The Hubby and I took a day off on Friday, we booked a cheap hotel on a last minute deal for Friday night and had a couple of days out.
We did this because life has been too busy and we have seen virtually nothing of each other since January. Between work, kids, trying to support my mother-in-law who is still in her first year on her own after 53 years of marriage and keeping on top of the house and chores we have been like the proverbial ships in the night.
We didn't go anywhere terribly glamorous or exciting but just became tourists in our local area. We went to Canterbury on Friday and looked round the town and the cathedral, stayed in a little hotel about three miles from Canterbury on Friday night and then on Saturday went to Dover and looked round the castle (run by English Heritage) and the White Cliffs experience (National Trust). The weather was decent, and we had a thoroughly nice time.
The hotel was a steal; £45 discounted down from £80. I booked it through http://www.laterooms.com,/ a double room with breakfast included and in fact we got allocated a family room which was all they had left, so we rattled round in acres of space. Breakfast was nice, well cooked and lots of fruit, yoghurts etc, and we used the restaurant for dinner on Friday night. That was excellent - nice amount of choice, beautifully presented, very tasty and all served in an ancient inn with oak beams and an inglenook fire. Try it - The Evenhill in Littlebourne. It looks nothing from the outside, but that just shows that appearances can be deceptive.
We feel rested and rejuvenated, although I think we both know that will dissipate within 24 hours of returning to work. But it'll keep us going until we go away in April. We'll need to think about doing something similar in the summer.
We do try to use our National Trust cards throughout the year and have the occasional afternoon at Knole Park or Chartwell. But it's not the same as taking a couple of days and an evening. We're not members of English Heritage because there's not a lot around here and we don't think we'd get our money's worth, but we will in the future when we can perhaps afford to take more weekends out and stay away a little more. Dover Castle was incredible - well preserved and presented, informative and historically evocative - as was Battle Abbey when we went last year.
Roll on retirement!
It's such a treat to stay in a hotel. Well at least I think it is. Phil doesn't because he travels so much he is dik of them, but for me, those fresh sheets and the fact that there is no cleaning or tidying up or hoovering is just so nice! We went up to Leicester tos atay with the kids recently and for me it was a real pleasure, even thought it was a Holiday Inn!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you had a lovely w/e. Canterbury is a lovely place.