Welcome back to my  Wallflower Explorer Series. Today I'm going to share  Alnwick Garden  with you. As always with the Wallflower Explorer series I will sprinkle in advice for when you are visiting places alone.  Alnwick Garden is a multi-award winning garden created by the Duchess of Northumberland. It is a 45 minute drive away from Newcastle.  My recent trip was in Winter so it was very different from when I've visited in other seasons. That is something I love about coming to Alnwick Gardens is that no two visits are the same. I plan to go back soon now it is Spring!  When you first walk into the garden the first thing you see is the breath taking Grand Cascade. No matter how many times I've watched the water jets go off it never looses its magic. In the dark it lights up making it truly spectacular.  The   Taihaku Cherry Blossoms garden   with its swing benches is a peaceful place to seat and relax. In April/May when the cherry bl...

Welcome back to my Wallflower Explorer series. In this series I suggest places you can visit on your own. Sprinkled with tips on how to be more comfortable going out alone. In my first post in this series  Wallflower Explorer: Introduction  you can learn more about why.  This week is a true gem of a place to visit. Barter Books  is is one of the largest secondhand book shops in Europe *. It is less than an hours drive away from me which I am truly grateful for.  Barter Books is in an old train station in Alnwick, Northumberland. Along the top of some of the shelves is a model railway as a nod to its history.  Photo from @barterbooksuk Instagram As you might expect it is a beautiful building with thousands of secondhand books. In spite of this it never feels overwhelming. All the books are also fairly prices with most paperbacks being less than £5 and most hardbacks being under £15. Some signed hard backs and limited additions are more expensive.  Ph...

Welcome to my first post official post in my Wallflower Explorer Series ! In this series (which you can read more about here ), I will be sharing my some of my favourite places to visit alone. Sprinkled in with some tips to help you feel more confident visiting places alone. Tynemouth Aquarium is one of my favourite places to visit. I have even treated my self to an annual pass so I can visit as many times as a like.  So why are Aquariums a great activity to do alone.  Firstly, there is so much to see! I have been a few times but there is always something new to see. Whether that is a new breed of fish I hadn't noticed before or just seeing one of the animals do something different. For example, the first couple of times I visited the turtles were sunbathing (looking very majestic I must say!) However, the last time I visited they were swimming around which was fascinating to watch. I have to say they weren't very graceful and kept swimming into each other.  A benefit of...

As I mentioned in my first blog post , in my 20's I started to feel lost. I suspect this is a common feeling as we all leave either our home towns or possibly (as I did) leave University. When I left University I moved away from my friends to London with my boyfriend.  At this point in our relationship we were both doing shift work which often meant I would have days alone whilst he was working. I quickly realised I didn't want to stay boxed up in our tiny flat (I mean flat is a bit generous it was more a cupboard with a bed in it!). So I started to explore London on my own. As I mentioned in my first post I would write about where I went and share photos. Through which I developed a love of photography. Though I was slightly forced into spending time on my own I soon discovered the importance of spending time in my own company. For me this was confirmed when I travelled across the UK (starting from Edinburgh and ending in London) alone. I stopped in eight cities. I was so ner...