When an invitation to Edinburgh’s Principal George Street popped into my inbox a few weeks back, to say I was excited is an understatement. The hotel is my favourite in the city, and is the perfect mix of casual elegance. I love it so much in fact, it’s where we headed to celebrate Christmas last year, and I’m an all-too-regular at Burr & Co. Did I mention that they also have an in-house Daschund?

As if all that wasn’t glorious enough, the hotel has just undergone renovations to their fabulous Forth View Suite, as well as installing a new Taittinger Bar downstairs. The additions are perfect if you’re in town to celebrate during the festival, and there isn’t a better spot in Edinburgh to view the Tattoo Fireworks!

A few weeks back I popped over for a glamorous evening filled with champagne (Taittinger of course) and Scotland’s best bloggers, as we were introduced to new menu items, the stunning new library, where we ended the evening watching the sun set over Edinburgh. It was glorious.

After learning about the beautiful new Library (if you’re looking for Edinburgh’s swishes private dining venue – this is it). We headed into the Printing Press restaurant, where a banquet of starters were waiting for us.

No.25 Gin Cured Trout with pickled mussels, avocado and beetroot was a perfect seasonal dish to start the evening. It’s a new dish which features on the summer menu, and the mix of rich trout, fresh dill and creamy avocado was just divine.

For the main dish, we were able to select from some of the new summer dishes, and I couldn’t resist the Wellington Pork Belly served with asparagus on haricot beans. Feeling not unlike a dish to be enjoyed on a Sunday afternoon, the rich pork paired beautifully with the asparagus, beans and savoury gravy.

The Printing Press is such a beautiful spot to enjoy everything from breakfast to cocktails, and even if you’re not staying in the hotel, it’s a fabulous place to visit.

After savouring our meals, we headed up en-masse to fully appreciate the Forth View Suite views. And what a view they have! From one end of a wraparound terrace you can gaze over the rooftops to see Edinburgh Castle, whilst the other side has views right across the Forth.

Serenaded by a saxophonist, watching the sunset with champagne cocktails in hand felt like an incredibly glamorous way to end an evening. The good news? This summer, the Principal Edinburgh George Street are launching a brand new Members Club, which will let you enjoy summer evenings upstairs, enjoying the view.

With a new menu at The Printing Press, the fabulous new Taittinger Bar, and of course, the Forth View Suite – there is nowhere better to enjoy summer in Edinburgh!

Thank you so much to the Principal George Street for having me – you can find out more about the hotel here.

Do you ever sometimes feel like just throwing the bare essentials in a bag and switching off for a few nights? Well, that’s exactly what I did back in April, when I headed done south for a bit of an English road trip. We packed up the car and went, and I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun it was. We saw a surprising number of attractions and got to explore some of England’s most beautiful countryside.

One of the perks of all that exploring was finding fabulous hotels and inns, which we’re already planning return visits to. We had very kindly been taken care of by The Epicurean Club – a collection of inns and pubs which are chosen for their impeccably high standards.

In Berkshire, we stayed at the Crab and Boar – a historic coaching inn which has been welcoming travellers for hundreds of years. It’s even said that Oliver Cromwell stayed here prior to the Battle of Newbury.

Happily though, the Crab and Boar is more luxurious now than perhaps it once was in Cromwellian times – there are 14 rooms in total, and we were lucky enough to have a Luxury Room complete with hot tub! Unfortunately the weather wasn’t quite on our side, but getting to enjoy the hot bubbles when outside was so cold and miserable was heavenly!

On such a grey evening, we were lucky enough to have reserved a table at the restaurant, and there was nowhere else we’d have rather been. The Crab and Boar is renowned for fabulous, local food, and the dining room itself couldn’t have been lovelier.

We grabbed a table by the window and perused the menu and discussed our plans for the next day.

As we debated our options (the menu is that good), we started on some freshly baked bread – a wholewheat roll and freshly baked ciabattas were truly sublime. Rather incredibly, the Crab & Boar’s head chef previously headed up the kitchens in the Four Seasons Hampshire. The bread was feather-light and absolutely delicious!

The first of the starters we went for were the Pan Fried Scallops (£11). Brought in still dripping with seawater that morning, they were perfectly cooked, and served on the most beautiful clamshell. I loved the rich hollandaise sauce, and it was a real star dish.

I couldn’t resist trying the Crab and Boar (£11), the inn’s signature dish. Hand-picked soft-shell crab cooked in a light tempura batter was placed on top of a slice of pork, garnished with handpicked crab and radishes. It was a fabulous mix of texture and flavours – and who couldn’t love the tie in with the name!?

Mains were a similarly hard choice, but we first settled on theHimalayan Salt Aged Pork Cutlet (£22). This felt like the very best Sunday roast you can imagine – real comfort food with a gourmet edge. The pork was perfectly cooked, and the contrast between the rich meat and tart cabbage was absolutely divine! The smoked apple puree gave the dish a sweetness which was nicely offset with the rich gravy – and that crisp? Insanely good!

There was no way I could resist the Lobster pasta, and honestly, this is one of the best dishes I may ever have tasted. Again, the lobster had been brought into the kitchens live that morning, so the freshness of the meat couldn’t have been better. And just take a look at that claw – it was monstrous!

The claw was placed on mounds on the most delicate freshly made pasta alongside a light tomato sauce. The pasta was absolutely divine – light and flavourful, it paired perfectly with the delicate lobster meat, and honestly, if I had to choose a last meal – this would most definitely be it!

Even though were were completely stuffed – a look at the dessert menu soon had our mouths watering! As a disclaimer, I’m not usually a fan of a deconstructed dish – they’re usually odd and perhaps a bit lazy. But at the Boar and Crown? Genius.