Last week Wednesday Uns and I had booked into Coal Rooms in Peckham for dinner, after having just recently opened. After meeting up at the station, we decided to pop over to John the Unicorn pub for a quick pre-dinner drink before our dinner reservation. Coal Rooms has been built inside the 1930s wing and former ticket office of Peckham Rye station. A cafe by day and bar & restaurant by night, Coal Rooms has an on-site butchery with a menu centered around meat and unusual cuts. I decided to have the smoked ox tongue and cheek, while Uns had the Gloucester Old Spot pork chop, along with a range of sides - all very tasty we thought. Once we were done with dinner, we took a walk and headed on home.

On Thursday evening, the plan was for me to meet up with Keith after work, as he was back in London, but for work this time. We had decided on steak for dinner, and after having no luck to get a booking at Hawksmoor Borough Market, I messaged Gav and he managed to sort us out with table - as they say... "it's not what you know, it's who you know". So after work I headed over to Borough, met Keith and we headed to Hawksmoor for our steak dinner date. As always, the steak and food there was excellent and good catch up evening with Keithy. Once done, I headed off home for a quick bag pack for Uns and my glamping weekend down in West Sussex.

On Friday after work, I caught the train down to Hassocks, going via East Croydon where Uns got on, then once at Hassocks we got a taxi over to the Waydown Shepherds Huts where we were staying for the weekend. We did arrive just as it started to pour to rain, and after meeting Andrew the owner in the kitchen hut to avoid the pouring rain, we were taken to our hut where we could drop our bags, light the fire stove and dry off for the evening. It was at that point we were glad we had decided on a glamping weekend instead of our usual camping style - no fun trying to put a tent up in that weather! After having a bite to eat (no chances of a braai with the rain outside), we chilled out for the night in front of the fire with the radio on, which I don't think we've ever really done before. A really nice relaxing night, especially with the sound of the rain outside :)

On Saturday, after a fry up for breakfast, we headed out for a walk in the direction of Hassocks. We decided to take an easy stroll there, first stopping in at the Jack & Jill Inn for a refreshment, then carrying on through the woods over to Hassocks town centre. We needed a few supplies for dinner and the braai that evening, so after stocking up at Sainsbury's we headed back, and again stopped in at Jack & Jill Inn for a roast for lunch. It did start to pour with rain mid way through our lunch, so certainly weren't in any rush to leave and walk back to the huts. But eventually it subsided and we made it back to the huts without getting to wet, lit the fire stove and fired up the braai for dinner.

Yesterday morning after breakfast we took a fairly short walk over to see the Oldland Windmill on the hill (it was from quite a distance to get there and weren't too bothered on the long walk round to see it up close). After a quick photo of the windmill, we walked down towards Pyecombe to go have a look where the Plough Inn was, to save us searching for it later on when we had our backpacks with us. After a bit of a walk around there, we returned to the huts, chilled there a while then packed up and made our way (back) down to the Plough Inn for lunch, before getting a taxi to Hassocks and then the train back home.

Certainly a nice relaxing weekend away, reckon it's good to mix it up between glamping and proper camping - this certainly came in handy when it rained like it did on Friday, and obviously handy if we wanted an outdoor weekend away during the cold winter months :)