Monday - met for lunch on the way there at the Rose Cottage Pub, got to the villa, unpacked, a nice walk round the lake and the forest, and back for some singing and playing of pool, after a great meal of venison casserole!
There might have been quite a lot of time spent in the hot tub as well....
Tuesday - hungry squirrel waiting on our patio at breakfast time for us to feed him,
And lots more wildlife it he garden. Any food we put out went very quickly!
Walked to the bird hide just by our villa, and the pond was frozen, but still saw a lot of birds
And then went for a walk....
To Rufford Park. Lovely place - nice old hall, coffee shop
Interesting gardens with lots of sculptures
And a lovely lake to walk round, which was frozen.
Back to the villa for lunch, and of course, straight into the hot tub. Liked this photo of my flowery back tattoo.
The hot tub is a very popular place - at all times of the day or night...
In the evening Stuart was on Strawberry Daquiri duty, his specialty cocktail
Wednesday. Segway day! It was snowing but that didn't put anyone off. These were off offroad Segways, very different to the ones you have in cities. Big wheels, and after a quick practice we were off through the forest.
It was very, very cold and wet, and miraculously Stuart didn't fall off! One of our number did though,
twice ;-) Lunch in the village square, then we went to the Spa, whilst the others went back to the villa.
The Spa is very relaxing - an outdoor swimming pool and jacuzzi, and 16 different spa areas, different saunas, steam rooms, different temperatures, and lots of relaxing places - including water beds, and an outdoor area where you can wrap yourself up n a blanket. My favourite is the Laconium, which is the picture at the side. Very gently heat, very comfy, very quiet. I fell asleep! We even had a free facial in there. Back to the villa for another evening in, with an antipasti starter...
More pool more cocktails, more hot tub, more music.
Thursday. Gentle walk to the bird hides, all three of them. Saw lots of birds,
And I loved this cheeky Lesser Redpoll - so cute.
In the afternoon we went bowling - some of us are better than others :-)
And in the evening, in honor of my birthday the next day - a meal in Cafe Rough
Back for more hot tub, and even I played pool...
Early morning. Yuck! Packed, got out. Walked round lake, which was lovely
sat in the bird hide again
and then we all had brunch - eggs benedict and Prosecco. Made even better because they gave me the Prosecco free as it was my birthday, and that morning the manager had given us some free food vouchers because our hot tub alarm had gone off late at night. Admittedly while we were still in it...
