Trial for online tip booking system begins in Surrey
To book, residents have to access an online booking system via the council's website, or by telephone.Slots are available to book two weeks in advance and up to 10 appointments can be made per month.Each slot lasts 15 minutes and residents can arrive at any time within that period.All other CRC rules remain the same, including the need to bring proof that you are a Surrey resident, along with a valid van permit if visiting in a van, pickup or trailer.Following the trial, the impact of the booking system will be evaluated, which will include asking residents to provide feedback.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
12 hours ago
- Times
Welcome to your hot-air balloon summer
There's only one truly glamorous way to dine this summer: in a hot-air balloon. Take a scroll through your Instagram feed and you're almost guaranteed to come across at least one photo of a spectacular-looking dining pop-up featuring a fleet of grounded hot-air balloons. The chicest one is at Beaverbrook hotel in Surrey, which has been running for five years, while more whimsical fun can be had at the Grove in Hertfordshire, where their Feast on Cloud 9 pop-up has a retro fairground theme. But if you really want to take things to the next level, you need to get yourself to the Netherlands. There, the acclaimed Dutch chef Angélique Schmeinck takes to the skies with what is claimed to be the world's first hot-air balloon restaurant, CuliAir Skydining, which serves a three-course meal over an hour and a half while guests drift above the clouds. The flights take place across the Netherlands, with the exact locations decided based on the weather (the middle and eastern areas in Holland tend to have the best flight conditions during the ballooning season, which runs from May until the end of September). Schmeinck — who spent 12 years cooking at the Michelin-starred De Kromme Dissel in Heelsum — launched CuliAir in 2003 as part of a course she was taking on creative thinking. 'For my final project, I had to come up with something that looked impossible,' she says. 'For some reason a hot-air balloon came to mind and I realised that it's basically just a huge hot-air oven. I wondered, 'What would happen if you put a nice fish or a good chicken in there?' I knew I had to try it out for myself.' She called a local ballooning company and explained her idea. 'Most people thought I was crazy, but I was lucky that this particular pilot loved good food, so he was intrigued by the idea. I'd never been in a balloon before but it was the most wonderful experience of my life. I knew it was too special not to just go for it.' CuliAir started with one balloon that seated ten and was mainly used for corporate entertaining, but post-Covid Schmeinck saw such a spike in bookings that she invested in another balloon, which seats eight. Both balloons were custom-made to suit her unique requirements, which include a curved kitchen from which Schmeinck prepares all her dishes and a 'Sky Bar' around the edge of the basket where guests can balance their plates and glasses of wine as they take in the view. An ingenious pulley system is used to transport white asparagus, lobster and wild sea bass to the crown of the balloon, where they're cooked at about 90C, 'low and slow', in special-purpose steel oven baskets. Tickets cost €575 per person and regularly sell out. • Read more luxury reviews, advice and insights from our experts To date, Schmeinck has carried out almost 1,000 flights, with about 80 taking off each season, and she says no two are ever the same. 'It's so difficult to explain what happens in the balloon — it's a very surreal experience. There's a special energy that happens at high altitude. My favourite flights are when we go above the clouds; it feels like being inside a painting.' Back on terra firma, the Beaverbrook balloon experience in Surrey was created in collaboration with the British homewares brand Summerill & Bishop. 'Fanning the Flame' runs until the end of September and features six balloons decked out in Summerill & Bishop's swirling Marble Fan design in a soft powder pink. The balloons are tethered to the ground and stationary, with guests dining in the wicker baskets, feasting on dishes cooked on an open-flame Japanese Yakiniku barbecue, with a cloud-inspired pudding featuring wild strawberry ice cream, pistachio and fluffy cotton candy. Up to four guests can dine at once and the set menu starts at £85 per person. The other hot-air balloon pop-up this summer is Feast on Cloud 9 at the Grove in Hertfordshire, which runs until August 31. Created by Feast Events — which has also put custom-made ski gondolas on the roof of the Berkeley for its winter Feast Off-Piste event — the pop-up features 14 hot-air balloons in a classic red and white stripe, perched on either side of the hotel's ornamental canal. The theme here is a nostalgic journey to the fairground, with dishes including hook-a-duck pâté, fillet of beef wellington served in a giant burger box and a fortune teller doughnut in a crystal ball complete with an edible tarot card. Up to six people can dine in a balloon, with afternoon tea from £65 per person and the five-course tasting menu £75 per person. Whether we can expect Beaverbrook or the Grove to take to the skies next year remains to be seen, but so far only a handful of other companies have followed in Schmeinck's footsteps — including Air Pegasus in Normandy and Hot Air Lines in Vilnius — and none to the same level. 'It's very hard to copy as it's so complicated — you need a licence, there's a lot of safety elements and then there's the uncertainty with the weather conditions,' she says. However, Schmeinck is in talks to bring the CuliAir experience to other countries, with the UK right near the top of her list. 'There's been a lot of interest from the UK, so I'd love to make that happen. I think dining with CuliAir is the most wonderful experience you can give to somebody, so I want to share that with as many people as possible.'
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Elmbridge boy, 7, completes football stadium challenge for uncle
A seven-year-old boy from Surrey has completed his challenge of visiting all 20 Premier League stadiums in honour of his uncle who died from a brain from Elmbridge, completed the 2,000-mile (3,218km) challenge in 12 months in aid of Brain Tumour visited his final stadium on the tour, Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, on boy and his family have so far raised more than £3,500 of their £10,000 target. Speaking on BBC Radio Surrey, Zac said: " I feel very good and it's been super fun. Wolves' stadium [Molineux] was a favourite because they let us play on the pitch."My friends think it's incredible."Zac's late uncle Stephen Realf, a trainee RAF pilot, died of a brain tumour aged 26 three years before Zac was Zac's mother, said other family members undertook challenges to commemorate the 10th anniversary of her brother's said Zac was too young for the high-octane challenges, so instead came up with the stadium tour with his father. "It's taken 12 months and 2,000 miles but he finished it. It's been amazing and a really nice way to connect Zac with Stephen because they never got to meet," his mother siad."I know they would have been the best of friends because they both love football and are daredevils so they would have loved one another, I'm sure."The family are planning two more challenges to complete by next week.
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Trial for online tip booking system begins in Surrey
A council's plan to roll out an online booking system at two tips in Surrey has begun its wanting to visit Camberley and Lyne (Chertsey) Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) have to go online beforehand to request a County Council said it would run the new service until 10 November in an attempt to ease congestion at peak times, improve the service for residents and help the authority manage the CRCs more Bramhall, cabinet member for property, waste and infrastructure, said: "We've seen CRC booking systems introduced by councils in other areas of the country with great success and would like to try our own." To book, residents have to access an online booking system via the council's website, or by are available to book two weeks in advance and up to 10 appointments can be made per slot lasts 15 minutes and residents can arrive at any time within that other CRC rules remain the same, including the need to bring proof that you are a Surrey resident, along with a valid van permit if visiting in a van, pickup or the trial, the impact of the booking system will be evaluated, which will include asking residents to provide feedback.
