When I think about having a weekend away I either think of going abroad or to a city in the UK so I can have a fab meal, drinks and do a bit of shopping. However to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary we went along to Scarborough for the weekend for a bit of a more relaxing experience and to revisit my childhood holiday destination! 
When I was invited to visit Ox Pasture Hall Hotel in Scarborough Yorkshire, I knew it would be perfect for our anniversary and having seen and heard about a few other bloggers visits it also sounded like I’d be able to still have great food that I’d usually go to a big city for.
I went along to the Jaywing PR Bloggers Brunch in the morning so travelled from Leeds which took just over an hour, on our way we saw signs for a lovely cafe with home made cakes and pastries and knew we had to visit! It was super quaint and was in Malton – if you’re a big cake fan it was worth stopping in at. We had the lemon cheesecake and the chocolate and caramel cake. When we arrived at Ox Pasture Hall Hotel* we couldn’t have had a more lovely greeting! Everyone was super welcoming and we were soon booked in for dinner in their A La Carte restaurant and taken up to our suite. 
Behold the comfiest hotel bed I’ve ever slept in, I pretty much crashed out when we got in as I had got a terrible cold that meant I was so drained I literally nodded straight off. The rest of the room was lush too, with the large bath being a second fave of mine.
And the views… Need I saw any more?
It was soon time for dinner and boy was it good!
The a la carte menu was small but perfectly formed, with both myself and Mr E managing to order different dishes at each course.The amuse Bouche was a slight worry though, it was a pink grapefruit and basil sorbet, and it wasn’t to our tastes, it got Mr E worried that the rest of the meal was going to go the same way. Luckily it didn’t and it was just a bump in the meal journey.Soon enough we were enjoying homemade sour dough bread with whipped dripping and homemade butter. 
For starters I had Pigs Head which wasn’t a pigs head served on a plate thankfully. It was the perfect thinnest ham terrine with tiny Apple chunks, corriander and piccalilli and the tastes combined were just perfect. Mr E had Rainbow Trout served with turnip, rye and caviar. He was particularly excited about the caviar and has told me it was all very nice!
I’d asked for recommendations when it came to the main course so I had Salt Marsh Lamb with Ewes Curd and carrots baked in hay and salt. As part of this they brought out a bowl of hay which had a secret stash of dry ice underneath which was not only designed to bring some theatre to the table but also to bring the smell of hay as well. Although thanks to my cold I couldn’t smell much so it was all about the look of it for me!
Mr E had Brassicas with Gnocci and Garlic which he also loved , I think he was slightly dissapointed that he didn’t get dry ice too!
These plates aren’t the biggest of courses and I was slightly worried that I might not be full but after mains I’d actually started to feel quite full. I was thankful of a break before they brought out the ‘crossover’ which was their interpretation of rhubarb cheesecake, with fresh local rhubarb with a biscuit drizzle and some creme fraîche.
After that it was dessert time and I had summer pudding with clotted cream and verjus which was lovely and refreshing if not a little too cold on the teeth thanks to the homemade sorbet type shavings on top.
Mr E had Opal White Chocolate with Vanilla and Green Tea. He was quite surprised about how well the green tea worked with the dish and he soon wolfed it down!
Then it was time for the ‘Climax’ don’t worry it’s SFW! The dry ice returned with the head chef who had a eucalyptus flavoured liquid of sorts which was dropped in the dry ice to set, then delivered straight to my plate to eat asap. He likened it to a cold macaron and I felt it tasted like a spa in my mouth! It certainly helped my cold a little bit too. The whole experience of it was fab, with the intermediate courses adding something at every step and making dinner a more theatrical experience. All that alongside attentive service made the meal the perfect anniversary meal.
The next morning we went for breakfast which was just the standard you’d expect from a 4 star hotel, all the noms. I mean just look at the presentation! Once suitably full we had a little wander round the grounds before checking out. We were given a bottle of water each to be on our way with which I thought was another lovely little touch.
We spent the rest of the day in a rather sunny Scarborough. We took the cliff lift down (really wish we’d taken it up the cliff but you live and learn!) which immediately took me back to being with my parents in Scarborough on a family holiday. Somethings had just stood still in time and took me back to the ten year old me, wandering around the bay, trying to win cuddly toys in the arcade and eating rock and candy floss daily.
We had 3 things on our list to do:
- Paddle in the sea
- Go on the 2p machines
- Have fish and chips (the Fish Pan came recommended from Rachel)
We managed to tick all that off and make the full use of our 3 hours parking time walking along the shore, absolutely caning the 2p machines and then having fish and chips with a view. Just perfect.
After that we drove to Peasholm Park. Again another haunt of my youth, it has model naval boats that have battles on the lake which I remember from when I was young too. We decided to take one of the dragon pedalo’s out around the lake. It was such fun! Well it was for me as if taken my shoes off as the dragons are a bit dirty in the bottom and I had beige suede shoes on! So I couldn’t pedal. What.a.shame.
We also had taken some bread left overs from our Fish Pan lunch and it was lovely to walk around there feeding the geese with the sun intermittently shining! it was all quickly over too soon though and we made the 2 hour trek back home. I really enjoyed the weekend though and I remembered why I used to love Scarborough as a child so I’d definitely return there soon and to Ox Pasture Hall Hotel too. Where did you used to go as a child that you would return to now?
*Stay at Ox Pasture Hall Hotel and dinner and breakfast provided for an honest review. As always it’s exactly what I think!