Cumbria Bloggers Meet| Part 2 at I Love Cafe

On Sunday I visited Carlisle to see family and friends and to catch up with my little blogging family; Cumbria Bloggers (We even have our own hashtag #cumbriablogger). You may have seen my previous post on the first meetup that we had a few months ago, you will remember how incredibly nervous I was about meeting bloggers in real life, well thankfully my fear has dwindled and has been replaced by enthusiasm and excitement. Our Cumbria Bloggers family has grown from 7 members to 24 in a few short months, who knew there was so many of us!

On Sunday we arranged to meet up, have tea and chat at I Love Cafe in the courtyard behind Mcdonalds in Carlisle. The cafe is incredibly tiny and cute, but very welcoming and homely thanks to the gorgeous Sophie who opened up especially for us bloggers. There was 10 of us at this meetup, 5 of the girls were new to me so I was able to find out about new blogs, which is always great! Between us we blog about such a wide variety of topics; crafts, cooking, fashion, mummy blogs, beauty and lifestyle, so being able to chat to bloggers from different specialities only adds to the interest. We all sat and enjoyed various flavoured teas, and yummy, scrummy cakes of a wide variety… I obviously went for a cupcake!

At the meet we decided that the meetups would become a regular event and we plan on holding a larger event during May/June and get local brands, businesses and other bloggers involved. Many people overlook Cumbria for events because we are “rural” however Carlisle is the perfect location for events as it is central to Scotland, the North East, Lancashire and Manchester… it’s only a few stops on the train! Helen, Amanda and I have already been networking with businesses on Twitter during the #cumbriahour chats so things are slowly but surely taking shape. I’m just excited to have met such a wonderful, talented group of girls and bloggers who blog about their passions, I’m in great company and am really excited about what us #cumbriabloggers will achieve in the future.

Please take a look at the other wonderful girls and their blogs. You may find your new favourite read amongst them. 

Anna from The Dusty Attic | Jen from Jenny and the Magic Feather | Jo from The Perfect Hiding Place 

Sally from Sallytangle | Amanda from Amanda Uniquely | Alice from Tea and Lead 

Caroline from All About the Girl | Ann from Prattle and froth | Sue from Sooz In The Shed

Do you have a similar group of blogger in your area? Or have to been to a meetup recently? Aslo if you are a Cumbrian blogger and want to join our little family, let me know!

Be sure to check out my blogger of the week and fellow Cumbria Blogger Anna from On The Dressing Table. She has the most amazing beauty blog, full of insightful and honest reviews, plus she is the sweetest girl!

Baba Ganoush Canteen Kendal| The Perfect Brunch

 

Bottom Image from www. Baba-Ganoush.co.uk

Now that my boyfriend Matt is finally moving to live in the same town of me, we finally have the opportunity to discover some new eateries, and our first stop was Baba Ganoush. If you are from the Lake District in Cumbria you will of probably heard of this spot. If not, when you visit Kendal you have to put this on your list of places to go.

Baba Ganoush is a canteen and food shop hidden down a little side street in the market town of Kendal, Cumbria. Matt and I visited the canteen on Saturday morning at around 11 and the place was already filling up quickly. We were greeted by a smiley, friendly member of staff (always great) and told to take which ever table we fancied. Menu’s were already on the table so you could start making your choices right away. The place has various specials boards scattered around which are filled with soups, main dinners, platters and cakes.

As it was brunch time, Matt went for the Fish Finger sandwich on granary bread (all the bread used in the spot is fresh from the famous Staff of Life bakery next door) and I was rather greedy and went for a soup and hot sandwich. The food arrived very promptly and was delicious. You get plenty of filling for your money, and you can tell that the ingredients are of the highest quality and the fresh bread just makes the food even more homely.

The canteen is a rather small place with around 12-15 tables, and it was full of a variety of ages, from old dears having their tea and cake, to groups of friends having hangover breakfast and families on days out stopping for lunch. Matt and I have already planned our second visit for a hangover breakfast of pancakes with syrup, butter and bacon for me, and scrambled egg with chorizo on toast for Matt.

If you have visited the Lake District of Kendal, where are your favourite places to eat? Or in your own home town, let me know where to eat in case I make a visit!