Weekend in the Cotswolds

Hiya Everyone,

Before even moving to England, we had heard people speak of the beauty of the Cotswolds.  The Cotswolds are a range of hills in Midwest England that span about 90 miles.  The word Cotswold literally means sheep enclosure.  The postcard-esque villages and towns brilliantly capture the quintessential English Countryside.  Two weekends ago, we had a 3 day Bank Holiday weekend and decided to spend 2 nights in the Cotswolds near a town called Cheltenham.  We found a beautiful old horse ground and estate, turned girls school, and finally renovated into a luxury hotel called Ellenborough Park(see picture above).  It was amazing.  I do want to preface that we do not normally pamper ourselves like you are going to hear, but this was our 2 year anniversary present to each other, albeit about a month after our actual anniversary:)  We booked ourselves this great weekend package that included 2 nights stay, breakfast, lunch one day, dinner one night in their formal dining room and the other night in their brasserie, and a 25 minute massage for each of us.  I could have moved in forever!!

We left London on Saturday morning and took the train to Cheltenham and then a short taxi ride to Ellenborough.  We took a little tour of the place, including the wine cellar and "Boot Room."  The Boot room was full of wellies and proper footwear and clothing for walking, hiking, shooting, horseback riding, and polo.  We then had a great lunch in the Brasserie.  On our tour, we discovered the outdoor pool, which was open year around because it was heated to 92 degrees, so we went swimming after lunch.  We had booked our massages for that afternoon, so we went and sat in the hot-tub, sauna, and steam room before our appointments.  I know, as you can see, it was a pretty rough day;)  We managed to get ourselves ready for the evening after that and had a glass of wine at the bar and then had a pre dinner cocktail and appetiser in this beautiful room called the Great Hall.  After dinner, we headed to the bar where we met our new best friend for our stay there, Seth, the Mixologist/Bar-tender!!  We gave him Carte blanche with making our drinks, and he did not disappoint.  He made Ann a ridiculous chocolate martini and he also made one of the best Singapore Slings that I have ever had.  There also happened to be a wedding there in a private ballroom on that Saturday night, but to my incredible disappointment even after a few chocolate martinis, Ann would not let me crash the wedding.  It would have made the weekend complete.

While it rained most of the day on Saturday, we were greeted with a beautiful day on Sunday.  After a good English breakfast, we laced up the trainers for our hike up Cleeve Hill.  In retrospect, after clogging through mud the whole way up the hill and side stepping sheep and cow shit, we should have stopped by the damn "Boot" room and gotten ourselves some proper wellies for the hike.  Shame on the novices!!!  Anyway, our hotel sat right at the base of the highest point in the Cotswolds, Cleeve Hill.  We had scoped it out on Saturday and knew that would be our mission on Sunday.  While I can assure you that it was no ascent up Everest, given the dehydration from over-indulging the night before, the 1100 foot climb through mud and brush was no small feat.  I kept turning around to look for my sherpa, but all I kept seeing was the Sr. Director.  I was pretty sure I already knew the answer if I asked her to carry me up the hill!!!  We actually had so much fun climbing up to the top though and stopping at various points to enjoy the views of the rolling hills.  As we got closer to the top, we encountered countless flocks of sheep.  It was absolutely breathtaking at the top to look back down at the countryside.  We also discovered a golf course at the very peak, which was awesome.  We continued walking and slowly made our way back down through the hills and into a small village called Bishops Cleeve where we wandered down a narrow pathway to find a small church from the 12th century.  It was magnificent.  If I had just seen that, my weekend would have been complete.  We had a late lunch on Sunday afternoon and then another swim in the pool to soak our aches and pains from our morning adventure.  Sunday evening, we had a few cocktails in the bar with our friend Seth, and then a light dinner in the Brasserie.  It was the end to a spectacular weekend of luxury and relaxation, and most importantly, it was a great way to celebrate our 2nd anniversary.

The last two weeks have been pretty low key for us.  It was so fun to talk to our moms and families last Sunday for Mother's Day.  Ann had a short trip last week to Paris and she makes a quick jaunt to Madrid this coming week.  We were so excited to get to have dinner this last Sunday night with one of my friends and former co-workers from Target.  Erin Abbott has been in London this week visiting.  She and I also got to have lunch yesterday.  I definitely miss many of my Target friends and it was so great to catch up.  Congrats to my brother-in-law Tom as he graduates from Madison this afternoon with his second Masters in Fine Arts.  Welcome to the real world Professor!!!

Cheerio
Kevin