We’ve been quite busy visiting friends almost every week since our return about five weeks ago. Time has really flown by, and we recently had the chance to head into the city to celebrate Rachel Gill’s birthday along with Keith at a fantastic rooftop restaurant with a view over St. Paul’s. Catching up with friends and hearing about what they’ve been up to is always fun, and they’re great company. We spent some time with them in Cobham and took Rhubarb out for a couple of walks. Despite his age, he’s getting on a bit, but still loves to chase a stick.
Our journey began from Hartford on a Friday afternoon. We made our way towards the middle of the country, specifically Stafford in Staffordshire. Finding the town was straightforward, but locating our accommodation turned out to be a bit more challenging. Seb and Ally had organized a food delivery for our stay, and interestingly, we found the delivery driver in the same pub car park that our sat-nav system had led us to. For the next 40 minutes, the patient driver followed us around the local area until we finally found it, the “Agency” sat in the grounds of “Sandon Hall,” an impressive stately home still inhabited by the Harrowby family. We AirBnb’d it and chose it as it was a similar distance for everyone to travel too, we did the same last year and it worked out really well. The house itself was situated beautifully within the extensive grounds, which were practically ours to explore.
Seb and Ally arrived first, with Christien and his best friend Brad shortly after. Since the weather was sunny, we decided to head outdoors to let Arlo chase his tail, whilst we played some garden games and caught up. We opted to have dinner in, as we were all a little jaded and everyone pitched in, to help. Then it was into the drawing room for some competitive and heated board games…Ha hah, love it!
The next day, we planned to go out on a walk as recommended by our host. Setting off late morning, for what was described as a two-and-a-half-hour hike. However, due to outdated directions (which we learned later hadn’t been updated for quite sometime), we got lost, and by the time we were about three hours into the walk, the heavens opened. After four hours of hiking, completely drenched, we decided to abandon the idea of making it back to the cars opting to get them later and instead returned to the house for much-needed showers, baths, and food, but had a good laugh about our little adventure.
That evening, I had arranged a dinner at “Aston Marina.” We were given a pod with a view of the river, our own waitress, and the freedom to choose our own music. It turned out to be a great evening. The next morning, with some of the group feeling a bit tired from the previous day and night’s activities, we opted for a relatively short walk around the estate, especially considering the ominous-looking sky. The estate is a working one, mainly for sheep farming, so we needed to be careful with Arlo. We all contributed to preparing lunch, which turned out to be delicious. After saying our goodbyes, we went our separate ways, feeling grateful to everyone for making the weekend so special.
Dream Chasers 