Video releases from Ordinary Bloke

  I have enjoyed staying at Warner hotels. Peaceful and quiet but with entertainment and activities. Nidd Hall, Bodelwyddan Castle and Alvaston Hall all have their interesting features, but Thoresby Hall is undoubtedly my favourite. I have attempted to capture the flavour and the scope in this video which includes stills from many of my stays, most notably May 2017.

  I've just done a rough calculation on the back of an envelope and come to the conclusion that I have been to Center Parcs nearly 20 times (if you include the Winfell Forest resort when it was called Oasis and before it was bought out by Center Parcs). Winfell and Sherwood are very different in character, although the basics are all the same. We also visited Longleat once but were not great fans (although we DID see deer wandering around!). Winfell is more hilly than Sherwood and the main village is completely covered by a large dome - which is good when the heavens open. There are red squirrels everywhere (they make grey squirrels look a bit big and clumsy), and there is a badger's sett with cameras on it that you can access on the TV in your lodge. This video is about Sherwood, but I think nearly all of it applies to every Center Parcs resort.

  In my thirties, I regularly visited 'The Corner Café' in Leeds which, despite its mundane name, was an excellent curry house. The dish I would have more than other was their spinach and dal (with 3 chipattis). I do a bit of cooking here and there and I really wanted to try and re-create that dish. I can't say I have done that, but check this is the closest I could get. If you use ghee rather than oil, the taste is more authentic (although not quite so healthy) It's great as a vegetarian dish or as a side dish to another curry (such as Chicken Madras or Lamb Rogan Josh). It's really delicious. Enjoy!

  In my thirties, I regularly visited 'The Corner Café' in Leeds which, despite its mundane name, was an excellent curry house. The dish I would have more than other was their spinach and dal (with 3 chipattis). I do a bit of cooking here and there and I really wanted to try and re-create that dish. I can't say I have done that, but check out my Saag Dal video (video #8) for the closest I could get. This little dish is a similar sort of thing. It's great as a vegetarian dish or as a side dish to another curry (such as Chicken Madras or Lamb Rogan Josh). It's really delicious. Enjoy!

  This should really have been the first video. My wife suggested it when I was made redundant from a job where I made training videos and interactive learning. She said, "Why don't you make a video about the city where you live, just as if you were an ordinary person telling it like you see it." Despite being the first idea, it took a long time to script and to shoot all the stills - some 4 months to be precise. With the help of my daughter, I plan to do a series on Leeds (culture and events, eating out, night life). One video would be far too long - my plan is to make all my videos under 5 minutes, and under 3 if possible. It could be a long time in the making, believe me, but look out for it on the Ordinary Bloke YouTube channel. If you subscribe to the channel, you can receive notifications when I upload a new video. If you have any ideas on videos you'd like me to do, please get in touch via the comments below.

  This video was a compilation of stills from two separate visits to this lovely little fishing town on the Algarve with a voiceover from me. Once more, I have included maps to give context to the people who have never heard of Alvor or indeed the Algarve. If you've never been to the Algarve before, Alvor is a good place to start since it's got the pretty rocks, the massive sandy beach, the extensive nature reserve and a little fishing town with great restaurants and tourist shops. Car hire in Portugal is about the cheapest in Europe and our car cost only about £10 more than a coach transfer would have cost. Alvor is in a great position for travelling around the Algarve.

The first video for the Ordinary Bloke YouTube channel was a guide to the Grand Hotel in Rhodes. It was mainly created using stills from the hotel and from Rhodes town itself, but also included a map to show how to go from the hotel into the old town (which took us three days to fully work out). The hotel has some really good features such as the three outside restaurants and pizza bar. They make a good place for snacks during the day or an alternative to the buffet restaurant. There are two outdoor pools, the main one at the back (illustrated on the video thumbnail above) and a quieter one at the front, plus an indoor pool. Whilst we were there (September) we never saw a single soul in the inside pool. The bar has a great outdoor seating area where there's live music most evenings.

In October 2016 the Ordinary Bloke YouTube channel was created. It's purpose was originally to provide guides to various destinations which an ordinary bloke from Wakefield had created. The odd miscellaneous video seemed to sneak in as I couldn't resist giving my other interests a bit of air time. Channel link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2LVHjIRoWoNeSl5h63XGVg Shortened channel link:  https://goo.gl/0eofSM If you subscribe to the channel, you can receive notifications when new videos are uploaded. If you have any suggestions for videos you'd like me to do, get in touch via the comments below. Stats After 175 days (5/4/17), the channel hit the first 1,000 view total for the 7 videos already published. 55 days later (31/5/17), the viewing figures had doubled over the 9 published videos - a very exciting piece of news. It is my intention to try and publish a new video about every month. Technical Stuff I use a Kodak Zi8 flip camera, a Samsung