THORNBURY CASTLE - 13-15 MARCH 2009
John took me away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. He had arranged a very special - "Regal" if you will - weekend at Thornbury Castle in Glouchestershire. We left London on a beautiful Friday afternoon for a two hour drive out to Thornbury. The wonderful Nilda stayed at "The Lodge" with the kids.
We arrived to the castle with time to wander around the grounds of the castle, the only Tudor Castle in England to be converted to a hotel. The gardens are also the oldest Tudor Gardens in England. We spent about an hour just walking around and enjoying the scenery before returning to our room, the Duke's Bed Chamber, where King Henry once stayed with Anne Boleyn. After a little down-time, we had a drink in the lounge followed by a lovely, quiet dinner in the main dining room.
On Saturday after enjoying a traditional English breakfast, we drove to the town of Bath, about 35 minutes away from Thornbury. We strolled the streets of Bath, stopped to see the Royal Crescent and made a quick visit to my favorite shop Shoon, on our way to the Roman Baths. The Roman Baths is below the modern street level and has four main features, the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman bath house and finds from Roman Bath. We stopped on the Terrace which overlooks the Great Bath and is lined with statues of Roman Governors of Britain, Emperors and military leaders. The statues date to 1894, as they were carved in advance of the grand opening of the Roman Baths in 1897. The Roman Baths were not discovered and explored until the late nineteenth century. (Information taken from the official website of the Roman Baths).
We drove back to Thornbury and enjoyed lunch at a local pub. Then we strolled up and down the high street of Thornbury before deciding to head back to the castle for a pre-dinner nap. Dinner was really special. We were treated like royalty, literally. The hotel gave us robes to wear and the staff referred to us as "your Majesties" throughout the evening. It was very corny but so much fun! Dinner was spectacular - we had six removes (courses) and were so full by the time the main course came it was disappointing not to truly enjoy dessert or the cheese selections that followed dessert.
Unfortunately John and I were both suffering from colds that we caught from the kids so we retired after dinner and got a good night's sleep. After another lovely breakfast we hit the road to head back to London to celebrate my birthday with the kids.
We returned home to find a luncheon feast prepared by Nilda and all sorts of lovely cards made by the kids.
It was a wonderful, memorable weekend...thank you John!!
Cheers!
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