The Weekend of SARA

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So the long awaited Weekend of SARA (Sensational Amazing Ravishing Awesome) has arrived. This weekend was a perfectly planned secret weekend away for one of the most special ladies I know to celebrate her birthday. It was all about Sara this weekend. We started the weekend with an amazing (if I do say so myself) champagne breakfast at the at my SheBu pad then it was piling in the car & the adventure began.

We gave Viktor our destination and then the real fun can begin. First stop, petrol station to pump my tires up. This stop was actually a good hour into the journey but we found one, paid our 20p & the race began!!!! We had only 1 min worth of air to pump 4 tires to 32 psi. It really was a team effort with excellent pre pumping prep which involved removing all the caps off the tires. What an amazing team effort it was with 16 seconds to spare. We left there triumphant. There was also the deer sign game which evolved into a clue guessing game for Sara. Game rules: 1. Sara can only get a clue when she wins the deer sign spot. 2. Explanations of said clues = 1 go, Guessee must then win another deer sign spot to guess the preceeding clue. I think we had far more fun trying to give her the most outrageous and cryptic clues but it was a fun road trip game.

First stop was a picnic in the lovely Victoria park in Bristol. We became a human roundabout for the families & dog walkers taking advantage of the beautiful sunny clear blue skies and mild weather. We had a delightful picnic complete with birthday scones with jam & clotted cream....oh & not to mention the UK shaped dorito chip I found. It was quite miraculous indeed! People see jesus in toast & other celebrities in food but I found the UK. I think thats pretty amazing 😉

Just on a random tangent, after not driving more than 4 times in the last 6 months I've realized how much hard work long road trips are. The 4 hours it took to get to Bristol exhausted me!!! My back hurt, my legs got all stiff....wait, is that just getting old? Oh well, it was nice to drive around the countryside of England.

We finally arrived after navigating many country lanes (thank you Viktor) at Bickleigh Castle in Devon. It is an 11th century castle & the only castle of its kind in the UK that still has residents. It was a delightful B & B with luxurious beds & we had the whole place to ourselves which was just brilliant. We took tea with the owner of the castle in the afternoon, enjoyed some of the wedding photo books (I never knew how bad some photos can be!) then it was time to head to the pub for a proper pub meal. To top of an already fun day we chillaxed with wine, champagne, more scones & a movie.

The following day we were greeted with a slightly crazy lady (SCL) at breakfast. She asked what we would like to drink & the 4 of us replied "Coffee please" then off to to the kitchen she went. The room was beautifully set out & i really did feel like I was dining in the proper style of nobility. So SCL returns to the breakfast room with our hot beverage - Tea. We all look confused at each other & had a telepathic conversation of...."I'm sure we said coffee, we did didn't we. Maybe its just weak coffee? No its definitely tea" so a little dejected we dug into our full English breakfast. To cut a very very long & boring story short, the SCL asked us what we did for a living & when Sara replied that she was a nanny this led to a good 20min confusing conversation / monolog from SCL that we actually only understood a few words because she had such a strong accent. Oh my it was painful.

We then left the breakfast room before we got accosted again to put our gear in the car & then it was off for a tour of the castle. It was so amazing - 11th Century with a 6th Century chapel. I got to play a harpsichord in the armor room which was just a mind blowing experience. For me it was quite moving & just gave me such joy! The castle centered a lot around Oliver Cromwell but its been in different royal families for centuries.

Then it was time to say good bye to our castle & hello to Exeter. After Viktor directing me up a pedestrianized road & a little chat with a police officer who didn't give me a ticket, bless him we managed to get to Exeter Cathedral. It was quite lovely. Then a quick walk around the high street of Exeter we stopped for morning tea at Boston Tea House. Its quite a famous west England coffee house & their coffee was amazing! It was lovely. Then the long journey home. It was a really amazing weekend with endless hysterical laughing, strange noises, bad driving instructions & DEER SIGN! Definitely a weekend not to be forgotten.

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Comments

[Liz]

AMAZING!
Wow Michelle, looks like an amazing weekend! Totally jealous!! But definitely looking forward to catching up really soon. I really do hope you're going to be able to make it back to the country for the wedding! It'll be sad not to see you there, but we'll have to catch up when we head over to Europe November (ish), perhaps we should all have a white Christmas together?! Looks like you're keeping well and having an absolute ball. Miss you!! Chat soon x