Wednesday Walks | Doctor Who Experience

March 25, 2015March 25, 2015 / Sam Siddique / Leave a comment

Being a nerd, I quite like a bit of Doctor Who – so, obviously I needed to visit the famed Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Bay. The building is in Porth Teigr, not far from the BBC Studios where filming for Doctor Who takes place. Though it’s not exactly the cheapest, the general admission ticket allows you to enjoy the Interactive Experience as well as a wander around the Exhibition Hall. When I went, the interactive part starred the Eleventh Doctor (AKA Matt Smith) but since then they seemed to have updated it with the Twelfth (Peter Capaldi). The Interactive Experience is made for the little ones, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t poo myself when it came to Weeping Angels section. It was dark and had the odd flash of light to illuminate the Weeping Angels as you walked passed – to make it look as though they were moving every time you blinked. Nope. Nope. NOPE. (I’m a bit of a scaredy cat, could you tell?)

I would definitely class the Doctor Who Experience as a museum visit, due to the extensive amount of props, costumes and sets, almost all which have been used during the filming of various episodes across a 50 year span – which is AWESOME. Now we weren’t allowed to take photos or film the Interactive bit, but we did have free reign in the Exhibition Hall to take as many photos as we wanted. I won’t be sharing ALL the photos I took (mainly because there are too many), but because it would take away from personally experiencing it for yourself – so I have included just a few of my favourites.

Wednesday Walks | Doctor Who Experience | Eleventh Doctor Tardis

Needed a picture with Tennant’s Tardis of course

I really enjoyed my time at the Doctor Who Experience, and think it’s a great place to check out if you haven’t already – especially if your children enjoy watching Doctor Who! I’ll definitely be going back again and hopefully get a chance to do The TARDIS Tour and the Walking Tour.

You can check out my previous posts when I visited the National Museum Cardiff for a bit of a natural history fix and also when I checked out the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester.

Thank you for reading this post, and please do give it a like if you have enjoyed it (and give the blog a follow using the links if you haven’t already!). Let me know if you have visited the Doctor Who Experience before, and if so, what did you think? Leave me a comment below 🙂

Until next time! x

Wednesday Walks | Museum of Science & Industry Manchester

March 18, 2015March 18, 2015 / Sam Siddique / 3 Comments

If you didn’t know already, I love museums. I love strolling through them and immersing myself in history, culture and art – always makes me feel like I’m learning something new about the world all the time.

Today’s post features my visit to the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester, on what was a very cold, wet and windy day. Horrific. Unfortunately this was not helped by the fact that the Museum itself is split up into four separate buildings (all of which are very large warehouse type buildings, meaning there isn’t a lot of heat!) and that I have terrible circulation.

Nevertheless, I got to see some awesome stuff, some of which I took some very rubbish pictures of! (Not totally my fault – it was just a very dimly lit museum!)

This very delicate garment is made entirely out of dandelion seeds – how cool is that!?

I know it’s a turbine, but I just imagined that it was a very large seashell

Aside from the terrible weather, I had a good little browse. I think it’s a great sort of place for a family day out as it’s right in the middle of Spinningfields – so afterwards there are plenty of places to grab a bite to eat or do a little bit of shopping. I’ll be sure to check it out again…maybe when the weather warms up a bit and stops raining!

Don’t forget to check out how I spent my lunch break last week at The National Museum Cardiff.

If you have enjoyed this post, please do give it a like (and give the blog a follow too using the buttons if you already haven’t!) And comment below if you have been to the Museum of Science & Industry before, and if so, what did you think?

Until next time! x

Wednesday Walks | National Museum Cardiff

March 11, 2015March 8, 2015 / Sam Siddique / 3 Comments

If you read Stylist, you may have heard about the #ReclaimYourLunchBreak campaign, aimed to get people out of the office and away from their desks for an hour in order to create a better work-life balance. This is such a great campaign, as so many people will work through lunch with a sad little sandwich to see them through, often leaving them tired and low. In support of this campaign, I decided to go out and get a little bit of fresh air and wandered down to the National Museum for a bit.

I absolutely adore going to museums, I love to walk around and immerse myself in the history of our world and learn things I never knew before, so this was always going to be a good idea! Aside from the day being as gloomy as it could possibly be, I went along to see what I could nose at for an hour.

It was actually really nice to be able to stretch my legs and have a walk around, even if it was only an hour long, but I definitely felt that I had a bit more energy and focus for the rest of the day, and I saw some pretty cool things too!

Are you one to chain yourself to your desk and work straight through your lunch hour, or do you relish an opportunity to escape when you can? Don’t forget to like this post if you have enjoyed reading (and give me a follow too using the links!) and comment below if you have any lunch break escape ideas 🙂

Until next time! x

Exploring Britain | Wales: Ogmore-by-Sea

October 18, 2014October 18, 2014 / Sam Siddique / Leave a comment

If you live in South Wales, then chances are you have been to Ogmore-by-Sea at least once. I used to come here with my family when I was a little girl, and my siblings and I would have hours of fun playing in the little rock pools and building sandcastles. Ogmore-by-Sea is a wonderful place to explore, and as you can see, I had quite a bit of fun fiddling around with the settings on the DSLR to try and capture some of the dramatic scenery that day. As beaches and sea fronts tend to go, it was a little more chilly than it was in Cardiff, even in summer, so make sure to wear an extra layer or two! If you have never been to Ogmore before, there are quite a few craggy rocks about before you reach the sand so sensible footwear is also a good idea (and not flip flops like I was wearing!).

If you couldn’t already tell, it was a VERY windy day at Ogmore.

Although the pictures I took that day concentrate on the beach, there are actually quite a few different activities you could do in the area such as trails and walks, pony trekking (check out Ride on the Beach) and if you’re brave enough – swimming! There are also two castles in the area to explore, Ogmore Castle and Candleston Castle. There are also a few places to eat, namely a lovely little country pub called The Pelican in her Piety which offers up hearty home cooked food – just what you need after a long day exploring. However, nothing beats watching the sun slowly sinking in the horizon whilst you’re wrapped up in warm layers a few blankets and a little picnic. A great day out for all the family (and the dogs!).

More information can be found on the following websites:

Have you ever been to Ogmore-by-Sea? What are your favourite beaches/sea fronts that you like to visit around Britain and why? Do let me know in the comments below 🙂

Until next time! x

Fresh New Look

August 20, 2014August 24, 2014 / Sam Siddique / Leave a comment

If you haven’t already noticed, my blog has undergone a slight change.

Firstly, I have a new domain name – I did think about using a creative and/or obscure title (I did title my blog as ‘The Toasted Brunette’ for a little while) but in the end I stuck with using my name… well, a shortened version of my name anyway! Let’s face it, ‘Samaiyyah Siddique’ is a tad too long and I only have but 25 years of experience of just about everyone getting the spelling wrong.

Secondly, I have moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress. No offence to Blogger, I think it’s a great tool for beginners to use and plenty of well known bloggers still use it but personally I feel that WordPress offers me more. My blog now has a clean, fresh look to it which will hopefully allow my writing and photos to take centre stage.

Thirdly, you may have spotted the sub-title now reads ‘Lifestyle | Food | Travel’. For a while now, I have wanted to expand the contents of my blog as I seem to have been concentrating on the ‘Lifestyle’ genre more than I originally intended to.

I absolutely love to cook, especially if it’s baking. I will be hoping to do more posts about the things I cook and bake (including any kitchen mishaps) along with the recipes and method I use so you can also give it a go!

In case you are wondering, the cake below was a 4 tiered spiced apple birthday cake I made – it smelled like Christmas ❤

Another passion of mine will be to start blogging about the places I have travelled to in a little series called ‘Exploring Britain’ which I aim to start soon as I have been to some wonderfully lovely places this year right here on my doorstep. It will be nice to share that with you all as people often tend to overlook the things nearest to them.

Now that I’m feeling more confident about how my new blog looks and feels, I am looking forward to churning out a lot more posts!

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