Back in January my close and extended family went for a lovely meal for my little brothers birthday. There was plenty of delicious food and funny moments, then on the way out of the restaurant my auntie pulled me to the side. Do you ever get that really nervous feeling wash all over you when someone says they want to speak to you? I certainly did. My auntie asked if I was having a hen party, which at that point I wasn't planning on having one. Its not that I didn't want one but I've seen so many friends plan other hen parties and it always seems to cause a lot of stress and arguments. I didn't want that to happen to my friends and family, so I had decided I wasn't going to have one. But when my auntie asked me and said that she really wanted to plan one for me, I was so touched that she'd want to, I said yes! I asked for it to be a complete surprise and I'm so glad I did. I wasn't involved in any of the planning process but I knew that conversations had been had between my best friend, Tom and my auntie. It was so exciting to try and guess what we might be doing!
Fast forward to the 24th July 2014 and it's the morning of my hen party. My best friend came and picked me up at around 11.30am, ready to drive to my aunties. She had put bunting on her car, saying 'Helen's Hen Do' - those little touches always mean so much. After a good journey down to my aunties, I was excited to find out the plans for the hen party. My (rather heavily pregnant) cousin was also at my auntie's, so we all set off for a picnic next to the river. I absolutely love picnic's but I don't really have them, I'm not sure why because they're super easy and right there I made it my mission to have more picnics over the summer. (Tom and I have already had one picnic since my hen party!) My auntie had gotten lots of Marks and Spencer treats, I hadn't had food from there for a while and boy do they do tasty food! *Hello rekindled love with M&S food*. We chatted, laughed, drank healthy smoothies and ate tasty food, all while enjoying the beautiful river view and sunshine. The perfect way to start a hen party if you ask me!
We then head to our hotel for the next couple of nights, after battling with rush hour traffic (every time I'm on holiday I completely forget that most other people are still at work and therefore rush hour continues) we arrived in Marlborough, Wiltshire. If you've not been to Marlborough, then you should do, it's a quaint market town with plenty of lovely shops, tea rooms and a fantastic market on Saturdays. My kind of place.
We checked into the Castle & Ball Hotel on the high street (I say high street but everything is on one street!) and had a bit of time to freshen up/rest. Am I the only one that wants to take a photograph of the hotel room before anyone puts anything down? The bed never looks as nice after a bag has been put on it, just me? I hope not. The rooms were lovely - think dark beams, wonky floors, grand beds and comfy armchairs. It was old (but definitely not shabby) and had character, two things I always look for in a home or hotel.
After time to freshen up we went out for dinner and guess who had to decide where we go? Yep - me! Anyone that knows me, knows I'm useless at choosing where to eat, mainly because I love food and would go everywhere if I could! After a lot of umming and ahhing we settled on Pizza Express, mainly for their Padana pizza. We sat in the garden at the back of the restaurant because it was still so hot, despite it being almost 8pm. British weather, you baffle me. Dough balls, a massive Padana pizza and chocolate fudge cake with ice-cream were all consumed, fair to say I was full! We chatted and chatted and chatted, to the point where we were almost the only ones left in the whole restaurant and it was nearly 10pm.
I shared a room with my best friend and we both slept so well, despite the heat! Due to our jobs we both usually wake up pretty early, so it was nice to have someone to chat to at 6am rather than Tom who is usually asleep until 11am. We chatted for an hour - it was one of those hours that just disappear, it felt like we had only just woken up and then suddenly we were almost running late!
....to be continued...
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Helen x
