Monday Money #10 Royal Academy of Art and Charlton Hall Spa

Monday Money

I decided to take things a bit easier last week. Rather than killing myself with a manic schedule. I was on wind-down in preparation for three days mini-break. A spa weekend away, a holiday combined with Mrs Mummypenny work (but not really that hard work!)

Monday in London

I started the week with a day in London. I have been blessed with some time with a business guide for a few months. Andrew is helping me out with all sorts and acting as a manager/agent/strategist/negotiator rolled into one. We talked strategy for five hours. It was amazing to go right back to basics and really look at why I created Mrs Mummypenny and what I want to be doing going forward. I now have a very clear strategy, along with a stop, start, continue list.

Walking around London is my favourite transport, as walking from Covent Garden to New Bond St, I passed the Royal Academy of Art. I had a spare hour before my next meeting so rather than go shopping I went to the art gallery instead. On the previous Saturday I had watched a BBC 2 program with Kirsty Walk and Grayson Perrie and had adored it, so walking past was a sign that I had to go in. It was £16 for the ticket, which felt steep, but I went for it. I adored it, really adored it and wondered admiring the beautiful (often bizarre art). If anything struck me I took a picture.

And yes, I bought some art. A limited edition 1/125 signed screen print by Dario Illari from Jealous Gallery & Print Studio. It was £125. Not a bad price for a piece of art and I saw it and loved it on sight. Had to be bought. I was very glad it was a limited edition, not juts a one off. Most of the paintings had been sold.

A day in London of course meant I spent a small fortune, adding up the train, food, ticket to art, deposit on print, RAA shop purchases for boys (tattoos!) and drinks in the evening, I spent £148. Shock horror, £73 of that just at the Royal Academy of Art. I am sure I would have spent more if I had gone to Selfridges instead.

Dinner with friends

A cautionary tale of the expense of eating in a restaurant with a view. I was out on Tuesday night with my best university friends. We meet up every couple of months and this time we chose Searcy’s at the top of the gherkin for the views and we had hoped the food. We booked a deal which was £40 per person, three courses and a glass of prosecco.

However, the food was average at best. Cheap ingredients turned into small dishes. My dessert, cheese board, was a slab of brie with 2 VERY thin slices of apple. One was not impressed. We drank three bottles of wine, we had to go for £45 bottle of wine as it was expensive and the house wine, just wasn’t very nice. The bill was high, around £88 each. This felt extortionate, given the service (slow) and the food wasn’t that wonderful. I asked for the service charge to be removed, this did not go down well, but you have every right to do this!! We paid £78 each.

We then went to a bar and lost track of time, when we checked the train times I realised that Thameslink can cancelled all my trains from 12 midnight onwards, so the 12:30 and 1:30 trains both cancelled. The only solution was an Uber home, another £50 spent, but I will claim that and the train ticket price back from Thameslink.

Flowers

I love flowers, I really love flowers. In fact, I did a little mindfulness thing with Dylan where we had to list our 20 favourite things and then repeat back to each other. I included flowers in my top 20 things.

I met a new company at the mindful living show called Freddie’s flowers who send out flowers as often as you want them. It’s £22 for a bouquet and you get what they choose every week, as in exactly what is in season. Here is the bouquet I received this week. If it lasts for a few weeks, then it is great value for money. I will report back.

If you want to try it out for free use this code, both you and I will receive a free bouquet!

Friday in Bristol

I spent Friday in Bristol and met a friend from EE for a coffee, whom I haven’t seen since had left. It was so great to catch up! We chose a random café in Brislington, called grounded. It was lovely, and I can confirm the flat white and carrot cake is very good. In the afternoon I met Becky at her house and we spent the afternoon in the garden with Aimee, her daughter.




Friday did end up being a highish spending day as I needed petrol £35, I bought two plants, one for Becky and one for me. Plus, prosecco for Friday night. £62 spent in all.

Saturday morning in Glastonbury

Oh my gosh why have I never visited Glastonbury? Becky and I had a spa weekend booked and our arrival time was 1pm, so we took advantage of leaving Aimee in daddy day care early and drove to Galsto. Becky knew I would love this town. We browsed spiritual shops and wondered at Crystals. I resisted buying the whole town but did get some new bracelets (Black tourmaline and amethyst). I also got some angel cards and some VERY cute black cats in the hear no evils, speak no evil and see no evil positions. My favourite emoji is see no evil monkey😉

We grabbed the MOST amazing vegan lunch at Excalibur’s café. I had mushrooms on humus coated rye bread and then we drove for 15 minutes over to Shepton Mallet to Charlton House Spa.

24 hours at a Spa

This spa break was work. A review for Buy-A-Gift. I know, not a hardship and the actual work I did whilst there was lot of pictures, Instastories and a Facebook Live, oh and an IGTV video!

It was the most amazing 24 hours possible, full post coming soon, but it includes food (A LOT), treatments, saunas, steam room, hydrotherapy, sun worshipping, gym session, reading, talking (for hours and hours on end).

The spa break was gifted but it normally costs £249 for 2 people from Buy-A-Gift, which I think is incredible value for everything we had. The food alone would have cost £150! So good.

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Monday Money – The Rules