So Radio 1 may have decided to have a big weekend, but myself as Miss Torquay had a pretty big weekend too over the bank holiday! It’s the semi finals of Miss England this weekend at Kelham Hall in Nottinghamshire and the Miss Devon title is up for grabs so I decided to visit some of my home county’s top hot spots!
First up was the Dart Marina Hotel and Spa in beautiful Dartmouth. They have an amazing restaurant serving a variety of yummy dishes and one of my favourite treats, afternoon tea with a view of the River Dart. They’ve also got the most amazing outside terrace which is a little sun trap in the summer, so perfect for this time of year. My usual accompaniment with a cream tea would be a nice cold glass of champagne, however the Hotel has a special cocktail called the pink skull, of course served in a skull shaped glass so here’s a cheeky picture of me enjoying the refreshing flavour!
Next, after literally stepping off the train in Exeter, we headed for dinner at The Cosy Club, a new restaurant in the old hospital. The Cosy Club is part of the lounge group which also owns Visto Lounge in Torquay. I absolutely love their style, it’s very London, the lounges are almost a warehouse style with large industrial lights hanging from high vaulted ceilings. The decor is very quirky, in fact quirky sums up the whole place, vintage furniture, wooden floors and eccentric ornaments and random pictures. Plus they have a vegan and gluten free menu! i
On Friday I got to visit my old school, Tower House in Paignton. I studied at Tower House from age 11-16 after passing the 11+ but the Grammar School not having enough places. It was one of those fate, meant to be things as I had some of the best times of my life there, it was like a little family. All the staff and pupils were friendly and fun, everything a school should be and as the class sizes were kept small and 1 class per year you really got the one to one tuition you needed, you were actually a person and not just a number or a grade! Anyway, it was Tower’s old pupils vs teachers sports day and us girls played a whole afternoon of King of the court on the tennis courts followed by pizza and prosecco!
On Saturday we headed to One World in Torquay for breakfast, I’ve become a big fan of the classic full English and One World do an amazing one! The cafe is tucked away in the corner of Abbey Gardens on Torquay seafront and has kind of a Moroccan theme with inside and outside seating. It’s pet friendly too so quite the social spot for doggy lovers, they’ve even got a fluffy resident of their own, a little robin who my Mum has named Scruff. Scruff certainly lives up to his name, he’s a little bit mental we think, he’s got a funny little bald head with random spiky feathers sticking out. He’s super friendly though, so friendly that I actually managed to feed him out of my hand! Today I wore my new maxi dress from Dancing Leopard at Silk Fred, just £48.50
We then went for another great afternoon tea over the other side of the bay at the Osbourne Hotel, this is one of my favourite views in the bay overlooking the pool, tennis courts and Meadfoot beach, in fact the whole outside terrace is such a suntrap it always feels warm!
I’d organised a little catch up with my friend Tara who is a fellow Torquinian but now lives in London. She picked me up in a cab from the Osbourne and we went for drinks at Las Iguanas on the seafront, and as luck would have it, it happened to be happy hour! Score! So as we were chatting over our 4th round of pina coladas I was telling her all about the Miss England semi finals and my eco outfit ideas. Tara revealed an amazing fact, she is involved in an ethical fashion brand called Get Clobbered with her friend Jane Molloy and I had absolutely no idea!! Get Clobbered ethically hand make couture accessories in Devon and have been featured in fashion’s elite magazines. Tara very kindly offered to lend me a piece for the semi finals which I’m absolutely blown away by! It’s so lovely to have their support and I can’t wear to share the design! Check out their stuff http://www.getclobbered.co.uk/
I can’t believe how quickly the weekend has flown by, mind you I guess that’s why they call it a long weekend! We celebrated with dinner on our last night at The Imperial Hotel which actually hosted the Miss England finalists back in 2014. With it’s spectacular views over the whole bay it’s the perfect place to watch the sun go down with a glass of wine and a naughty pizza! I wore my new jumpsuit from Missguided that I actually took fashion inspiration from Syria at the Miss London finals, plus it’s a bargain at £28! One of the staff at the Imperial is a great fiend of ours called Matt who I actually interviewed on my Wandsworth Radio show before Christmas, Matt was once Mr Torbay and if you head to the bar in the hotel you can often hear his own CD playing!
On Monday we were heading back to London, but not before having a quick visit to Hoopers department store and Damson boutique on the strand. I was looking for an outfit for the polo but as per usual came out with something completely different that I didn’t even go in for! I bought this beautiful outfit from Damson boutique, floral print trousers and a matching pink bardot top, the colour and style is so in at the moment so I was super pleased, definitely check out the store!
We quickly stopped off in Exeter again to go to The Real Mccoy, The Vintage Trading Company and the The Vintage Store which as you’ve probably guessed all sell vintage clothing and accessories, we were looking for 1920s shoes to complete my eco outfit. We stopped off for lunch at Frankie and Bennys for, yes you’ve guessed it, another pizza and pina colada! The staff were all dressed up as super heroes to support their dedicated charity of 2016 which is Rays of Sunshine. This was soooo great to see as I interviewed a lovely girl called Caitlyn who was supported by the charity and has set up her own campaign #kisses4wishes get involved by putting a picture of you pouting / blowing a kiss on socil media with the hashtag #kisses4wishes. Also get down to any Frankie and Bennys and ask about their special offers as they had a deal on when we went that if you donated £5 you got a discount on your next visit!
If you’d like to support me in the Miss England semi finals I would be massively grateful, forever of course! You can text ‘MISS SEMIFINAL03’ to 63333 to vote for me, texts cost 50p. Thank you so much!
Wish me luck and make sure to look out for updates over the weekend and follow my journey on social media https://twitter.com/lexiecarducci https://www.instagram.com/lexiecarducci/ Snapchat: lexiecrispin
Lexie
xxx