The Dorchester Hotel

This month my mother celebrated a very special Birthday and I must admit that I was struggling for present ideas. 

The Dorchester Hotel is one of London's most iconic hotels which is set on the prestigious Park Lane and as such it seemed the perfect place to celebrate her special Birthday in style. 

London recently has had weeks of torrential rain. This day was no different so we arrived as a family like sodden rats, but were greeted by the warm friendly staff and sunshine in a vase. My niece aged 4 was mightily impressed when the maître d' greeted her as a princess. 

I love the stunningly beautiful Dorchester hotel with its classically British archictecture and furnishings. 

The award-winning afternoon tea begins with chilled Laurent-Perrier NV Champagne and an abundance of sandwiches. 

Sandwiches come in classic smoked salmon, egg, chicken with mustard, cheese and cucumber. 

This hotel is totally family friendly which I love. The waiter directly asked my niece what she would like in her sandwiches, to which she quickly responded with cucumber. The waiter doesn't question her further and soon a huge amount of cucumber sandwiches appear greeted with an almighty smile. 

The sandwiches were followed with something to cleanse the palate. A mint and chocolate ganache. 

Next comes the tea...

Tea is an event in itself at the Dorchester, with such a large selection of grand and rare teas to choose from. The entire table opts for something different which means we all get to have a try of different teas. The Dorchester Blend is lovely and refreshing. 

When having afternoon tea I am always cautious 

about how many sandwiches I eat, after all I have to leave room for the scones. 

 

The scones came with clotted cream, strawberry jam and cherry jam made on site. 

More cakes and pastries arrive next ... 

The banana cake and strawberry pastries were my personal favourites. 

A wonderful afternoon tea was had by all and my mother had a wonderful Birthday. 

The Dorchester Hotel is definitely one of my top five places to have tea in London. 

Afternoon Tea at the Dorchester is served five times daily, 1:00pm, 2pm, 3:15pm, 4:30pm, 5:30pm and 6:45pm. 

The Dorchester Hotel 

Park Lane

London 

W1K 1QA

Lush Hello Gorgeous

I will start this post by saying I am a Lush addict. I'm not quite sure how or when it happened but it definitely is the case.    

Walking along any high street I'm like a homing pigeon, first it is the smell, like sweet lemon sherbet wafting along the high street that peaks my attention. Then it is the brightly adorned window displays with soaps, bath bombs, bars, creams and lotions. Walking past is simply not possible.   

I love my baths as it is the only time of day that I get just ten minutes to myself and with Lush products it just makes them even better. 

So when I was given the "Hello Gorgeous" gift set as a present containing three of my favourites, well you could say I was a little bit excited.  

All Lush gifts come in beautiful packaging that almost look too beautiful too unwrap. I am looking forward to putting this box to good use afterwards.  

So what comes inside? 

Rub, Rub, Rub - Shower Scrub (£8.50), 
The Comforter - Bubble Bar (£4.50), 
Twilight Bath Bomb (£3.25), 
Think Pink Bath Bomb (£2.50), 
Vanilla Dee-Lite (£12.50), 
Gorgeous Moisturiser tester. 

First up is the comforter. My top tip is to cut it into four quarters and that way you get four baths. Each quarter crumbled under a running tap is more than enough to get lovely bubbles and a beautiful aromatic bath of Cassis and Bergamot. 

Despite looking like a raspberry Slush Puppie, Rub, Rub, Rub is a little pot of heaven before any summer holiday. Taking a small amount rub all over your skin to remove dead skin. It smells wonderfully and lemony and is great for rejuvenating skin back to life. 

Two very different bath bombs. Twilight is a slow burner and takes a good five minutes to melt away in a bath, turning beautiful shades of pink and blue whilst it dissolves. This is the perfect bath bomb before bed, very soothing with lavender and the Ylang Ylang oils do wonders for dry skin.

Think Pink quickly dissolves, it is not a favourite of mine as it is gone to quickly and is very sweet. But it makes for a pretty bath.   

Now Vanilla I am not normally a great fan but Vanilla Dee-Lite body lotion is divine. If your skin is in need of a pick me up this is the perfect thing to use. It is a light lotion that is easily absorbed into the skin and the coconut oil does wonders for my skin. I also love the way the smell of coconut and vanilla hangs around. 

My only bugbear about Lush is that when their gift boxes have fresh products why these either are not added to a gift box when purchased or that the box has an expiration date. 

I have had a few boxes now that the products inside basically expire in a few months of purchase. The Vanilla Dee-Lite had eleven days to use and I would never be able to use all of the product in this time. 

The last item in this wonderful gift box is Gorgeous facial Moisturiser. This product is like a little pot of gold. Packed with citrus fruit oranges, lemons, pineapple and evening primrose oil this works wonders on my dry and dull looking skin. If you are looking for a pick-me-up this is it.   

What are your favourite products from Lush? 

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

                
It is very rare to visit somewhere that is so beautiful that it takes your breath away. Now by no way is this an exaggeration, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque did exactly that.  It's an amazing architectural landmark. 

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the sixth largest mosque in the world. I find that hard to believe as this Mosque is absolutely huge. 

It is made up using some of the finest natural materials, marble, stone, precious stones, gold and crystals. 

 

                     

I spent most of our visit going ooh, wow, ah, that's beautiful. The pictures really don't do it justice. 

I love the picture above, as I managed to capture a family dancing and moving in and out of the pillars. I wish I had managed to catch up with them to share the pictures. 

After a lovely morning we headed back to the hotel for some much needed shade. Abu Dhabi is very hot even at this time of the year.

After some more messing around in the Pool. We headed to Hakkasan restaurant for dinner. Abu Dhabi is a brilliant place for a foodie as the cuisine is so diverse. 

Having visited Hakkasan in Mayfair London I had high expectations for Abu Dhabi and I am pleased to share it didn't disappoint. 

To start we had Roasted Mango Duck and my absolute favourite Golden fried soft shell crab with red chili and curry leaf. Even looking at this picture is making me salivate.  

For mains we opt for stir-fry black pepper rib-eye beef and charcoal grilled Atlantic scallops. 

You can't leave the opulent Emirates Place Hotel without sampling one of their famous Golden cappuccino's - although it has 24 carat gold on top, it is perfectly safe to drink.

I can't believe my adventures have come to an end. What an amazing Birthday and one I will never forget. I will definitely be back to Abu Dhabi a beautiful country. 

Abu Dhabi - Birthday Celebrations

Yesterday I fell into the most relaxed, deep and peaceful sleep, in my huge King size bed. I woke to the most breathtaking views that had completely passed me by the night before. 

The view from my Palace bedroom window. Wow. 

Our bedroom looks out onto the 1.3 km of private beach and the Arabian Gulf. I cannot wait to get in that turquoise water. Can you believe the sand was shipped all the way from Algeria. 

The white buildings in the distance make up the new presidential palace currently under constructed. 

It is beautiful, in an unpretentious way. It just sits at the waters edge graciously waiting. How I would love to live here what an amazing architectural feat. 

All this talking and fresh air is making me hungry and we all know what my favourite pastime is. Eating of course.   

Now that is what I call a breakfast and look who came to join us a Myra bird. 

Breakfast at the Emirates Palace is seriously fit for a prince and princess. Now after all this eating I need to find the many pools that the hotel has to offer and work off some of this food. 

Well this is FoodieForce, laying around I am sure burns off a few calories. 

I have had a wonderful Birthday and feel thoroughly spoilt. I am looking forward to more adventures tomorrow visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. 

www.kempinski.com

Abu Dhabi - Paradise

Last Friday was my Birthday and before I go any further I got absolutely spoilt rotten, receiving one almighty treat. 

On Thursday morning I woke to be told we were going off on an adventure. I was really excited, now what do you pack when you have no idea where you are going? 

So I did the only sensible thing and packed for every occasion.  

I spent the journey on the train racking my brain as to where we could be going. When we arrived at Heathrow I was shocked, did this mean it involved a plane? Either that or my other half had a day of plane spotting planned for us. 

But I would never have guessed in a million years the reality of where we were going. 

After a six hour flight we landed in Abu Dhabi. I could tell two things instantly on getting out of the the plane it was much, much hotter than the UK and secondly that it had some impressive architecture. 

I don't think I have shared with you before how much I love beautifully designed buildings, but architecture is one of my secret loves. 

We leave the airport to find our transport a beautiful Porsche. We are whisked away to our hotel, well when I say a hotel I mean Palace. 

       

Emirates Palace hotel is the second most expensive hotel in the world and I can well believe it. At a cost of 3.9 billion to build the palace has gold and marble everywhere. 

From end to end the palace is 1km, has 114 domes and 1,002 chandeliers. It is beautiful beyond belief. 

Let me show you around our new home/suit ... come inside. 

 

                      

After a very long day we are both shattered so the prospect of getting into our huge King size bed and having a refreshing sleep ready for more adventure tomorrow is too big to resist. See you all tomorrow for one special day my Birthday. 

www.kempinski.com