The Pen and Pencil, 57 Hilton St, Manchester

The Pen and pencil is a great venue for breakfast/brunch. It has very social tables with benches that can easily accommodate 8 people. The menu is a little different to the usual breakfast/brunch fare, although there are some breakfast type things on there, the eggs benedict are very good, I was told. We were there on a Saturday and Sunday morning around 11ish, it was busy without being rammed.

The music is just the right level, low enough for you to discuss the night before, but loud enough that you don’t notice the ringing in your ears! The service is good, the waiter was able to describe every dish very well and seemed genuinely interested when he enquired whether we were enjoying our food.

The smoothies are interesting, I loved the “Welcome to Americana” – peanut butter, banana and a little chilli! I am told the “Salted Caramel” is good too.  I also recommend the ‘Nduja baked eggs, warm enough to clear your head after the night before. The “Eggs Pen and Pencil” is good too, really good hollandaise. They do a “Bottomless Brunch” for £40 where you can eat and drink as much as you like between 10am and 1pm. That sound like it could get messy!

Hilton Street is a trendy side road about 5 minutes away from Piccadilly Gardens and even less from the rail stations, you will know you are getting close when you start seeing street art dotted around the walls. If there is a group of you and you are staying in separate hotels, it is the perfect place to meet your mates the following morning! Recommended!

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Georgia O’Keeffe, Tate Modern, London, 2016

Georgia O’Keeffe at the Tate Modern is a very big exhibition. There are thirteen room filled with paintings from every period of her career and there are also some works by her friends and collaborators. It was a nice, unexpected bonus to see some Americana by Ansell Adams included in the show.

It is arranged mostly chronologically and with so many pieces on show, you can watch her style developing through the decades. The earliest pieces are from the 1910s and you can see a hint of the time in them. The 1920s pictures and the New York ones have the slightest art deco feel and her ability with colour is profound even from the earliest days.

The 1920s,1930s flower pictures are probably her most famous and they look so modern, vibrant and current even now that it is difficult to imagine how new they must have seemed 80 odd years ago.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s move to New Mexico brought another complete change of style. the only common factor being the inspired use of colour throughout. There are also series from the 1940s and 1950s where some are more minimalist in nature and others are figurative.

The latest pictures date from the 1960s and you can also see the times reflected here.

Initially, I thought that the entrance fee, around £16, was pretty steep for a single show. However, it is probably one of the largest shows that I have ever seen, you won’t really feel like seeing much else in the Tate Modern on the same day, and the quality of the paintings is such that, on balance, it is good value for money. There is also enough depth to the exhibition that you can really see the arc of her development as you walk round the show and it is very interesting to watch those changes over the course of such a long, talented career.