Nab a chic nest at The Treehouse hotel, an ever-evolving Northern playground
THE LOWDOWN
THE third Treehouse Hotel (its siblings are in London and Silicon Valley, no less) has taken root in the spot of the former Renaissance Deansgate hotel.
Interiors are crafted from vintage and reclaimed materials and it's a 15-minute stroll from Manchester Piccadilly.
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Interiors are crafted from vintage and reclaimed materials
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Ibiza-style chill-out beats play in the lobby
The city's buzzing bars, restaurants and shops are all on your doorstep, plus the hotel has its own swish cinema.
WHAT WE LOVED. . .
The bespoke scent of wildflowers follows you wherever you go and Ibiza-style chill-out beats play in the lobby.
Comfy nooks are laden with board games and fidget toys, and rustic bird houses decorate the walls.
Upstairs, we fell for the city views and the whimsical design of our Studio Suite – think fabric headboards decorated in woodland animals, colourful patchwork quilts wrapped over super-king beds and rainbow curtains.
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Natural botanical toiletries smell incredible and yoga mats are supplied for morning stretches.
Tuck into home-made crumpets with honey from the Treehouse's own bees, £8, for brekkie.
Come dinnertime, opt for delicate smoked chalk stream trout with mustard cream, rhubarb ketchup and a rye cracker, and squab ham pigeon nestled in mustard leaves with a lemon thyme granita at eatery Pip.
Even the veggie braised leek Sunday roast is a winner, £31 for two courses.
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WHAT WE DIDN'T LOVE. . .
This place is still feathering its nest, so it'll be autumn before its Asian-fusion restaurant and rooftop bar open.
OUT AND ABOUT
Film buff?
Manchester Airport reveals it's £1.3billion makeover
Grab your trainers for a walking tour with The Locationist, AKA actor Lee Perkins, and visit locations from the likes of Peaky Blinders, Captain America and Sherlock Holmes.
You'll be amazed to find out how many times Manchester doubles up for NYC! A four-hour tour costs £17 per person (
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Sun shining?
Stop by Castlefield Viaduct, a luscious sky-garden sun trap.
Meanwhile, wine enthusiasts should not miss Kelly's Manchester Wine Tour to visit four brilliant watering holes, such as natural wine shop Kerb and Gary Neville's Sterling bar.
We're still dreaming of his cheese doughnuts!
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A four-hour tour costs £37.50 per person, including tastings and nibbles (
Handily, tours start at Cutting Room Square, the site of Ancoats' The Makers Market, on the first Sunday of every month.
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Try the squab ham pigeon nestled in mustard leaves with a lemon thyme granita at eatery Pip
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The hotel is just a 15-minute stroll from Manchester Piccadilly
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Go early to pick up fab jewellery, art and artisan produce, including salmon and dill filo pastries from Primo Grano (
For dinner, hit lively Blacklock and sip on a Usual Suspects – a mix of jalapeño tequila, Aperol and prosecco, £9 – while munching potted meats and kimchi, £1.50, plus spicy pig's head on toast, £8, to start.
Go big or go home – order the sharing porterhouse loin for mains, £10.50 per 100g (
The next morning, grab a restorative blueberry smoothie, £5.30, from the excellent Gran T's (
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THE DAMAGE
Double rooms cost from £199 (
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Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
20 years of YouTube: 'We couldn't have predicted how the platform would evolve'
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Originally launched on Valentine's Day 2005 as a potential dating site — the three co-founders, Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, and Chad Hurley were self-declared geeks in need of dates — its initial slogan was 'tune in, hook up'. But the stampede of people uploading dating video profiles failed to materialise, so the three guys opened the platform to everyone — the first video, uploaded in April 2005, was a grainy 19-second clip of Karim at San Diego zoo in front of the elephants, titled 'Me At The Zoo'. Not long after, in October 2006, Google bought YouTube for $1.65bn — a year after Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp had bought the now long-dead platform MySpace for $580m. 'We're the stage, you're the performers,' Hurley told the public. And behold, a new internet species was spawned — the YouTuber. Nobodies in their bedrooms became somebodies earning serious cash — remember Zoella? PewDiePie? Today's top three biggest YouTubers are Mr Beast (390m subscribers), T-Series (293m subscribers), and Cocomelon (193m subscribers). You might not know who these people are if you're Gen X and use YouTube for music, film, or how-to tutorials rather than following the YouTube-famous. Yet so many YouTube cultural moments are cross-generational — a YouTube 20th video in the form of a RickRoll has had a billion plus views to date (YouTube has its own constantly evolving language — the Rick in a RickRoll is Rick Astley). In Ireland, some YouTube classics include The man who fell on the ice, Singing priest, Irish man fights with sat nav, and The Spark. Silly, fun, heart-warming, shared and shared and shared. Alison Lomax, MD of YouTube in UK & Ireland: 'We've seen a lot of growth in the Irish YouTube community and economy and want to bring it together. 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If you're a YouTube creator and work on your own it can be quite lonely — having that peer group [of fellow creators] means people can learn from each other. "When the first video was uploaded in 2005, there was no such thing as a creator, let alone a creator economy. People have gone from vlogging in their bedrooms to building studios and having meaningful careers off the back of their YouTube business. 'Another big difference we've seen is, as well as all the genres involved, is the breadth of partners involved — now we work with news publishers, sports partners, broadcasters like RTÉ, businesses keen to partner with YouTube to reach younger audiences and also reach a more global platform.' This involvement of traditional media outlets began in 2005 when US broadcaster NBC had a lightbulb moment. Early YouTube uploaded an NBC-owned Saturday Night Live clip, Lazy Sunday, and NBC sued — before realising that an SNL clip going viral on YouTube was actually a good thing. 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Irish Independent
11 hours ago
- Irish Independent
‘We used a saw to cut a hole into the wall and realised it was an old back stairs area' – hidden tunnels and secret rooms in Co Cork
Asking price: €1.6m Agent: Hegarty Properties (021) 4639411 A hidden tunnel, a secret room and links to the Knights Templar lend plenty of intriguing lore to historic Carewswood House, a five-bedroom, 4,823 sq ft pocket mansion which was originally constructed as a dower house to Castlemartyr House, now a resort hotel. Sitting on three acres, Carewswood still has the boarded up tunnel running from its basement area which likely served a dual purpose for the dowagers (widowed mothers or unmarried sisters) of the Earls of Shannon, who constructed Castlemartyr in the 18th century. While the dowager could walk back and forth to the 'Big House' along its covered 2km-plus length, without being exposed to the elements, the tunnel also provided for a failsafe escape in either direction back in fraught times when the natives were a good deal more antsy. Castlemartyr House, part of the Castlemartyr Resort, is beside the castle founded by the Knights Templar in 1210 under the leadership of Richard de Clare, better known as Strongbow. Following the seizure of the estate after the Geraldine Wars, these lands were handed over to Sir Walter Raleigh who later sold them on in 1602 to the Earl of Shannon. Earl Richard Boyle constructed an estate home there in the 1700s, and Carewswood followed, likely in 1814, just 2.4km away. 'In those days, the mother of the heir moved out of the house once her husband passed away and the son and heir remarried and took over the main house, and she would have lived here,' says its owner Gill Hornibrook, who comes from the locality. She bought the property in 1996 with her husband, the late Jack Hornibrook who headed up Hornibrook Builders. The couple had been living in nearby Glendonagh House, a 14-bedroom estate house, which they'd transformed into private nursing home. 'Glendonagh was a Victorian-style house and we'd always wanted a Georgian home,' she says. 'We were attracted to the size of Carewswood. It was the perfect place to raise our four daughters.' The previous owners had added a new roof, a maple floor in the kitchen and a mahogany floor in the dining room, both of which came from an old hotel in Midleton. 'It was a very basic Georgian house when we bought it but we did a major amount of work on it.' The reception rooms include a sitting room, a dining room and a TV room, all of which the couple updated and redecorated. 'We removed all of the old wallpaper and re-plastered and painted the walls, and had the plasterwork in the high ceilings repaired.' They added a front porch with French doors to the south-east facing front and insulated the walls throughout, contributing to its C-BER rating, unusual in a house this age. 'Given that my husband already had a team of craftsmen working for him, everything was done to a very high standard,' she says. 'In the hallway, for example, we searched everywhere to find old limestone to replace the existing slabs. It proved impossible, so we laid Travertine marble instead.' In the kitchen, they installed an Aga stove and had bespoke white solid wood units constructed and added a white dresser and a Belfast sink in the island. 'The island counter is teak and came from a night club,' explains Hornibrook. 'Everyone who comes into the kitchen comments on it.' Off the kitchen are two utility rooms. It opens to an east-facing sunroom which has underfloor heating. 'It's a lovely comfortable room that gets the sun all day,' she adds. Whilst renovating it, the couple came across a secret room which was boarded-up. 'My husband calculated that there was six feet of space extra between the wall and the door and thought there had to be something there. One of his carpenters used a saw to cut a hole that allowed us to see into the space and we realised it was an old back stairs area.' The rediscovered room was renovated and turned into a traditional bar which has high stools, a piano and seating along the wall. 'We've had some great family parties here,' says Hornibrook. 'All four of my daughters got married in Castlemartyr Resort and all of their 'day two parties' were held in the house.' There's also original granite steps leading to a basement, which houses a pool table. 'The steps are quite worn and we think that the same servants probably went between the two houses by foot.' Upstairs, there are five double bedrooms, all with en suite bathrooms (added by the couple). 'We've gone to great trouble to maintain the Georgian style in all of the rooms. It's a comfortable house without being ostentatious, and everyone feels at home here.' 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The Irish Sun
11 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Retro US-style roadside diners become tourist attraction in the UK – it's like going back to the 1970s
THE US is so far away, but luckily, there are diners right here in the UK that are strikingly similar to the diners we have all seen in classic American movies. With comfy seating booths, juicy burgers, pancake stacks and sundaes, visitors have confessed the diner makes them feel like they're in the 1970s. Advertisement 5 Brightside diners serve up American-style food like pancakes and milkshakes Credit: Instagram 5 The Brightside decor takes people back to the 1970s Credit: Brightside The American-style diners are known for being nostalgic, as well as hearty food. The inspiration behind the chain sparked from the owners' childhood trips to roadside restaurants - in particular, Little Chef which ceased operations in 2017. All of the Brightside diners are open from Monday to Sunday, 8am to 9pm to accommodate those on long journeys and travelling. In the mornings, Brightside has American dishes like Early Rider which is a mix of smoked streaky bacon, The Jolly Hog 'Proper Porker' sausage, egg, baked beans and sourdough toast. Advertisement Read More on Diners There's also pancake stacks with either fruit or bacon toppings and veggie options. Certain breakfast dishes are served as part of the all day breakfast, but other tasty meals include pizza, burgers, fish and chips, and curry. Also served are sides of chunky chips, cheesy garlic dough balls and macaroni chips. Other classic American items include the big selection of milkshakes with chocolate flavours, strawberry, banana, salted caramel and Biscoff. Advertisement Most read in News Travel There's also an option to pick from the 'Speedy Menu' for those needing to get back on the road in a hurry. There's also a children's menu as well as vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options. Inside Popeye's first UK restaurant as we try the menu – and the fried chicken is better than KFC 5 There are four restaurants across the UK Credit: Brightside 5 The diner even has a 'Speedy Menu' for anyone wanting to get back on the road Credit: Instagram Advertisement The very first restaurant opened back in February 2023 opposite the Exeter racecourse. Across the UK, there are four restaurants, in One visitor to the diner in Saltash wrote: "Thought I'd give this place a try as it's on my way home. Glad I did, the restaurant has cracking retro decor and feel and food was great! Seen somewhere saying it's like Stranger Things, I definitely agree." Another, who had a meal at the Exeter site, added: "Some nice outdoor seating and really cute 1970s style diner done really well." Advertisement A third visited Honiton and said: "What a great find a fantastic American style roadside diner open all day for breakfast lunch and dinner." These impressive restaurants are ones you will find inside redesigned planes - and there's one in the UK. And Plus Advertisement 5 Brightside is a popular American-style diner in the UK Credit: Brightside
