I'm lucky enough that my parents live only an hour away from the Cotswolds, so when visiting them recently, we took the opportunity to travel via the Cotswolds on the way. If you can, I'd definitely recommend staying in the Cotswolds to enjoy the area longer or go on some of the beautiful local walks, but if time is of the essence then you can definitely do it in a day. If you are planning a visit, I'd urge you to drive though, as local transport isn't that regular so if you miss the bus you'll be waiting 2 hours for the next one! 

We started our day bright and early in Castle Combe, a quintessential Cotswolds village full of charm. Castle Combe is known as one of the prettiest villages in England, so its no shock that its popular with tourists. If you're planning a visit I definitely recommend getting there early to avoid the crowds, the shops won't be open yet but you'll have the village to yourself without having to share the narrow streets with hundreds of other tourists. 

After Castle Combe we headed to Bibury, about a 45 minute journey down the road. Unfortunately when we arrived the heavens opened, so while it was a very quick stop in this village, it was still very pretty. We headed to Arlington Row, a famous row of houses in the village which used to house weavers who worked in the Arlington Mill. After we'd seen Arlington Row, we went to the Trout Farm for breakfast, and despite the downpour, it was an amazing bacon sandwich so I'd highly recommend. 

While we were in the area, we headed to Daylesford Farm to visit their famous farm shop. We wandered around and picked up a few bits to take to my parents - there is a whole room dedicated to cheese - need I say more?! I honestly could have spent hours here. 

After we'd dropped a small fortune at Daylesford, we headed to Stow-on-the-Wold. We went to St Edwards Church to see the famous door that inspired the Lord of the Rings, and popped into the cute shops like Cutter Brooks. By this time we were feeling a little peckish again, so we shared a baked Camembert at The Porch House, the oldest inn in England. 

If we'd have had more time we could have spent another day travelling around the villages, and if the weather had permitted! But if you're in the area and have a car, I'd really recommend doing some village hopping and taking in the quaint countryside villages. 

Ingredients

360ml warm water 

7g instant yeast 

420g bread flour 

2 tsp salt 

1tbsp sugar 

2 tbsp honey 

1 egg 

Everything bagel seasoning 

Method

1. To prepare the dough, whist the warm water and yeast together in the bowl on your stand mixer using the dough hook attachment, leave to sit for 5 minutes. 

2. Add the flour, sugar and salt. Beat on a low speed for 2 minutes until the dough is stiff and dry looking. 

3. Knead your dough on a medium speed for 6-7 mins until the dough is elastic and a little softer (if you poke it with your finger it should bounce back). 

4. Lightly grease a bowl with olive oil, and place your dough in the bowl. Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for an hour, or until it has doubled in size. 

I've split the restaurants into Lunch and Dinner, you can eat at these restaurants at either time of day, however we decided we'd like a drink with dinner so have listed the restaurants serving alcohol under the dinner section. 

Lunch:

As the name suggests, Cafe L'Epices is located in the Medina, right next to the Souk, overlooking Place des Epices - the spice market. Its the perfect place to head for lunch after a morning exploring the souks and has a great view of the hustle and bustle of Marrakech. It was also the first rooftop bar in Marrakech!

 I'd really recommend the Kefta Tagine and of course grabbing a photo with the famous straw hats! 

Nomad

Similar to Cafe L'Epices, Nomad is located in the Medina overlooking Place des Epices - they're right opposite eachother. I'd say that Nomad is slightly winning on the aesthetics, but both were lovely for lunch. Nomad also did better vegetarian options if that is what you're looking for. 

Le Jardin

Le Jardin couldn't have had a more appropriate name, it's a botanical oasis right in the heart of the Medina, perfect for escaping the chaos for a little while! The food was dreamy, or if you're just looking to have a little afternoon break, its the perfect spot for some mint tea. 

Dinner

Kabana

We headed to Kabana on our last night and I really wish we found it sooner, the drinks and the food were great and the rooftop had a great vibe. The rooftop will transport you to somewhere tropical, while you overlook the very Moroccan surrounding areas, and the service was great too unlike a lot of the places we visited. 

Dar Dar 

We visited DarDar on our first night and had a great time, the sunset view was spectacular and the food and drinks were great. We had a selection of small plates (kind of like a Moroccan tapas!) and some amazing cocktails. 

El Fenn

Right next to Kabana is El Fenn, we didnt actually manage to visit El Fenn despite our best efforts (we tried 3 times and it was full) but I thought I'd include it as it came so highly recommended. They don't take bookings though so if you're keen on going I'd start trying on the first day of your trip!

Dar Cherifa 

We actually visited Dar Cherifa for lunch but I think it would make a lovely romantic dinner spot. The restaurant is located in the middle of the souk, but has such a calming atmosphere - completely different to what you'll get on the other side of the door! 

Marrakech has been on my bucket list for ages but its the kind of place I wanted to wait and do properly, but I'm so glad I've been now. It's probably the shortest plane ride from the UK you can take if you're looking for a complete culture shock - the city is a sensory overload, the sights, colours and sounds. 

Before I went I did a lot of research and wanted to share what we enjoyed while we were out there and any tips we picked up along the way, as there's a lot of scary stories out there about Morocco - to the point where I was quite nervous to visit, but luckily everyone we ran into was lovely and we didn't really experience too much of the negativity associated with the city. 

Where We Stayed

When we were in Marrakech we wanted to stay in a traditional Riad and ended up booking Ksar Kasbah after reading about it online. The Riad was everything we were looking for - it had a lovely rooftop for drinks, a beautiful central courtyard, the friendliest staff who bent over backwards for us. We did go for a wander around La Mamounia which is beautiful, but I'm glad we got to experience a traditional riad and would recommend Ksar Kasbah to anyone. 

Breakfast was included in our stay so every morning the staff laid out a platter of traditional Moroccan baked goods, fruit, juice, coffee and tea which was lovely. Sometimes we ate this in the restaurant downstairs and sometimes we had it on the rooftop when the sun was shining, but it was great to have options. 

The riad also has its own spa and hammam which unfortunately we didn't get a chance to use, but worth noting that it is there if you're looking for a more relaxing trip. They also offered to book us any tours we wanted to go on, and arranged all of our transportation if we needed it so we didn't have to barter with taxi drivers. 

What We Did

Gardens - While we were in Marrakech we really got our garden fix, we visited more gardens that I usually would on a short trip however I'm glad we did as they provided a lovely bit of respite from the madness of the Medina, these were one of the few places I didn't feel like I had to constantly be on guard for pickpockets or people trying to lead me astray, so it was lovely to enjoy the gardens in the sun. We visited Le Jardin Secret in the heart of the Medina which was lovely, and also headed up to Jardin Majorelle to see the famous YSL gardens, although the museum was unfortunately closed for refurbishment. We also wandered around the gardens at La Mamounia with an ice cream before catching our flight home which was a lovely end to the trip. 

On one of the days we booked a trip into the Agafay Desert. We booked this trip through Get Your Guide, who picked us up from right by our riad and drove us an hour outside of Marrakech into the desert. We first went on a camel ride which I wasn't the biggest fan of, before hopping on some quad bikes and roaming round the desert. When we booked we were told we would get an hour on the quad bikes but we had about 2 hours so we definitely got our moneys worth! After this they drove us to their camp where we sat round the camp fire before being served dinner from a traditional tagine. The day trip was great but I would definitely recommend getting a full nights sleep beforehand and making sure you eat a big lunch as we ended up being quite tired and hungry while waiting for dinner!

If traditional Moroccan interiors are your thing then definitely pay a visit to Ben Youssef Madrasa, the building is beautiful and you really felt like you were in another world. Entry costs 50dirhams and they only accept cash, there isn't a cash point anywhere near the building so definitely make sure you have enough before heading there. 

There are two palaces to visit while in Marrakech, we didn't manage to make it to Bahia Palace but felt we got our pretty building fix from Ben Youssef Madrasa and El Badi Palace, which we did manage to visit. The grounds are lovely in the sunshine, and it gives you a good insight into what Moroccan royalty was like back in the day which was interesting, however most of the explanations are only in French so we struggled a bit - but the beautiful ruins made up for that. 

We spent a lot of time exploring the medina and souks, we'd originally planned to just go once and have a look around/do our shopping, but pretty much everything requires walking through the souks so we ended up going there a lot. It's chaos and there is stuff going on everywhere, but also so interesting to look at all of the little market stalls and they really suck you in - I ended up doing a fair bit of shopping and having to buy a bag to take home as hand luggage to get it all home, but it was worth it for all the unique ceramics and the tagine I managed to get for only £6! 

Things you should know before travelling to Marrakech

- Think about buying an eSim as some mobile phones won't work there, or they will charge you a lot to use your phone plan and data (mine was £6 a day whereas a eSim would have only cost me £9 for the whole trip). 

- When it comes to dealing with the locals whether you're haggling in the souks or over a taxi, etc I think its best to just be firm and say no when you need to, they will then mostly leave you alone. 

- Download a map and try to know where you're going before you head out. The city is very busy and overwhelming and if you add getting lost to that mixture it won't be a fun time. We'd also heard that people will try to show you were to go and give directions then demand money, luckily this only happened to us once in the time we were there and we managed to say no before it was too late. 

- Some places only take cash so make sure you have a little stash of dirhams with you, all cash points charge you to get money out so it may be worth exchanging a little extra before you fly. 

- This was also the first country I've been in where I've experienced the call to prayer, it was fascinating to see people stopping their day to file into the mosque, but not so great at 7am when it was waking us up daily...so you may want to check whether your accommodation is close to a mosque but its so loud I think you'll hear it regardless! 

Have you got Marrakech on your list?