Eldest daughter went there for a few years - the school had a good reputation and I have to say…read morediscipline seemed to be enforced. However, it is a private school and not very cheap at that. On top of the school fees there is transport which is arranged with a local bus company and very expensive. Despite paying for an annual 'season' ticket, there are only two buses back in the afternoon and, more often than not, we then had to drive to Wisbech to pick up our daughter from after-school club.

Ever since my literary agent sister Debbi Michiko Florence posted pictures from her experience at…read morethe inaugural Harlaxton Kidlit Retreat hosted by our friend best-selling young adult author Kristy Boyce, I was very eager to take part in a retreat at Harlaxton College! For 6 days, I got to stay at Harlaxton Manor. There's a whole Wikipedia page for anyone interested in going down the rabbit hole of the manor's history. To make a long story short, it was built by a nobleman named Gregory Gregory (yes, that is really his name!), and is currently owned by University of Evansville. I loved exploring the manor, admiring the architecture, and getting good laughs over seeing my boyfriend's name everywhere I go. It was such a joy to write in such gorgeous surroundings every day, and switch up my location. I could write in the haunted library, the gardens, conservatory, ballrooms, wherever I wanted! I felt like I was in the castle from Beauty and the Beast. All my novels feature a castle in some shape or form, so it was a treat to be able to immerse myself in the experiencing of staying in one for a writing retreat. I liked pretending this was my home for nearly a week. Every day, on top of our writing time, we had optional activities and excursions that we could take part in. The staff was amazing and went above and beyond to ensure that we had such memorable and wonderful experiences! These included: Afternoon Tea Playing croquet Garden tour Pub tour (we visited 3 pubs and had dinner in one called Chequers Inn), Visiting Belvoir Castle (pronounced "Beaver," because the British hate the French lol) Attending Kristy's reading and signing of her book Hot British Boyfriend. Fun fact, the fictional school Emberton in her book is inspired by Harlaxton! Banquet to end the retreat I completed revising an updated outline for a new novel, and sent it back to my agent before the end of the retreat. Mission accomplished! Harlaxton felt so magical. I'm honestly a city girl, but I loved living in the manor in the English countryside so much, it actually felt jarring once I was back in a city like York and London. Not complaining. Kristy did such a phenomenal job creating a memorable writing retreat experience! It's going to be hard to top a retreat where I get to write in a fairytale castle!

Amazing study abroad experience. Went to harlaxton with my school as a summer study abroad program…read moreand was so grateful to get to stay at this beautiful manor. The dorm rooms were really nice. There were rec rooms, vending machines, a pay phone for local calls (like takeout or a cab). There's a laundry room, gym, and bike rental. The town close to it is small, friendly and charming. If you want to stay close to the manor there are beautiful gardens on the ground and trails next to it. The bluebell trail is only open a few weeks out of the summer and is just breathtaking. The living facilities are amazing and the staff is great. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided everyday and a bistro (aka a bar) is open at night mon-Friday. There is also a gift shop. Besides being used as a university you can also have your wedding at this manor. I hear the bridal suite is beautiful. Tours are also given.

A good school with good people working there it's not a 5 because the burgers aren't good .read more

Janina is an excellent dance teacher who make her classes fun. Whilst we are continually learning…read morenew things she ensures that we also revise previous work so that we have the confidence to try what we have learned when out socially. We attend the class in the Parkwat Club Peterborough and parking is really easy and the hall is very good. Thoroughly recommended.

One of my earliest memories of Blackfriars is being taken to the annual pantomine by my Nan. Since…read morethen I have watched a fair few more pantos, plays and comedy clubs. These days Blackfriars also shows movies. Blackfriars is a lovely little theatre and arts centre and has its own bar so you can catch a quick drink in the interval of the various productions that are put on there. I am looking forward to being able to take my little girl to watch the christmas panto in a year or two.

This store makes me want to be a kid again (ok, some of my friends would say that I still am...)!…read more It is an ecclectic mix of toys, art supplies, and art. I popped in because my nieces' (fraternal twins) first birthday are coming up and I figured there would be something for them in this store. The staff are always quick to greet you and let you know that there are more toys upstairs. The store is a little on the small side, so it is easy to knock things off the wall or shelves (I speak from experience... you know the scene where someone knocks something off the wall, and then when they go to fix it, they knock something off the shelf...). The reason I love the toys in this store is that they are handmade, high quality toys... lots of wooden toys. I find most toys today so... technical and they don't allow kids to really use their imagination. I also think that kids are overstimulated... they can carry media with them now, but I think they should get time to just be kids and I think these toys are perfect for that... besides how long will it be before they have cell phones, iPods, iPads, and more iProducts?! They have stuffed animals... beautiful, soft, plush, fun stuffed animals. There are puzzles, even brain teasers for adults, there are hand painted, wooden letters that you can use to decorate children's rooms. Upstairs are bigger items, like wooden doll houses, castles, prams (strollers if you are American), and more technical building sets for the older children. The items are a little on the pricey side, but I think that is due to the high quality of the toys. It may not be an 'everyday' toy store, but it is certainly one for doting aunties and grandparents to spoil their nieces and grandchildren. I do fear that with the economic climate... and the way that there are so few shops left in Grantham that it might not get enough business to keep it open. So if you are reading this... go buy some toys!

This charming Aladdin's cave of delights brands itself as being The Biggest Little Art Shop in the…read moreUniverse. Its size is certainly deceptive, Tardis-like even. On first arrival, you think the store ends at the counter - only to realise that there are many more delectable products in a room at the back. This quaint old store boasts a great range of products to delight art and craft lovers young and old. Everything from paints to pastels to polymer clay. Best of all, the staff are super friendly and knowledgeable - a rare quality missing from a lot of other places. They know their stuff and are never too busy to help you with your queries. The prices are very reasonable too compared to other art shops.

My company sourced Focus-On-Training to provide the BCS Data Partitioners course for me and the…read moreexperience hasn't been good to say the least. When I was asked initially to review their website, I saw that it was out of date - They listed the old style exam (This had changed about 6 months previously). I had to get my training department to confirm that it was the new style exam to which they did and then they updated the website. They proceeded to send the details through for the foundation course instead of the practitioners course - Again not very professional and combined with their outdated website I wasn't impressed. However my company had chosen them so I had to proceeded. They outsourced the training to Cyber Skills Training Limited - I don't know what checks they do on their sub-providers but needless to say this didn't end well. The trainer provided by Cyber-Skills in my opinion wasn't knowledgeable enough to teach the course. He read the slides out verbatim most of the time and added no value. Not enough time was spent on topics - other training providers state the data practitioners course is 5 long days of learning. With this trainer we finished at 3.40pm as we had already covered half of day two's content. This level of speed is reflected if you just read the slides and not add any context to the topic. Two people pulled out by lunchtime on the first day and then the course was cancelled before the start of day 2. The initial care shown and mistakes made by Focus on training in my opinion is reflected on their choice of training providers - The is probably very little quality checks done to ensure the customer is getting a quality service as I suspect this is money for them to take the booking and let someone else do the work. I invested a lot of time to get the week off to do the course and to be in the situation I am in now is not acceptable.

Training courses aren't cheap, so that's why I want to know that the courses I go on are at a high…read morestandard and more importantly reinvent to what I need to learn. The staff at Focus are really helpful. They give me all the information I need so I can make my own mind up if the course is going to be right for me. No pushy sales people just friendly staff that are there to help. I can't thank them enough.

Having dealt with M.A.D. since they opened several years back, i can say without any hesitation…read morethat they always come up with the goods. Dave and Pete offer an unbiased opinion on various brands and for aftercare service i cant fault them. Go visit, you will be glad you did. Ludo aka.Lez