Alternative High Street

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Sick of clone High Streets? Don’t worry, Wales’s market towns are refreshingly “real”. Discover how one historic market town is managing to reinvent itself while keeping faith with its heritage.

There are a few things that are likely to happen while you are in Ruthin. You’ll meet helpful, friendly people. You’ll relax into the peaceful pace and, let’s be honest, you might get rained on. But you’re unlikely to get lost.

It’s not a large town. Most roads lead to St Peter’s Square, at the top of the hill and flanked by handsome timber-framed buildings. So, it’s slightly embarrassing that we did, in fact, get lost. Blame it on all those pretty shops and long views down sloping roads over striking roof lines and beyond to the Clwydian Range. Very distracting.

I’m here with my friend Charlotte. I’m from Brighton, she’s from Manchester. Having dropped our bags at our hotel, the beautiful Manorhaus, we head out and quickly discover that Ruthin boasts a surprising number of shops – and Boots is the only chain store. “This is a real treat,” says Charlotte. “Time to shop and lots of independent stores, too.” “And no kids to interrupt us, either,” I add. On that cheery note, we march off.

Ruthin has the brass tacks outlets – butcher, ironmonger and bakery – alongside a handful of upmarket boutiques and jewellery shops, including Mococo and Twenty3. We’re more interested in the stores that sit somewhere in between the practical and the indulgent.

Like Leonardo’s, our first stop. A thriving deli, it is packed with shoppers, picking up a Snowdonia Whisky Cheese sandwich or some fresh-baked brownies. Charlotte picks some apricot and ginger chutney and we both take some of Leornardo’s awardwinning chicken, leek and laverbread pies.

Honey buns, a Ruthin speciality, make an irresistible snack. We tuck into one each, a sweet, bready treat that’s incredibly filling.

Leonardo’s has been in business for 10 years, while the Ruthin Book Shop, just down the hill, has been run by Janet Kenyon-Thompson for 25. Janet says her customers come from far and wide, with locals mainly coming in for maps.

Down the hill, Tilly Mint opened in 2008 in a cosy basement with a timbered ceiling. It’s just the kind of shop I love, packed with vintage collectables, from sparkly Sixties handbags to 1930s postcards and Victorian ceramics. I’m drawn to the boxes full of old advertising cards, but eventually fall for a framed Victorian seascape and bag it for my living room wall.

It sounds like elephants are doing aerobics upstairs, but it’s just Spavens the sweet shop above. It’s a mecca for heavy-footed kids. Charlotte has a notoriously sweet tooth so dives in for a bag of strawberry bonbons and some blackcurrant liquorice “the traditonal sort – my favourite”.

Nearby on the square, we find Cerrig & The Green Lady, a sweet-scented emporium of toiletries and cosmetics made with natural ingredients, many from small producers in Wales and the UK. Charlotte treats herself to some Neal’s Yard Toning Eye Gel, an indulgence at £19.55, but there are plenty of goodies for just a few pounds too, from handmade soap to beeswax candles.

Ruthin is clearly working hard at attracting visitors with unique, independent shops, while also remaining a down-to-earth market town. Of course, it would be wrong to judge Ruthin solely on its shops. It has plenty of history; a medieval settlement with a castle built by Edward I (now the Ruthin Castle Hotel), the town was burnt to the ground by Welsh hero Owain Glyndwˆ r in 1400.

Consequently, many of Ruthin’s buildings have medieval cellars (the only part to survive the fire) topped with timber-framed constructions from later in the 15th century, like Nantclwyd y Dre, Wales’ oldest timber-framed building. I loved all the old, handsome buildings.

A contrast to all this history is new kid on the block, Ruthin Craft Centre, opened in 2008. It’s an exquisitely-designed space with three galleries hosting the best in international contemporary applied art.

The centre is lovely to stroll around, with a cafe and gift shop, sorry, “retail gallery”, too, selling high-quality glassware, ceramics and jewellery, a gorgeous Welsh blanket catches my eye, but at over £200 it’s a purchase that will have to wait until the next time.

Having pottered, shopped and lingered in the Craft Centre, we lunched on our Leonardo’s pies. We’d planned a walk in the Clwydian Range to round off our day, but the hills are obscured by drizzle, so we retreat to the comfort of Manorhaus, where owner Gavin Harris serves tea in the rich red lounge.

Refurbished in 2007, each of its eight rooms has a king-size bed, goose-down duvet and deliciously crisp Egyptian cotton bedlinen. They have been designed in collaboration with local artists.

I’m in Oriel 5, decorated with paintings by Ian Williams. There’s an impressive roll top bath by the sash window (I did pull down the blind before using it, to spare Ruthin’s blushes), a wet room and a lounge area with its own fireplace. I could have happily moved in for the week.

It’s very easy to relax at Manorhaus, with help from the steam room, cinema and restaurant where, in the evening, Charlotte and I devour three fantastic courses, including heavenly poached haddock and a rich rabbit stew.

My only regret is that Gavin baulked at showing us his robes. He’s mayor until May this year, and eager to see the town prosper. “The chain is great,” he confides, “but the robes are a bit musty.”

Ruthin is anything but. Useful links www.visitruthin.com www.manorhaus.com www.northwalesborderlands.co.uk

Duncan writes about all things Welsh, and specialises in UK Breaks, activity holidays and UK family holidays.

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State of the Art: Podcasting Blossoms, but in Slow Motion

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Podcasts — not a flash in the pan but not an instant success, either — are gradually picking up steam.








NYT > Personal Tech

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Star Wars X-Wing And TIE Fighter Games Come To Steam

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 Well it’s essentially Star Wars time, with May the 4th in sight and the new movie set for launch later this year – and it probably won’t not be Star Wars time ever again if Disney has its way. To celebrate, Steam is hosting a big Star Wars Day sale, with discounts on classic games, and debuting the X-Wing and TIE Fighter series on its platform. Read More

TechCrunch

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X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and more classic Star Wars games come to Steam

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LucasArts has slowly been releasing some of its classic Star Wars games on GOG.com, and today it’s expanded to the biggest PC store around: Steam. Starting today, you can grab beloved games like X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and more on Valve’s ubiquitous digital shop. Meanwhile, GOG.com has added a few more games from a galaxy far, far away as well, including Star Wars: Rebel Assault I & II and Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Jedi Academy. That should be enough to hold you over until the impending release of Star Wars: Battlefront in November.

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Valve removes Steam"s new paid mods in the face of criticism

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A few days after it introduced a new system in which Steam users could pay for game mods, video game developer and publisher Valve is removing the feature, in the face of widespread criticism from angry players. In a post on Steam’s Workshop, Valve’s Alden Kroll said the team at Valve “didn’t understand exactly what we were doing” by introducing an option for mod-makers to charge for their creations, and that the company “missed the mark pretty badly.”

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Carpet Cleansing Alternatives

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The reason for this specific content is always to give a synopsis of what’s designed for you. Within upcoming posts, we shall get into additional detail within each place so you hold the tips it is advisable to take advantage and suitable choice on your predicament.

Primary could end up being the do-it-yourself technique. We’ve almost all observed the carpet cleansing rental exhibits inside our nearby grocery stores. Basically grab a leasing equipment including a bottle of carpet shampoo together with your groceries as good as you will be all set. Right? Completely wrong, completely wrong, completely wrong!!The merely advantage these types of equipment will certainly give is always to the shop whenever you pay your own excellent money to be able to rent one. Sellers are generally wise business-minded individuals having an eye on the bottom line. Whenever you consider the idea, exactly who frequently shops for any friends and family groceries? You heard right. Women of all ages do.

And for that reason, the leasing equipment were created to be easily portable items which a woman is actually simply capable to wheel them out to be able to her car. On the other hand, so that they can keep the weight down, the power of those equipment is actually considerably sacrificed. As a result, the caliber of the carpet cleansing is actually not very good at best. The easily portable motors usually shortage the water-lift capacity of bigger, weightier items with the outcome that will quite challenging to eliminate the water laden soil from your carpet. Usually it takes a long time, perhaps days for any carpet to be waterless once more. So when it is waterless, there could be little or no recognizable betterment from the look and feel of the carpet.

If you would like lease do-it-yourself equipment, stay away from the supermarket versions as good as head over to an establishment in which it is actually likely to lease a far more highly effective equipment having superior water elevate functionality. The machines leasing stores or maybe significant box stores like Dwelling Depot as good as Rona provide a superior choice that may offer you much better outcomes on your leasing dollar.

The important thing is not to be able to over-wet your own carpet. For each wet pass, go back within the same place having a couple of waterless passes. To paraphrase, don’t use anything but the vacuum to be able to take away just as much of the soil laden water out of your carpet as possible. This specific will certainly considerably minimize the time on your carpet to be totally waterless once more and may even furthermore stay away from wetting the floor underneath.

Following, could end up being the choice of hiring a qualified carpet cleansing provider. Of these types of, probably the most well known is that of carpet steam cleansing, normally referred to as warm water removal. The gear includes a wand having hose leading back to either a highly effective handheld base unit or maybe outside to a truck mounted system. Within the hands of an skilled carpet cleaner, either system will certainly carry out a powerful deep cleansing of your carpet. Within choosing a carpet cleaner, begin by means of seeking recommendations among your own circle of friends.

Chances are excellent that will somebody you know can highly recommend an individual. In general the smaller sized owner/operator businesses certainly are generally a risk-free decision because owner himself/herself shall be performing the particular work. Question when they will certainly comprise the comprehensive pre-vacuum of your carpet at absolutely no additional cost. This can be a indication that they are prepared to consider the additional occasion to undertake an in depth cleansing to suit your needs. Furthermore, question when they have a written assurance of satisfaction because extra guarantee prior to committing to fixed the scheduled.

Qualified carpet cleaners usually provide a small moisture choice as well as the warm water removal approach. The advantage of implementing small moisture is that your own carpet is actually waterless as good as prepared for use once more within as few as 1 hour following cleansing. Small moisture cleansing uses additional disappointment as good as less water to undertake the same outcomes because warm water removal. In the event of particularly serious soil, the carpet may primary need to be able to end up being flushed having warm water as good as removed and then followed up with a small moisture cleansing. A specialist will certainly know best what is the most suitable solution to reestablish your own carpet to a beautiful, clean look and feel once more..

You can contact this service the Carpet Cleaning Phoenix and this Carpet Cleaning Scottsdale this will offer or provide quality service.

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Dubai Beach Membership Packages

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The Jumeirah Group are a Dubai based luxury hospitality company and a member of Dubai Holding, and I’m pleased to report that they have announced the launch of an exclusive new Beach Membership package at a top Dubai hotel.

The Madinat Jumeirah is a glorious complex of 5 star accommodations comprising three resort wings designed for luxury living, and its through them that these packages are now available.

It’s a sure fire why of enhancing your Dubai holiday experience and definitely worth doing if you happen to be a regular visitor of Dubai or it’s on your list of regular business destinations or stopovers. The appeal is also obvious for residents of Dubai.

Couples membership rates are AED 55,000 with family rates starting at AED 65,500.

Each member is entitled to:

•  Full access to 2km of private beach and complimentary use of beach marquees, gazebos and cabanas (upon availability)

•  Unlimited access to the newly refurbished Quay Health club including use of the aerobics studio classes, squash courts, 25 metre indoor lap pool, sauna, steam room, changing room facilities, rock climbing wall and junior member access to Quay Skillz Youth Facility

•  30% off a 12-day High Altitude Facility Program at The Quay Healthclub, which includes a full Optimal Talise Wellness Assessment

•  Unlimited access to Sinbad’s Kids Club for Family Membership in Madinat Jumeirah

•  Complimentary access to Wild Wadi Waterpark (family memberships only)

•  20% discount on food and beverage in all Jumeirah-run bars and restaurants within the Madinat Jumeirah resort for up to ten additional guests per membership (cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions)

•  10% discount on best available room rate at Madinat Jumeirah

•  30% discount on all Talise spa treatments, (excluding wellness programmes, promotions and packages)

•  Special member’s rate on PADI diving courses, available at The Pavilion Dive Centre in Jumeirah Beach Hotel

•  Complimentary non motorised water sports and 50% off motorised water sports

•   Access to five floodlit tennis courts; private tennis lessons available through Peter Burwash International

•  Discounted beach access rates for members’ guests (AED 200 per adult and AED 100 per child)   

•   Complimentary guest beach access passes for new members and membership renewals

So, if you’ve got the money and you spend plenty of the year there, it’s a viable lifestyle option and well worth your consideration.

Hello, pleased to meet you.

I am an experienced travel writer with a broad background principally covering luxury long haul destinations. I hope my posts on here will be of interest to you: Luxury Holidays, Maldives Holidays, Dubai Holidays

 

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Digestive System Problems

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EARLY LACK OF INTEREST IN FEEDING

Some babies are eager feeders from the word go. They drain their first bottle dry or go to work on the breast as if they’d been coached while they were still in the womb. But the majority of newborns take their first few feedings with little or no interest. Some of them don’t want to feed at all. They hang up the DO NOT DISTURB sign.

Don’t take this personally.

Your baby doesn’t need to feed. Every newborn’s body is composed of 79 percent water. By the time the baby is ten days old, she’s down to 74 percent water. We assume that she’s simply using up the superabundance of water that nature provided to tide her over her first few days until Mother’s breast milk comes in, or the formula delivery arrives, whichever the case may be.

If your full-term, healthy baby prefers to live off her surplus water for the first few days and is all right in every other regard, don’t be discouraged. Don’t try to stimulate her, pinch her heels, immerse her in ice water, or force-feed in any way. Let her sleep. How would you like it if somebody woke you up out of a deep sleep and decided that what you really wanted was a chicken burrito and an egg cream?

Use the time instead to count her fingers and toes. Take off her clothes, put her on your chest, and feed her with your love. When she gets hungry, she will want to be fed. Isn’t she bright?

COLIC

Colic is the Tower of Babel in pediatrics. Every pediatric specialty speaking its own tongue has its own idea about what causes colic. Pediatric allergists believe that colic comes from cow milk allergy, while the endocrinologists suggest that it comes from the mother’s hormones. Pediatric gas t roe necrologists contend an immaturity of the baby’s intestines causes it, and pediatric psychiatrists that it’s the baby’s response to stress and tension. When the specialty of pediatric aerospace medicine is launched, I have no doubt that its practitioners will suggest that colic comes from outer space.

For the life of me, I don’t know why every specialty claims to know what causes colic. None of them has an effective treatment, and you’d think that, given the lack of solid information or convincing arguments, they’d all keep quiet when the subject comes up.

Doctors don’t even agree on what colic actually is. From its name, you would imagine that it had something to do with the colon. And, actually, when the term colic is used in its narrowest sense, it refers to the crampy, abdominal pain that some babies get while they eat. When used in a wider sense, it extends to excessive, cyclic crying of any type and from any cause; and finally, the term widens out to the horizons when the word excessive is scratched.

How can we recognize a “typical baby with colic”?

Charles Darwin described colic almost 100 years ago as “infants’ . . . utter violent and prolonged screams. Whilst thus screaming, their eyes are firmly closed so that the skin round them is wrinkled and the forehead contracted into a frown. The mouth is widely opened . . . so as to assume a squarish form. The breath is inhaled spasmodically.” That picture is still pretty good and can be completed by adding that the legs are either drawn up to the belly or forcefully stretched out, and the infant emits the sounds of passing wind. How often do we see this picture, and how often is the baby going through just regular cyclic fussing?

In the first place, since seven out of eight normal healthy babies have regular crying periods, you must assume that regular periods of crying are normal. Some people even suggest that crying serves a purpose, like blowing off steam.

More Articles of your interest: Digestive Disorders Nux Vomice Remedy

Abbas Ahmad is a famous homeopath often writes articles about health such as 

http://www.homeotreatment.com/Achespains.htm”> Aches and Pains Treatment

Acute and Chronic Illness

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Jura ENA 5 Review

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Coffee has become the most important substance in numerous people’s lives. It is how they begin the morning, it is how they get through the day therefore top quality coffee is a must. To produce a high quality mug of coffee, a good espresso machine is crucial, and this Jura ENA 5 review should help to prove this.

The real key points of the appliance are that it possesses a classy cube shape stainless steel body with a choice of colored sides of black or cherry red. It grinds, tamps as well as brews, all within 60 seconds and it generates excellent espresso coffee. Additionally it is possible to personalize both the temperature and coffee strength enabling the production of the perfect personal cup, and what’s more, it features a simple-to-operate programmable rotary dial. Measuring just 17″ by 9″ by 14″, it’s going to suit even a compact kitchen without dominating the space.

Milk Frothing

This particular type offers two methods to frothing milk, the traditional side steam arm wherein you are able to steam the milk in a pitcher, or an integrated milk steaming system which froths directly in to the cup. This second procedure is very convenient should you be simply needing a speedy mug of coffee and don’t have enough time to manually steam. It should be noted however, that the steam nozzle must be cleaned after every use to avoid milk buildup which can lean to a steam explosion.

Energy Compliant

One of the main rewards (apart from the wonderful coffee) may be the remarkably power efficient system that disconnects the coffee maker from the electrical source when not in use, therefore reducing energy. This change can be applied even though it is even now brewing coffee, it will conclude the job and then begin full power saving setting. In addition, it possesses a standby method that reduces power consumption by approximately forty percent.

Grinder

The bean chamber truly adds to the high quality of this espresso machine, simply because it is clear, which allows the operator to view the beans, also beneficial for checking the amount, as well as for the appearance and design. Fresh coffee beans have always radiated a classy feel with their aroma and look, so this basic characteristic really improves the excellence of the product. Also, one does not have to utilize coffee beans and the grinder, the Jura ENA5 also will take pre-ground coffee therefore increasing the option for different blends, even decaffeinated coffee.

Other Options

The machine has an inbuilt water filtration system to guarantee the water used is as close to 100 % pure as possible, this of course being an essential ingredient to making a top quality cup of coffee. It is also totally programmable and allows you to keep individual choices for your ideal cup of joe. On the negative side the water chamber is a little small but the Jura ENA5 is a compact unit and there is no space for a larger water tank.

This is a useful compact espresso machine that will suit most kitchens.

Alison Stevens is a coffee lover who roasts her own beans and enjoys creating her own coffee blends. You’ll find tips on finding Jura ENA 5 at the best price at her website. If you are looking for a larger espresso maker you may enjoy her Jura Impressa C5 Review

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Gillespie, McCain campaign in Norfolk

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Gillespie, McCain campaign in Norfolk

Around The Watercooler. Crabs, crab blurb … record for largest pillow fight · Feeling up to a monster 8,000-calorie breakfast? Reports: 10,000 doves searched by police in China · Toddler rescued after getting potty stuck on head · Accused doughnut …
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The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth tortures payers in November

The remake will include over 110 new items, an expanded storyline and additional enemies and bosses. Steam users who purchased The Binding of Isaac before are expected to receive some kind of loyalty discount if they"re interested in purchasing Rebirth.
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