Britannia Country House Didsbury

  We booked our night away at the Britannia Country House Hotel via Travelzoo from one of their top 20 deals that they send out every week.

We paid £60 for three of us in the room, being myself, hubby and my little man who is 2. The deal was £50 for dinner, bed and breakfast and a bottle of wine in the room and it was just an extra £10 to take my little boy with us.
When the top 20 email comes into my inbox every Wednesday, I scan to see what I can book next, with most deals, you can book online or by telephone.

The Hotel is about twenty minutes from Manchester city centre, and is very close and handy for Manchester Airport.  There is a Britannia Hotel a little nearer to the airport which is the South Manchester Britannia Hotel and is 3 miles from the airport.
The Britannia Country House Hotel is a lovely hotel in a nice setting with a long driveway. There are quite a few different car parks within the grounds.  There were 2 weddings going on when we were there so it was quite busy. We had prepaid for the Hotel when we booked, so we were checked in very quickly. Our room was on the third floor and was quite big with a double bed and a single bed in it. It was clean and had a fabulous bathroom with a large jacuzzi bath in it.

The Health Centre is called Spindles Health and Leisure Club and even residents have to pay (although it is a discounted rate) but entry was included with the deal we had booked. There is the main pool and a toddler pool, jacuzzi, steam room and sauna as well as a fully equipped gym.  We spent the afternoon in the pool and took it in turns to go in the sauna and steam room while the other played with our little boy.

We had our evening meal booked for 7pm and we were seated very quickly. It was a carvery, the waiters came and served starters and for the main meal and dessert, you could help yourselves. We had gammon which I have to say was delicious and for dessert, there was a choice of gateaux, ice cream or fruit salad.

There is a residents bar which is open until late, we chose to sit outside so that our little man could have a run around. I do think it bit of a shame, that there is so much land around the Hotel (which is mainly car parks) but no play areas.

We had our breakfast the next morning before checking out which was lovely and had loads of choice. There was a choice of full English, croissants, choice of cereals, fruit and/or yoghurts. I suppose if you are really hungry, you could have all of it.

Our checkout was very quick as we had already pre paid for everything, so we decided to head over to the Lowry Outlet Mall for a bit of retail therapy. They are always advertising on the television so thought we could go and grab a bargain. It took about 15 minutes to drive there at Salford Quays, there is plenty of parking and you get up to 4 hours free parking if you make a purchase at one of the shops. You just go and get your card stamped from the information desk.

There are more shops than I thought there would be, as we live quite near to Freeport outlet Mall which is a little smaller.  We got a few bargains in Gap and Nike store, there is also Trespass, Whistles, Marks and Spencer's, Home and Craft world, Cadbury and many more. There is a food court, Vue Cinema and Lowry Theatre which always has lots of shows on. The Trafford Centre is not too far away or if you fancy a bit of skiing or snowboarding there is the Chill Factore close by. For the kids there is the Lego Discovery centre which is located within the Trafford Centre and is well worth a visit.

All in all, we had a great weekend and can't wait for the next Travel zoo deal that we can book.  

Cow Parade

Cow Parade is the worlds largest free art exhibition. It originated in Chicago in 1999 and is working its way around the world. It is basically life size cows (not real obviously!!!!) made of resin or plastic and companies sponsor cows and then invite artists to design them. The cows are around for about four months and then they are auctioned off for charity. I was lucky enough to be in Chicago in 1999 when the cows were in town.


I was visiting my friend in Niles, Michigan and had booked a couple of nights in Chicago before flying home and she told me to 'Watch out for the Cows In Chicago'. I did not have a clue what she was talking about, but she just said you will know when you see them!!!!!! Soon enough when we got to Chicago we saw them scattered about all over. There was quite a few on Michigan Drive which is the main shopping area, John Hancock Building, Intercontinental Hotel and Sport Stadiums as well as many other locations. It was not possible to see them all as there were over 300 all over the city.






Although Chicago was the first official Cow Parade it did actually start in the summer of 1998 in Zurich as a trial by Beat Seeberger-Quin. The cows are all given names with a reference to the design, location or theme of the cow. One particular cow which became famous after Cow Parade in Chicago was 'Sky Cow' which was auctioned off and bought by Oprah Winfrey and is said to be grazing at her ranch in Indiana!!!!


In December 2000, I had booked a Christmas shopping trip to New York with my mum and my friend and found out that the Cows had been there in the summer, between June and September. We were a bit gutted we had missed them, but a lot of the gift shops especially Hallmark were selling miniature replica cows from the New York and Chicago Cow Parade. This was when my addiction began!!!!!!! I bought about three I think, as I was conscious about getting them home in one piece. I had tried to buy them in Chicago, but nobody seemed to be selling them at the time.






Since Chicago and New York Cow Parade has been all over the world to cities including Tokyo, Denver, Sao Paulo, Bratislava and Auckland among many more. I have caught three parades in London, Manchester and South Africa but I as gutted to miss Edinburgh and Dublin as they are easy to get to from where I live.


Cow Parade is very popular now and you can buy the miniature Cows from shops all over the world, but after our trip to New York and I had decided I was going to collect them, you could only buy them online in the USA.


This did prove very costly especially as I was being charged tax from the postman when he delivered them depending on the value. I had originally decided to collect every one from each parade but that became impossible as there were about two or three a year in various cities and the fact that there would be up to about fifty on sale from each parade, I would need to win the lottery a few times over. I decided to check out cows on each parade and put my favourite on my birthday and Christmas wish list. They cost between £12.99 and £19.99 for the small cows so it can be very costly. You can buy the cows for a certain time and then the Cow Parade company retire them out to pasture and you then find them hard to buy. Some of the older cows from Chicago and New York have become quite valuable.


The London Cow Parade ran from June until September 2002, the charities benefiting from the auction were Childline and RABI. We booked a weekend down to London to try and see as many cows as possible, we managed to get a list of them all and the locations of where they were and ticked them off as we saw them. We did see quite a lot but they were spread out all over, so it was not possible to see them all. I think there were about 150 cows in total all over London in different locations such as The Ritz Hotel, Liberty Store, The BBC, Berkeley Square and Buckingham Palace among others. In some locations such as Haymarket, Marble Arch, St Katherines Dock and Canary Wharf (to name a few!!) there would be more then one cow. Some of my favourite cows were 'Beef Wellington, 'Cow Bus', 'Sea Cow' and 'Cower Bridge'.


It was fun travelling around London hunting for them and we were very lucky that the weather was warm. The one thing that did disappoint me was the vandalised cows at the Opera House at Covent Garden. There was one which had been written on, and another which had a broken foot (why would somebody do that?) It is just disgusting that the organisers, sponsors and artists go to all the trouble and hard work and somebody has to spoil it.


The summer of 2004 saw Cow Parade travel to Manchester with over 100 cows residing all over the city. The chosen charity for the Manchester parade was Manchester Kids. We travelled to Manchester for a Cow Parade hunt, location list in one hand and camera in the other. There were over 100 cows in Manchester scattered about in different locations. Again we were very lucky with the weather as it was lovely and sunny.


We travelled to Manchester Piccadilly by train and one of the first cows we saw was the Dangermoo-se Cow. As my husband is a big kid and Dangermouse fan he was quite happy!!!! We did not get round to see every cow as they were located all over the city including Manchester Airport and Wythenshaw. The cows that were in the city centre were easy to find and there was a few in each location including St Ann's Square, The Lowry, Victoria Station and Piccadilly Gardens.






As far as I am aware they provided great entertainment to all who saw them as there were always loads of people around them taking photos. There were ten cows on the Arndale Centre which is always really busy anyway. Some of my favourite cows from this parade were Mooer's Moomalade (Triangle), Daisy Beckham (Arndale), Vivienne Westwood Cowture (St Ann's Square) and China Moon (Lincoln Square). Some of the cows that resided in Victoria Station and the Arndale Centre were actual seats that you sit on.


I bought about four or five miniature cows from Cow Parade Manchester, the problem is I do not have anywhere to put any more and I have had a few which have been broken when people have been to my house and picked them up as they are so fragile.
In 2004 my husband and I had booked a holiday to South Africa visiting Cape Town, Durban and Victoria Falls in Zambia. We found out that Cow Parade would be in South Africa when we were there so we looked forward to that.




One of the Partners of Cow Parade South Africa was Kulula which is a low cost airline that operates within South Africa. Because we had booked a couple of flights with them, we managed to find out information on the aircraft about where the cows would be and what dates etc. The cows were spread out all over the Country from Johannesburg and Pretoria to Durban and Cape Town so there was no way we would be able to see them all.



We were going to Durban and Cape Town so knew we would be able to see the cows there. The South African charity chosen to benefit from the auction was CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa). Our first stop was Durban and there were quite a few cows on the sea front and Shopping Centres. There were more cows at Durban than Cape Town, but the majority of them were in Johhannesburg, Sandton and Pretoria. Some of the cows that we saw were Peace Cow, Walter Sisulu, Sisonce and Mooti Cow.








This cow is the Ama moo Moo, Ladumooo. Eish! Hlalala! - The Udderly Bullish Cow which was in one of the shopping centres in Durban. It is promoting the FIFA Soccer World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2010. Cow Parade in South Africa raised over R1 million for Charity and proved to be very popular. Cow Parade has now become so popular and the word is spreading quickly as the parade goes from City to City and Country to Country.




You can buy the miniature versions nearly everywhere now and they are always being sold on eBay. You can also buy books, plush toys and many more. The website that I used to buy everything from is Cows Cows Cows this is great if you live in the US but can be costly if purchasing from outside the US the good thing about this website is it is a very good reference site especially for retired cows and if you are looking for a particular cow and are not sure where it was.

Current cities hosting cow parade at the moment are: Tijuana, Mexico; San Jose, Costa Rica; and the island of Capri, Italy. Coming soon are:Taipei, Taiwan; San Diego, USA; and Madrid, Spain. If you are in or around any of these destinations then I would definetly recommend that you visit the cows.

UEFA Cup Final - Manchester 2008

My husband and I decided to go through to Manchester for the UEFA Cup Final on 14th May 2008 for the Rangers v Zenit St Petersburg game. We did not have tickets, but it was hailed as a huge party with a carnival atmosphere so we decided to join in the fun. We had heard that there would be dedicated Fan Zone areas with big screens. We drove to Manchester and parked at the NCP Spinningfields Car Park as it was on the way into the city centre without driving through the centre and was close to the motorway.

Spinningfields Car Park has 17 floors and is handy for shopping, theatres and City Centre and is ideal if you don't wish to drive into the heart of the city. It was a beautiful sunny day and lovely and warm when we got there about 2.00pm. There were Rangers fans everywhere, all the pubs and streets were full and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves and be in the party mood. There were loads of fans sat in a square by the Great Northern Complex. There were police there but the atmosphere was great and fans were having photos taken with the police with flags draped round them.

There was a Sainsburys Local and Tesco Metro nearby and people were buying up to 8 trays of beer at a time and pushing them round in shopping trolleys, and then sitting in the sunshine drinking them. We went into Brannigans for a couple of drinks, and although it was busy it was not too packed that you couldn't move and people were singing and it was a great atmosphere. We then decided to take a walk and have a look at the Fan Zone Areas. We went to Albert Square first and it was heaving, there were loads of people soaking up the sun and just generally having a good time. We walked through the square and made our way to Piccadilly Gardens where it was even busier!!!!. We did not even attempt to go into the Fan Zone area here as you could not move and we decided if we went in, we would not be able to get out again!!

The roads around the area were closed off except to Buses and there were people on statues dancing and singing, and in the street. There were loads of people selling Union Flags, European Cup Balloons and other things like wigs and hooters. Again there was a police presence but they seemed to be enjoying watching all the drunks making a fool of themselves and having pictures taken with fans, and it was all very good humoured.

We were only drinking water, as it was so warm and busy that we wanted to be alert. At around 6ish we decided we were going to watch the match at Albert Square and stay there as it was still getting even busier as time went on. We got to the square and found our spot. We knew we would not get anywhere near the screens so decided to stay at the back near a side road so that we had a quick getaway when the match finished.

It was really funny as people were gathered on statues, traffic lights and even on top of road signs and once they got their spot, they were not moving for anybody!!!!!. Guys were even climbing up trees and finding a branch to perch on. The big screens I don't think were high enough for people to see, so people at the back including myself could only really see the top of the screen and had to keep asking my hubby what was happening!!!!

At one point because the area was so busy, we were contemplating going to Brannigans or one of the other pubs to watch the game instead of on the big screens, but as we headed to the gates we were told that if we went out we would not get back in again as they were closing the area off. We then decided we did not want to take the risk of all the pubs being full and then not being able to watch the match anywhere, so we stayed in the square. When the game kicked off at 7.45pm the party really started!!!. Everybody was cheering and shouting the team on, you would have thought that we were actually at the game!!!!

In fact there was a lot more people watching the game in pubs and Fan Zones that at the City of Manchester Stadium where we were allocated a measly 13,000 tickets each. There were shuttle buses from the city centre to the Football Ground for ticket holders only which was a good idea. We saw the funniest sight near to where we were standing, there was a guy in a red and white tartan suit who had obviously had a few too many cheeky vimtos!!!! He climbed up a tree and was trying to jump from the tree onto a round booth which held posters for forthcoming events. I could see the branch bending and getting ready to snap and by this time people were filming him as we thought any minute now he is going to fall and break his legs and my hubby wanted to claim the £250 from You've Been Framed when he did!!!!!

He took a big leap and grabbed for dear life and he actually made it onto the roof on the booth, (how, we have no idea!!!!). As he sat down at the top with his can of Tennents or Buckfast (or whatever he was drinking!!!!) everybody applauded him. My hubby was very disappointed he was not going to be able to claim his £250 but he decided maybe later when he tries to get down after the game. (I will come to that later!!!!!). The first 45 mins of the game was electric and the fans still believed they could win!!!








At half time the area was buzzing, we could still be UEFA Cup Winners and Rangers were 45 minutes away from being Champions!!!!!. The second half as they say is history!!!! It was still a great atmosphere until the Russians scored 20 minutes from the end. After the first goal went in, the mood seemed to change and was very tense, but at least there was still hope!!!!. The fans were shouting the team on even more, but after the second goal went in and the realisation was that the UEFA cup had slipped through their fingers, we sensed that things were starting to get ugly and a bit nasty!!!!. Mr Tartan man from before stood on his booth wondering how he was going to get down now that he had weakened the branches that he had used before!!! Again my hubby was ready with the camera to film this poor drunk lying on the ground injured!!!!. He did manage to find a branch nearly strong enough to hold him, but as soon as he got both feet on the branch snapped. As people were watching him he was very lucky that 2 guys decided to take pity on him and catch him so he didn't break his legs!!! Oh well it entertained me anyway!!!!!

As I said above the atmosphere had started to get a bit nasty and people were starting to argue and fight among themselves - it was just down to drink some of them had been at it since 6am! So we decided to make a quick exit and head off back to the car park. As we were heading down the road back to the car park, we could hear glass bottles being thrown and that is the only point that we got a bit worried!!!!. We did manage to get back to the car park safely and never saw any trouble apart from that.

The first we heard about any trouble with police and fans rioting was when we put the radio on in the car, so I can't comment on it, but I do know most of the day there was not trouble, and we had a great day out apart from the last half hour and the score obviously!!!!!. I do think the media have blown it out of proportion as there were over 100,000 fans in Manchester and only 42 arrests. I am just disappointed that the fans and the Club's reputation is being tarnished because a small minority that can't handle their drink and decided to spoil it for all the other fans who just wanted a good day out.