BBC Good Food Tickets & Hotel Stay Gifted

I think that first night away from your child is one that everybody remembers. It’s weird, it’s scary, it’s refreshing… and I wouldn’t want to do it very often!

But, it was for a very fun reason. And, I knew she would have so much more fun without us this weekend and, I was right.

There are often moments that feel very surreal, and being on the press list for the BBC Good Food Show was one that I was extremely excited for. Despite not actually doing the cooking in my house, I am a proper foodie – and I do love to bake… especially when I have the right tools!

There is something so incredibly satisfying too about watching the professionals make these mouth-watering dishes in real-time too. Even if sometimes they do go in the – to quote Lisa Faulkner – ‘magic ovens’.

I hadn’t been to the Good Food Show since GCSE Food Tech days, and I had very fond memories of it. Wandering around with your cup and just getting sample after sample and filling your goodie bag with more and more freebies from foodie brands was a massive win.

We had booked on to a few workshops between us and a few Big Kitchen talks which I was looking forward to. I was especially looking forward to Nadiya Hussain (you might recognise her from her GBBO) and the festive bakes tasting sessions with Taylor & Colledge and Lisa Faulkner.

The first thing that you’ll notice when you walk into the Good Food Show is the undeniable smell of… Christmas food? There is just a waft that circles around of cheeses, chutneys, spices, and cooking and it is delightful. We had a wander around a sampled a variety of produce from brands, like Mouse House Cheese Co and Brownie Che, and got involved in activities like throwing the bean bag at Mutti and spinning the wheel at Regina.

I do think you could definitely just visit one of the days, and pick the day which has the chefs or cooks you’d most like to see. But, if you’re eager to see a range of them, and you don’t mind paying the entry fee for multiple days, you can just nip in and out and make shorter days of it. There were also a range of talks and theatre opportunities that were included in the admission so you could definitely bulk your day out with that.

Our first day, we had seats for Paul Ainsworth. Between Paul, Tony and Marcus Bean, there was plenty of humour and banter to keep the show engaging and entertaining. There felt a genuine friendship between them which was lovely. The glazed chicken wings that Paul made looked and smelt amazing – definitely had cravings for them!

The festive bake workshop was a great opportunity to eat some cake and have a listen to Lisa Faulkner. I enjoyed hearing plans for the upcoming book and hearing about filming John & Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen – especially their stint in Australia!

Stocked up with bags, cheeses and Spanish meats (and a dinosaur chair for little one… yes, from the Good Food Show!), we took the short walk over to Hilton Birmingham Metropole. It was a mere 5 minutes from the NEC doors so it was incredibly convenient, and we do love a Hilton!

This one did feel slightly little dated, and could certainly do with some signage when you leave the lift so you aren’t reading door numbers to guess if you need to go left or right – but for convenience, we could not fault it! They also had plenty of amenities on site, such as the pool, spa, the bar and a few restaurants. We’d have loved to have been there longer to check those out! Especially those spa treatments!

It was busy on the Saturday evening with plenty of conferences and multiple birthday parties going on, so the main bar and the executive lounge were both standing room only – and that was cosy! If you’re staying in the lounge, you do get access to unlimited free drinks in the executive lounge and from 5-7:30 they served the canapes too so it’s a great asset for booking a suite.

Deciding to lose the crowds a bit, we headed on up to our room where a follower had sent us a bottle of prosecco and a box of chocolates – which was very kind! So, putting Strictly on we tucked in for an early night and did nothing but sleep… BLISS! (Until somebody set the fire alarm off at 11:30pm and gave us a right fright!).

I mean, if you’d have seen me running around the room in a frenzy looking for things to wear for an outdoor freeze! “I can’t wear my Doc boots they’ll take too long to put on!” As I’m running around the room with no other pair of shoes to put on except the hotel slippers… which I didn’t even put on!

Thankfully, it was a false alarm. If only for the fact I was still running around the room in the exact same attire I jumped out of bed in!

The view from the room was super pretty over the lake and of the nearby Resort World Arena. Even on a wintry, grey morning, it was lovely – though the afternoon before with the sun-shining and glistening and dancing on the ripples of the lake was beautiful.

The bed must have been comfortable because come 9:30am… we’d overslept and definitely was not having a chance at catching the 10am Hairy Bikers in the Big Kitchen – even with the NEC being so close! I was gutted to miss the Hairy Bikers, though the sleep was welcomed! We haven’t set an alarm in over two years because we have a natural alarm clock in the little one, so our other error maybe was not setting the alarm!

I had already paid for the parking at the NEC before we had planned to stay with Hilton, but, if we hadn’t the £14 per 24 hours would’ve been ideal at the Hilton rather than the event parking – it was the same price but less of a distance (and mainly indoors!) to walk compared to the event parking.

We wandered over to the NEC to make Alex’s festive knife skills and my seat for Nadiya. Watching Nadiya Hussain in the Big Kitchen was a real highlight for me. She was so unhinged and funny that actually watching her cook was secondary! She has such good stage presence and humour and is just so likeable. I found her work ethic to be incredibly inspirational – she has written around 20 books in 8 years which is just truly remarkable. Stating that she’s not able to stop and is always working on something… relatable!

We could not go to Birmingham during the Christmas period without going one place in particular… the Christmas market! I cannot resist paying extortionate prices for hot chocolate to keep the 175ml mug in the name of Christmas spirit! We’ve been visiting the market for many years now, even when we lived in Spain, we didn’t miss it when it was on.

It was a quick nosy around Selfridge’s to see if there was anything that she might like for Christmas whilst she wasn’t there to spoil the surprise before heading home, doing as much cleaning and tidying in the house as remotely possible in an hour before picking her up and have the biggest cuddles.

It’s lovely to be away, but how good does it feel to be home to your own bed!?