A Weekend in the Country

Back in February it was my sister's 21st birthday. To celebrate, we traveled to the Cotswold and spent a weekend in the countryside. Our dad's best friend lives there, in a house on a hill, isolated from the rest of the world. This sounds very much like the start of a horror movie, and I must admit it would be a great setting for one, yet the only scares to be had were when I left my baby in Primark! Don't worry, this will all make sense soon...

First, we strolled into town. After working up an appetite from browsing the endless amounts of charity shops we stopped off for some lunch. The weather was grey and rainy so warm tomato soup was ideal. While we were eating I explained to my parents, and Tessa, that I needed to find and buy a baby doll to be a prop in a play I was participating in. Luckily, later that day, I did find and buy this baby.

Once we had met up with the birthday girl, we treated her to an afternoon tea at the Well Walk Tea Room. This had to be one of the best high teas I had ever had, especially considering it only cost £10 per person. I have had far worse, in terms of amount of food that is offered, for double, even triple, the price. The quality and quantity of the food was fantastic! A wide range of vegetarian and meat sandwiches, scones and a variety of cakes were all provided, accompanied with endless amounts of tea. They had even made special vegan cakes and scones for Tessa. It's the first time she has been able to have a proper High Tea without any restrictions on what she could eat. 

Vegan Cakes!

Vegan Scones!

Feeling deliciously satisfied we moved onto Primark, the scene of the drama... It took me half an hour after leaving to realise that I had left my baby there! Top tip: don't exclaim 'Oh god, I left my baby in Primark' unless you want to be given judging looks from the passing public. After retrieving my baby, and realising I was not ready for motherhood, we headed back to the house on the hill.

Tired from walking most of the day, we all set ourselves up in the living room and settled down to read our books in front of the fire. This was made even more enjoyable with the arrival of cheese.

While we were sitting there eating cheese, my dad's best friend had been busy in the kitchen preparing a three course meal for us all. The first course was stuffed peppers, the second course was an array of curries, and the final course was a vegan chocolate cake (unfortunately the sparkler fell and burnt one half of it). Not only was the food really tasty, it was laid out like a banquet such as one you might see in Game of Thrones, so of course that made me enjoy the meal even more.

When the food was demolished we all went up to bed. Sleep was needed as the next day we went for a two hour walk in the countryside. My sister left later that day back to Cornwall, and me back home to London. It was a great weekend, void of any technological distractions, meaning we could fully appreciate each other's company. Try it for yourself! If a house on an isolated hill isn't available to you, try to avoid technological devices, even if only for an hour, and just sit in each other's company. You won't regret it! 

Fem