Smash Cow, Banbury

I recently spent a couple weeks working from my aunt’s place up north. I went up to celebrate her birthday with her, and ended up staying a week longer than planned as I came down with some kind of food poisoning, which was fantastic 😅

So that meant it was essentially two weeks of working from bed and having food brought to me, with a couple of ventures out to the casino thrown in. What can I say, it’s a tough life but someone’s got to do it!

I did eventually have to get back home so packed my bags and headed back down south, stopping for a quick overnight stay in Banbury to catch up with a good friend I hadn’t seen in almost two years, thanks to Covid of course.

The last time we had seen each other, we had stayed in an incredible country manor in Shropshire, owned by a shooting enthusiast who has decorated the enormous house with all sorts of exotic hides, antique guns, and mounted animal heads. We had drank tea by the crackling fire, went for walks in the rain and befriended the house cat – a very sassy and fabulous creature called Sooty.

We have vowed to get back there some day, but this time we met at a very northerly tip of The Cotswolds, as it was roughly halfway between Birmingham and London.

I did think to myself as the train pulled out of Birmingham that we should have coordinated so we ended up on the same train. No sooner had the thought come to me than I received a text from my friend to say she had just got on at Birmingham New Street. Are we on the same train? I looked up and there she was, seated at the table in front of me 😂

She immediately presented me with galaxy cake muffins she had baked the night before and, just like that, it was as if no time had passed at all. With my stomach and cheeks aching from laughter, before we knew it we had made it to Banbury.

We took a stroll through town and checked in to our room for the night.

We had a lovely stay here – would recommend, had a great night’s sleep in the very comfy bed!

We literally dropped our bags and dashed right back out again in search of food, our noses leading us all the way to the very trendy Lock 29.

All the way to Smash Cow.

If I lived in Banbury I would be there far too often 😩

But I would also regret nothing. Exhibit A –

I got a cheeseburger.

She got the biscoff bacon burger – genuinely a life-changing combination 🤤

And we shared the smash fries – topped with a 4oz beef patty, American cheese, burger sauce, pickles and sesame seeds…

I KNOW!!! SOMEBODYSTOPME

We stayed for a couple hours, mainly because we were STUFFED but also because we were soaking up the vibes. There was this lovely guy singing and playing guitar, we were having such a lovely time catching up and also we were making a right mess (biscoff sauce everywhere) 😂

Then it was back to the room to chill for the rest of the evening, we became totally absorbed in this amazing documentary about owls and people obsessed with owls 🦉😂 followed by a Saturday night favourite, Strictly Come Dancing 💃🏽

The next morning we rose quite early and headed to Pinto Lounge for a full English, obviously.

Then went for a stroll through Banbury, thoroughly enjoying all the perks of the season 🍂

The town Remembrance Sunday procession had been taking place and people had gathered at the local church, so we perched for a short while outside in the church garden, to listen.

After checking out of the hotel, we had a couple of hours left to wander around the shops and get totally lost in Christmas decor! I wanted to buy everything.

I just love gnomes so much! 😩

We grabbed some lunch back at Lock 29 before parting ways to catch our trains back home.

It was just the loveliest pit stop with the loveliest friend, and may we never have to wait two years for a reunion ever again 🤎