.
The 30-year-old said: “I started my inspirational rocks campaign just after Christmas. I had two weeks off work and the lockdown came in on Boxing Day so I just thought, I need to do something with my time.
POSITIVE
“I have been working from home most of the year, so I sit at my desk all day in a small room and I needed a reason to get out more.
“I am not a creative or artistic person in anyway but I wanted to do something positive and even for my own benefit too to take myself away from looking at a screen so much.
“Then I thought it might be nice to write a few positive messages and place them around the coastal path, where I go for my daily walks.
“I have ventured to Cavehill and Bangor and ideally I would have liked to have gone a little further afield sometimes, but at the minute I am keeping it fairly local because so many people are out walking along the coast.
“I know they aren’t the most artistic, but I like that they are a little imperfect and if one person sees them and it brightens up their day then it is worthwhile me doing them.”
And now that we are in the midst of the third lockdown, Laura has had people messaging her to tell her they have found her rocks and how they put a smile on their face.
She said: “I get contacted all the time from people who have come across them.
“It started as a lockdown project but I fully intend to keep doing it and as things start to open up again I’ll be able to get further afield.
“But until then, I just hope they keep people’s spirits up while they are out on their daily walks.”
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