This year I’ve taken it upon myself to explore the United Kingdom visiting different cities all over the country.

Last month I went to Derby in the Midlands. Said to be the most central city in the UK.

I went for my friends wedding so spent a good 2 nights there and had plenty of time to explore the place both at night and day. Luckily, it also happened to be the hottest weekend of the year so far! Perfect.

We checked in to Aston Court Hotel right opposite the train station as soon as we arrived. Since we went straight from work and it was at least 2 hours on the train from Leeds, we didn’t arrive until after 7pm. Luckily we still had some light left of the day.

After getting everything settled we headed in to the city walking past all the Indian restaurants in which girls stood outside calling us in, trying to get us to eat there. With the weather being nice and being in a new place we felt like we were on holiday in another European country! It’s quite uncommon in England to have people trying to pull you in to restaurants but it’s very common in other countries I’ve been to so it felt very strange to see it here.

We continued walking until we reached the main city centre where we were completely spoilt for choice. We walked for a long time admiring the old buildings and looking at many pubs we wanted to head in and making a note of those we wanted to come back to knowing realistically we would never make it back to all of them.

Derby seems to have a lot to offer in terms of traditional pubs and food places. We were pleasantly surprised!

We visited one of the oldest pubs in Derby- The Old Bell Hotel Tudor Bar. It was like stepping back in time or something out of Game of Thrones! The room was small with large armchairs surrounding a lit fire and ancient decor. A small bar in the corner served the beverages and the place had the ultimate cosy feel to it. I can’t believe places like this still exist in England, it’s great to see.

During our days in Derby we walked around the city admiring the statues and relaxing on the grass by the cathedral. It was a peaceful weekend jam packed with plenty more to do than we were expecting. And of course, the weather helped!

This trip has definitely inspired me to visit more and more cities in the UK. As I bet there are plenty that I wouldn’t normally have considered ever making a weekend break out of.