review

Review of Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park

This review of Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park, Elsfield Way, Oxford OX2 8NP, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Beautiful sprawling Oxford park with a huge variety of things to do: the modern railway (check opening days in advance), aviary, duck pond, sports courts, and multiple children’s play areas including sandpits and – in the summer – a new ‘water play’ area (bring a towel and a change of clothes!). Central cafè is good for snacks and ice creams but less-good for hot food. Parking is priced as you’d expect for Oxford: bring change for the machines as they don’t give any and while you can pay by phone there’s a service charge for doing so.

Review of Avenham and Miller Park

This review of Avenham and Miller Park originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Avenham and Miller Park, S Meadow Ln, Preston PR1 8JP, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sprawling park near Preston city centre in the style of a London park: long boulevards, well-manicured lawns, fountains, a folly, and a riverside walk. Recently enhanced with the addition of children’s play areas and a cafe, but the real joy here is the timeless pleasure of a meandering walk through the various gardens.

Review of The Jolly Boatman

This review of The Jolly Boatman originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

The Jolly Boatman, 216 Banbury Rd, Thrupp, Kidlington OX5 1JU, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐

We’d visited before and enjoyed ourselves on several ocassions previous, but our last visit was appalling: incredibly slow service (despite booking and it being relatively quiet) and a disappointing mixture of dried-out-by-reheating and just-plain-cold food alongside the kinds of things you’d get at any chain pub for a lower price.

Review of The Blackpool Tower

This review of The Blackpool Tower originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

The Blackpool Tower, Promenade, Blackpool FY1 4BJ, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐⭐

Compared to trips here in my youth, this iconic tourist attraction now seems very expensive (with ‘modular’ pricing: no more can you just buy a ticket and enjoy the day, you must buy tickets for each individual experience, and activities like Jungle Jim’s – which seems much reduced from its origins layout – have time limits). Long queues, particularly for getting up to and especially getting down from the tower itself.

Review of Miller & Carter Kidlington

This review of Miller & Carter Kidlington originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Miller & Carter Kidlington, 117 Bicester Rd, Kidlington OX5 2PX, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Shared a delightful tenth anniversary meal here recently. Hadn’t booked, but despite being busy they managed to squeeze us in. Enjoyed the third-best steak I’ve ever tasted, plus delightful deserts and a range of exciting cocktails all at a price point that’s very reasonable for what you get.

Review of Cygnet Nursery Kidlington Ltd

This review of Cygnet Nursery Kidlington Ltd originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Cygnet Nursery Kidlington Ltd, 44-45 Evenlode Cres, Kidlington OX5 1RF, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Loving, friendly staff provide a great environment for fun and development for babies through preschoolers. Failed an Ofsted inspection in 2016 but were swiftly able to act upon the report and make the necessary changes and have since gone from strength to strength (once this is out of recent memory, I’d upgrade my review to 5 stars).

Of particular credit to them is the diversity of play and learning activities they provide and their thorough feedback to parents on their children’s development.

Review of Transmissions: Element 120

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

Transmissions: Element 120

Rating: 👍

What do you expect for free? Well whatever you expect, you should expect more. This game takes the engine and content you know and love from Half-Life 2, updates it, and dumps you into a whole new narrative with some fun new concepts (like using lights and darkness to manipulate enemies) and battles that should challenge even the most-hardened Half-Life player.

And did I mention it’s free? Go play it, and then go make a donation to the charity that the author recommends on their website. Worth every penny.

Review of Raw Data

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

Raw Data

Rating: 👍

The most intense and engaging VR experience I’ve ever had.

Whether you’re dodging and diving behind cover while you fire your pistol or you’re getting up-close with the androids as you swing your laser sword, you’re always on the move in this immersive, high-energy VR shooter. The teleport mechanic minimises motion sickness even for those who suffer badly, the graphics are nothing short of beautiful, and there’s nothing quite so terrifying as the moment that you realise that THERE’S ONE OF THEM BEHIND YOU! MOVE!

Review of Oh…Sir! The Insult Simulator

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

Oh...Sir! The Insult Simulator

Rating: 👍

Oh… Sir! The Insult Simulator is a light-hearted, (quite literally) Monty Python-silly timed-turns insult-spitting game for one or two players. It’s the perfect casual luck-heavy puzzler for anybody whose hovercraft is full of eels, whose parrot is pining for the fjords, or who would like to learn The Meaning of Life. There are fun unlockables to keep you playing for a couple of hours, and it’s worth every penny of the £1.43 I paid for it (I’d have loved it at £1.50, too, except that I wouldn’t have seen it in the first place were it not on sale).

So the next time somebody tells you that you have a silly walk or you decide that you’d like to have an argument, just remember to tell them: “Your mother secretly admires your liver, and will soon be dead.” That ought to put them in their place! But until that day, give Oh… Sir! The Insult Simulator a go.

Review of Pierre Calvini Luxury Stripe Cotton Rich Sock

This review originally appeared on Amazon. See more reviews by Dan.

6 Pk Mens Pierre Calvini Luxury Stripe Cotton Rich Sock 6-11 UK, 6-11 UK, Multicoloured

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Good value socks

Perfectly fine socks at a fair price. Because losing or wearing holes in socks is sort-of my superpower, I stocked up (or should that be “socked up”?) with these and they’ve served me well.

Review of Power Banks RAVPower 26800mAh Portable Charger

This review originally appeared on Amazon. See more reviews by Dan.

Power Banks RAVPower 26800mAh Portable Charger 3-Port 5.5A iSmart - Black

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Powerful, heavyweight battery: great, but wish the ports were labelled!

Big, powerful battery, but still (barely) small enough to fit in large jeans pockets alongside a phone, for charging-on-the-go. Never seen it run dry, despite charging two phones each night of a two-night camping trip. Only downside is the the ports aren’t labelled and some (by design) have their maximum output limited, so if you don’t know which ones those are by heart – or carry the manual around! – then you might find that some devices charge slower than they ought to. Still a great device, and even comes with a set of USB cables (A to B-micro, as used by most smartphones) for your convenience.

Review of Hacknet

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

Hacknet

Rating: 👍

I’ve been a huge fan of the “hacker game” ever since I first played 1985’s Hacker on my Amstrad CPC: I’m pretty hardened to the genre, and I can confidently say that not since Uplink has anything broken through my firewall like Hacknet did. If you’re looking for an easy-to-pick up and compelling puzzle game in a cyberpunk theme, it’s a clear winner: I got 6 hours of thoroughly enjoyable playtime out of it, and I’m sure I’ll go back and get the same again when I find the chance to go and explore deeper.

Review of Macdonald Bear Hotel

This review originally appeared on TripAdvisor. See more reviews by Dan.

Macdonald Bear Hotel, Park Street, Woodstock, OX20 1SZ, England.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spacious, professionally-run hotel, but very hot in the summer!

My partner and I spent a night here at the tail end of a mini-break to celebrate our anniversary. Our ground-floor room was clean and spacious and conveniently-placed for the car park and the bar served a delightful selection of cocktails. Unfortunately we were there on one of the hottest days of the year, and the rooms aren’t equipped with air conditioning: even with the windows wide open and a fan running, it made for an uncomfortably hot night!

Date of stay: August 2015

Room tip: In summer, ask for a North-facing room to minimise the temperature: there’s no air-con!

Trip type: Travelled as a couple

Review of Wriggles Brook Gypsy Wagon B&B

This review originally appeared on TripAdvisor. See more reviews by Dan.

Wriggles Brook Gypsy Wagon B&B, 2 Brookside Cottages, Hoarwithy, HR2 6QJ, England.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Beautiful site, even in the rain, and amazing home-cooked food.

My partner, her toddler and I spent two midweek nights in August in the larger “Showman” caravan to celebrate our anniversary. In a long field that twists its way alongside a babbling brook, the owners have set up a trio of traditional horse-drawn caravans, each in a wooded clearing that isolates it from the others. Two of the caravans are smaller, designed just for couples (who are clearly the target market for this romantic getaway spot), but we took the third, larger, (centenarian!) one, which sported a separate living room and bedroom.

Wriggles Brook combined a beautiful setting, imaginative and ecologically-friendly accommodation, and about a billion activities on your doorstep. Even the almost-complete lack of phone signal into the valley was pretty delightful, although it did make consulting Google Maps difficult when we got lost about 20 minutes out from the place! But if there’s one thing that really does deserve extra-special mention, it’s the food:

Our hosts were able to put on a spectacular breakfast and evening meal for us each night, including a variety of freshly-grown produce from their own land. We generally ate in their mini dining room – itself a greenhouse for their grapevines – but it was equally-nice to have pancakes delivered to the picnic table right outside our caravan. And speaking as somebody who’s had their fair share of second-rate veggie breakfasts, it was a great relief to enjoy a quite-brilliant variety of vegetarian cuisine from a clearly-talented chef.

More photos and an extended review can be found on my blog: https://danq.me/2015/08/29/anniversary-at-wriggles-brook/

Date of stay: August 2015

Room tip: “Showman” caravan is larger and most-distant from the path, if you’re looking for privacy (although all of them are quite well-isolated).

Trip type: Travelled with family

Review of The Feathers Restaurant & Bar

This review originally appeared on TripAdvisor. See more reviews by Dan.

The Feathers Restaurant & Bar, Market Street, Woodstock OX20 1SX, England .

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Amazing gin selection!

Despite the fact that we’d mentioned being vegetarian (and expressing an interest in a special vegetarian menu they offered) when we booked, this message hadn’t been passed on. However, the staff were very apologetic about the mistake and the chef was able to put together an approximation of the special menu for us at short notice, including a dish new to the restaurant, and it was all delicious.

We paired each course with a different gin, expertly-selected by the incredibly knowledgable bartender at The Feathers’ special gin bar.