An Edinburgh Break and Premier Inn

August is Fringe Festival time in Edinburgh.  The city is extremely busy with festival go-ers and there are 100’s of different shows to see, something for all ages.

Last weekend we spent Friday night in the Premier Inn at Leith, a quiet area of Edinburgh beside the docks.  The family room was perfect for us, 2 single beds and a double.  The boys were incredibly excited about staying in a hotel and went to bed late after a late dinner, so were clearly still tired when they woke at the normal time the following morning.  Never mind, at least breakfast was served from 7am!

We were the first people in the attached Brewer’s Fayre and between us we ate several courses; from sausage, to cereal, to crumpets, we had some of everything!  My husband and I tried the new signature purple sauce, which was a mix of ingredients including blackberry and cider vinegar.  An alternative to tomato sauce perhaps?

After breakfast we had a couple of hours to wander around the docks.  We made it as far as the Royal Britannia ship beside the Ocean Terminal shopping centre before heading back to the hotel to check-out.

Whilst the boys headed in to town with Daddy, I met up with some fellow bloggers to attend an Improv. workshop.  It was lovely meeting up with other bloggers, I’ve never made it to any events as they are normally down in the South of England, so it was nice to be invited to something in Edinburgh where we could chat as well as have some fun.

I didn’t quite know what to expect, but fortunately no-one else did either!  We sat in a row of chairs chatting and holding mugs of coffee and tea (except me, I’m just not that into tea and coffee, sorry!).   The lovely ladies from The Maydays started the mornings activities and immediately we all relaxed and were happily walking around the room and over-excitedly  pointing at things (this was one of the activities, not because we were being strange!).

After a few warm up activities everyone was comfortable with doing a few more improv. techniques, which resulted in me literally being in tears of laughter, it was hilarious!  Watching people making up random stories about leopards and spacehoppers and kettles, is actually a great way to spend a morning!  It definitely cheered me up after an early morning wakening.

I won’t go into detail with everything we did, but will just say it was brilliant (and I was one of those very sceptical people).  I would definitely recommend an improv. workshop if you get a chance to attend one, they are great fun and you will literally be laughing out loud!

After the improv session I met up with the boys, Daddy and their grandparents in the city centre.  We had a little walk around Princes Gardens, paid an extortionate amount of money to go on the Ferris wheel (which was pretty cool as you could see quite far from the top) and made Gran feel a little queasy by spinning the cab(?) we were in!  I had hoped to head up to the Royal Mile to have a look at some of the free acts on the streets, but unfortunately O was very tired after his late night/early morning and so we had to say goodbye to the grandparents (and Auntie C!) and head off to catch a bus back to Leith to collect the car.

It turns out a bus journey was enough to cheer grumpy O up, he loved sitting on the top deck at the front of the bus!

We had a lovely night and day in Edinburgh and will be back for the festival again next year (hopefully we’ll actually make a show then).

Have you been to the Edinburgh Fringe?

J x

Disclaimer: We were given a nights stay at The Premier Inn, breakfast and the improv. workshop for free as part of this review.  All opinions are my own.