Corleone Cafe - Leamington Spa

Our trip to Wolverhampton to see The Specials had been part of Clare's birthday celebrations.  Having arrived back in Birmingham early on Thursday morning we decided to go to Leamington so Clare could spend some of her birthday money.

As the afternoon pressed on we decided we would need to eat and so went to the Corleone Cafe.  Clare had wanted to try this place but it is always really busy and being small it is hard to find a seat. On a Thursday afternoon, despite it still being busy, we managed to get a table upstairs.

Sitting in a booth next to an open window looking down onto the street it was lovely.  The rustic furniture, dog eared menus really do show off shabby chic at it's best.  The food is standard fayre.  Paninis, baguettes etc but it is served in a bowl with a mock newspaper advertising the cafe and showing stories of various gangsters.

The walls have pictures taken from The Godfather and Soprano's and some covers of Italian magazines.  Despite the cliches the place is really cosy.  The food was lovely and the atmosphere really nice.  I also liked the fact that my olives were served in a cup and saucer.  This place could be my new favourite place to eat in Leamington!

It was a nice day in all. Clare bought some new clothes and I picked up a couple of CDs.  We also got chatting to the owners of Doll's Domain toy shop next to Royal Priors Shopping Centre.  They were lovely and far more helpful than the staff in Avon Toys around the corner! Clare bought a jigsaw (from their huge collection) as well as a traditional bingo game for our next get together.

We spent more time shopping than anticipated but all in all a good day out and a nice way to round of a fantastic couple of days!

Leamington Peace Festival

Leamington Spa's Peace Festival has been running for the last 32 years.  It's free and has plenty of stalls and two stages for live music.  It is spread over two days and on Saturday Clare and I happened upon it by chance.

Saturday, we had planned on a day of shopping and milling about but when we arrived we came across the festival setting up in The Pump Room Gardens. 

We wandered around the shops and picked up some bits n pieces. I managed to buy the Franz Ferdinand Covers vinyl that I didn't get on Record Store Day and we stopped off at Delicious by FT for a bite to eat.  The food was fine but the homemade lemonade not only looked fantastic but tasted great as well.  If only the weather justified such a lovely drink!

Having finished the shopping we headed to the festival (by passing the record fayre).  We wandered around the stalls looking for stuff that might come handy at End Of The Road, whilst keeping an eye on the main  stage. 

The band playing were called The Powderblue Band who were pretty good.  We also caught some of TenSheds on the bandstand. Another good band. 

Other acts throughout the weekend included Rory McLeod and Attila The Stock Broker.  Guest speakers and workshops are also on offer.  The strangest thing I saw other than the Hunt Saboteur Stand was Gong Massage.  You lean with your back against the gong and some one plays it up and down your back for ten minutes! Very relaxing apparently.  Having toyed with and then dismissed buying a poncho we left. I still can't believe I'd not heard of it before but we will be going back next year.

You can find their website below along with Tensheds and The Powderblue Band's sites.

http://www.peacefestival.org.uk/

http://www.thepowderblueband.co.uk/

http://www.tensheds.com/

Sunday and we headed to Blakesley Hall for their Falconry Day.  It was quite busy and we arrived after the first display had started so we opted for the cafe instead.  Eventually we wandered over to catch the end of the display.  We arrived as the crowd was being introduced to Scratchy a hybrid Falcoln (part Gyr part Sekar),  The plan was that Scratchy would fly off and catch his food (attached to a lure) in the air.  As it happened and soon as Scratchy was airborne he was attacked by three gulls and a crow and so flew off behind the house and just kept going!  No amount of calling or whistling could get him back! Luckily he had a radio tag on so his handler could track him for up to 5 miles.  It wasn't long before the signal disappeared altogether. 

The shows continued and we were introduced to an Eagle, Perrigrine hybrid, a couple of owls and a Kestrel but I kept wondering about Scratchy.  We went home not knowing if he had been lost forever. 

Clare mailed the Falconry Centre the following day and apparently Scratchy had been found at 7pm the same evening 2 miles away. All's well that ends well.

The birds came from The Falconry Centre in Hagley.  When we get the chance we are going to visit properly and if possible do one of their handling experience days.

http://www.thefalconrycentre.co.uk/

How Time Flies!

Blimey, over a week since my last post!  I'd like to say I've been really busy but the truth is I just haven't got around to posting anything.

After a relatively quiet week the weekend was upon me once more and Friday afternoon I headed over to Kings Heath to celebrate a friend's daughter's first birthday. 

Rather than a traditional party she had decided to have it at All Fired Arts in Kings Heath. This is a fantastic place!  The idea is that you can go and design your own ceramics.  You buy the pottery and paint the design. When you are happy with it the shop will keep hold of it and fire it for you.  You then go back and collect the finished project about a week later.  Parties are catered for and while some people create at the front of the shop the rest can sit around in the back room.  You can take your own food and from what I can gather music is provided courtesy of Spotify.  The staff are  friendly and really good with the babies that were having their hand and footprints plastered over the ceramics.  It's a great place and if you feel the creative urge coming on you should head on down.

http://www.allfiredarts.co.uk/index.php

Afterwards we headed to the park so the kids could play on the swings.  All in all it was a lovely afternoon.

Record Store Day.  Saturday saw an early start as we caught the 8.05 train from Solihull to Leamington.  Clare had shopping to do and was then heading back to Birmingham to go to the theatre. My plan was to buy records as part of Record Store Day and head home to listen to them whilst I had the house to myself.  Head Records was my shop of choice.

With over a hundred titles to choose from, many of them limited to small quantities, I decided not to have anything in particular in mind, although I quite fancied the Tallulah Gosh 7".  Unfortunately they didn't stock it but I still came away with a few good records including stuff by Deerhoof / Xiu Xiu, Toots & The Maytals, KORT, Clinic and Edwyn Collins & The Drums amongst others.  The record shop also threw in a couple of CD samplers as well including Terminal Sales Volume 4 (a Sub Pop compilation).

After breakfast we did a bit of shopping (where I picked up a Gorky's Zygotic Mynci single and a Tapes n Tapes album from a charity shop).

I left Clare on the train to go to the theatre whilst I headed home to spend an afternoon with my vinyl, cds and mp3s.

Speaking of mp3s, over at North Country Bhoy blogspot you can download Toots & The Maytals Live At Jamaica World Music Festival circa. 1982. Get it here. 

Bargain Hunt

Clare had some shopping to do yesterday and so we headed to Leamington.  It turns out it was my day to get a bargain.

Having caught the train before I'd had a chance to have breakfast, first stop was The Cafe Regent.  Having had my 3rd veggie breakfast in a week and a couple of cups of coffee I was ready to face the shops.  If we are in Leamington we often use this place as it's cheap and cheerful and the staff are friendly enough.

Having wandered around for a bit we ended up at Head Records.  CD Albums at 99p were buy one get one free. An offer I couldn't refuse.

Afterwards we hit the shops again before heading to the Sozzled Sausage for a drink and a snack.  Again this is a regular place for Clare and I and, like the cafe, is cheap and cheerful with a friendly welcome. 

More shopping then home.  My stash for the day was 8 x CDs, 4 x 7" singles and 3 x books.  Total spent - £13.50. 

Oh one last thing, on the way back to the train station we passed The Pump Room Tea Rooms. The sign in the window made me laugh.

Warwick and Leamington

Shopping in Leamington today with lunch at Gusto Ricco, a small Italian cafe.  I hadn't been there before. I was impressed by how many tables they crammed in.  Every available space utilised.  I had a toasted mozzarella and tomato panini.  Nice, but nothing special.

Prior to Leamington we stopped off at Warwick.  Having scoured the antique and charity shops we headed for the market to find that it had been replaced by a fun fair!  It was the we decided to jump back on the train to Leamington. 

As we headed back to the train station we stopped off at The Golden Monkey Tea Company shop on Smith Street.  I've walked past it before but never popped in.  It's a great little shop selling teas and tea paraphernalia (reasonable prices as well). I ended up with a small tea infuser and some chocolate. Zotter Labooko, two bars wrapped together. One a 90% cocoa bar and the other a 100% cocoa bar, for purists only apparently!

The Golden Monkey is holding a chocolate tasting evening on November 2nd.  Check out their website here.