London diary: Exploring countryside.

Part of United Kingdom that should be in your bucket list.

I've always loved exploring the big cities but the real experiences of culture and best memories are usually made in the areas you'd least expect it from.  You always want to make sure you split up your trip in a half and explore all the "tourist attractions" and the "unknown" and I don't mean just exploring the areas down the street. We've decided to venture out of London this time and take a little road trip to what I'd call suburbs to a city called Taplow. When looking up the area there was one place that kept popping up all over Pinterest and google - Cliveden House. At first I thought it was a museum or a place you could only come and see, however I shortly realized it was a hotel and staying there for a few nights was instantly added to our itinerary!

How to get there:

Usually I'd recommend renting a car to get a full experience and be able to make stops as you go however the fact that driver's seat is on the right instead of left and they drive on a different side of the road - Uber is the way to go!

Clividen is about 1.30 - 2 hrs away depending on traffic and weather.

What to expect:

It is not your typical countryside, while the hotel comes with lots of history and has been around for hundreds of years the rooms are updated! They offer two restaurants, tea time in the main area and a bar area for drinks. 

For the rooms they have a large variety such as a cottage (literally a house for yourself! if you're going with a big group and want to splurge I highly recommend checking it out!), regular rooms and suites. A fun touch that I thought was pretty cool is that the hotel rooms do not have numbers, they are named and also have your name on the door to make your experience that much more personal. 

What to experience: 

Some of the activities I highly recommend is the champagne boat ride on the river, laying out by the pool which I took quite a few pictures by (see below) and tea time because duh. you're in England!

Tips: 

• Uber > car. It's not a vacation if you're going to be stressed out about driving and worrying not to break any rules.
• Experience luxury & local. We stayed at airbnb for the first half of the trip and the second at the countryside at this luxurious hotel that I thought was absolutely worth sharing about on here! 
• BYOS aka bring your own snacks! I'm a big "snacker" when it comes to traveling, I tend to only eat two full meals every day and snack throughout the day as I go. We couldn't find a grocery store on the way to the hotel and had no snacks besides what hotel offered. I highly recommend you make a stop at a gas station or a store and pick some things to eat while there!

Hopefully this post will inspire you to get out of your comfort zone and explore parts you'd never usually consider visiting! You can easily find some hidden gems or towns of different countries by just picking random towns from the map of a country you plan on going to and googling what it offers!

xx, Sky