The Buxted Inn - a review by Bex

It's a while since I've published a restaurant review (I don't think I've done one since moving down and having the twins) and I feel I should probably apologise for the excessive twin pictures included but they're just too cute to leave out of the experience.  Although I am of course biased ;)

I've been to The Buxted Inn to eat once before, on Father's day last year with Nik's parents.  This year, they've had a total refurb and we headed back for a Sunday roast with my parents the week before Easter.  It was the BEST meal I've had in a long time! Everything is home made and the staff are welcoming and friendly.  They're also very knowledgeable about the menu which makes such a difference.

We had come prepared with snacks for the twins while we ordered and waited for the food and Kalyan was fascinated with his real cutlery.

While Priya shared her carrot with Daddy.

We all opted for the roast, we got the kid's portion of roast chicken (£7 including a scoop of ice cream and a drink) for the twins, Mum, Dad and Nik chose the beef (£13) and I couldn't decide between the pork (because I love crackling so much!) or beef.  Once I ascertained that the mixed roast (£12) came with some crackling, I went for this option - best of all 3 worlds!

The food arrived pretty quickly, it was piping hot and looked great.  I was thrilled to receive a nice chunky piece of beef, a wee piece of crackling and good sized portions of all three meats.  The Yorkshire puddings looked amazing and I had 3 huge crispy roast potatoes as well as a piece of stuffing with some apple sauce.  Our veg soon followed, I forgot to take a picture of these but there was a good selection with red cabbage, caraway carrots, courgette, broccoli and parsnip.  Unfortunately, the quantity of veg was lacking.  We were asked if we needed any more veg or gravy and I requested some more broccoli but wish I'd asked for some more of other veg too.  I didn't get a bit of parsnip as there were just 4 pieces between the 6 of us despite ordering 5 meals, Kalyan ate most of the red cabbage and Priya almost all of the carrots!  We should have just asked for more as I'm sure they would have brought some.

The roast itself was delicious and very satisfying, although still left us with room for pudding.  The beef was pink, the chicken was juicy and tender and the pork very tasty.  The Yorkshire puds didn't disappoint, they were the perfect combination of crispy and stodgy and nice and big too!  We also had some nice strong horseradish to go with it all and an extra jug of yummy gravy.  I like that they ask if you'd like more gravy, despite there being a good puddle on the plate, as there's nothing worse than just a trickle of gravy on a roast.  We all really enjoyed it, especially Priya!

I have to say though, pudding was the best bit!  I opted for a proper treat and ordered the Oreo, salted caramel & chocolate chip cheesecake.  Oh.  My.  God.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  It was amazing!  It wasn't too sweet, was nice and light and absolutely delicious!  The caramel was drizzled through the filling with a couple of chewy chunky bits and a good few dark chocolate chips and the Oreos made up the base.  Nik also had the same, despite not usually being a fan of cheesecake and he loved it too.  

Dad had the lemon meringue which arrived de-constructed and looked lovely and judging by the appreciative noises he was making, it tasted as good as it looked!

Mum (and a cheeky Kalyan) enjoyed the rhubarb & ginger sponge with rhubarb & vanilla jam and sauce anglaise.  All of the puddings were £6.00 each.

Priya loved her strawberry ice cream too and made a good effort at scooping it herself.  (We usually still had to load the spoon for them at this point, but they've mastered it now!)

When she'd finished it, she was soon checking if there was anything else left for her to sample and enjoyed my berries!  (My cheesecake was long gone!)

We finished with coffees and teas while Priya played with the Jenga bricks and Kalyan snuggled with Granny.  My latte was too strong for my liking, despite being very pretty, so I didn't drink mine but I thoroughly enjoyed my glass of Malbec with dinner!

As for the Inn itself, the refurbishment has made a big difference, it seems much brighter and more spacious than I remember from last year.  The chairs are very comfortable and the twins' high chairs were a very funky, practical design.  They still don't have baby changing facilities in the bar or restaurant so they let us use a room upstairs when we had to change the twins which makes a nice change from balancing things on a pull down table in a toilet.  (And the rooms are lovely too, I'd definitely recommend it as a place to stay.)

Another nice touch is that they grow their own herbs and vegetables by the car park out the back in raised beds, which Kalyan and I had a wander around before the food arrived.  We love that there's a really well run Inn near us which serves great food and drinks (they serve Harvey's, our local beer which Dad and Nik love) and has a really good ethos with home grown and home made food as well as friendly staff.  Not to mention, it's within walking distance of our home!  We'll definitely be going back more often, in fact, I've already got another girl's night booked there, this time with dinner.  (I was there recently for a few drinks with new friends.)  I'm definitely going to indulge in that cheesecake again!

Olive Dragonfly Rating - The Buxted Inn

Food & Drink - 9/10 

Atmosphere - 8/10

Service - 9/10

Overall - 9/10

Pelli Anni Tea Set from Scandinavian Design Center - recommendation by Bex

I often think of things and businesses I'd love to recommend but rarely get round to writing about them these days!  Recently though I bought this gorgeous little tin tea set for the twins and received excellent customer service from Scandinavian Design Center.  They are based in Sweden so shipping is £5 but if you sign up to their newsletter you get a £5 discount!

I've been searching for a cute little tea set for a while but couldn't find one I liked.  So many of them are plastic and/or excessively girly.  A lot of the wooden ones are very expensive and a bit dull.  This metal tea set from Pelli Anni, however, is super cute, colourful and unisex.  Designed by Karin Mannerstål, it was on the more expensive side at £26 but for a good quality, metal, beautifully designed product I was happy to pay a bit more.  I absolutely love the design with the funky animals and bright colours.  It's technically not recommended for under 3s but I'm happy for them to play with it while I'm supervising.

When it arrived I was so excited but when I unpacked it, I noticed the teapot lid handle was sitting squint.  When I looked closer it was due to a dent in the lid so I contacted the company asking for a replacement or partial refund.  I knew it would most likely get a few bashes from the twins anyway but wasn't happy having paid full price for a new product which was damaged.  I was hoping for the second option as I didn't want to have to worry about packing it all up again to return it and wait a long time again for them to receive it back in Sweden and then dispatch another (shipping didn't actually take very long, only around 5 days but I'm rather impatient when I get excited)!

Luckily they responded as I hoped and offered me a discount due to the damage which I happily accepted.  I'm so excited I can finally let them play with it :)

If you're on the hunt for something similar, I highly recommend it.  I also spotted this animal tin tea set by another Swedish designer for £25 on The Kid Who where you can get 10% off your first order by signing up to their email list.  I prefer our tea set but I do love these animal tins by Ingela Arrhenius.

Update:  We had a great time playing with our new tea set in the sunshine!

Reflections - Easter fun by Bex

Over the Easter weekend we also went to visit Dadaji & Ma so the twins had a lot of fun with all of their grandparents at once!  I also had a lot of fun taking more photos and discovered that their kitchen table is very reflective with the right light and angle.  I love these photos :)

Kalyan was in a great mood, all the smiles which is quite rare before he's eaten in the morning.  And when the porridge arrived he was even more delighted.

And of course, Priya was hungry too and as usual took advantage of having a twin - extras!  Why have one spoon when you can have two?!

 

They were both giving me all the smiles and suddenly K turned to Daddy and gave him this look, hilarious!

P.S.  Priya's chosen title for this post:

++++++++++++55.........................6+

Easter Egg Hunt - Weekend fun by Bex

We had a brilliant time at an Easter egg hunt organised by a friend of ours in her garden for a few local toddlers :)

It was a lovely sunny afternoon and everyone had a blast, especially when it was time for the hunt!  Of course, I also dressed Priya in her super cute bunny gilet from H&M and Granny had bought them some little Lindt bunnies which came with ears too.

What do you mean there's no more chocolate??

I hope the rest of our Easter weekend is as fun!  Fingers crossed for more sunshine (although we're expecting rain) and I hope you have a good one too :)

December - Twin Update by Bex

A few favourites from December, I'm still catching up on quite a few photos I've taken in the last few months.  These are some of my favourites :)  I can definitely confirm that it's easier (for me at least) with twins once they are over 1, just as many twin mums told me it would be.  Phew!  And yay for fun times and getting out more, both with and without them!  I have many many more non-baby related things going on which I can't wait to write about, I've just been too busy doing them all to actually blog!