2016’s Valentines has to win the award for not only my favorite Valentines, but quite possibly my favorite way to spend a Sunday. Having attended the wedding of two fabulous guys on the Saturday we took the opportunity to book ourselves a night in the hotel venue – saving ourselves a late night two-hour trip back, and ensuring the next day would be spent simply enjoying each others’ company.
A cooked breakfast, sunny countryside walk, massive Sunday lunch and my best friend, what more could a girl want?! And not a scheduling error – I just liked the title of this post despite it going up on a Saturday!
First off, the wedding was beautiful. The hotel was perfect, cosy and pretty with a criminally comfortable bed. All of the flowers were handmade out of paper, in yellow or gray tones, or out of pages of old Terry Prachett books. Even the (massive) bouquets were made of paper, with the cutest Lego-man buttonholes! We (or rather I) cried, we toasted, we danced, and generally enjoyed the day. And yep, I now want to make my own bouquet out of paper…
The next day we exchanged cards (the excitement of being a fiancée is not yet wearing off!), filled up on scrambled eggs, sausages and hash browns, then headed out to Cannock Chase. Once we managed to get off the “family” trail and into the peace and quiet it was beautiful.
We rarely saw another person, bar being followed by several friendly dogs (all of which I wanted to take home!), and it was so lovely just to stroll hand-in-hand, mainly chatting, sometimes in complete silence. It’s been a whirlwind few months and I sometimes feel as though it’s nice to take a deep breath and step back from it all.
We then journeyed onto Sunday lunch. We’d chosen Weston Hall for many reasons; budget (I just wanted a roast, not a fancy V-day dinner!), non-chain, good wine (for me!). Turns out we chose well, this was easily the best Sunday roast I’ve had away from home, and at £20 each for three courses felt pretty bargainous too. Particularly as the Yorkshire pudding was the size of my head…
I started Stilton & Garlic mushrooms, always a favorite. These were deliciously creamy, though the addition of a fresh pesto cut through the richness. My only complaint was that the bread roll should have been warm, as it did cool the dish very quickly. No complaints came from the Carrot & Orange soup, which was slurped up in no time. An old fashioned roast featured for both of us, with myself going for the rare beef (yum!), and him the lamb. Both delicious, coming with amazingly crispy roast potatoes and nicely cooked veg. I was a big fan of the cauliflower, complete with a mustard cheesy sauce and crunchy breadcrumbs. If that wasn’t enough, we finished with pudding. I had a delicious proper brownie (gooey and chewy on the inside, crunchy on the edge), W had a crumble. Both delicious. And my Zinfandel Rose hit the spot perfectly.
We paused outside the hotel for a quick stroll around their gardens, and managed to take one of the best photos of us yet. We clearly need to practice before the wedding! It was a perfect Valentine’s, a perfect Sunday, and it’s made me all the more excited for (hopefully) living with this guy full-time after the summer. Because we can do this everyday, right…?!
How did you spend Valentine’s? What would be your perfect Sunday?
