Cecil Beaton at the V&A

On Thursday I went to the V&A to see the Cecil Beaton exhibition of his photographs of the Queen and Royal family. His photographs at the beginning are studio shots with immaculately painted backgrounds. Although these photos are a beautiful testament to Beaton's creativity, the most stunning pictures capture the Queen with her children in natural settings and lighting. These capture the true life of the Queen, something very rarely seen. My favourite photograph was of the Queen smiling, giving her son a piggy back. This is what photography is all about, capturing the joys of real life, a moment in time immortalised by the camera. Beautiful exhibition.

The Hunger Games

Went to see the Hunger Games last week. I haven't read any of the books so wasnt sure what to expect, but from all the reviews the plot sounded intriguing.

It's set in the future where a revolution has divided a country into poverty stricken districts. To make sure noone ever forgets the violence and revolts of the those revoultions, one girl and one boy from each district must take part in the Hunger Games each year. The Hunger Games is a barbaric televised fight for survival between the children chosen until only one remains alive who is pronounced the lone victor.

The narrative sounds shocking and disturbing but the film is only a 12A so the violence of children killing one another has been toned down to only showing limited amounts of blood shed, however the sound of a cannon announcing the death of each contestant does chill the blood.

The film is really good and does send a well needed warning about how reality tv could develop into something hideous. The story really makes you feel for the characters and keeps you in suspense for the second part. Definately worth a watch.

Tuddenham Mill Hotel

Last weekend me and the boyfriend celebrated our one year anniversary at Tuddenham Mill. It's a beautiful hotel in the depths of Suffolk, close to Bury St Edmunds.

The old mill has been renovated into a 14 room luxury hotel. We stayed in one of the Mill tream Rooms which had a terrace overlooking the little brook, with our own table and chairs outside to sit and admire it. The bed was huge, there was a snuggly rug on the floor, the biggest bath you've ever seen and a walk in shower. There was even some complimentary sloe gin to enjoy.

We had a lovely three course dinner, I had salmon and shimps in a potato juice to start. The shrimp and salmon had an amazing flavour but there was no need for the potato juice, very strange! For the main course I had beef and oxtail on a burnt onion mash. It was absolutely gorgeous, I can see why so many food critics have been raving over chef Pauls Foster's food! I had a cheese board for dessert which was delicious.

The whole hotel is stunning, especially with the sun beaming down on it like it was last weekend. Tuddenham Mill is certainly one to recommend, and make sure you have a drink in the bar. There is glass surrounding the once working mill which changes colour as you drink, just entrancing!

I should be putting up some of my own photos shortly.