Jubilee fever in Fulham

This weekend London is set to be humming with excitable locals and tourists celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee. You would have to have been living in a cave not to notice the Royal Britannia propaganda that adorns every shop, restaurant, street and magazine in sight. If the thought of heading into the West End fills you with fear, fret not- here is the rundown of celebrations in the borough, SW6 loves you Queenie! 

 

Fulham Road’s new Tiki-inspired bar Kona Kai, is getting ready to celebrate the Jubilee in true Polynesian Princess fashion. On Friday 1st June lucky ladies who visit Kona Kai will receive a free Tiara and leis to make you feel just like the new, slightly more exotic Kate Middleton. A themed cocktail has been created especially for the night, the Island Princess and sharing cocktails will also be on offer for all the Kona Kai princesses. If you’re feeling brave enough you can also get up and learn to hula with professional teachers! As the night goes on and the Jubilee celebrations keep flowing there will be live music from Rosie and The Hoppers and a late licence until 2am.

One of our local favourites The Hurlingham pub have secured the riverside facing part of PC world car park and are making the most of it with a huge Jubilee party from 12-8pm- it’s the place to watch the Queens 1000-boat flotilla pass under Wandsworth Bridge. There will be drinks bars, a champagne and Pimms tent, hog roast, pizza, a 1956 route master bar bus with a rooftop VIP area, 7 piece live Jazz band, street performers, Spanish tapas, thai street food, entertainment for the little ones and views of the whole Jubilee Flotilla. It is also worth noting they are encouraging fancy dress!

The Diamond Jubilee Big 50s Tea Celebration will take place at Fulham Palace on Sunday 3rd June 2012. The Drawing Room Café will be producing a special menu for the Diamond Jubilee Big 50s Tea Celebration, a themed garden party at Fulham Palace on Sunday 3rd June. There will be a barbeque and salad bar on the lawn and a traditional cream tea can be booked in the drawing room or on the terrace. Activities on the day include jive dancing (lessons given if required!), garden games, retro races, children’s craft activities, music from the Fulham Brass Band and a prize for the best 1950s costume (for the first 100 who arrive in vintage dress). The event is free and runs from 12noon to 5pm, guests are also welcome to bring a picnic or book a table for the barbeque and salad bar on the front lawn.

As bunting takes the streets and the red carpets take the walls of Harrods, Manuka is rolling out the mats to host a festive evening of all their favourite things, including you! This Friday the evening kicks off at 6:30pm with a complimentary flute of Champagne, then from 7pm they will be offering a festive yoga class in Manuka's luxury studio. Visitors can also browse the debut of Stella & Dot's Summer 2012 Collection.  RSVP to kineticlondon@gmail.com, or by phone (07590673733). £5 suggested contribution, Friends and children  welcome!

                                          

Right on the river's edge the Waterside Bar and Kitchen is a prime place to be on 3rd June. The pub/restaurant will have festivities all day; delicious food stalls, flowing bars and live music; including the likes of Funkshone, Marner Brown and Alix Live. To ensure you get a good view they are opening extra early at 8am to serve coffee, tea,  bacon baps and other breakfast goodies from their BBQ's.

                                            

Those with little ones will be pleased to hear that later in June, Haus Properties has sponsored Lady Margaret School as they are once again inviting the community to their annual garden party on Saturday 23rd June. Planning ahead for what is set to be a busy year for events, the school is making sure there is something for everyone in their tranquil courtyard garden.

                                             

Younger visitors will find fun activities including a teddy tombola, toys and games galore. Older children can try the inflatables, shop for crafts and gifts inside the school. Visitors can also enjoy the barbecue, strawberries and cream washed down with fresh lemonade. 

Visitors can also try to win-a-bottle, bid in the silent auction, buy vintage bargains and browse for plants, books and bric-a-brac. There will be delicious cakes and a special Jubilee tea on the terrace to toast the Royal anniversary! Proceeds from the day will go towards the school. All welcome.

Lady Margaret School, Saturday 23 June 2012, 11am-3pm with £1 entry (50p concessions).

***Don't forget if you want 15% DISCOUNT on Queen's Jubilee Party Supplies when you visit CIRCUS CIRCUS you just need to enter BLOG15 in the shopping cart at www.circuscircus.co.uk or when in store!***

Reach!...for some new abs

When it’s baking hot outside like it is at the moment, thoughts are likely to turn to one of two things. Firstly, how we can trade time in the office for time in the great, sunny outdoors. Secondly, how we can get in shape ready for our skimpier summer wardrobes. When the sun comes out, suddenly we all make a pact to be leaner, fitter, healthier. And we want results. Fast. I’m no exception, and with an early summer holiday looming only a few weeks away, I needed to up the ante on my farcical “fitness” regime. So, I did what any blogger would do: I sought advice on Twitter, and was promptly invited to Reach Fitness, Clapham, to have my ass whooped in their terrifyingly aptly-named ‘Warrior Workout’.

Reach Fitness is not for the faint-hearted.  It’s not a gentle, easy workout for people looking for a painless way to drop a pound or two. When I visited last weekend I was put through some serious paces. 60 minutes of intense circuits: burpees, mountain climbers, planks, kettle balls, AMRAP (as many rounds as possible of certain exercises in a certain time frame) and all things intense and sweaty. My companions for the session were without exception lean, muscular and pretty darn fit. Evidently, this hardcore method gets results, and is designed for people who are serious about getting results.  So, if you’re already a bit of a fitness machine, and are looking to push yourself further, you’ve found the right place. Rich Tidmarsh, who owns Reach, trains top athletes like international rugby player James Haskell, so rest assured you’re in good hands.

Yet, as terrifying as that all sounds, everyone was incredibly friendly, and encouraging, not least our instructor, Laurie. I’m definitely not lean, muscular or particularly fit, but I made it through the session with a lot of friendly encouragement and banter, and I did feel amazing afterwards (although come the following day, I definitely felt more sore than fantastic!). You are paired up throughout the session, so your buddy will always cheer you on, and there’s plenty of friendly competition, so even if you don’t mind letting yourself down, you’ll push yourself that extra bit harder so as not to let down your buddy. The session was definitely a bit of a jolt to the system, but only served to underpin how when left to our own devices in a gym, we probably don’t push ourselves as hard as we should. For anyone who is serious about pushing their body, and getting fit as well as lean, Reach is a bit of a winner. 

If you’d like to check out Reach for yourself, you can bag yourself a free trial session by signing up online. Let us know how you get on!

Reach Fitness

Unit 7B, Clapham North Arts Centre

London SW4 6DH

www.r4reach.co.uk

Image from Reach Fitness website at r4reach.com

Great wines, fine times at the Finborough Wine Cafe

Like most Fulham residents, I drink a fair bit of wine. Some of it fine, some of it... not so much. Yet only recently, having attended a few different tastings in the borough, have I really begun to learn the subtler differences between all those wines that lie between the 'epic' and the 'undrinkable' ends of the scale. As someone from Blur might have once said, it's only recently I've begun to know my Claret from my Beaujolais.

Having started on this boozy adventure, I'd been keen for a while now to check out the offering at the Finborough Wine Cafe. Promising a range of tastings from group sessions to a pretty appealing '10 wines for £9' deal (tasters rather than bottles, sorry folks!) and with a square emphasis on bringing you great wines that won't break the bank, I was looking forward to trying out some wines I could actually afford to take home with me (and show off to my friends about with my newly acquired knowledge!).

The Finborough Wine Cafe sits across two floors underneath the legendary Finborough Theatre. The ground floor cafe is bright and light, with a large central bar area and lots of welcoming leather sofas, all well spaced out to give a relaxed atmosphere, where we enjoyed a glass of sparkling whilst waiting for the tasting to begin. As you might expect, they offer a plentiful wine menu, helpfully organised by style and taste of wine, as opposed to by grape or region (which can be a little bamboozling, particularly when they are grapes you haven't heard of before), and range of snacks including delicious Firezza pizzas from an outlet next door... pretty handy after a whopping 10 glass tasting.

The tasting area is in an contemporary cellar space in the basement. The groups are intimate (our table was just 10) and you are completely surrounded by racks of wine, accentuated by appealing modern backlighting. The sessions are strictly informal, no charts or power-points, just a list of wines with space to make notes, plenty of banter and light hearted (yet still informative) commentary from our friendly, enthusiastic, yet totally unpretentious host. We learnt about how differences in temperature, grape, soil, gradient and even rot affect the taste of wines, the differences between Old and New world wines, and plenty more besides: and most cleverly of all, we never once felt we were in a lesson or lecture. Tastings at the Finborough make wine accessible, really accessible. Case in point, here's an anecdote I will always remember: "New World wines are like strippers, they reveal themselves quickly, where as the old world wines are more akin to a burlesque dancer - taking their time and with a more complex way of undressing."

With the emphasis on the best of affordable wines, the Finborough may not be the place you come to have a crack at the couture of the wine world (although there definitely are some bottles I wouldn't class as 'affordable'), but the range of grapes and provenances we tried was perfect for figuring out what suits your tastes, and it's definitely a plus to discover a bottle you wouldn't find in Sainsbury's that can become an affordable favourite. Sessions are fun, educational and won't break the bank. I'd definitely visit again.

Finborough Wine Cafe
118 Finborough Road
SW10 9ED
Bookings via finboroughwinecafe@gmail.com or 0207 373 0745