Tuesday Tales #2 - Leicester

Hi guys! If you haven't read the first in my new Tuesday Tales series, click HERE to read all about my kitty cat Clementine's story. Today I just thought it would be nice to share with you my recent visit to Leicester with the boyfriend (Neil).

Both Neil & I went to the University of Leicester, although we weren't an item at the time. I'm planning a whole post dedicated to our history/how we got together so I won't go into it now! We like to go back every year to have a nice weekend in the city we both love, and this year we popped back over the first May bank holiday.

We stayed in an apartment this time, instead of just a hotel. Although it was great to have a whole flat to ourselves (and our balcony was pretty awesome) the place we stayed was not very good quality at all and a little disappointing. For example, the bed was so hard and actually just a futon mattress. My back still hurts from sleeping in it!

This is the view of the River Soar from our balcony. We were really lucky to have such absolutely gorgeous weather over the weekend, it was beautiful and perfect with the exception of about 30 minutes of rain. 

You may have heard that the remains of Richard III were recently discovered by archaeologists from the University of Leicester, and he's a character that has always had a strong link with the city. Here's a statue of him in a park close by to where we stayed. I do love learning about the history of England's monarchs, and Richie the third is my all time favourite! 

This is Leicester cathedral, shortly before it started raining! We arrived at our accommodation late on the Friday night, which left us two full days before heading back home on Monday afternoon. We dedicated Saturday to shopping, and we shopped until we dropped! There are some really good places to shop in Leicester, and a lot of individual boutiques which are fantastic for finding a few bargains that everyone won't be wearing in London.

What a stunning sky! This is the view from our balcony again but at the end of our first day. I picked up a few bits and pieces on our shopping trip (but no beauty items, so staying faithful to my spending ban) that I will be sharing with you in a haul post soon.

On the second day we decided to make the most of the stunning blue skies and sunshine and potter off down the river and have a walk by the canal. This isn't something I did as a student because the canal is at the opposite side of town to the University (although it is right by De Montfort University - our rivals, boo hiss!) It's such a pretty walk and if you keep going for just under half an hour you'll find yourself, as we did, in Abbey Park.

Here's a pretty shot of some of the ruins at Abbey Park - it's a glorious wide open space which is also home to the ruins of Leicester Abbey and its surrounds. On the day we visited it was full of families enjoying the weather, and also ducks and swans! Here's the Abbey:

Leicester is a really underrated city - before I visited the University for an Open Day I hadn't really given it a second thought, but I fell in love with the city then and it's continued ever since! It's quite a small city, especially for a gal like me coming from Leeds, but as a student that's nice because you get to know it well from an early stage. Plus it's an hour by train from London!

As a student I stayed in Oadby (a gorgeous little village-y place) in student halls in my first year, and my halls were a converted period mansion-type house that were absolutely stunning. In my second year I rented a little period terrace house with three of my friends in Clarendon Park, which was a wonderful place to live and less than 10 minutes walk to Uni through Victoria Park. In my final year I stayed in modern halls close to the University which I didn't enjoy but were in a great spot for getting to University and into the city.

(Leicester University - source)

If you haven't been to Leicester before, I strongly recommend popping by for the weekend. There is so much to do! The shopping is brilliant but there are also lots of fun attractions like the National Space Museum and Twycross Zoo nearby. Leicester is blessed with beautiful old buildings and lots of wide open green spaces, like the Botanical Gardens in Oadby or Brockwell Park which is a short drive away. If you're considering Universities right now, why not have a look at the University of Leicester? I loved my time as a student there studying Law and my education was top notch. Reading this back I realise I sound a bit like a 'Visit Leicester' advert but I really do love the place!

xx

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