My wife and I are in a tiny flat temporarily and are toning down Christmas this year. We’re in a relatively lucky position that we have almost everything we need. We’ve agreed to get each other an experience for Christmas and I’m a bit stumped as to what to get her. I’ve had a look at groupon and tripadvisor and everything it’s all supercar drives and paintball and spa days, which are a bit meh. We also already do plenty of weekends away to places so, short of the holiday to Berlin she’s after, that wouldn’t be appropriate. The criteria are-

– Costs £100-150
– Ideally something both of us can do
– She hates outdoor sports, so nothing like that. She also hates being cold.
– Nothing too run of the mill (she can buy spa days etc herself)
– Ideally located in Scotland or Northumberland/The Lakes.

For a bit of guidance, she’s getting me a day on the Jacobite steam train from Oban to Mallaig, which is something she wanted to do next year anyway and I’ve been meaning to do for a few years. Something like that would be ideal. I’m sure some of you lot will have done some really interesting stuff that was a bit of a treat – any tips?

I should add, we also do our bit of charitable giving (in addition to the usual) at Christmas, so donating a goat to a community or something is already on the cards.

Theatre/gig tickets?

From the 40th birthday thread, fly to Barra (from Glasgow) and land on the beach for the weekend but it’s probably a bit more than £150.

Coke n hookers?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/gin/gin-school-best-distilleries-visit-want-make-spirit/
Make your own gin?

Yeah, I’m pushing the Barra thing big time. £77 day return from Glasgow!

I’d go for a theatre trip with hotel for the night. And I would whole-heartedly recommend Les Miserables – we went last month and it almost brought me to tears it was so wonderful.

Meal for 2 at an expensive restaurant that you could not nornally justify?

I’d go for a theatre trip with hotel for the night.

That.  It’s also such a great idea I might try it as well 🙂

Cook school?
There’s one near Kilmarnock that one of our friends goes to for day courses occasionally.
She also took our son to one in an Indian restaurant in Glasgow somewhere for a half day pakora workshop. He loved it.

I took my partner to the Lakes this year for a walk with an Alpaca. Really interesting and fun. https://www.alpacalyeverafter.co.uk/

The alpaca walk is something that crossed my mind- some friends did it this year, and we took some friends’ donkeys for a walk a couple of years ago and that went down well.

Cook school or gin school isn’t a bad idea.

Thanks everyone.

We live in Edinburgh so theatre + hotel isn’t quite special enough – we walk to the theatre already!

Cook school + 1

We were given a day at one in London a couple of years ago & had a choice of what ‘menu’ to go for, so obviously went for ‘Pudding’. We were shown the secret of how to make a chocolate fondant that won’t fall apart when you turn it out, plus we had many cakes to scoff on the train home.

MY wife has hinted she’d like to have a particular ‘spa’ treatment – it happens to be at a Hotel we both like, not far from home but we can leave the kids. I’ve managed to get the treatment for 2/3rds of the usual price, also got half price voucher for the restaurant on site, and the rooms are currently in a sale. Full price would have been silly money, but this just keeps it under £200 all in.

We were given a day at one in London a couple of years ago & had a choice of what ‘menu’ to go for, so obviously went for ‘Pudding’. We were shown the secret of how to make a chocolate fondant that won’t fall apart when you turn it out, plus we had many cakes to scoff on the train home.

Excellent, I’ve found a chocolate and pudding making school down here. That’ll do really nicely. Thanks.

Michelin starred meal. Fantastic experience and not one you are likely to repeat often

Managed to do a balloon ride this year with my mum over Bristol, would recommend the experience to everybody and it soon warms up once you’re in the Balloon itself, I’d imagine the views over Arthur’s Seat etc would be fantastic too!

My other half asked for a similar thing this year. She’s into her photography so managed to get her a wildlife photography day In the south west of Scotland

Ooh, photography day.. interesting..

Cook school?
There’s one near Kilmarnock that one of our friends goes to for day courses occasionally.

The one in Killie has a good rep but its attached to a commercial operation so in the glamorous setting of a trade estate off the A76 – handy if you’re wanting to pick up any drainage and building supplies while you’re there 🙂

Theres one at Coulston House in East Lothian (near Haddington) thats more of a residential accommodation and big country kitchen set up – don’t know if the actualy cooking tuition on offer is any better or worse we just block booked the place for accommodation when I was working over there for a few months – but perhaps a nicer setting for a treat and for something to do together.

Managed to do a balloon ride this year with my mum over Bristol, would recommend the experience to everybody and it soon warms up once you’re in the Balloon itself, I’d imagine the views over Arthur’s Seat etc would be fantastic too!

pre-booked balloon ‘experiences’ can be a bit problematic – they’re very weather dependent and when you book a slot its not confirmed it’ll actually run (fly) til the night before. Works out fine if you’re very flexible and the flight location is on your doorstep. If you need to travel theres a good chance of a wasted journey/accom then having a protracted wait for another slot. I was bought some tickets a few years back and after several aborted attempts over 12 months just had to stick them on Ebay.

The one in Killie has a good rep but its attached to a commercial operation so in the glamorous setting of a trade estate off the A76

They also do a decent roll and sausage in the takeaway but yeah it’s not glamorous

Wildlife watching / photography trip. I has a nice day out with this guy. Starting from Fort William. http://www.wildwest.scot/

Or for flying, try a glider. The Scottish Gliding Centre is near Kinross, next to Loch Leven. https://scottishglidingcentre.co.uk/

I remember my parents taking 5 or 6 goes at getting their hot air balloon ride done, painful if you need to book time off or childcare each time.

Cooking schools are good, many do a half day or day covering something specific. I found a local chocolatier who ran courses from her home – proper tempering techniques, making pralines, truffles, etc from scratch – wife loved it.

Awesome, different, and in budget.

https://www.heliair.com/product-category/helicopter-experiences/introductory-helicopter-lessons/

Dark skies experience in Kielder. Pick your weather window well and it’s a magical experience.

@ molgrips – the company I went to is called far horizons, they do a kingfisher hide in kircudbright,or a sparrowhawk hide round there too. They also do Lake District landscapes or Yorkshire waterfalls. Spoke to the guy at Glendale show and he seems a really nice helpful bloke

Gliding? Or a helicopter ride?

Ooh. Bird of prey experience?

Similar to the Barra flight, you can take the sea-plane out to Oban and some of the Islands, taking off either from central Glasgow (from the Clyde!) or from Loch Lomond. My brother bought my dad a trip a few years back – fly out, golf on one of the islands, fly back!

Helicopter trip

Ooh. Bird of prey experience?

Mix it with photography and can be rather nice. Did a photo session with various birds of prey. Admittedly was slightly off put by the comments about shopping out the jesses and the best part of the day was the very wild Peregrines expressing just how much they disliked the eagle popping by,
Overall a good day with some good tuition and opportunity to practice taking pictures of birds which normally would be rather hard to get more than one photos off.

– Costs £100-150
– Ideally something both of us can do

Or

https://www.nicknairncookschool.com

Sponsor a child. Get them out of indentured slavery. Easy to do and fills me with such joy every time I think about it.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b&ei=9dEKXPiuBYaU1fAPmqOmmAM&q=sponsor+a+child+indentured+servant&oq=sponsor+a+child+indentured+&gs_l=psy-ab.1.2.33i160l3.14116.61066..67518…4.0..0.371.1449.10j2j1j1……0….1..gws-wiz…….0j0i67j0i131i67j0i22i30j33i22i29i30j0i8i13i30j33i21.CCR3xsfctV0

Or alternatively, buy her a massive bouncy fluffy dog.

A threesome with Binners.

My thoughts from my own thread;

I’m leaning toward a tandem skydive, she’ll never forget on day one, then also a Hotel Chocolat tasting experience which is for two. She likes Hotel chocolat. I think that make a nice weekend. Either is in the region of £150-£180.